A new T&I association is born: IAPTI

Let me also present the names of the IAPTI founding members and officers:


Founding members:
Atenea Acevedo, Lucille Barnes, María Leticia Cazeneuve, Maria Corinaldesi, María Eugenia Díaz Bancalari, Inés García Botana, Héctor Gomá, Gisela Herrera, Aurora Humarán, Mariana Idiart, Maria Karra, Patricia Labastié, Marcela Losavio, Luciana Lovatto, Claudia Martel, Gabriela Mejías, Marcela Mestre, Eva Moreda, Santiago Murias, Dan Newland, María Florencia Otero, Patricia Pereyra, Eduardo Pérez, Gabriela Pflügler, Germán Porten, María Natalia Rezzonico, Alejandro Tolaba Arias, Sergio Viaggio, Lorena Vicente, José Luis Villanueva Senchuk, Mariano Vitetta, Fernando Walker, Natalia Zudaire

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

President: Aurora Matilde Humarán
Vice President: Lorena Vicente
Secretary-General: María Corinaldesi
Treasurer: Inés García Botana
Member: Germán Porten
Member: Lucille Barnes
Alternate Member: Claudia Martel
Alternate Member: Dan Newland

Ethics Committee

Ralf Lemster (President)
Dan Newland (Vice President)
María Karrá
Santiago Murias
Atenea Acevedo
Marcela Losavio
Giuliana Buscaglione


COMMITTEES

Foreign Relations Committee
Head: María Karrá
Members: Magda Dziadosz - Gabriela Mejías – Dan Newland – Christine Schmit – Cristina Santos – Alicia Palmero – María Corinaldesi – Uldis Liepkalns – Rosi Dueñas

Institutional Relations Committee
Board of Directors

Rates and Fees Committee
Head: Claudia Martel
Members: Aurora Humarán - Lorena Vicente – José Luis Villanueva Senchuk – Cristóbal del Río Faura – Mariana Idiart - Cristina Santos

Market Watch
Head: Chani Demuijlder
Members: María Karrá - Cristóbal del Río Faura – Uldis Liepkalns – Mariana Idiart - Natalia Zudaire – Cristina Santos – Andrea Riffo - David Russi – Giuliana Buscaglione

Cultural Committee
Head: Sergio Viaggio
Members: Eva Moreda – Berni Armstrong - Christine Schmit – Julio Arturo Torres Jaubert – Dan Marasescu – Aurora Humarán – Mariano Vitetta

Interpretation Committee
Head: José Luis Villanueva Senchuk
Members: Romina Berardi – Cristina Santos - Magda Dziadosz

Legal Affairs Committee
Head: Mariano Vitteta
Members: María Natalia Rezzonico – María Eugenia Díaz Bancalari - Isabelle Louis – María Teresa Durán

Membership Liaison Committee
Heads: María Florencia Otero / Eduardo Pérez
Members: Luciana Lovatto – Gisela Herrera – Romina Berardi – Gabriela Mejías – Rosi Dueñas – María Teresa Jones Acebal – Alejandro Tolaba Arias

University Liaison Committee
Head: María Corinaldesi / Patricia Pugliese
Members: Berni Armstrong - Christine Schmit- Santiago Murias – Eva Moreda – María Karrá – Aurora Humarán – Lorena Vicente – Claudia Martel

Student Liaison Sub-Committee
Head: Fernando Walker
Members: Gabriela Mejías - Leticia Cazeneuve - Alejandro Tolaba Arias – Laura Leotta

Mentoring Committee
Head: Özden Arıkan
Members: Kim Metzer - Aurora Humarán – José Luis Villanueva Senchuk

Technology Committee
Head: Héctor Gomá
Members: Natalia Zudaire - Mariana Idiart – María Teresa Jones Acebal

Mendoza Bureau
Natalia Zudaire

Córdoba Bureau
Patricia Pereyra
Alejandro Tolaba Arias

Rosario / Santa Fe Bureau
Heads: Marcela Mestre – Fernando Walker
Members: Gisela Herrera – Patricia Labastié – Luciana Lovatto - Andrés Enjuto

Patagonia Bureau
Dan Newland

U.S. Chapter
Head: María Karrá
Members: Susana Galilea – Isabelle Louis - David Russi – Rosi Dueñas

UK / Spain Chapter
Head: Eva Moreda
Members: Cristina Santos - Jerónimo Fernández Martín Ondarza – Emilio Abraham

Germany Chapter
Head: Gabriela Pflügler
Members: Chani Demuijlder – Christine Schmit

Mexico Chapter
Head: Atenea Acevedo
Members: Yaotl Altan – Julio Arturo Torres Jaubert

Chile Chapter
Andrea Riffo

Russia Chapter
Alejandro González

IAPTI Forum
Héctor Gomá (General Coordinator - Technical)
María Karrá (Coordinator)
Uldis Liepkalns (Coordinator)

Admissions Committee
Sergio Viaggio - Inés García Botana - Lorena Vicente - Aurora Humarán - Eva Moreda - Andrea Riffo - Christine Schmit

Honorary Members
Mona Baker - Lucille Barnes - Valentín García Yebra - Fernando Navarro - Sergio Viaggio ▲ Collapse

I am sorry not to share the happiness and to give the congratulations as of the rest of my companions for the creation of a translators new association on a global scale.

Sincerely, I believe that to keep on dividing the translators in multiple associations at national and most at international level (an International Federation of Translators exists already (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Federation_of_Translators) is contradictory and especially useless, because the only thing that is obtained by that is to divide more and more an already very plural group and consequently to debilitate it with every new division.

I am sorry to be a thinking entity, although perhaps I think in a wrong way.

[Editado a las 2009-10-01 10:18 GMT] ▲ Collapse

Hi Pablo,
Do you think the FIT is addressing all the issues mentioned below?

"We are facing several problems today in our profession: crowdsourcing, emphasis on price instead of quality, flooding of the translation market with non-professional translators, limitations on the extent to which we can discuss rates and the need for a strong online presence where new translators can be guided by experts that have translators' interests in mind, among other concerns. This new scenario calls for new players to fill an existing gap by tackling these issues, and we aim to build up an international network to achieve this."

Best regards.
mm ▲ Collapse

I'm really excited about all the new sites, associations, and general diversification arising in the translation industry right now. Your group looks promising and I wish you all the best.

That said, there are some items in your code of ethics that seem problematic - I wonder if you could clarify:

1.2. Abstain from any and all sorts of conduct that might in any way harm or undermine IAPTI's interests.

Does this mean members are not allowed to express criticism of the association on internet forums, blogs, etc.? And how much "fair comment" is likely to be tolerated?

3.4. Do nothing that might favor unfair competition by offering or accepting fees below those generally considered to be proper and fair on the market where they practice their Profession.

I strongly object to anyone telling me how to run my business, especially in terms of rates, and I don't think I'm the only one. You don't see this as price fixing? I also wonder how this will be enforced. Will you provide your members with a list of the "proper" rates in their markets? Can you let me know in advance what the market rates in Germany are, so I can decide whether or not to join?

3.6. In cases in which they donate free services to non-profit organizations, never carry out work for which these groups might otherwise pay. Furthermore, inform the non-profit organization benefiting from these free services of the proper market value of same.

How are members to know whether groups would have otherwise paid? I don't usually have knowledge of internal budgets. Don't you think your members are capable of deciding themselves what groups to volunteer for and whether or not to inform them of the market value of these services?

3.8. Report to the IAPTI Good Practices Commission, or to any other pertinent body of the Association, any colleague whose conduct may be detrimental to the profession and, furthermore, take part in any subsequent investigation into such conduct.

*Any* colleague, anywhere in the world? So if I joined your organization I would be required to monitor the hundreds of thousands of translators all around the globe for improper behavior and report this to the ethics committee? That's going to be one busy committee. Or do you mean members instead of colleagues? Regardless of the practicalities, you don't see any problems with this policy in general?

4.4. Offer any and all cooperation within their possibilities to their Colleagues, and especially to those of lesser experience.

So if I joined, I would have no choice about whom I cooperate with and what junior colleagues I have to mentor? ▲ Collapse