Just to confirm, in case you wondered (see "On the Calendar" in this issue): "Non-Professional Translating and Interpreting" is a formal field of study.

The topic may make some of us flinch, but the work has existed for millennia and is worthy of study. Here's the official view in a blurb about this book:

Translation studies finds itself today at a stage where its traditional focus on translator and interpreter training and on the advancement of the status of translators and interpreters as professionals is no longer sufficient to address the complexity of real-life situations of translating and interpreting. As increasing numbers of non-professionals translate and interpret in a wider range of contexts and in more diversified forms, their work emerges not only as an alternative to established professional practice, but also as a distinctive phenomenon, which the discipline has yet to recognize as a noteworthy area of study.  

Check out the publication here. 

Yes. The 3RD INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE is on its way to Switzerland next year. (The first two were in Italy and Germany.)

This conference is quite serious and the call for papers is out.

Institute of Translation and Interpreting (IUED)

Zurich University of Applied Sciences,

5-7 May 2016 in Winterthur (a suburb of Zurich), Switzerland

A blog describes this topic non-professional interpreting and translation as "Probably the most widespread form of cultural and linguistic mediation .... Pushing the boundaries of many definitions of translation and interpreting, it encompasses a dynamic, under-researched field that is not necessarily subject to the norms and expectations that guide and constrain the interpreting and translation profession."

NPIT3 topics may include but are not limited to:

- Language brokering by children and adolescents

- Church and missionary interpreters and translators

- Non-professional AVT and new media (e.g. crowdsourcing, fansubbing, fandubbing, fanfiction)

- Non-professional translation/interpreting in crisis situations and war

- Interpreting in prisons

- Organization of non-professional interpreting and translation services (often called "language banks" in the United States)

Feel free to submit an abstract in English, or just ask for information. Or perhaps check out the blog.

What's not to love: 365 poems from many cultures in five languages to read as you ride the bus. The four other languages are Spanish, Russian, Vietnamese and Somali.

The poems were selected by real poets. The goal was to create cross-cultural poetry that reflects real lives in Seattle. Here's a sample.

What does home mean to you?

There is a rice field in Manila that smells like

The nape of my mother's neck.

This is how I have dreamt her for many moons.

Heart strings tuned to the chord of umbilical

I strum her song with each breath in

Remembrance of who I am from.

-Kyle Ricci, 29, "Momma's song."

TCI TOT Fall 2014

The Community Interpreter®: Training of Trainers  

Are you an interpreter trainer? Take yourself to the next level. Join a savvy team of 122 licensed trainers across the U.S. in 28 U.S. states, DC and six other countries.

The Community Interpreter®: Training of Trainers (TOT) is coming! July 27 to August 1 in Columbia, Maryland. This program prepares you to deliver a 40-hour certificate program in medical, educational or social services interpreting (or all three). It also licenses you to deliver a one-day workshop in medical terminology. The licensing for both programs is FREE.

This TOT is led by Marjory Bancroft, MA, who founded the program, and Katharine Allen, MA, Co-President of InterpretAmerica.

Intro to Simul Summer 2014

This TOT teaches you how to deliver the most up-to-date, in-depth dynamic certificate program in the country. Check out the flier for information about The Community Interpreter®, the TOT flier for TOT details or the training calendar for cost and logistics. 

Introduction to Simultaneous Interpreting

Meanwhile, our two-day workshop on simultaneous interpreting has drawn interest from other states. Join the fun on June 12-13 here in Maryland. We'd love to have you join us and our amazing trainer, James Plunkett!