On Thursday, October 27, at 6:15 p.m. members of ATA’s Sci-Tech division gathered in the lobby of the M
arriott Hotel Copley Place to walk to an Indian restaurant, Kashmir, on Newbury Street. Alicja Yarborough, who had organized this event, awaited us there for our annual division dinner. It was a short walk from the hotel past Boston’s brownstone houses in cold rainy weather. We were happy to be welcomed by Alicja at the restaurant, which had such a pleasant atmosphere. The 34 members attending were seated at tables reserved for our division in a private space.
Before the first appet
izer arrived, we had some time t
o get to know the fellow Sci-Tech Division members at our table. As a relative new comer to translation and interpretation, I was happy to start a conversation with the three members sharing my table. We talked about our specialties, language pairs and direction, and our experience with science, technical and medical translations, as well as our experiences at this year’s conference. As it turned out, two members at my table shared my language pair, and I was pleased to hear their advice.
Appetizers arrived at the tables in bowls and copper dishes: “Vegetable Pakorah,” some
freshly cut
vegetables, deep fried in chick-pea batter and “Sheek kebab,” pieces of Tandoori baked minced lamb seasoned with chopped onions, chopped bell peppers, herbs and spices, served with three kinds of different chutney and Indian “Naan” bread. The red chutney was so hot that some members ordered “Lassi”, a traditional yoghurt-based drink of India, to quench the heat of the spicy food.
Before the main courses arrived the Division Administrator, Karen Tkaczyk, introduced herself and gave a little speech. She thanked Alicja Yarborough for organizing the museum visit and the dinner. Kar
en then introduced the other founding members of the “new” Sci-Tech, Assistant Administrator Steven Marzuola, and Stephanie Strobel. Karen welcomed Nicolas Hartman, the outgoing ATA president an
d enthusiastic member of the Sci-Tech Division. Karen then introduced other division volunteers: members of the Leadership Council and the Nominating Committee, most of whom attended the dinner. She pointed out that this year the division was very strongly represented with 11 presentations, and she encouraged everyone to attend the Division’s Annual Meeting on Saturday from 2:30-3:30 p.m.
T
here was quite a variety of entrées: one called “Chicken Tikka Masala”, a Tandoori style white meat chicken in a tomato cream sauce. A second, “Dal Makhani” contained lentils sautéed in butter with fresh herbs and spices, garnished with fresh coriander. Other dishes included “Shahi Aloo Gobhi,” cauliflower and potatoes cooked with tomato, onion, herbs and spices, and “Kabuli Chaana,” whole chick peas cooked with onions and tomatoes.
Division member Alfred Hellstern and Stephanie Strobel took photographs of the event, visiting table to 
table so they could catch all 34 members happily chatting and eating. Finally, a delicious desert “Galub Jamum,” a dish of two deep fried wheat cake balls, soaked in syrup, completed our menu.
Along with enjoying the wonderful menu, we were happy to have met our distinguished group of colleagues and friends. We exchanged business cards to keep in touch.
It was a fabulous event, and I look forward to meeting even more division members at the Sci-Tech Division dinner during next year’s ATA Annual Conference in San Diego.
Susanna Weerth works as an English – German freelance translator and interpr
eter. She specializes in life sciences (medical, biological and pharmaceutical), patent, and general legal translation and medical interpretation. She holds a professional certification as medical assistant and worked several years as medical technician in a physician’s office and a clinical laboratory at the Veterinary University Clinics of Munich. She received a “Diplom” (MS equivalent) in Biology and a “Doktor” (PhD equivalent) in Biology/Neuroimmunology from the University of Munich and the Max-Planck-Institute of Neurobiology, Germany. She worked in a clinical laboratory in Oncology in Germany and after relocating to the US for several years in neuroscience research in laboratories at different universities and the National Institute of Health. She transitioned into translation by completing the “Certificate in German to English Translation” at the New York University in 2010 and started interpreting the same year with courses at Georgetown and Cross Cultural Communication. She has also taken biomedical writing and editing courses. She is currently involved at the board of the National Capitol Area Translators Association (NCATA) and the Nominating Committee of the Science & Technology Division and NCATA.
