Conference – From Babel to Google Translate, Varadero, Cuba

ShapeCollageThe Tenth Cuba-Québec Symposium on Translation, Terminology and Interpretation will be held in Varadero, Cuba from 6 to 8 December 2016, and is organized by the Asociación Cubana de Traductores e Intérpretes (ACTI) and the Ordre des traducteurs, terminologues et interprètes agréés du Québec (OTTIAQ).

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Canadian radio show discusses court interpreting

Babel, a new show on the Canadian radio station CBC Radio One hosted by an Argentinian with a passion for languages “explores the impact of diversity, technology, and community on Canadian English”.

This 28-minute episode of the show discusses a variety of language-related topics including multilingual families, court interpreting, medical interpretation and forensic linguistics.

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Taniguchi case outcome – A good or a bad thing for justice?

Following on from my February post about the US Supreme Court case differentiating translation costs and interpretation costs, today we have a second thought-provoking guest post from Tony Rosado (see his earlier post here). In addition to discussing the outcome of the case, he also gives some very good advice on how to deal with its aftermath.

Tony has been a freelance conference interpreter for almost 30 years and is Federally, Colorado, and New Mexico certified. He also qualified as an attorney from the Escuela Libre de Derecho in Mexico City. You may also be interested in his English/Spanish blog. Tony runs Rosado Professional Solutions in Chicago.

“After watching many of our colleagues celebrating because the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed the definition of an interpreter in the Taniguchi case, and more importantly, after reviewing the briefs, oral arguments, full written decision, and the dissenting opinion by Justice Ginsburg, I wonder if this decision should be cause for joy or grounds for concern.

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Interpretation versus translation at the US Supreme Court

I think that most people reading this will agree that interpretation (or interpreting) is not the same as translation. However, outside the strict circle of the profession, the difference is not so well known.

Today we shall see how this distinction is causing a real furore!

The US Supreme Court is currently deliberating over whether costs of translation differ from costs of interpretation, in a case involving a Japanese man. Indeed the transcript of last Tuesday’s session goes into great detail. It’s 63 pages long (perhaps demonstrating the complexity of the issues involved), but well worth reading if the issue piques your interest.

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