Advanced Skills and Training Day

In legal translation, the stakes are too high to risk over- or under-translating a single concept. However, that doesn't mean legal translators are expected to translate word-for-word like machines. Instead, we are expected to balance fidelity to source and transparency using our subject matter expertise and multilingual skills to render natural sounding translations that objectively get the message across. In this workshop, we'll practice an effective method to achieve just that, even when working with different legal systems. We'll learn several techniques used by legal practitioners to interpret legal texts and practice how to implement them in our own work.

To deliver excellent work, medical translators need research skills that go beyond posting questions in online forums. In this workshop, we'll explore some advanced skills and techniques that will help translators move beyond word-by-word decoding. We'll discuss how to understand the broader context of the document. We'll also cover how to find information about diseases, treatments, and other topics, how to anticipate wording that may appear in the text, and other techniques to help us learn what we need to know.

Effective and efficient terminology management and compilation can mean the difference between success and failure when packaging quality, International Standards Organization 17100-certified translation projects. Translators can help expedite delivery without compromising consistency by using quality, well-prepared manual and automated termbases and glossaries. This workshop will cover all aspects of terminology management and compilation, including practical hands-on demonstrations and clear explanations. Advanced computer-assisted translation tool-related tips and tricks will be included.

Attendees will receive an overview of financial and life planning options, strategies, and vehicles for U.S.-based freelancers. They will learn the difference between saving and investing, various methods to meet short, medium, and long-term financial goals, and important questions to raise when talking to financial/investment advisors and when making investment decisions. The workshop will also cover "life planning" decisions that have an impact on financial and retirement planning, such as planning for major life events. Tax aspects of saving and investing will also be covered.

Unless you're an American Sign Language interpreter, there are no academic programs for training interpreter trainers in the U.S. Instead, most of us self-teach, go to workshops and conferences, or, if we're lucky, find a great mentor. This workshop will provide straightforward pedagogy and practical strategies for teaching consecutive, simultaneous, and sight translation. Through demonstration and practice, attendees will learn how to teach the component skills of interpreting and their proper sequencing. If you're thinking about stepping into the trainer's role or are already teaching, this workshop will give you the solid foundational skills you need.

This workshop will review the laws that affect special education in the U.S. and how they affect the interpreter's decisions regarding protocols and codes of ethics. Best practices regarding interventions for linguistic clarification or due to potential cultural barriers to communication during an interpreting session will also be reviewed. Exercises will include practice scripts designed to highlight some of the challenges that interpreting for special education poses even for a skilled interpreter. Attendees will leave the workshop with a better understanding of the hybrid legal nature of this type of interpreting.

For much of today’s content, editing a draft produced by MT is simply the way translation is done for segments not found in a TM. This workshop provides a fundamental understanding of what goes into post-editing projects so that attendees can develop skills for keeping pace in our rapidly changing industry. We'll cover a brief introduction to MT, a survey of major MT systems, an overview of how MT is trained and integrated into translation environments, best-practices for post-editing and measuring post-editing efficiency, and compensation strategies. Attendees will also produce, evaluate, and discuss a post-editing sample.

As some court systems have reduced the rates for judiciary interpreters, many court interpreters actively look for assignments outside the court system. There are plenty of opportunities available, and depositions, which are typically held at law offices, often require interpreters. There is little training focusing on the role of interpreters in depositions, and this workshop will provide a highly detailed overview of the structure of depositions, the parties involved, objectives, and terminology. The speaker will also offer tips on finding clients who may need deposition interpreters.

Specialized translation is partly about terminology, but also about complex ideas and relationships conveyed through textual features beyond the lexicon. In this workshop, we'll explore the features of specialized text to sharpen your skills as a technical communicator and become an indispensable "human in the loop" even in an increasingly automated environment. Using plain language strategies for textuality (coherent building of meaning), you will learn secrets for drafting cogent text and fixing gaps, mistakes, and obscurity in poorly written pieces.

Translation is a highly skilled intellectual service, yet many translators and translation companies sell themselves short by billing pennies for words and trying to compete on price—a losing proposition as machine translation enters the public consciousness and nibbles at the market from below. This workshop will focus on how independent translators and translation companies can build healthy, realistic, and rewarding client relationships that elevate our own business and the profile of our profession as a whole. Ample time will be set aside for Q&A and for attendees to discuss their own professional situations and solicit tips from the speaker and and the group.

This intermediate workshop is intended for audiovisual translators who have never translated or timed files using commercial subtitling software. After a brief review of subtitling vocabulary and format, attendees will learn how to master the space and time constraints of the field via exercises in truncation and segmentation. The workshop will also cover hands-on timing exercises in a subtitling program, including the best shortcuts. Attendees will leave the workshop having acquired confidence in the use of subtitling software to start creating, editing, and translating files on their own. Linguists in all languages are welcome.

Interpreters are called upon to interpret simultaneously in a variety of settings, each with its own set of challenges and expectations. Even so, a core set of strategies has emerged from over five decades of conference interpreter training that can help any simultaneous interpreter improve their performance. This workshop will help you look at your own interpreting with a newfound critical eye and provide you with key strategies to improve your simultaneous interpreting. If you feel like you've plateaued in your performance or you're stuck in a rut, this workshop is for you!