Betty Cohen, president of the International Federation of
Translators (FIT), is calling for more recognition of and
protection for translators and interpreters worldwide.
In an interview with China.org.cn during her October 28–November
5 visit to China, Cohen said that translators and interpreters are
now facing both opportunities and challenges: globalization is
creating more business for them but also demanding more in terms of
both quality and quantity.
Cohen said the translation and interpretation profession needs
international standardization. FIT is developing guidelines on a
number of key issues, including training, quality standards, and
translation tools and technologies. The guidelines are expected to
be approved by the statutory congress of FIT to be held in Finland
next August.
Cohen emphasized the importance of professional standards and
systematic training. “Too many people think that being bilingual is
enough to be a translator, which is not true." She pointed out that
errors in translation for something as simple as the instruction
manual for a small electrical device could result in the
electrocution of the user.
Cohen also noted that the rights and interests of translators
and interpreters are not well protected under all
circumstances.
Skilled translators are essential in many tense and dangerous
situations, and FIT is fighting for protection of those who work in
such areas as Iraq.
Copyright is also a thorny issue. Only a few countries,
such as Norway, Finland and Sweden, have strong copyright
protection for translators. FIT is working with international
copyright organizations and trying to influence legislation in this
regard.
On the other hand, machine translation poses little threat to
flesh-and-blood translators, said Cohen. While it is useful,
applications are limited and a qualified human translator must
still control the output.
“As long as there is ambiguity, a machine is no good. And if a
machine can understand ambiguity, it will rule the world,” she
said.
Having an organization such as FIT to lobby for them is
necessary to translators and interpreters, who by the nature of
their job tend to be invisible, or at least unobtrusive. It is easy
for people to overlook the important role they play in a globalized
world.
"We are like electricity in the wire, water in the tap," said
Cohen. "But imagine one day in the world without translation -- all
translators and interpreters stop working for one day -- there will
be no UN, no WTO, no CNN, and no international organizations. We
are indispensable to the world today."
Cohen and the FIT executive board are in Beijing to attend the
opening ceremony of the FIT Fourth Asian Translators' Forum, which
began on October 29, and the Fifth National Congress of the Translators
Association of China (TAC), opening on Thursday.
Noting that TAC was instrumental in creating an Asian regional
center for FIT, Cohen said that she is impressed by the
organization's work in recent years.
The growth potential for translation and interpretation services
in China are enormous and an inevitable result of the nation's
economic boom and the going-global campaigns of Chinese companies,
said Cohen.
Founded in 1953 with its registered office in Paris and
administration in Montreal, Canada, FIT is an international
federation of associations and organizations with 150 members in
more than 60 countries.
(China.org.cn by Jiang Wandi and Chen Chao, November 4,
2004)
