ABRATES 7th International Conference
by guest author Teresa Maria Freixinho
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Attending the ABRATES 7th International Conference: a great opportunity to stand out and learn more about our industry.
Last weekend I attended the ABRATES 7th International Conference. The Brazilian Translators Association (ABRATES) is a nonprofit organization volunteer-run by its translators and interpreters elected members. It fosters knowledge sharing, career improvement, and networking among its members.
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For seven years now, ABRATES has organized impressive annual conferences. These events are attended by hundreds of people, not only senior linguists, but also beginners, language students, translation company owners, CAT tool reps, and sponsors from all over Brazil and abroad. These annual conferences are held in different cities in Brazil.
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Being my third time in a row attending this conference, I can truly recommend it. To be quite frank, my understanding of the whole translation & interpreting industry has improved a lot ever since. I’ve learned about new translation technologies, supporting materials, successful marketing practices, ethics procedures, etc. Additionally, these occasions are an excellent opportunity to meet interesting colleagues and prospective clients.
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Now, those who have never attended a translation & interpreting conference might ask themselves what really happens at one. Well, the structure is basically the same, although each conference is unique in terms of personal experience and talk sessions.
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In general, an international translation & interpreting conference is comprised of a series of talk sessions. They are delivered and interpreted in different languages and address different topics, covering all industry-related matters. These sessions are held simultaneously, at different rooms, throughout the whole event. It’s up to the attendees to choose what they find more interesting or convenient to them. In our latest ABRATES 7th International Conference, we had 1 opening interview, 82 conference sessions, 7 CAT Tool formal presentations, and 2 panels.
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Additionally, there are plenty of networking opportunities with colleagues and potential clients. This interaction usually takes place at coffee breaks, lunches or dinners. It so happens that you may be joyfully chatting with another attendee about your personal experience and the things you liked most at the conference, and then he or she suddenly asks you to send them your résumé because they actually run a translation business. Not bad, isn’t it?
At these conferences, there is also an exhibition hall, where CAT tool reps make themselves available for private demonstration, advice and sales, usually with significant discounts. Project managers from several translation companies are also there to smile at you and receive your business card. Well, this is what happens at translation & interpreting conferences in general, but what has actually happened at the ABRATES 7th International Conference? To that question, I will provide a very limited answer, based upon the few sessions I could attend and what I experienced. The event is far greater than that!
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This year, our conference started with an amazing and exciting surprise. We were all asked to stand up and sing the Brazilian anthem. We sang it with much enthusiasm. I felt as if that request was a call for us to be bold and believe in a better future for our beloved country, and for ourselves as professional translators and interpreters, in spite of all political and economic turmoil that has shaken our country in the past years. As our anthem say, we are “brave Brazilian people!” Therefore, discouragement is not an option.
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Patriotic feelings aside, one single detail drew our attention from the very beginning. The Brazilian anthem was interpreted by a young sign language interpreter. Paloma Bueno Fernandes, a professional interpreter from the city of São José dos Campos, did a fabulous job. Many of us couldn’t stop looking at her. As a matter of fact, the Brazilian anthem has extremely flourished and erudite lyrics. I usually catch myself wondering how resourceful and skilled interpreters must be. As a translator who predominantly works with written translations, I can read, think, rethink, translate and even edit my translations. However, my interpreter colleagues do not have this advantage. They must perform all these steps all-in-one, at lightning speed, simultaneously with the speakers they interpret. I suppose that the challenge might be even greater for sign language interpreters. But Paloma was there, interpreting our anthem to a deaf translator who also made a presentation during the conference. So, episodes like that are very useful for us to realize how rich and diversified our industry is.
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Next, Brazilian translator and Moravia MCO Renato Beninatto interviewed Cora Rónai, the daughter of an extremely talented translator, the late Paulo Rónai. He was a prolific translator and writer. He could speak 12 languages fluently and used to buy grammars from all over the world, especially those from dialect-speaking countries. Moreover, he also wrote some books himself, where he shared his experience as a translator and foreign language lover. Cora, also an acclaimed translator and journalist, told us many curiosities about her dad. He was a Hungarian Jewish who managed to come to Brazil to flee from the Nazi persecution, thanks to the intervention of the then President Getúlio Vargas, under the assumption that Rónai was the only Hungarian-Portuguese translator available. Therefore, to a certain extent, translation meant a safe conduct to him.
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After that pleasant interview, all attendees were invited for a networking and drinks, to greet our colleagues and to put names to faces. It was time for relaxation and socializing prior to the more exciting activities on the subsequent days.
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The second day of the ABRATES 7th International Conference was hectic with many different sessions to choose, CAT tool stations to visit, and contacts to make. I started by attending a session given by a group of translators called Ponte das Letras. They gave advice on how to provide services to publishing houses: do’s and don’ts. It was very interesting because technical translators tend to be completely unaware of this other translation field.
My next choice was a session by Sebastián Martín on the implementation of Machine Translation by Language Service Providers (LSP). It was delivered in Spanish, a language that I love listening to. I’ve noticed that ABRATES provided for many sessions on MT this year. It is still sort of taboo among many Brazilian translators, either because they do not know much about it, or because they fear of being forced to adhere to it. Sebastián spoke about the areas where this service is most frequently provided nowadays, and the current MT state-of-the-art. He concluded by saying that MT is a very useful reality for quick and immediate social media communication.
Then, it was time for another coffee break with delicious Brazilian cheese bread and more networking.
The next session that I chose was about how to start providing interpreting services: the first steps in this fascinating world, and how to attract and retain clients, provided by Helena Wergles and Manuela Sampaio. They emphasized ethical and commercial aspects of interpreting service providers. I have never provided interpreting services myself and don’t know if I am tailored to this task, but we never know. There are some interpreting courses being offered by distinguished companies and we should keep our minds open to new possibilities.
After that, I decided to visit the SDL stand and talk to the young brothers Jonathan and Leandro Fray, who represent this company in Brazil. I asked them to show me how retrofit and AutoCorrect effectively work. These are new features added to Studio 2015. Jonathan patiently demonstrated them to me. I became very impressed and am really considering upgrading my 2014 version, especially because they will grant a significant discount to all those who have attended ABRATES conference.
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Then, it was lunch time. We all headed to the same restaurant, which was the only one serving the SulAmérica Conference Center. The food was delicious and the group of colleagues I mingled with for lunch was simply perfect.
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After lunch, I rushed to Dominque Pivard (“the CAT Guru”) session about Wordfast Anywhere. Unfortunately, I arrived a little late because there was a huge line to pay for the meal at the restaurant. However, I could meet him in person at the coffee break and asked him if he could show me the alignment feature. Dominique is a very nice and humble person. I loved the fact that I met him, and that I was able to express all my admiration for his fantastic videos about CAT tools.
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The second day of the ABRATES 7th International Conference ended with a panel on Machine Translation (MT). Kirti Vashee, Ricardo Souza, Ronaldo Martins, and Marcelo Fassina talked about how the industry has been changing towards a broader implementation of MT. It seems that there has been much resistance to this topic among translators. Many linguists fear impositions to adopt MT systems, or the low rates by doing so. It is not exactly an apple pie subject among us; however, I enjoyed listening to different perspectives, especially the considerations on how it really consists. If it is a reality, we should at least be open to knowing more about it.
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On Sunday morning, my first option was Cris Silva’s presentation. Cris is a skilled Brazilian interpreter and translator who lives in the United States. She came to Brazil to tell us a little about her off-the-booth working experiences. I got amazed by all preparatory details necessary to carry out interpreting assignments. Cris spoke about how it is like working outdoors at harsh weather conditions, or inside military training facilities. She made a pleasant presentation with clear details and well-prepared PowerPoint slides. Interpreters work very hard prior to any assignment. They must care a lot about studying terminology, preparing glossaries, taking equipment, and even food to the places they go to provide interpreting services.
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Next, it was time to learn about the PMs’ criteria for selecting freelance translators. This talk was given by Eugenia Echave from SpeakLatam, a Spanish translation company based in Argentina. She talked under the LSP perspective and built her presentation on the analysis of actual cover letters she received, commenting on the characteristics of good and bad ones. Eugenia said that many résumés are not read because their respective cover letters fail to attract PM’s attention, either because they do not provide essential information, such as language pair, or simply because they are badly written. She also gave tips on how to approach PMs.
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After that, legal translators flocked to a large room to listen to Marina Bevilacqua, who is a skilled translator and lawyer. Marina delivered a very interesting talk on legal translation in the field of arbitration. She explained some terminology usually found in arbitration texts, and commented on excerpts of an English translation of the Arbitration Law.
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Following the first coffee break, I attended a very pleasant session by a financial translator called João Vicente Paulo Júnior, who addressed the importance of pursuing excellence to look for better-paying clients. The room was packed to capacity. Everybody was interested in learning how to get better earnings. It was a really enticing presentation.
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For the remaining time until lunch, I spent strolling around the exhibition hall, looking at books and doing more networking.
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After lunch, we all attended a panel on copyrights applied to literary translation. It was when I thought of picking up the multi-channel receiver to listen to the respective interpreting. So, I spent some time having fun while listening to English, Spanish, and Italian interpreting. It was very interesting because one of the guest speakers was Renata Pettengill, a literary publishing coordinator who works for one of the largest publishing groups in Brazil. She talked about her job dealing with freelance translators and provided a sincere analysis of the literary translation market. Another speaker in that panel was an Italian translator called Daniele Petruccioli. He shared his experience with copyrights practices in Italy. Ernesta Ganzo, a translator with a legal academic background, answered some questions about copyrights under the Brazilian law. Translators Lenita Esteves and Petê Rissatti also participated in that panel. They talked about payment practices in Brazil; whether receiving a lump sum, a copyright percentage, or both, for a book translation.
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Finally, the conference officially ended with the usual door prizes, and books, T-shirts, software vouchers, and other gifts were given to the lucky ones by the hands of sponsors’ representatives, including those from other translation associations, such as the American Translators Association (ATA), and Globalization and Localization Association (GALA).
Outgoing President Liane Lazoski was acknowledged for her good services to the association. She got very moved by the sudden and surprising appearance of her long-time friend actress Vera Holz, who entered the closing session room with flowers to her. They sang together on the stage, acapella style, and attendees were also invited to join. Lazoski announced that ABRATES had reached the hallmark of 1,000 members during the conference.
President-elect William Cassemiro then took office to lead ABRATES up to the 2017 Conference. Cassemiro, a translator from São Paulo, seems to be committed to perform his duties with ethics. We wish him good luck and good ideas to carry out his new assignment.
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I hope that more translators and interpreters can benefit from the same treasures that I have enjoyed by attending the ABRATES 7th International Conference. I look forward to seeing more colleagues from other countries coming to Brazil for the next ABRATES International Translation & Interpreting Conference, which will take place in São Paulo, in 2017. On the other hand, I am also considering attending translation conferences in other countries.
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After all, we are a global community!
The ABRATES 7th International Translation & Interpreting Conference was held on June 3 _ 5, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, at the Centro de Convenções SulAmérica.
Renato Beninatto interviews Cora Rónai at the opening of the Abrates 7th International Translation & Interpreting Conference.
Lunch time: The line was huge. In spite of the long line, I had a good time in the company of nice and friendly colleagues.
Meeting Dominique Pivard (the “CAT Guru”).
The MT panel was interpreted into Brazilian sign language.
Cris Silva speaks about her experience as an interpreter living in the United States.
Panel on copyrights and literary translation. Panelists: Daniele Petruccioli, Ernesta Ganzo, Lenita Esteves and Petê Rissatti.
Outgoing President Liane Lazoski and actress Vera Holtz sing acapella style.
The author
Teresa Maria Freixinho is an EN>PT-BR translator. She lives in Rio de Janeiro and works with business, corporate, legal, environment and journalism documents. She has 16 years of experience as a full-time translator and is also an ABRATES member.
In her spare time, she enjoys reading, going out for a walk along the Flamengo beach, and having lunch with friends.
