2018 Conference Schedule

2018 MICATA Conference Schedule

The Changing Landscapes of Translation and Interpretation

Click on session descriptions and presenter names to access descriptions and bios.


Friday, March 23

Pre-conference Interpreter Workshops
These workshops require separate registration.

Active Listening Strategies for Better Consecutive Interpreting
Presenter: Barry Slaughter Olsen
Time: 9:00 a.m. to noon
Location: RC 101A

Technology for Interpreters
Presenter: Barry Slaughter Olsen
Time: 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Location: RC 101A

Conference Welcome Reception
Sponsor: GermanContext and Beehive Projects
Time: 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Location: RC 270


Saturday, March 24

Continental Breakfast and Registration
Sponsor: All Access Interpreters
Time: 7:45 a.m. to 8:30 a.m.
Location: Atrium

Welcome
Cristina Wolff, Johnson County Community College
Time: 8:30 a.m. to 8:45 a.m.
Location: NM Hudson Auditorium

Plenary Session
Presenter: Ted Wozniak, ATA President Elect
Time: 8:45 a.m. to 9:45 a.m.
Location: NM Hudson Auditorium

Morning Break and Refreshments
Sponsor: Cross-Cultural Communications, LLC
Time: 9:45 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.
Location: Atrium

Concurrent Session 1
All times: 10:00 a.m. to 10:55 a.m.

Translator Strand
Translating Bachata: Amargue, Cortavenas, and Other Challenges
Presenter: Julie Sellers
Location: RC 101A

Interpreter Strand
Becoming a State-certified Interpreter
Presenter: Rosario Garriga
Location: NM Hudson Auditorium

Business and Tools Strand
Translation Project Management Tools, Best Practices and Challenges for Freelance Translators and Project Managers
Presenter: Anne-Cécile Fuchs
Location: RC 101B

Concurrent Session 2
All times: 11:00 a.m. to 11:55 a.m.

Translator Strand
A History of Diplomatic Translation
Presenter: Joseph Mazza
Location: RC 101A

Interpreter Strand
The Nuts and Bolts of Remote Interpreting
Presenter: Barry Olsen
Location: NM Hudson Auditorium

Business and Tools Strand
Getting Started in T&I
Presenters: Gabby Doherty and Jean Marie Trujillo
Location: RC 101B

Luncheon
Sponsor: TranslationPerfect
Special Presentation: New York Changes You: The Modern Bachateros and Transnational Identities
Presenter: Julie Sellers
Time: Noon to 1:30 p.m.

Concurrent Session 3
All times: 1:30 p.m. to 2:25 p.m.

Translator Strand
Pro Bono T&I Work as Professional Development
Presenter: Laura Knost
Location: RC 101A

Interpreter Strand
Dealing with Shifting Levels of Language Competency among Primary Participants in Collaborative Encounters (part 1 of 2)
Presenter: Katherine Langan
Location: NM Hudson Auditorium

Business and Tools Strand
Skills for Online Interpretation (part 1 of 2)
Presenters: Sue Reager and Wei Whitbeck
Location: RC 101B

Concurrent Session 4
All times: 2:30 p.m. to 3:25 p.m.

Translator Strand
Diplomatic Translation at the State Department Today
Presenter: Joseph Mazza
Location: RC 101A

Interpreter Strand
Dealing with Shifting Levels of Language Competency among Primary Participants in Collaborative Encounters (part 2 of 2)
Presenter: Katherine Langan
Location: NM Hudson Auditorium

Business and Tools Strand
Skills for Online Interpretation (part 2 of 2)
Presenters: Sue Reager and Wei Whitbeck
Location: RC 101B

Afternoon Break and Refreshments
Sponsors: JBI Language Solutions and Domenech Expressions
Time: 3:30 p.m. to 3:45 p.m.
Location: Atrium

Concurrent Session 5
All times: 3:45-4:40

Translator Strand
Ensuring Payment – Before, During, and After the Project
Presenter: Ted Wozniak
Location: RC 101A

Interpreter Strand
The Path of a Controlled Substance Case through the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office Crime Lab
Presenter: Malinda Spangler
Location: NM Hudson Auditorium

Business and Tools Strand
Home Office and Mileage Expense Deductions
Presenter: John Matthews
Location: RC 101B

Conference Wrap-Up
Time: 4:45-5:00

Dinner
On your own. Go out with friends!


Sunday, March 25

ATA Certification Examination
Time: The exam begins at 9:00 a.m. Registered test-takers should arrive by 8:30 a.m.
Location: RC Room 183

Please note: Separate registration is required with the ATA for the examination. Please visit
www.atanet.org/certification/index.php or call (703) 683-6100 to register.


Session Descriptions and Presenter Bios

Active Listening Strategies for Better Consecutive Interpreting. Listening is one of the most crucial activities that an interpreter performs and the foundation of all successful interpreting. But all too often the way we listen actually makes the interpreting task more difficult. By learning and developing key active listening strategies, interpreters can notably improve their performance. In this workshop Professor Olsen presents both the “why” and the “how” of active listening and conducts specific exercises to illustrate the foundational principles of active listening for consecutive interpreting. (beginner to intermediate)

Technology for Interpreters. In years past, most interpreting was a technology-free endeavor. Pen, paper and an interpreter’s keen mind and languages were the tools of the trade. No more. While these still constitute the core of what we do, technological innovations have changed how and where we interpret. In this workshop, participants will learn about the overall technological landscape of the interpreting profession, discuss the pros and cons of recent innovations, and try out some of the new technologies in use today. If you are looking to get up to date on interpreting technology, this is the workshop for you! (all levels)

The Nuts and Bolts of Remote Interpreting. The way humans communicate has changed. Rapid technological advancements brought on by wireless connectivity and new smart devices have moved multilingual communication into the cloud. Interpreting teaching and practice is running to keep up. As interpreting and interpreter training move increasingly online, how do you adapt? What technologies must you understand and have access to if you want to interpret, teach, or learn online? Join us for this hands-on session that will demystify the technologies used to interpret and train interpreters online. You will leave this session with the knowledge to participate in this growing area of professional practice and training.

Barry Slaughter Olsen is a veteran conference interpreter and technophile with over two decades of experience interpreting, training interpreters, and organizing language services. He is an associate professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, the founder and co-president of InterpretAmerica, and the general manager of Multilingual Operations at ZipDX. He is a member of the International Association of Conference Interpreters.


Translating Bachata: Amargue, Cortavenas, and Other Challenges. Translators have long confronted supposedly untranslatable words such as saudade (Portuguese) and the currently-hip hygge (Danish). The Dominican romantic music known as bachata presents similar linguistic challenges. From this blues-like genre’s underlying sentiment (amargue) to its common description as cortavenas, and even the name “bachata” itself, writing about bachata for English-speaking and non-Dominican Spanish-speaking audiences presents a unique set of challenges. In this presentation, I will discuss my work researching and writing my books on bachata, focusing specifically on questions of translation. These include my translations of interviews with musicians, the manuscript itself for my bilingual edition, and anecdotes about my process of self-translation as I moved constantly between cultures and languages to conduct my research.

Dr. Julie Sellers, a specialist in adult second language acquisition and in Latin American popular culture and identity, is an Associate Professor of World and Classical Languages and Cultures (Spanish) at Benedictine College. In addition to her work as an educator, Dr. Sellers is a Federally Certified Court Interpreter (English<>Spanish), and she is certified in the states of Colorado, Nebraska, Missouri, and Pennsylvania (Master). Dr. Sellers has published three books on Dominican music and identity, with her most recent book, The Modern Bachateros: 27 Interviews, released in 2017. Dr. Sellers has also published on language acquisition and interpreting skills and advocacy in a variety of publications, such as The Language Educator, Proteus, and The Wyoming Lawyer. In 2017, Dr. Sellers delivered a keynote address at the international conference, Música, Identidad y Cultura en el Caribe: Bachatas y cuerdas (Santiago, Dominican Republic), and was recognized as part of that conference’s Committee of Honor and as a Special Consultant. She was named the 2017 Kansas World Language Association’s Teacher of the Year.


Becoming a State-certified Interpreter. This presentation will describe all of the steps required to get certified as a court interpreter in the State of Missouri. Certification is offered in 20 languages. The first phase of the certification process is a 16-hour orientation workshop. After completing the orientation, candidates are allowed to take a written exam, and candidates who have passed the written exam can then take the oral exam. Once certified, interpreters must receive 8 hours of continuing education credits per year to maintain their certified status. The presentation will describe what it entails to be ready for each of the phases of this process and how the exam is graded. We will also talk about the reasons for having a certification, the role of the court interpreter, the ethics of the profession, the three different modes of interpreting, and all the materials available to get prepared for the exam.

Rosario Garriga is a native of Argentina who came to the United States 15 years ago. She is a federally certified court interpreter and a certified court interpreter for the Missouri State Courts. She holds a degree in Communication Sciences with a focus in journalism from the University of Buenos Aires and an M.A. in Print Journalism from Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts. She has worked as a freelance interpreter since 2008 and as an editor and translator since 2001. Most of her work these days is done in the federal courts, MO State Courts, attorney-client meetings and legal matters. However, she also has experience in conference, medical and business interpreting. Ms. Garriga is a member of MICATA, ATA and NAJIT.


Translation Project Management Tools, Best Practices and Challenges for Freelance Translators and Project Managers. This session will cover a wide variety of practical topics, from the skills project managers are looking for when recruiting freelance translators to tips on how to prepare for a big translation project. We will also talk about advertising and how to build a strong professional reputation.  We will discuss business practices and provide recommendations for practical things like business cards and personal websites. We will also take a look at the new trends in the translation industry, the hot translation topics and the future of the translation industry. We will end the session by opening the floor for discussion about the most common challenges freelance translators are faced with today and share suggestions on how to alleviate them.

Anne-Cécile Fuchs is originally from Belgium and French is her native language. She learned Dutch in High School and later learned English. She attended the École d’Interprètes Internationaux in Mons, Belgium and graduated with a Masters Degree in Translation in June 1989. She received a scholarship from the International Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California, where she received a certificate in translation in May 1990. She then moved to Huntsville, Alabama and started working at Intergraph as a French translator in August 1990. She moved to Kansas City in August 1994 and worked as a French translator at SH3, a translation agency, until September 1995. She took a break from professional life until 2004 when she started teaching French at Trinity Christian School in Peachtree City, Georgia. She moved to Saint Louis in May of 2007 and started working as translation manager for Demand Management, Inc., her current employer.


A History of Diplomatic Translation. Ever since the humankind began organizing into political states, there has been diplomacy. But when and how did diplomatic translation begin?  Follow the history of diplomatic translation from antiquity through modern times, both in the European context and in the wider world. Then journey through the history of the U.S. State Department’s Office of Language Services, from its Revolutionary War roots to the days of social media. Oh the characters you will meet!

Diplomatic Translation at the State Department Today. How do modern-day translators work at the State Department? What types of texts do they encounter? How do they certify treaty texts across languages? What terminology challenges do they face?  How is technology reshaping the way they work? How do they build the best possible translation? What languages are in highest demand and what role do freelance translators play? Most importantly—how does a 237-year-old office stay so young?

Joseph Mazza, a 1984 graduate of the George Washington University (BA, International Affairs), joined the State Department’s Office of Language Services (LS) in 1989 as a translator of Romance languages into English, following five years as a translator of Russian and Romance languages for the Navy.  In 2003, he was named Chief of LS’s Romance Branch; in 2006 he became Chief of LS’s Translating Division, with responsibility for most State Department translations.   In both capacities, he helped to develop both the ASTM Standard Guide for Quality Assurance in Translation and the ILR Skill Level Descriptions for Translation Performance.  In 2015, he began teaching Spanish/English translation at the University of Maryland’s Graduate Studies in Interpretation and Translation (GSIT) program.  Mr. Mazza was elected to a 2-year term as Administrator of the Government Division of the American Translators Association (ATA) in 2016, and has been a regular presenter at ATA annual conferences.


Getting Started in the T&I Industry. If you are a new interpreter or translator and you have wondered about certification, about how to market yourself, how to obtain references and referrals, how to stand your ground when faced with unrealistic expectations regarding deadlines, fees, etc., or how to organize your business (LLC, Sole Proprietor, Corporation, etc.) plan to attend this session offered by an experienced translator and an experienced interpreter.

Gabby Doherty is from Mexico and has been a successful interpreter and translator since 2003 that she moved to Kansas. She has a Bachelor degree as a Montessori Educator; and a degree on Public Administration from the Mexico City “Universidad del Claustro de Sor Juana”. Her main expertise is on Spanish<>English, but she also speaks Italian and French. She has served as Secretary, Treasurer, and Board member of MICATA Board of Directors. She is a State Court Certified Interpreter, and she also has a Certificate as Medical Interpreter from the University of Arizona. She is continuously working on improving her skills, as well as interacting with colleagues to help improving our profession. She works as a court, medical, conferences, and phone interpreter. And as a translator she works mainly on legal and medical documents.

Jean Marie Trujillo, an ATA-Certified Translator (Spanish>English; Portuguese>English) and a Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters (CCHI) Certified Healthcare Interpreter™, stumbled into the world of professional translation and interpreting at the 2010 MICATA conference, and she hasn’t looked back since. A native of central Kansas, she double-majored in English and Spanish at Wheaton College (IL), completed her MA in Hispanic Literary Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and returned to Kansas to earn her PhD in Spanish with a focus on Latin American Literary and Cultural Studies at The University of Kansas. She currently teaches Spanish part time at Baker University. She lives in Lawrence with her husband, two children, and one poodle. Between them, they have studied nine languages, but their poodle remains hopelessly monolingual.


Pro Bono T&I Work as Professional Development. Pro bono work refers to professional service performed free of charge for the public good. But volunteer work in translation or interpreting can be beneficial to the volunteer as well. This session examines pro bono opportunities as professional development in light of T&I codes of ethics. We will discuss evaluation criteria and apply them to examples of volunteer positions. The presenter will discuss her experiences as a volunteer member of the Review and Translation Team for microfinance crowdfunding nonprofit Kiva.

Laura Kanost is an associate professor of Spanish at Kansas State University and an ATA-certified translator (Spanish to English). She teaches Spanish<>English translation in the Spanish Translation Minor program at KSU. Her research and teaching interests include Spanish American literature, translation, disability studies, and service-learning. Her translations include Las guionistas: A Bilingual Anthology of Mexican Women Screenwriters (Bilingual Press, 2017). She has been a volunteer translator for Kiva since 2015.


Dealing with Shifting Levels of Language Competency among Primary Participants in Collaborative Encounters. The purpose of the interpreter in collaborative settings (health care, education, community, with own attorney, etc.) is to facilitate communication between the parties who do not speak the same language. The interpreter is impartial, so favors neither party, and is therefore only concerned with assuring that the full meaning of each utterance (explicit, implicit, tone, register, etc.) is faithfully rendered into the target language.  When the primary participants have no proficiency at all in the other language, this task, while complex, is straightforward.  The task is more challenging when one, both or all primaries have some ability in the other language—for example, in a Russian-English context the patient/client speaks some degree English and the provider speaks some degree of Russian.  In this session I will present a brief overview of the process of language acquisition and briefly describe language proficiency levels.  I will review the reality of changing levels of language proficiency among immigrants, outline the purposes of language in communication, consider attitudes toward using the other person’s language (even if imperfectly) and discuss, through case studies from healthcare interpreting, how “facilitating communication” must take the primary participants’ desire to use the other person’s language into account as part of promoting direct communication between the primaries managing the flow of communication.

Katherine Langan,​ ​Ph.D.,​ ​CHI-Spanish,​ CMI, ​is a sociolinguist who has worked as a translator/interpreter since 1979. She earned her Ph.D. and M.S. at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. She received training in translation through SIL and worked with various combinations of Indo-European and Mayan languages (including English, Spanish, Poqomam, K’iche’, Kaqchikel, Koiné Greek and French), with religious, technical, cultural, medical, legal, and commercial documents. She has been involved in the training of interpreters and translators both in the US and Guatemala since 1979. She has interpreted in legal, educational and medical contexts in both the U.S. and Guatemala, as well as conference interpreting. As an active member of the National Council of Interpreters in Healthcare, she is the Chair of the Standards and Training Committee coordinating the work of the Home for Trainers and co-chairs the Languages of Limited Diffusion Work Group and the National Standards of Practice for Healthcare Interpreters Work Group. She has also researched and developed specialized training for interpreters working in speech language therapy.


Skills for Online Interpretation. The future of simultaneous interpretation is remote and global.  Interpreters can now work with any agency, in any country, at any time.  The need to travel to provide services, as well as all the traditional equipment, are no longer necessary.  The number of jobs for simul is exploding worldwide.  This sesión introduces all of the skills required to expand your services into worldwide online interpretation.  Covers a basic overview of:  (a) web conferencing software for which clients want simul, (b) how to simul online, (c) how to work with remote partners, (d) using relay online, (e) basic technical knowledge required for success, (f) how to make subtitles with your voice, (g) ways to remotely deliver your voice to webinars where everyone is connected to the internet, (h) tips for introducing yourself to global agencies and clients to offer your services.

Sue Reager is president of Translate Your World International (“Tywi”), developers of real-time voice-to-subtitles software for interpreters that turns interpretation into readable subtitles as well as cutting-edge simultaneous interpretation software. Sue Reager speaks 10 languages and has lived and worked in 34 cities and 17 countries of Europe, Africa, South America, Australia, Asia, Caribbean and Middle East. She is a programmer, software developer, and patented inventor. Her inventions are used by Cisco Systems, Intel, Nuance, Verizon, Turner Broadcasting, Cox Communications, and others.

Wei Whitbeck is a full-time professional freelance interpreter and translator based in Nebraska’s Omaha region. Her working languages are Mandarin Chinese and English. MA in Interpretation and Translation from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, Wei has been providing T&I services in the US and China since 1999. She currently serves as the vice president of Nebraska Association for Translators and Interpreters and the US representative for TruMind Technology Co, a Chinese artificial intelligence translation startup. Wei is a founding member of Translation Your World, a US-based niche technology and media localization company.


Ensuring Payment – Before, During, and After the Project. Late and non-payments are a fact of life in all businesses. The Internet and the rise of translator “auction” portals, while increasing the translator’s exposure to the global market, have unfortunately also made it easier for unscrupulous people to delay payment or even intentionally defraud freelancers. This presentation will cover steps that all translators can and should take to minimize the risk of not being paid for their services. Topics will include actions to take before, during, and after the project, standard business practices regarding accounts payable, resources for checking a company’s bone fides, dunning, and collection procedures.

Ted Wozniak is an ATA certified German to English translator, specializing in accounting, taxation, and finance. He is also a Qualified Member of the Institute of Translation & Interpreting (MITI) in the UK. He holds bachelor’s degrees in accounting and German and is also a graduate of the German Basic Course at the Defense Language Institute. He has worked as an accountant, stockbroker, liaison officer, and interrogation instructor at the U.S. Army Intelligence School prior to becoming a full-time freelance translator. He is the moderator owner of Finanztrans, a mailing list for German financial translators, and runs Payment Practices, a mailing list providing information to translators on client’s payment practices. He is currently the President-elect of the American Translators Association. He resides in New Orleans, LA.


The Path of a Controlled Substance Case through the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office Crime Lab. This presentation will cover how a controlled substance case moves through the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office Crime Lab from evidence submission, through the analysis, and finally, the release of the laboratory report. Techniques and instrumentation used in the analysis of controlled substances will be presented in detail.

Malinda Spangler, MSFS, F-ABC, is the technical leader of the controlled substances section of the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office. She received a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Chemistry from the University of Iowa and a Master’s of Science in Forensic Science (MSFS) degree from the University of Alabama- Birmingham. She has worked the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office Crime Lab for 9 years and prior to the worked for the Iowa DCI Crime Lab in Ankeny, Iowa and the Nebraska State Patrol Crime Lab in Lincoln, Nebraska. She is certified as a Fellow in Drug Analysis with the American Board of Criminalistics.


Home Office and Mileage Expense Deductions. Do you know what the IRS says about interpreters and translators deducting expenses for our home offices and mileage expenses? This is an informative session on how these two deductions are linked together when we file our taxes each year, and will cover what the IRS has to say about properly claiming these two separate deductions in order to reduce our taxes. Issues that will be discussed are:

  • Identifying the IRS publications that address these issues and what they say.
  • How are the home office deduction and mileage deduction linked?
  • What are the amounts that I must report from the interpreter or translation agency about reimbursements for mileage?
  • What is the difference between the method for deducting actual expenses and the simplified method in the home office deduction?
  • How do I qualify for the home office deduction?
  • What mileage expenses can I deduct?
  • How do I keep track of my mileage?

John Matthews worked for H&R Block for 5 tax years preparing tax returns for clients in their retail and premium offices, and has hands-on experience in these tax deductions.  He has been a member of MICATA for more than 20 years, is a Life Member of the ATA, and has been ATA-certified in Japanese > English translation since 1987.  He served 2 terms as MICATA President, 12 terms recently as MICATA Treasurer, and currently serves as a MICATA Director.  Related memberships include the Japanese Language Division of the ATA and the Heart of America Japan America Society.  With an MBA from Thunderbird focusing on East Asia and a BS from Georgetown in Japanese and Applied Linguistics, he worked for 20 years at the Consulate General of Japan at Kansas City where duties included in-house translation.  He is a full-time freelance translator focusing on legal, pharmaceutical, automotive and general business matters.