Founded in 1979, The National Center for Interpretation (NCI) is a research and outreach unit at the University of Arizona located in Tucson, Arizona. From its inception, the unit was charged with promoting intercultural communication and social justice for language minorities, mainly through training and testing for interpreters and translators. A corollary objective was that of advancing the professionalism of the field. Our previous director and founder, Dr. Roseann Gonzalez, provided the groundbreaking work that lead to the establishment of the process to assess and certify federal court interpreters in Spanish, Navajo, and Haitian Creole. Her work set the standard for interpreter testing for the entire profession of court interpreting, and helped to expand interpreter testing and training across many regions and professional fields in the USA. In 1983, Dr. Gonzalez founded the then 3-week Summer Court Institute for Court Interpretation. She also created the Medical Interpreter Training Institute and both institutes’ curricula continue to be valid -- and even considered a gold standard by some-- in today’s ever-changing world of interpreting.

Alejandro Cavalitto

Have you done post-editing work? Have your clients approached you about it? Have machine translation and post-editing changed the way you work, or the way you present your services to clients? There is a short survey running on the topic. If you have a few minutes, your input would be greatly appreciated:

Please share your experiences in this 18-question survey »

Jared Tabor

In the previous post, we took a look at CAT tool use among translators. Now we will delve into this subject some more, examining which tools are being used, how translators are deciding on those tools, favorites, least favorites, and recommendations.

And if you are a reader who likes charts and graphs, you're in luck. 

Jared Tabor

Every now and then, the subject of the use of Translation Memories (TMs) and Computer-aided Translation (CAT) tools comes up in the ProZ.com forums and elsewhere. Should you use a CAT tool? Why? Which one? Why (again)? Are there kinds of work where a CAT tool will not be useful?

In a previous State of the industry report for freelance translators, the word on TMs and CAT tools was to take them as "a given." A high percentage of translators use at least one CAT tool, and reports on the increased productivity and efficiency that can accompany their use are solid enough to indicate that, unless the kind of translation work you do by its very nature excludes the use of a CAT tool, you should be using one.

Jared Tabor

Hi translators and interpreters.

There have been significant changes in translation and interpreting in recent years. How are you, as a freelancer, adapting?

Henry

There is a short survey running, about tech trends and translators. Have you incorporated any new tech in your work recently? Are there advances in technology for translation and translators that concern you, or you are happy about? Take a few moments to respond to the survey; your input will be greatly appreciated. 

See the survey here »

Jared Tabor

The active shutdown of the federal government is the longest in United States history, entering its 32nd day as of this writing.

Over 400,000 federal workers are not being paid and others have been put on a temporary leave (furloughed).  The United States media has focused on the long lines at the airport and national parks are left unattended since the shutdown started on December 22, 2018.

How has the government shutdown impacted freelancers in the language industry? 

Mike Donlin

AT&T has launched a popular series of amusing advertisements called “Just OK Is Not OK”.

In this campaign, the world's largest telecommunications company, created situations where a service provider is telling a concerned client that they are "OK" at their work. The humorous situations involve a tattoo artist, surgeon, an auto repair shop suggesting they are not bad, but maybe also not very good at these tasks.

Keep this clever campaign in mind when updating your professional or business profile for 2019. 

Mike Donlin

Blogs started to appear in this format at the start of 2018. The content at ProZ.com has been used to discuss language industry trends, inform of site enhancements, and sometimes just to share a laugh. 

Of the 98 posts shared in 2018 from 12 different authors, here are the 10 that were most read.

Mike Donlin

Do you have translation needs? ProZ.com a uniquely effective place to meet capable freelancers and translation companies. Before beginning a search for a translator or translation company, it is important to determine what service is needed, and what is the cost.

This blog post takes some timeless thoughts included in a joint project of ProZ.com members and guests in the ProZ.com Wiki, already eight years old, and repurposes here for today. 

Mike Donlin

Dear members,

Next year marks 20 years of ProZ.com helping language professionals to expand their businesses and improve their work, while networking and also having fun. Here's a glimpse/reminder of what ProZ.com looked like back in the beginning.

Since then, ProZ.com paying members have been using an ever-growing suite of services and benefits the site provides to take their careers to the next level. They are also the reason the site has been able to offer those tools and opportunities, and the reason the site is available to everyone. So if you are a paying member of ProZ.com and are reading this, thank you! The ProZ.com site team is here to serve you.

Here is what has been going on at ProZ.com since the last report to members.

Jared Tabor

Recent enhancements at ProZ.com make it easier to connect businesses with their employees. Business employees may each have their own ProZ.com profile, while sharing certain aspects like business identification, membership and ability to act on behalf of a business.

Sharing a general account to achieve business member benefits will no longer be necessary. Business entities will have their own business page with vital organizational information, including a list of representative employees. Profiles will be for freelancers or for representative employees associated to a business entity.

Mike Donlin

The results are in. Thank you to everyone who nominated candidates, and all who voted in this year’s Community choice awards. Here are the winners in the translation-related categories:

Jared Tabor

The results are in. Thank you to everyone who nominated candidates, and all who voted in this year’s Community choice awards. Here are the winners in the interpreting-related categories:

Jared Tabor