Translators Association Offers Bridge to Global Issues

March 4, 2009 - PRLog -- San Francisco: At its February General Meeting, the Northern California Translators Association — the largest and most active chapter of the American Translators Association — reaffirmed its commitment to supporting local translators and interpreters in their work of serving as a bridge to other markets in a period of difficult global economic and social conditions. According to a recent market survey conducted in eight non-English-speaking countries, “nine out of ten buyers prefer products and information that are available in their native languages” (Common Sense Advisory, Inc.).

“Some have called the translation industry recession-proof. It’s not,” said NCTA President Tuomas Kostiainen, an English-to-Finnish translator. “But maybe it should be, because as struggling companies chase business opportunities around the world and governments seek an internationally coordinated solution to the worldwide financial crisis, the role of professional translators and interpreters in facilitating high-level global communication is critical.”

As an example of the association’s commitment to showcasing global issues, the February meeting featured an interview with Haitham Jasim, an Iraqi interpreter who recently emigrated to the Bay Area after working as an interpreter for U.S. forces in Iraq during the war. Past NCTA presentations have focused on translator training, machine interpretation, literary translation, and much more.

At the February meeting, NCTA members installed a board of directors fully committed to organizing the association’s vibrant agenda of social and professional activities for the extremely active Bay Area translation and interpretation community. Re-elected were president Tuomas Kostiainen (San Rafael), vice president Yves Avérous (San Francisco) and directors Raffaella Buschiazzo (San Francisco) and Sonia Wichmann (Berkeley). J. Mónica Pérez (El Sobrante) was newly elected and joins continuing board members Paula Dieli (San Francisco), Dagmar Dolatschko (Redwood City), Stafford Hemmer (San Francisco), Norma Kaminsky (Berkeley) and Elisa Rossi (San Jose).

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About NCTA: The Northern California Translators Association (NCTA), with nearly 600 individual and corporate members, is the largest and most active chapter of the 10,000-member American Translators Association (http://www.atanet.org). NCTA offers its members a website rich in resources, a quarterly journal featuring a wide variety of topics of professional interest, a searchable online database that enables clients to find qualified linguists in 226 language combinations, and—above all—numerous opportunities for edification and interaction through quarterly association meetings with guest speakers, regular continuing education seminars, an online forum and countless social events in the form of happy hours, lunches, picnics and parties! To learn more about the association, become a member or find a qualified translator, interpreter or translation company, please visit http://www.ncta.org or call +1 (510) 845-8712.