Unlike more advanced countries, Italy does not have a national register for interpreters and/or translators. This leaves a gap which is partly filled by national professional associations, such as AITI, ANITI, Assotraduttori and Assointerpreti, which both guarantee for and monitor their members’ professionalism at the national level. On 27 March 2004, a group of interpreters and translators mainly based in Forlì and graduated from the local Advanced School of Modern Languages for Interpreters and Translators (SSLiMIT) of the University of Bologna, founded a non-profit association called TradInFo. The purposes of the association are mainly to network local professionals and offer them permanent training and more visibility, at the local level, than they would have individually. It is governed by a Statute and a Code of Ethics; new memberships are approved by the Board of Councillors if the candidate can prove significant professional experience as interpreter/translator, or automatically if the candidate graduated from the SSLiMITs of the Universities of Bologna or Trieste, thus making TradInFo more inclusive than other national associations, to become a member of which candidates must have worked for a certain period of time at fixed rates and take an examination or, as in the case of Assointerpreti, serve an apprenticeship. As of the end of October 2004, TradInFo has approximately 35 members. Although this figure is rising constantly, it is clear that this association will never reach the numbers of other, more renowned national associations. This is due to the founders’ intention of keeping the association local, mainly in order to facilitate direct contact between the members and their active participation in courses, bi-yearly general assemblies and monthly informal meetings. Small numbers are also key to participation: the volume of mail circulated on the TradInFo mailing list never exceeded 250 messages monthly, ensuring that all members of TradInFo are in a position of reading all messages posted on the list, which is used for administrative purposes as well as professional queries. Courses and meetings are organized whenever a sufficient number of members propose them and agree to participate, and virtually all members contribute their ideas and devote a portion of their time to the association’s activities and projects. Information of all kinds, glossaries, useful links, dictionaries and other resources are shared among the members, thus creating an environment of participative democracy, a real, rather than virtual, “community” of interpreters and translators. Thus, a small association like TradInFo can be considered a necessary integration to larger, more powerful but perhaps also less cohesive associations.
I. Torresi (2005). On the Complementarity of National- and Local-Level Interpreters' and Translators' Associations in Italy. PARIS : FIT, Fédération Internationale des Traducteurs.
On the Complementarity of National- and Local-Level Interpreters' and Translators' Associations in Italy
TORRESI, IRA
2005
Abstract
Unlike more advanced countries, Italy does not have a national register for interpreters and/or translators. This leaves a gap which is partly filled by national professional associations, such as AITI, ANITI, Assotraduttori and Assointerpreti, which both guarantee for and monitor their members’ professionalism at the national level. On 27 March 2004, a group of interpreters and translators mainly based in Forlì and graduated from the local Advanced School of Modern Languages for Interpreters and Translators (SSLiMIT) of the University of Bologna, founded a non-profit association called TradInFo. The purposes of the association are mainly to network local professionals and offer them permanent training and more visibility, at the local level, than they would have individually. It is governed by a Statute and a Code of Ethics; new memberships are approved by the Board of Councillors if the candidate can prove significant professional experience as interpreter/translator, or automatically if the candidate graduated from the SSLiMITs of the Universities of Bologna or Trieste, thus making TradInFo more inclusive than other national associations, to become a member of which candidates must have worked for a certain period of time at fixed rates and take an examination or, as in the case of Assointerpreti, serve an apprenticeship. As of the end of October 2004, TradInFo has approximately 35 members. Although this figure is rising constantly, it is clear that this association will never reach the numbers of other, more renowned national associations. This is due to the founders’ intention of keeping the association local, mainly in order to facilitate direct contact between the members and their active participation in courses, bi-yearly general assemblies and monthly informal meetings. Small numbers are also key to participation: the volume of mail circulated on the TradInFo mailing list never exceeded 250 messages monthly, ensuring that all members of TradInFo are in a position of reading all messages posted on the list, which is used for administrative purposes as well as professional queries. Courses and meetings are organized whenever a sufficient number of members propose them and agree to participate, and virtually all members contribute their ideas and devote a portion of their time to the association’s activities and projects. Information of all kinds, glossaries, useful links, dictionaries and other resources are shared among the members, thus creating an environment of participative democracy, a real, rather than virtual, “community” of interpreters and translators. Thus, a small association like TradInFo can be considered a necessary integration to larger, more powerful but perhaps also less cohesive associations.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
