ATA - Steven Hanley's email

Jane Lamb-Ruiz wrote:

e- almost no opportunities for higher education...there are several universities providing certificates and only one with a full-time program (Monsterrey). Certificates are fine but do not replace a full-time, four-year university curriculum.

Jane Lamb-Ruiz wrote:

>1) Professional associations generally are for independent >professionals and not corporate entities.

Not true. Please let us eschew the naive view and try to be realistic. I am a licensed attorney in Michigan and have no illusions that the big firms across the USA call the shots within their forums despite the fact that the mebership roll only names individuals. Until recently, attorneys could not combine in corporations that limited their liability in any way. The ABA, an elitist organization, has a very hard time reaching solo practitioners and small firms.

>2) The ATA was started by Agencies and not independent >translators.
>3) The lack of an independent, strong association for >translators impacts indepedendent translators negatively.
>4) Their COMMON INTERESTS are not defended at the Federal >level.
>5) Ergo, there is no official government certification (except >for Spanish and Navajo).

And even this, though law, has not been funded by Congress and has not been instituted. And you want to weaken the ATA by making it a freelancer organization? Have you ever stood in your congressperson's office and made a case for an issue? There is no reason in principle or fact that you cannot send an email off now and lobby yourself. Get engaged!

>6) There is no one in DC lobbying for the interests of >independent translators
>7) No independent or government standards body
>8) Independent translators basically have:
>a- no legal status
>b- no visibility as a profession

I disagree. The news is filled these days with references to translation issues.

>c- no formal certification process as in a sworn tranlator >scenario
>d- no recognition under the law and by society in general
>e- almost no opportunities for higher education...there are >several universities providing certificates and only one with a >full-time program (Monsterrey). Certificates are fine but do >not replace a full-time, four-year university curriculum.
>as a RESULT OF THIS, there is/are;
>a- poor quality
>b- poor educational opportunities
>c- no legal status
>d- no societal recognition
>e- no defense of interest


>If one considers that professional translators are the same as >professional engineers, architects, lawyers, doctors, CPAs, >etc. then, I think it is pathetic that the richest country in >the world does not have an independent association of >professional translators. All these other professions have >lobbyists looking out for their interests and associations >which defend their interests and the profession.

We are NOT the same as those professions, we are different, and each of those professions made their case in the early and mid-20th century (there is a rich bibliography on certification that is never cited) -- each made its pitch for recognition on the basis of its distinctiveness from, not its similarity to, the other \"free professions.\" We are going to get nowhere at all by pleading our similarity to doctors and lawyers, that you cannot see this. We are distinctive and drawing out that quality and how it merits recognition is the challenge that faces us and any other profession.

The "similarity to" argument and referencing of other professional organizations is a hopeless canard that can\'t and shouldn\'t draw any legislator or congressman or client in.

>So, I agree with Steve Hanley. The ATA is a hybrid organization >and, as far as I know, the only one where both corporate and >individual members are recognized. I feel an organization of >independent translators without corporations is needed.

The ATA obviously has to do more to make itself relevant to the \"average translator\" (I include myself here) if this kind of response is at all typical. It\'s a pretty harsh sentence: split it, destroy it. That such large results proceed from such small causes!

>I had to go to France to become a professional translator and >attend a university on a full-time basis for three years after >graduating from an American university. It was great. I loved >going to the Sorbonne\'s translation school. But I ask: imagine >if all the doctors,engineers et alia had to do the same?

>UNESCO is the home of the world federation of translators [I >think my memory is correct re the name]. I invite all of you to >take a look at the number of countries\' national translation >organizations that are listed on their web site. By the way, >the ATA is a member in full standing.

>Cheers