Arabic
Click on the speaker name to view bio. Sessions are presented in English, unless otherwise noted.

Translations of the Koran often attempt to retain its literal structure. Such an approach, which often has admirable results, can at times produce a text that is difficult or even impossible for the target audience to understand. This can raise new barriers between Islam and Western cultures rather than bridge an existing gap. This presentation offers participants an opportunity to compare a range of readings.

Mohamed, Mohammed, Muhammad... Is there a right way to spell Arab names? How can anyone expect to find an individual when you can spell their name a dozen ways in English letters? Congress addressed this question as part of the 9/11 Commission and instructed the U.S. intelligence community to come up with a standard. No standard is perfect, but this one is ours. If you do any work with the government, or ever think you might, you will benefit from this session.

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Chinese
Click on the speaker name to view bio. Sessions are presented in English, unless otherwise noted.

This session will provide a general picture of the Chinese translation market. Topics include: the estimated scale of the Chinese translation market; relevant policies and regulations; professional associations; training and accreditation for translators and interpreters; and the means and patterns of cooperation with Chinese translation enterprises.

The presenters will offer reviews of the dictionaries they recommend. Topics include: compilation, general layout, usage and features; the advantages and disadvantages of each dictionary, complete with examples of entries; and comparisons of various dictionaries. Suggestions will be provided on how to use the dictionaries effectively and selectively when doing translation work. Comments from participants are welcome, including recommendations for other relevant dictionaries or reference books for English<>Chinese translation.

New officers will be elected for the 2006-2008 term. We will also plan for the 2008 conference with a discussion of potential speakers. This is your chance to find what the division is doing and to get involved. All division members are encouraged to attend, and non-members are invited to come learn more about the CLD.

The complex world of politics often poses challenges in the translation process. Choosing the proper words or expressions in the translation is often dictated by the political positions of both the client and the intended audience. Although a translator may have a very strong political view, it should not interfere with the interests of the client or the constituents, customers, or intended audience. For some politically sensitive issues, many factors must be taken into consideration in the translation. This presentation shall discuss examples of these challenges and issues.

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Dutch
Click on the speaker name to view bio. Sessions are presented in English, unless otherwise noted.

Translators are often afraid to venture too far from the source text and take some liberties to make their translation sound better in the target language. Admittedly, a free translation is not always called for. This session is intended to help and encourage translators to pay more attention to target-language writing.

After the success of last year's presentation in Seattle, this will be another workshop in the form of a language quiz focusing on common pitfalls and errors in English>Dutch translations, and on contemporary developments in the Dutch language as spoken in the Netherlands. It will be educational, but there will also be room for fun.

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French
Click on the speaker name to view bio. Sessions are presented in English, unless otherwise noted.

One of the consequences of globalization is an increased need for translations, which means that translating must be done faster. When it comes to standards, the pressure for faster delivery makes translators more susceptible to linguistic interferences. We believe these interferences threaten the cultural identity of the recipients of the translated texts. However, asserting this cultural identity is one of the trickle-down effects of globalization. We will discuss these interferences and the social and cultural consequences of tolerating them.

The presenter will explore the current limitations of both machine translation and translation memory applications, including the theoretical and computational limitations of each approach.

Accuracy in any legal translation is absolutely essential. This is particularly true for corporate law documents, especially bylaws. This presentation is intended for translators who wish to enhance their knowledge regarding the translation of bylaws. Special attention will be paid to the main traps and challenges posed by difficult U.S. terms and how to translate them, along with common phrases, into French. The way terminology changes from one French-speaking country to another will also be discussed.

Many translators consider legal translation to be a very difficult challenge. They often have to spend hours on the Internet just trying to understand the legal concepts behind the words and searching for the correct register. It is true that a lot of legal information is available on the Internet, but determining its quality and relevance is often difficult. This presentation aims at providing translators with tricks and a useful methodology to enable them to find the right information in the minimum amount of time.

The French Language Division’s Annual Meeting is an opportunity to review the division’s activities during the past year and make plans for the coming year. All division members are invited to attend, and non-members are encouraged to come see what the FLD is all about.

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German
Click on the speaker name to view bio. Sessions are presented in English, unless otherwise noted.

The presentation will introduce the fundamental concepts involved in credit derivatives. We will look at some of the principal issues when dealing with marketing materials and documentation. The focus of terminology will be German<>English. The presentation will start with a new perspective on credit risk, looking at the decomposition, transfer, and trading risks. The discussion will focus on the challenge of translating the concept of "credit" and its variations into German. Time will be allotted at the end for questions and answers.

The German tax system can be a minefield for translators. There are many tax concepts that simply don't exist in countries such as the U.S., and there are also terminological false friends to trap the unwary. This presentation focuses on the main types of direct and indirect tax in Germany, and on the most common scenarios in which translators are likely to encounter tax terminology. It will also examine the mechanics of value added tax, the taxation of funds, as well as (if time permits) the German thin capitalization rules.

This session is for candidates who intend to take ATA's English>German certification exam. The speakers will explain the nature of the exam, including the meaning and use of translation instructions. Participants will learn strategies to prepare for the exam, including text analysis, ways to identify translation challenges, and how to use dictionaries efficiently. The speakers will also help dispel some of the myths and fallacies surrounding the exam. Candidates are encouraged to submit questions to susanne.lauscher@wanadoo.fr or juttadd@estreet.com before the conference. Time will also be allotted during the session for questions.

This session addresses the challenges of English>German translation. The speaker will present selected English grammar issues that may lead to errors in German translations, style differences in English and German, and other tricky topics such as "false friends" and compound nouns.

The purpose of the German Language Division’s Annual Meeting is to take care of old and new business as well as discuss other division activities. Election results will be announced and new officers for the 2006-2008 term will be introduced. All division members are encouraged to attend, and non-members are invited to come learn more about the GLD.

The following issues will be addressed: What strategies do good translators use to make sense of German intellectual texts and to render them accurately in plain English? What strategies do experienced editors use to clean up awkward translations? How far should translators and editors stray from the source text in an effort to make the translated text flow in English? To what extent is it the translator's or editor's responsibility to improve on the style of the source text? Do project managers and end clients expect too much for too little?

The German healthcare system has often been proposed as a model for healthcare reform in the United States. As the "Grand Coalition" government seeks to push sweeping reforms in all aspects of Germany's social welfare system, cuts to the healthcare system are being felt by both patients and members of the profession. This presentation provides a general overview of the healthcare system in Germany, including coverage (public and private), with a focus on current reform legislation. Sample documents (admission forms, billing forms, and medical records) will be provided, along with a German>English glossary of relevant terms.

This presentation will describe the types of documents included in patient records and the reasons for requesting their translation. The speaker will discuss the challenges associated with translating these documents, particularly for translators without previous experience in a clinical environment. German examples and their translations into English will be used.

Interpreting at German management-level meetings for Americans requires knowledge of how the two-tier management system and the principle (and practice) of co-determination works. It also requires familiarity with Aktiengesellschaften, Gesellschaften mit beschränkter Haftung, the role of a Betriebsrat, and with the laws applying to supervisory board meetings, including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. We will look at some of the vocabulary involved and briefly explore the issue of client education with regard to the working conditions of interpreters at such meetings.

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Hebrew
Click on the speaker name to view bio. Sessions are presented in English, unless otherwise noted.

Is a teddy bear furry in Hebrew? Are potato chips in Israel crunchy? In English, is your moisturizer velvety? Does your lotion pamper you? When translating marketing material, it is critical that translators transcend accuracy to ensure appropriateness. In the world of marketing fluff, image is everything. The adjectives typically used to describe something in one language or culture are not necessarily the ones consumers would expect to see in another, and may even convey the wrong message and prove ineffective. This session will probe this issue through several hands-on exercises and interactive discussion.

What’s so hard about translating an adjective? After all, it's just a little descriptive word. English loves stringing adjectives together with hyphens, giving the text a "you-just-can’t-forget-it" effect. And what about that loveable jeans-wearing, cigarette-smoking, Volkswagen-Golf-driving character in the book you just read? How would you describe him in Hebrew without losing that special effect? This session will look at the frequency of compound adjectives in English and will compare that to their frequency in translated English, with examples translated from Hebrew, Greek, German, Korean, Japanese, Arabic, and Spanish. In looking at the examples we will try to define exactly what gets lost in translation.

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Italian
Click on the speaker name to view bio. Sessions are presented in English, unless otherwise noted.

Translating criminal judicial documents between English and Italian requires a certain methodology, extensive research, and developing criteria in order to correctly identify the type of document and choose the right terms. Examples to be used during this presentation include a letter of request (or rogatory letter), the filing of a criminal complaint (and complaint in a civil case), and criminal summons (and summons in a civil action).

This session will discuss the challenges associated with translating English-language contracts into Italian.

Translation into English as a second or foreign language is often discouraged, but it is still relatively widespread. This presentation analyzes some issues associated with this and tries to define recurring patterns of Italian into English translation.

Ambiguous formulations, obscure concepts, and linguistic faux pas in the source text are well-known problems that can turn a translation into a daunting challenge. What did the author really mean, what went wrong, and how can we appropriately convey the message to the reader? This presentation will analyze the possible reasons for the failure of the source text to fulfill its purpose, the options we have to clarify certain puzzling points, and the approach the translator can adopt to draw on for information. Using concrete examples, we will try and provide effective strategies to deliver a professional, reader-targeted translation.

The purpose of the Italian Language Division’s Annual Meeting is to take care of old and new business as well as discuss division activities. This year, we will also announce the election results and introduce the new officers for the 2006-2008 term. Come find out more about the division and learn how you can participate. All division members are encouraged to attend.

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Japanese
Click on the speaker name to view bio. Sessions are presented in English, unless otherwise noted.

One of the challenges of translating financial documents into Japanese is ensuring that industry-specific terms, particularly verbs, are properly translated. Many translators who are not familiar with financial terms tend to use a single, literal Japanese word throughout the document without knowing the real meaning of the English word. The presenter will introduce a series of industry-specific terms that are difficult to translate into Japanese, give a brief explanation of their meaning in a financial context, and then cover techniques on how to translate them using financial statements, offering circulars, and other financial materials.

During this Annual Meeting of our division, new officers will be elected and the course for their 2005-2007 administration charted. We’ll also review the division’s activities during the past year—from publication of our newsletter, The JLD Times, to our participation in this year’s IJET. All division members are encouraged to attend, and non-members are invited to come learn more about the Japanese Language Division.

This session will address the following questions from the perspective of both the translator and the agency: Where do I start? How do agencies view new translators? What specific skills/qualities/resources are agencies looking for? What Japanese-specific specialties are in greatest demand? Is my specialty in demand? What are the strengths/weaknesses of Japanese translators versus other languages? Which agencies are most interested in my specialty? Which in-house/government agencies or private businesses are most interested in Japanese? What is the most successful/systematic method for advertising myself? What level of success can I expect? Where is the future in Japanese translation?

This session will provide a brief overview of ATA's certification process, testing procedures, and grading standards. Participants will work through either a Japanese or English passage that is similar to the general passage on the exam. Graders in ATA's Certification Program will provide feedback on participants' translations.

English legal documents appear to be very complicated with many long sentences. The presenter will try to demystify the complex world of English legal writing using standard legal terms and phrases.

This presentation will cover basic concepts in manufacturing (monozukuri) and the famous Toyota Production System and related terminology. If you interpret or translate in manufacturing/engineering, this is a must! The session will be conducted in Japanese.

The Japanese Language Division invites Chinese and Korean translators to this first joint East-Asian languages session. We will have two panelists for each language pair: one who translates into English and one who translates out of English. Panelists will discuss linguistic similarities and differences, major types of translation/interpretation businesses, software (translation tools, dictionaries, etc.), schools/institutes to improve skills, and local resources in various countries. In addition, the panelists will demonstrate the nature of each language's unique two-byte character entry method via the keyboard. This session represents a unique opportunity to gain an overview of the major East-Asian languages. We welcome audience participation.

What makes a conference a high-level conference? It can be the importance of the key speakers or the importance of what they have to say—which is not always the same thing—or it can be the size of the conference. An interpreter must consider every job to be high-level and give their utmost effort to facilitating effective communication across the linguistic borders and other obstacles that divide a speaker from the audience. This presentation will focus on how to detect clues for effective conference interpreting and how to provide a convincing delivery for different audiences. Reference will be made to the speaker’s handbook for interpreters, A Booth with a View.

Professional translators often debate the relative merits of free translation and literal translation. An idiomatic expression is one linguistic pattern that cannot be translated literally. The speaker will present a series of Japanese idiomatic expressions and figures of speech that require the translator to translate meaning rather than words. Approaches for handling different types of expressions will be discussed. Audience participation is encouraged.

What did you like about this year's conference? What didn't you like? What type of presentation would be relevant to your work? What can the Japanese Language Division (JLD) do for you that it is not doing now? You can make your opinions known in this loosely structured discussion on conference planning, JLD policies and activities, and anything else important to JLD members. In this moderated forum, every participant's opinion will be heard.

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Nordic Languages
Click on the speaker name to view bio. Sessions are presented in English, unless otherwise noted.

In keeping with tradition, this session will jointly compare the translation of three pre-assigned texts from Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish into English. This is an excellent way for new learners to check their skills and for old pros to show their stuff.

The competence of Finnish audiovisual (AV) translators is based on a varied and thorough education and is characterized by high professional standards. While in many countries an AV translator is either a subtitler or a dubber, in Finland many AV translators do both. They also work as directors when the translation is recorded in the studio, and select the actors/readers for their translations. In domestic productions, translations are often produced in cooperation with the producers of the program. Participants will be shown a 15-minute documentary, produced by the Finnish Association for Translators and Interpreters, that illustrates these work processes.

The Nordic Division’s Annual Meeting gives members the chance to meet other Nordic translators and interpreters as well as to learn more about division activities. We will also announce the division’s election results and introduce the new officers for the 2006-2008 term. Both members and non-members are encouraged to attend.

This session will review the process and the progress achieved so far in establishing Swedish>English and English>Swedish ATA certification exams. We are hoping to obtain additional support from ATA members working in other language combinations. The session is open to all translators.

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Portuguese
Click on the speaker name to view bio. Sessions are presented in English, unless otherwise noted.

This presentation outlines the clinical thinking behind the mental status examination and introduces the best vocabulary for the mental status from three major countries that share the Portuguese language: Portugal, Brazil, and Cape Verde.

This presentation will use practical examples to demonstrate the challenges faced by translators working with travel guides.

In this session, we will compare an annual report from a Brazilian company, prepared according to Brazilian corporate law and Brazilian generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), with one from an American company, prepared according to U.S. GAAP, in order to identify the equivalent accounts in each language.

This forum is open to all Portuguese-language translators and interpreters to discuss issues related to translation, interpreting, and the profession as a whole. Some of the areas that will be covered are grammar, terminology, neologisms, editing, and pitfalls. Participants are encouraged to bring questions and suggestions.

Training for court interpreters is extremely important since mistakes can allow a criminal to go free or an innocent person to be convicted; or cause an unfit parent to retain custody of children or an able parent to be denied custody. Introducing interpreters to the legal system is a complicated affair since the system itself is complicated. This introductory session will explain the concepts of the legal system. The steps involved for each proceeding will also be delineated.

This will be an interactive presentation in which the audience participates in finding real-life solutions in Portuguese to vocabulary and expressions encountered in U.S. immigration court hearings.