Amy Lesiewicz

Tapani Ronni, PhD will be presenting “CRISPR gene editing: from tailored gene therapy to species engineering” on Friday, November 4, 2016, at 10:00 am to 11:00 am. Abstract This brief review of a new method called CRISPR gene editing is aimed at translators in medical and scientific fields. Gene therapy is an experimental approach that uses genes to treat or prevent disease. There are multiple technical problems to overcome, but the field has a lot of promise. A major stumbling block has been that tailored, accurate editing of DNA has not been possible in mammals, due to the complexity and…

The Science & Technology Division will hold a networking dinner during the ATA’s 57th Annual Conference in San Francisco. Please join us for dinner at Delancey Street Restaurant to see old friends again and to meet new ones. WHEN: Friday, November 4 at 8 p.m. WHERE: Delancey Street Restaurant 600 Embarcadero San Francisco, CA 94107 (415) 957-9800  MENU: Please visit ATA57 SciTech Dinner Menu for details RESERVATION AND PAYMENT: Price (includes five-course dinner, one soft drink, tax, and gratuity): $56.00 per person through Paypal or credit card. Payment must be received on or before Monday, October 24. Seating is limited.…

The Science and Technology Division is delighted to have Guest Speaker Dr. Carl Haber confirmed for ATA57 in San Francisco. Dr. Haber’s two-part presentation, “Seeing Voices: Using Light to Restore and Preserve Early Recorded Sound,” willdiscuss his use of techniques developed for particle physics research to scan and preserve some of the earliest known sound recordings, including Alexander Graham Bell’s restored voice (1885) and Native American voices from the early 20thcentury. Sound was first recorded and reproduced by Thomas Edison in 1877. Until about the 1950s, most recordings were made on mechanical media such as wax, foil, shellac, lacquer, and…

Nicholas Hartmann Introduction It has been said that no one but the author reads a document as carefully as the translator does. What if that same detailed consideration were applied to a piece of business correspondence that a freelance translator might receive and read every day, for example an e-mail message from a regular customer? That analysis is taken here as an opportunity to discuss some of the attitudes and habits that technical translators should cultivate. The message The names in the “message” below are fictitious, but its content and tone are typical. “Stanislaus Tweek” is a composite of several…

By Molly YurickRe-posted from The Savvy Newcomer blog with permission from the author As a new ATA member in 2015, I received my first edition of The Chronicle and was intrigued by the article about Jenny Stillo, the winner of the 2013–2014 School Outreach Contest. At the time, I was in my sixth year working for the Spanish Ministry of Education as a cultural ambassador, which involved visiting students of English in public schools across Spain. The combination of the chance to win a free registration to the conference in Miami and the opportunity to teach students about my passion…

This article is re-posted with thanks to The Savvy Newcomer blog. When you come into the translation business, you usually know deep down if you have what it takes to be a technical translator. As a basic starting point, you need good technical instincts in the field you are interested in. That may come from a prior career, a course of study, a family business, or a hobby that you are managing to turn into a money-maker. Hearing tales of the often amazing series of events that bring us to the point of beginning a career in translation are part…

 Review by Martina Burkert At the 2015 ATA Annual Conference in Miami, the Science and Technology Division offered several excellent sessions. One of them was Matthew Schlecht’s presentation on Risk and Safety Phrases in Technical Texts. R & S Phrases R-phrases (short for Risk Phrases) and S-phrases (short for Safety Phrases) describe risk and safety aspects of dangerous substances and preparations in 1–13 words. They are associated with identifying letter-number codes and occur in chemical documentation like product labels, shipping manifests, MSDS/SDS/PSDS sheets, manufacturing instructions and batch records, as well as related legislation and regulations. H &P Statements H-statements (short…

Reviewed by Mery Molenaar On this beautiful November morning in Miami, Florida, I am heading to the conference hotel to attend the second day of the ATA conference. I am excited that there are several science-related presentations on the schedule. Since I often translate user manuals for medical instrumentation, I am especially looking forward to today’s talk by Dr. Joanne Archambault about risk analysis for medical devices. While the last people enter the room, Joanne welcomes us and starts out with her goal for today: to teach us about the risk management process used with medical devices. Joanne is a…

Review by Jesse Tomlinson Marcia Johnston: “Tight, readable, concise. But what does concise mean?” We’re at ATA56 in the preconference seminar with Marcia and we’re talking about English writing. In lieu of “Ms. Johnston,” I feel comfortable calling her Marcia, not just because the title of our seminar is “Teach Your Text to Strip”, and it isn’t because she’s in a lounge singer’s dress and red feather boa with lovely black gloves snaking up to her armpits. It’s because she’s an accessible, friendly online personality who plays a game called “Tighten This!” involving sentences that need to be stripped down.…

AMERICAN TRANSLATORS ASSOCIATION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DIVISION ANNUAL MEETING MINUTES Thursday, November 5, 2015 Miami   NOTE: These and other Annual Meeting minutes can also be found in the Resources section of this website.   Division Administrator Karen Tkaczyk called the meeting to order at 12:31 p.m. The agenda was presented and accepted.   The Leadership Council was introduced to the audience. Those present were Karen Tkaczyk (administrator), Alicja Yarborough (assistant administrator), Amy Lesiewicz (blog editor), Lebzy González (LinkedIn moderator), and Carola Berger (Facebook group moderator). Other leadership council members who were not present were Stephanie Strobel, Matthew Schlecht (Yahoo…