By Lenny Yang
It has been almost two months since ATA61 started. Though the live conference lasted only for 4 days, this online event seems never to come to an end for me. Every week after the conference, I watch the recorded sessions to learn something new. And from time to time, members of the Chinese Language Division (CLD) discuss ATA61 related topics in our WeChat group. I have been an ATA member for over 3 years, but this was my first ATA Annual Conference. It was a great experience and opportunity to learn, connect, and get inspired. If you have never attended the ATA Annual Conference, I hope you will register for the next one after you read my story.
I joined ATA as an Associate member in 2017 to take the ATA certification examination later that year. For a freelance translator like me looking for new market opportunities at that time, an ATA certification is more about my professional competence and an entry ticket to deluxe translation projects than a decoration on the wall.
I became ATA certified from English into Chinese in November 2017 (there should be applause here!) and automatically became a voting member of ATA. I read newsletters from ATA and The ATA Chronicle to keep up to date with the newest development in the industry. I attended seminars and courses to earn Continuing Education (CE) points to retain my ATA certification. However, I have never seriously thought of attending the ATA Annual Conference in the first three years. Why? I don’t know. Maybe Palm Springs, California is too far away, New Orleans, Louisiana is too southern, and Washington D.C. is just too… capital.
Anyway, the time comes to 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic changed everything. With almost all the in-person interpretation assignments canceled, I lost not only some of the income but also most of my real-world human interactions. I started to attend more seminars, symposiums, meetings, and conferences, of course, all online. So, when I read the news that “ATA61 is going virtual!”, I really didn’t have an excuse not to attend this year. With an early registration at a discounted rate, this 4-day conference was appealing to me from the very beginning.
I didn’t register for any Advanced Skills and Training (AST) sessions on the first day, so my conference experience didn’t begin until the evening of October 21st, 2020. I was at home, in front of my computer, wearing a t-shirt, sweatpants, and slippers, and without any travel fatigue or jet lag. The welcome session was called “Buddies Welcome Newbies”. The online platform used for ATA 61 was amazing. Hundreds of the attendees gathered in a large ballroom, virtually. We could chat with each other and see everyone via webcams. The organizers welcomed everyone warmly and then broke us into small groups several times. In every group, there were “Buddies” who had been to the ATA conference several times, and “Newbies” just like me. We introduced ourselves to each other and shared our experiences and expectations for the conference. Though I have never met any of these attendees, once we started talking, I didn’t feel like I was talking to strangers, regardless of whether the other was a translator or interpreter. Though the whole session lasted only an hour, I had met a dozen like-minded professionals and made new connections through networking. The conference made me at home, not just literally.
In the following three days, there were 120 sessions streamed live. With 10 sessions held simultaneously at any time, there was no way I could attend all the live sessions that I was interested in. However, there was good news! All these sessions were recorded and accessible on-demand after the conference. So, I didn’t have to make any hard choices and give up any sessions after all. This made my registration an even greater deal!
From the professionally hands-on session Interpreter? Interrupter? How to Be an Effective Interpreter for Depositions by Tianlu Redmon, CT, to the culturally inspiring session From Little Fresh Meat to Oily Uncles: A Beginner’s Guide to Translating Chinese Internet Slang Terms by Rony Gao, CT, ATA61 provided a diverse selection of sessions that were not only educational and enlightening but also intriguing and amusing. As an interpreter working in medical, legal, business, and educational settings, I needed to keep improving my consecutive interpreting skills, so I attended sessions Long Consecutive Interpreting: Memory and Notes by Andrew Gillies and Note-Taking for Consecutive Interpreting by David Violet. Both seasoned interpreters introduced various techniques on memorizing and note-taking while interpreting. I learned from Andrew that for long consecutive interpreting, there are 5 memory prompts: narrative prompt, visual prompt, structural prompt, logical prompt, and notes. It is important to see notes as memory support in the same way as the things there are, not something completely and absolutely attached from memory. And my biggest takeaway from David’s session was that your interpretation is your speech. You have to give a speech that stands along. Of course, it is absolutely and totally a faithful reflection of the original, but it is still going to be something of your speech.
Knowledge and expertise in specialized fields are also crucial for an interpreter and translator, so I attended sessions like Understanding Financial Jargon by Silvana Debonis, Terminology of the Ears, Nose, and Throat by Jill Sommer and Karen Leube, Interpreting for Workers’ Compensation Depositions by Holly Mikkelson and Game Localization by Carme Mangiron. As a freelancer, I am running my own business as an entrepreneur. Sessions like Working Together: Finding Harmony in the Language Services Company/Language Services Provider Relationship by Rick Antezana, Pricing Strategies in a Service Industry by Daniel Sebesta, and Future-Proofing Your Business and Career by Renato Beninatto helped position my future business and map my career path. As a Japanophile, I watched the session Handling English for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics by Chikako Tsuruta, and as a cinephile I watched the session Translating into Hollywood: A Case Study of the Oscar-Winning Film “Parasite” by Elena Chang. Even though I was not in a learning-mode during these sessions, I still found myself enjoying and learning something new and useful.
Save the best for last. As a member of the Chinese Language Division (CLD), I must mention our distinguished speaker: Dr. Kevin Lin OBE, lead Mandarin interpreter/translator of the UK Foreign Office. I have attended several webinars presented by Dr. Kevin Lin OBE before. It was a great honor to have him at ATA61 as our distinguished speaker, presenting two sessions: Interpret Interpreting and Alternative Translation. The two-tier rates strategy in bidding a project which Dr. Lin mentioned inspired me in my daily practice of quoting for various projects and negotiating with clients. This provided my clients with more flexibility, options, and added value, creating more opportunities for me.
Other than all these educational sessions, I also enjoyed networking events like Brainstorm Networking, Stronger Together Networking, and Speed Networking. Just like in any other in-person conferences, attendees gathered in the evenings after each day’s busy events to socialize and network. We talked about our career and life changes in this unprecedented pandemic. We shared our ideas on everything, regardless of whether or not it was about translation and interpretation. As a first-time attendee of the ATA Annual Conference, I voted in the election for the first time, right before my first vote in the presidential election a week later. I almost forget to mention that the Annual Award Presentation Ceremony was amazing! It was a great pleasure to see the professionals in our industry get recognized. Furthermore, at some moments, I had a feeling of watching the Oscars. The stage setting was fabulous, the award presentation speeches encouraging, and the award acceptance speeches touching, even though everything was just virtually online.
Overall, my experience at my first ATA Annual Conference was outstanding, rewarding, and fulfilling. I enjoyed the convenience and efficiency of such a virtual conference. However, I missed the face-to-face human interaction in traditional conferences as well. As Mr. Ted R. Wozniak, the President of ATA, said in his welcome speech, ATA61 was “our first, and hopefully last, fully virtual ATA Annual Conference.” I look forward to meeting all the old and new friends next year at ATA62 in Minneapolis, MN!
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