The weather in the Bay Area has been unusually unsettled this year; until recently it seemed that we were all living through a never-ending winter. On May 23rd, however, we were blessed with a beautiful, sunny and warm day, the kind of day we needed to get out of our houses and enjoy the outdoors.
That’s what we did during one more Happy Hour gathering at Mijita’s Restaurant in the Ferry Building in San Francisco. This very casual restaurant has been the chosen spot for a number of meetings now. The Ferry Building itself offers a lot in terms of restaurants and interesting shops, not to mention the wonderful setting, both inside and outside, where the view is spectacular, with the Bay Bridge as background. → continue reading
Professionalism and common sense a must for growing a business. BY NAOMI NORBERG
On Saturday March 5, about twenty new and confirmed translators gathered for the Getting Started in Translation workshop at the SFSU Downtown Campus. The presents were Michael Schubert, a successful freelancer, and Melissa Wheeler, a Senior Project Manager at Medialocate. Both emphasized the professionalism and common sense necessary to grow any business, adding refreshing, encouraging specifics with respect to our profession. → continue reading
An informative overview of how to succeed in the interpreting profession. BY DOMENICA NIEDDU
On Saturday, January 29, at the San Francisco State University Downtown Campus, Julie Burns presented a workshop on how to get started as interpreters and discussed the tools and resources necessary to succeed in the profession. She also provided the participants with a general survey of the status of the trade.
Julie is a well-known interpreter trainer, California Worker’s Compensation Certified Spanish interpreter, and ATA-certified translator. She provides professional trainings to prepare bilingual individuals to work as interpreters in hospital and clinic settings, and offers continuing education workshops for linguists’ professional development and stress management.
There were 21 people at this four-hour workshop; among them were two representatives of Accent on Languages, a translating/interpreting agency in Berkeley, interested in recruiting new interpreters for its roster of linguists. → continue reading
Customized service leads to success for language service providers. BY DEANA SMALLEY
The first General Meeting of 2011 took place on Saturday, February 12 from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. at the San Francisco State University Downtown Campus. Outgoing President Tuomas Kostiainen presided.
Thirty-four people attended, and six newcomers introduced themselves: Eric Rea (Spanish), Elena Ow-Wing (Russian), Hsiao-Ming “Sheree” Wu (Mandarin), Leonor Delgado (Spanish), Kamel Khailia (Arabic), and Miriam Barraza (Spanish). → continue reading
The annual NCTA New Year’s Brunch, held at Skate’s on the Bay on January 23 was, as always, a great success. BY NINA BOGDAN
A group of 37 translators and interpreters gathered to talk shop and socialize at the waterfront restaurant in Berkeley. Even the weather was cooperating. After weeks of rain, it was a wonderful sunny Sunday and the San Francisco city skyline was showcased in the huge picture windows of the restaurant.
The end-of-summer Happy Hour drew 10 translators to the regular haunt at the San Francisco Ferry Building’s Mijita restaurant to celebrate a lovely day and gird our loins for the fall season of work. We were happy to have French translator-interpreter Martin Hoffman back, visiting from New York, accompanied by another NCTA member, Tarek Dachraoui. Member John Koch came, too, looking for more involvement in our organization.
Two relatively new members, Pascal Parra and Connie Archea, received seasoned advice from Juliet Viola (our we-couldn’t-manage-without-her administrator), Tuomas Kostiainen (our president, recently returned from a restful vacation in his native Finland), Raffaella Buschiazzo (our ever-friendly and welcoming hostess) and long-time members Sylvia Korwek and Sharlee Bradley.
It was such good weather for The City that we stood for a group photo which Martin was kind enough to contribute for Translorial.
Make history by joining us at the next Happy Hour (check the NCTA Events Calendar on line). We always enjoy our networking after a hard day at the computer or interpreting. SMB
Organizer Deana Smalley is passing the appetizers offered by corporate member Peritus at our second Redwood City Happy Hour. Left to right: Hany Farag, Yuki Lapin, Raffaella Buschiazzo, Deana Smalley, and Raija Rapo.
BY DEANA SMALLEY
It all started when I decided to go to a Happy Hour in San Francisco. After an unsuccessful attempt to get together a carpool to the Ferry Building, I decided to take public transportation instead. Then I missed the train. If only it weren’t so far away. I asked events coordinator Raffaella Buschiazzo if it would be okay if I organized a happy hour on the Peninsula. Raffaella said YOU GO GIRL!!! or words to that effect. I told NCTA Treasurer Dagmar Dolatschko, a Peninsula resident and owner of Peritus Language Services, what I was up to in case she wanted to help organize it. Fortunately for all involved, she did. → continue reading
Translators had the perfect excuse to get out of the house on Sunday, June 13, and enjoy a wonderful, sunny, and slightly windy day at our annual NCTA Picnic at beautiful Paradise Beach Park in Tiburon! The park, located in the Bay Area’s beautiful Marin County, was an outstanding background for all the translators and their families to gather under the sun and enjoy delicious grilled and barbecued meat, along with other healthy food. What a great way to start the first summer of a new decade! What a beautiful, enjoyable Sunday, after several weeks of gloom and rain! We all know it was a miserable, cold, and wet winter, and most of us were stuck in our offices, so I personally enjoyed getting out on a Sunday and joining people who do the same kind of professional work. It was like a corporate day out for freelancers. → continue reading
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
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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