Editor's note: The Eighth Asia-Pacific Translation and Interpreting Forum (APTIF) will be held in Xi'an, China on June 17-18, 2016. The theme of this year's conference is "Translation and Interpreting in Tomorrow's Asia-Pacific Region." The following is a summary of the research paper submitted by Marie-Josée de Saint Robert.
Title: Knowledge sharing among language services in international organizations: the case of JIAMCATT
Abstract:
The International Meeting on Computer-Assisted Translation and Terminology (JIAMCATT) is a United Nations « behind the scenes » initiative, which aims at keeping language services in international and regional organizations informed about best practices in translation and interpretation, including the use of translation and interpretation technologies that would reinforce the efficiency and sustainable development of such services. Launched in Geneva in 1985, JIAMCATT soon became a successful knowledge-sharing and knowledge- transfer platform on the internet thanks to an annual meeting, which gathers nearly two hundred language services in the world, be they large services, such as the ones in the United Nations or in the European Union family of organizations, or be they small services such as those of the European Space Agency or the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development. Though its membership is primarily reserved to language services in international intergovernmental organizations, including national ministries working closely with them and facing the same multilingual challenges, JIAMCATT also welcomes translation and interpretation departments of universities and research institutions, whose students will become future translators and interpreters in international organizations. The aim of this presentation is to inform largely under-represented Asia-Pacific international intergovernmental organizations about the initiative and about potential benefits that they could draw from it, such as: technology watch which has or may have an impact on translation and interpretation; benchmarking; technical tools and technical training designed for translators and interpreters. All the official languages of international organizations, such as Chinese, English or Russian, are languages in which knowledge in the translation and interpretation industry is shared.
About the author:
Marie-Josée de Saint Robert, JIAMCATT Secretary from 1993 until 2013