This information comes from member associations of FIT and is reprinted from Translatio.
Austrian Associations succeed in Raising Awareness on the Difference Between Translators and Interpreters
In a joint effort, the German-speaking professional associations loosely organised within the framework of what is called “Bremer Runde”, which meets several times a year to discuss issues of common interest, addressed the subject of the frequent though mistaken use of the terms “translator/translation” and “interpreter/interpretation” in the German
language.
In Austria, five independent professional associations work together under the umbrella of the “Translationsplattform” (www.translationsplattform.at), in particular to attract more attention and to give more weight to their arguments when reaching out jointly to the public or to specific stakeholders.
Acting upon the discussions within “Bremer Runde”, the Austrian associations got together to draft and send out letters to the media and to the editors of “Österreichisches Wörterbuch” (a standard monolingual German-language
dictionary that is widely used in Austrian schools). The letters clearly outlined the differences between the activities performed by translators and interpreters and proposed definitions to be added to the dictionary. They were accompanied
by a joint press release on the topic.
The Austrian associations were very pleased with the media echo their efforts received. The response of the dictionary editors is especially worth mentioning, as they welcomed the valuable input and easy-to-understand presentation of the terms in question and promised to take account of the suggestions in the next edition of the dictionary.
Dagmar Sanjath, Secretary General of UNIVERSITAS Austria, Interpreters and
Translators’ Association,
www.universitas.org
UNI 11591:2015 – Italy has its own national standard to certify translators and interpreters
Three years in the making, the new UNI standard has finally been given the green light by UNI (Italian Organization for Standardization) on September 10, 2015. It was proposed by AITI and
written in collaboration with AIDAC, AIIC, Assointerpreti, ANITI, AssiITIG and TradInFounder under the supervision of esteemed professors from the Università di Bologna, DIT Forlì, Trieste and Fondazione Universitaria San Pellegrino.
The new standard provides requirements for the knowledge, skills and competence expected from individual TSPs and ISPs in accordance with the CEN GUIDE 14:2010 (“Common policy guidance for
addressing standardisation on qualification of professions and personnel”) and the European Qualification Framework (EQF).
It outlines eight professional profiles:
conference interpreter, legal interpreter,
healthcare/medical interpreter, business interpreter, technical-scientific translator,
audio-visual script translator and dialogue writer, legal translator, and language localisation professional.
The UNI 11591:2015 was recently presented during
a road-show in Genoa, Rome, Venice, Florence,
Turin, Trento, Trieste, Ancona, and Bologna with a large audience of professionals in attendance. Plans to be in Naples and Sicily in early 2016 are
under way.
Third-party certification for translators and interpreters is likely to be available next year, once the certification schemes are drafted in compliance with ISO 17024. A milestone in the global translation and interpretation industry, the UNI 11591:2015 provides guidance for the qualification of professional translators and interpreters on the market and their clients.
Sandra Bertolini, Sandro Corradini,
Orietta Olivetti, presidenza@aiti.org
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