Sessions

Providing a service that is acknowledged as critical to every conceivable life and business process.
A Service for every relevant attribute of which – quality, completeness, value – there are clear, uniform and objectively verifiable definitions.
Where practitioners are held in the highest esteem by the general public because they are commercially competent, and they are ethically reliable standard-bearers for a long tradition of scholarly thought, rigorous theory and praxis tempered and proved in the crucible of the marketplace.
Practitioners who display as individuals, cognitive powers and intellectual discipline, that may be meaningfully compared to those of a brain surgeon or air traffic controller.
This is an ideal vision of the profession of translation, but we aren’t there yet.
No matter how pioneering, radical or disengaged our pyjama-clad, self-taught, lurking, freelance lifestyle makes us feel, “we” are all of us members of a thousand year trek across a smoking landscape of entrenched political interests, prejudice and ignorance. Stretching from the middle ages to the future, split into many columns and camps, overlapping generations of failure and false starts. Few realising that every interaction with every paying customer that every one of us completes, sends a message to the world; another pixel in the slowly resolving image of translation which either advances or retards that development.
In this presentation, Chris will speak on a number of concepts central to the development of professional standards and identity, and will report on the trends that he has observed in 20 years of business. If something is to be done, it is only individuals who can do it. Chris would love to see a roomful of individuals for this presentation, and will try to share with them as many practical measures that will enable them to strengthen their business, refine their art, and find contentment in their life choices.
On the other hand if you became a translator and/or interpreter specifically because you enjoy bitching constantly about ignorant clients, banging on about your credentials, decrying the unethical practices of agencies and smoldering about foreigners undercutting your work, please do not attend this presentation.

Recommended pre-read for this presentation “Definition of Profession”  http://www.pooletranslation.com.au/file/390

Speakers

Chris Poole