On behalf of the GLD Leadership Council, I would like to thank everyone who took the time to respond to the GLD membership survey this spring, and all the information and suggestions they shared with us.
Communication Channels:
It is great to see that our Division newsletter interaktiv (72%*), the listserv (59%), the member directory on the ATA website (54%), the GLD website (36%), and the GLD social media (49%) are being used by our members. However, our Collaboration Pool remains our “Sorgenkind,” underutilized at just under 8% usage.
Professional Development Preferences
When it comes to professional development, specialized translation fields (legal, medical, technical) emerged as the clear winner, chosen by 79% of respondents. The other three topics (tools and technology, business practices and client relations, and marketing and self-promotion) clustered together at 47–55%. Several respondents also offered additional topics that could be covered in the future.
Format preferences are decisive: An overwhelming 74% prefer live webinars over in-person sessions.
Time Zones
Our membership spans six time zones with a nine-hour difference from Pacific to Central European time. The distribution is 8% in the Pacific zone; 10–13% in the Mountain, Central, and Western European zones; 26% in the Eastern zone; and 31% in the Central European zone. This geographic spread, combined with the fact that most members work during business hours in their respective time zones, presents ongoing scheduling challenges for online events.
Event Attendance
In-person events: Only 27% attended in-person events in 2024, with 73% citing various barriers including age, health, disability, time constraints, logistical issues, scheduling conflicts, distance, lack of awareness, or insufficient relevance. Those who did attend participated in the Annual Conference in Portland, the GLD Members in Europe workshop in Leipzig, and various Stammtische.
Online events: 56% attended online events including socials, regular meetings, webinars on AT/CH translation issues, book discussions, and the IHK presentation. Forty-four percent did not attend any online events in 2024.
Future Event Preferences
The priorities are clear when it comes to the types of events our members would like to see in the future, with webinars taking a decisive lead at 79%, followed by networking events (41%) and online social events (38%). Twenty-four percent each would like to see informal Stammtisch gatherings and in-person workshops. Co-working sessions bring up the rear at 0%. Some respondents offered suggestions for new formats, such as hybrid web and in-person events.
When asked what topics and speakers they would like to see in the future, respondents offered a broad variety of topics as well as potential speakers. The same applies to topics for future issues of interaktiv, posts on the GLD blog on our Division’s website, additional resources that could be helpful to our members in their work, and emerging trends and challenges. Please click the link to the results below to see all these valuable suggestions.
Annual Conference
While 72% of respondents generally attend conferences, many haven’t attended the Annual Conference in years (some have not attended since 2001/2010/2014/2016/2018/2023 or since before COVID-19). Barriers include distance, rising costs (lost work time, travel, accommodation, registration fees), age and health considerations, pandemic concerns, decline in recruiting opportunities, scheduling conflicts with October timing, and current political uncertainties.
Suggestions for increasing attendance include:
- Session improvements: More serious German sessions, more German-specific sessions, content for experienced translators, better scheduling to avoid conflicts
- Location considerations: Safer cities, alternative (interesting) locations (San Francisco, Sacramento, East Coast, Midwest, Europe (for train accessibility))
- Cost reduction: Lower accommodation costs and registration fees
- Scheduling: January or February timing
- Presenter treatment: Unspecified improvements to presenter experience
Member Demographics
The vast majority of respondents (87%) had 11+ years of translation experience. At 59%, more than half of the respondents translate from German into English, with just over 20% each translating from English into German and in both directions equally. The United States is home to 54% of our members who completed the survey; 23% live in Germany, and another 23% in other countries, including Austria, Portugal, Switzerland, Canada, the UK, France, and Italy. A high percentage of respondents (79%) have been GLD members for 11+ years.
GLD members work in a large variety of fields; please see the results for more details.
Moving Forward
We are very grateful for the extensive feedback that you have provided us with and look forward to finding ways to implement as many suggestions as possible. We have one more important request: As volunteers without a budget for webinars and the like, we rely on members to share their knowledge and experience. If you recognize an area where you could contribute based on these results, please reach out to us!
Thank you,
Robin Limmeroth
GLD Assistant Administrator
On behalf of Administrator Karen Leube and the GLD Leadership Council
Click here to see the results!
*all numbers have been rounded
Robin Limmeroth is a freelance German>English translator, transcreator, and proofreader with 25 years of translation experience in various sectors. After graduating from Millersville University in 1990, she worked for Infratest Burke Marketingforschung and Mainz University of Applied Sciences, among others. Based in Mainz, Germany, she provides language services to a number of market and marketing research companies, advertising agencies, universities, publishers, and direct clients.
Robin is the Assistant Administrator of the GLD and part of the GLD in Europe team. She also served as Web Manager from 2020-2023.