Another Annual New York Circle of Translators Picnic took place on June 14. Its designated dream summer location was initially Central Park. However, the inclement weather surprised everybody, and another location was found at the last minute. This didn’t prevent members of the group from coming together to discuss recent translation industry matters with amazing involvement.
This rainy Saturday tested all the members at once when they received a message about a sudden but totally necessary change of the location. Ultimately, we met at a Fairfield Inn & Suites New York Manhattan/Central Park thanks to the organizational skills of Viktoryia Baum, President of the New York Circle of Translators. She took the time to greet all arriving guests by the entry door of a cozy basement cafeteria while people trickled in. Many members of the Board were also in attendance, including Elizabeth Herron-Sweet, Vice President, Anthony Alencar, Program Director, and Randal Gernaat, Treasurer.
After an official welcome and, to most of us, the first meet-and-greet with President Baum, we were also informed by Elizabeth about available archives of printed issues of the Gotham Translator, the NY Circle of Translators’ long-running newsletter. Everybody could have a look at these gems from years past by coming up to a separate table and admiring the writing craft. The organizers also reminded the guests that another edition of Charles M. Stern Awards will soon be available for members to pursue professional development and elevate existing skills to improve chances of finding good work in the ever-changing market.
It was great meeting colleagues whom you don’t get to see too often. The long table was full of colleagues catching up and having interesting, varied discussions.
I reconnected with some friends I met at last year’s holiday event (I am a relatively new member) and managed to make a few new connections. The meeting was engaging and educational, full of purpose, and a reminder of how important the Circle is for professionals who take care of linguistic clarity for those New Yorkers who are not yet proficient in English by offering translation and interpretation services.
Viktoryia reminded everyone at the end of the event that another forthcoming occasion for networking will be The Evolving Linguist Conference, graciously organized by several partnering organizations: The Delaware Valley Translators Association (DVTA), the New York Circle of Translators (NYCT), ATA’s Spanish and Portuguese Language Divisions, and Rutgers University–New Brunswick. The event will take place in September 2025 (more information is available here: https://dvta.org/dvta-event/the-evolving-linguist-conference/?mc_cid=819ac1fcd0&mc_eid=UNIQID).
All in all, it was a successful event and, although the indoor location ended up working out well, we all hope the weather will be more cooperative so we can see each other in Central Park in 2026!
Sylwia Ogrodniczak – Contributing writer to the Gotham, born and raised in Poland, New Yorker since 2017. An avid lover of languages, a linguist, creative writer. Alumni of Wroclaw University, a proud owner of Translation Certificate at NYU. On an everyday basis, she loves to challenge linguistic complexities while working for the City of New York. Still excited about finding stone-set rules of the commas positioning in the language of American English. After hours a die-hard fan of jazz describes what she hears, and “translates” music impressions on her blog.
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