At the May membership meeting, Adriana Bardin-Prestwood’s presentation focused on project management. According to Adriana, for every project, the following 5 steps must be taken:

1. Initiation – which consists of the SCOPE — what type of assignment it is; TIME — when it is due and to whom; COST — compensation per word; and the overall QUALITY which is based on these elements.
  

2. Planning — developing a schedule and estimating the length of the project and the time you will commit to it per day and per week. She cautioned to be conservative because ‘everything takes longer than you think.’
  

3. Executing — the step where you actually start to work = translate. Set up a file structure that includes adding the date every time you edit it and creating several folders in the client’s folder including a 1st, 2nd and final pass folder. Stick to your time commitment!
  

4. Monitoring and Controlling — your review time to confirm the translation is done properly, measure progress, and identify variances from plan/schedule and take corrective action if needed.
  

5. Closing — formalizing acceptance of project. Work on lessons learned, what you could have done differently, what worked and what didn’t, etc., and sending your invoice with a 10-day net.

Adriana is an experienced project manager and consultant and offers free consulting classes at the North Workforce Solutions location.

Board members met on April 24 for their second meeting of the year. Below are key highlights from the meeting.

AATIA 25th Anniversary Party: Preliminary planning has begun to commemorate the association’s 25th anniversary later this year. Details are still being discussed to celebrate this significant milestone.

Professional development: Initial communication has been made with Xosé Castro to bring him to Austin this year. The board is currently working out the logistics for this special guest. Stay tuned for more details.

The Pro-bono project was established as a way to utilize AATIA’s members’ translation skills for the community. AATIA members will donate 100 pages of Spanish translation. Only nonprofit organizations that employ less than 50 employees and provide health, education, social services, or legal services to the Spanish speaking community are eligible. The Board will determine the winning nonprofit. Volunteers are needed to assist with translation for this project, a project coordinator to lead these efforts and editors. If interested, contact any board member.

Office status: Esther Diaz met with City of Austin representatives to discuss the status of our office space. We have been offered a lease for another year at the same rate; however, the association needs to report and show how we are helping the community, show that the space is being utilized by meetings and share our wireless account with other tenants. Our office space might be moved to another spot within the building.
  

Membership: Our overall membership numbers as of April are 230. We had 23 new members as of January 1st.

If you would like to view a complete record of this board meeting, contact Marcela Ramos, Secretary, at secretary@aatia.org.

Women in Translation, the special summer issue of Source (the Literary Division’s online publication), is now available.

Features include cartoons and a column on “My Mother Tongue” by our own Tony Beckwith; an article by Betty De Shong Meador describing her encounter nel mezzo del cammin della sua vita with the “willful, outrageous, sexy Sumerian goddess Inanna”; Ann Cefola’s translation of a poem by Hélène Sanguinetti, who evokes Provence’s troubadour tradition in experimental, “scraped” language; Nancy Arbuthnot’s reflections on her experience working with Vietnamese poet Lê Pham Lê and on the balancing act of translating poetry from another culture; and a piece by Clare Sullivan examining the way in which Natalia Toledo’s Zapotec roots affect her poetry.
“Google Settlement Revisited” follows up on the Point/Counterpoint featured in the Spring issue.

Our theme for the fall will be "Translation and the Arts." Submissions for that issue may be sent to michele@mckayaynesworth.com. Deadline is August 10.

From the Rwandan genocide to Tito’s death, from Indian Muslims to Vietnamese Agent Orange victims, and from Israeli communists to Parisian chroniclers of the Vichy years, a selection of works you won’t read anywhere else — at least, not in English … including

Charles Rist’s Diary of an Occupation, entries from the journal of a well-connected French economist, written during the Vichy years in Paris, translated by AATIA’s own Michele Aynesworth from the French.

Read more about Foreign Policy’s translation project and the other titles on the list here.

Are you overwhelmed with multiple projects? Do you want more control in your day? Come to Adriana Bardin-Prestwood's presentation on techniques of Project Management and get organized!

Adriana's presentation will take place at the AATIA Membership Meeting this Saturday from 1:00 to 4:00 at the International Center of Austin (see address and directions in column at right).

The Spanish Special Interest Group will also meet this Saturday from 10:00 to 12:00 at the same location. Marta Blumenthal and Joan Tuttle-Vargas, from the Language Services unit at the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services, will talk about proofreading your Spanish translations.

Both meetings are open to the public. Free parking is available at the Convention Center parking garage, which is on the east side of the building that houses our offices.  Enter from Brazos Street, inform the attendant that you are attending an AATIA event, and sign a garage parking record sheet.  There is no charge.

The Interpreter’s Special Interest Group will meet on Saturday April 10 from 10 AM to 12 noon at the AATIA headquarters in the International Center of Austin on 2nd street between Brazos and San Jacinto. Joseph Brettell, a Licensed Court Interpreter, will continue his presentation on training materials available to aspiring court interpreters, and the realities and practice of court interpretation. This session will focus on practicing with real texts which are commonly seen in the courts. All interpreters or other interested parties are welcome. See you then!

Earn 9 CE Points at an ATA Professional Development Event
Presented by the American Translators Association
and the Austin Area Translators and Interpreters Association
  

Crowne Plaza Riverwalk
San Antonio, Texas
March 27-28, 2010

• AATIA Member Mike Magee will present a session on Patent Translations.
• Karen Tkaczyk will present From Soap to Drugs and Back, via QA and SOPs.
• Aaron Ruby will present Research Techniques and Primary Resources for Technical Translators

All presentations are non-language-specific.
Early registration ends March 19.

To learn more, see http://www.atanet.org/pd/scitech

Join SpanSIG for its first meeting of the year. The topic will be film translation from Spanish to English and we will have the opportunity to offer our professional critique.

As always, we invite you to spend a couple of hours with your SpanSIG colleagues and enjoy a light breakfast.

At the conclusion of the meeting, we will raffle a couple of books that you might find interesting.

We’ll see you from 10:00 to 12:00 at the International Center of Austin. See sidebar at right for directions and parking instructions.