No, I’m not referring to the postman’s work ethic, but to the perseverance of those who attended the NCTA’s annual New Year’s Brunch. Despite inclement weather, about 50 NCTA members, some accompanied by their significant others, made the trek to Berkeley for the annual New Year’s Brunch at Skates by the Bay on January 17. This post-holiday event is a great way to start the New Year. → continue reading
Latest East Bay lunch social at Cha Am, a Thai restaurant.
The NCTA East Bay lunch social is a nice event because it breaks up the work week. On October 7, we met at Cha Am, a Thai restaurant. Every lunch is an exchange of experiences. I’m always pleasantly surprised at who I meet, whether it’s new members, potential members, or long-term members. We share our perspectives of current day-to-day life and work, and exchange information about everything from client relations to vacation ideas. → continue reading
May GM speaker, San Francisco Board of Supervisors President David Chiu, stressed the importance of making city government business and services accessible to all residents. BY MICHAEL SCHUBERT
On a gorgeous spring day in San Francisco, a few dozen dedicated local translators and interpreters eschewed the outdoor pleasures to come together for NCTA’s May general meeting. Former membership director Paula Dieli and new membership director J. Mónica Pérez welcomed new members. Events director Raffaella Buschiazzo announced our upcoming activities, continuing education director Norma Kaminsky outlined our spring and summer workshop calendar, and president Tuomas Kostiainen talked about ATA-related news and other local events of interest.
ESTEEMED GUEST SPEAKER
NCTA Secretary Stafford Hemmer then took the floor to introduce our featured speaker: David Chiu. Mr. Chiu was elected in November 2008 to represent San Francisco’s District 3, which includes the northeast neighborhoods of North Beach, Chinatown, Telegraph Hill, Russian Hill, Nob Hill, Union Square, the Financial District and Fisherman’s Wharf. In January 2009, Mr. Chiu was elected President of the Board of Supervisors.
Before joining the Board, Mr. Chiu was a founder and Chief Operating Officer of Grassroots Enterprise, an online communications technology company. Prior to that, he worked as a criminal prosecutor at the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office and as a civil rights attorney at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights. David Chiu grew up in Boston as the eldest child of Taiwanese immigrants, and received his undergraduate degree, law degree and master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University.
A resident of District 3 for over a dozen years, David Chiu has been a hands-on leader in San Francisco as, among other things, board president of the Youth Leadership Institute, board chair of the Chinatown Community Development Center, judge-arbitrator for the Polk Street Community Court, and president of the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area. Mr. Chiu also previously chaired California’s 13th Assembly District Democratic Committee.
LEGISLATIVE BACKGROUND
In his legal career, Mr. Chiu saw both the immense value of language services and the problems caused by their absence. As the first supervisor of Chinese ancestry to represent Chinatown, he has seen firsthand the problems that language barriers create within his own district. A strong mandate for government foreign-language services began emerging during the Civil Rights Movement. The road has been a bumpy one, however, given the expense and the fact that most of their beneficiaries cannot vote. Two examples he cited of the hostility among the electorate to the idea of accommodating California’s large and growing foreign-born population are Proposition 187 in 1994 and Proposition 227 in 1998. Proposition 187 required that all those wishing to access social services, health care, and public education in California prove citizenship or legal immigration status. Passing with nearly 59% of the popular vote, it was eventually found unconstitutional. Proposition 227, passed with a 61% majority, ended bilingual education programs.
San Francisco bucked this statewide trend in 2001 with Chapter 91 of its Administrative Code, known as the “Equal Access to Services Ordinance,” which defines broad language services that the city’s defined “Tier 1 departments” must provide to “limited English speaking persons” of any language community constituting more than 5 percent of the city population.
LANGUAGE ACCESS ORDINANCE
In April, Mr. Chiu introduced Ordinance 090461, which would expand the scope of Chapter 91. Key changes of this “Language Access Ordinance” are: expanding Tier 1 departments to include most city/county departments that interact with the public; requiring all city business meeting minutes to be translated if requested and informing limited English speakers in their native tongue of their right to request language services; requiring Tier 1 departments to work with the Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs to include language service protocols in annual compliance plans and report their language service budget and compliance methods.
Q&A
In response to questions, Mr. Chiu noted that: the city’s 311 information line already refers foreign-language calls to telephone interpreters and this accounts for about 1 percent of calls; he hopes to eventually expand the mandate for language services below the 5 percent threshold, as, currently, only Chinese, Spanish and Russian qualify; interpreters will be provided at city meetings if requested and available—otherwise, a written translation of the minutes will be provided. It is not possible to say to what extent city translation assignments will go to local translators. Mr. Chiu noted that San Francisco currently contracts some $1 billion annually in services, and the vast majority is outsourced out of the Bay Area.Supervisor Chiu’s proposed amendments are at http://tinyurl.com/pm9owo.
The NCTA thanks Mr. Chiu for his informative and interesting presentation.a
On a gorgeous spring day in San Francisco, a few dozen dedicated local translators and interpreters eschewed the outdoor pleasures to come together for NCTA’s May general meeting. Former membership director Paula Dieli and new membership director J. Mónica Pérez welcomed new members. Events director Raffaella Buschiazzo announced our upcoming activities, continuing education director Norma Kaminsky outlined our spring and summer workshop calendar, and president Tuomas Kostiainen talked about ATA-related news and other local events of interest. → continue reading
A marvelous and sunny day greeted our annual summer potluck picnic and barbecue on Sunday, June 21 at the breathtakingly beautiful Tiburon Peninsula in Marin County. Many NCTA members, families and friends gathered at Paradise Beach Park, not only for the delicious food, but also to assist and take part in the Talent Show which followed the barbecue. A number of talented members took the stage at the spur of the moment, encouraged by the excitement.
I introduced the idea to NCTA board members some time ago, so I opened the show myself with a couple of instrumental songs played in the ‘finger picking’ style on my acoustic guitar. The pieces were “In Christ there is no East or West,” a beautiful hymn written in the early 20th century, and “Hey hey,” a Blues piece by the great Blues master Big Bill Broonzy.
Then Marc Weber took the stage and finally resolved the almost 400-year adage of the Zen Buddhism discipline: What is the sound of one hand clapping? And indeed, he showed us all the sound… of one clapping hand up in the air!
Eric’s monologue of the reclusive wizard Tim, the Enchanter, from the 1975 movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail was… well, just enchanting. He put on his best Scottish accent and there he was, addressing King Arthur and his Knights, encouraging them to continue searching for the Holy Grail, and leading them to the Cave of Caerbannog.
Young Stefan Moskowitz, 11 years old and with a great passion for soccer, beat his previous record of 91 juggles with the ball, alternating feet and thighs, with an outstanding 121 juggles.
Marina Kopinec and Lisa sang ‘a cappella’ the beautiful and haunting old Russian folk song, “Ochi Cherniye” (Dark Eyes), dancing passionately at the end of the song.
Finally, Mehram Sheikholeslami exhibited his still life acrylic painting, Leek and Green Onion in Basket. Mainly a portrait painter, Mehram is the gold medalist at the 6th Annual International Open Exhibition of the Pastel Society of the West Coast for his astonishingly beautiful portrait, Mrs. Giti Bozorgi.
Everybody had lots of fun and the day seemed perfect to showcase our NCTA members’ artistry spontaneously. We most certainly have to repeat the event next year!a
BY STEFANO NICOLA MURA
Marina Kopinec and Lisa sang the old Russian folk song “Ochi Cherniye” (Dark Eyes).
A marvelous and sunny day greeted our annual summer potluck picnic and barbecue on Sunday, June 21 at the breathtakingly beautiful Tiburon Peninsula in Marin County. Many NCTA members, families and friends gathered at Paradise Beach Park, not only for the delicious food, but also to assist and take part in the Talent Show which followed the barbecue. A number of talented members took the stage at the spur of the moment, encouraged by the excitement. → continue reading
At the NCTA February meeting, Iraqi interpreter Haitham Jasim was interviewed by Steven Goldstein and shared some of his experiences working for U.S. Forces in Iraq. BY SARAH LLEWLLYN
Haitham Jasim answers Steven Goldstein's questions.
The first meeting of 2009, held February 7th, began with a presentation by NCTA President Tuomas Kostiainen of current Association data and was followed by the announcement of the results of the 2009 Board elections. Re-elected to the Board were Tuomas Kostiainen as President, Yves Avérous as Vice President, and Raffaella Buschiazzo and Sonia Wichmann as Directors. J. Mónica Pérez was newly elected as Director. → continue reading
Left to right: Elisa Rossi, Dagmar Dolatschko, Stafford Hemmer.
Agency Member Peritus Precision Translations, Inc. hosted the first Peninsula NCTA Happy Hour at its office at the Port of Redwood City on a brisk February 4, 2009. → continue reading
At the NCTA December meeting, guest speaker Florencia Pettigrew explained how to get the most out of social networking sites and techniques for building and managing your online reputation.BY SARAH LLEWELLYN
Is post-editing in your future? Will you soon be cleaning up after the machines? The AMTA Conference addressed this and more.BY MIKE DILLINGER, FOREWORD BY YVES AVÉROUS
Jiri Stejksal, President of ATA, attended the Waikiki conference to represent us.
What’s not to like in a conference taking place in Waikiki, Hawaii? Besides, the program put together last October by AMTA, the Association for Machine Translation in the Americas, was quite compelling. After a recent general meeting presentation touting the merits of post-editing-or fixing the manageable translations some machines achieve today, it looked like the matter needed more examination. The MT trend also reached the halls of the ATA conference that followed a month later. Not coincidentally, Jiri Stejksal, President of ATA, attended the Waikiki conference to represent us. → continue reading
On Sunday, January 25, NCTA members gathered at Skates by the Bay, a restaurant in Berkeley, to celebrate the post-holiday season and share experiences. → continue reading
At the NCTA September meeting, Dr. Anthony Pym discussed his research findings and explained “what happens” when translators work under pressure. BY RAFFAELLA BUSCHIAZZO
The September General Meeting took place on Saturday the 13th in downtown San Francisco and was presented by NCTA President Tuomas Kostiainen. Vice President and Translorial Publisher Yves Avérous offered potential volunteers free training on layout and Translorial blog site management. Then he praised the excellent work Translorial’s new editor, Nina Bogdan, did on the September issue. He also showed everyone how to join the new NCTA Group in LinkedIn, the professional network website. All active NCTA members are welcome to join the group. At the December General Meeting we will present the most popular network websites where you can promote your professional skills online. → continue reading
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May GM speaker, San Francisco Board of Supervisors President David Chiu, stressed the importance of making city government business and services accessible to all residents. BY MICHAEL SCHUBERT
