Madison Gatherings for Translators and Interpreters

By Thaís Passos, MATI Director

For the past six years, a group of translators and interpreters in the Madison, WI, area have been meeting approximately every six weeks for informal get-togethers. The idea was hatched after MATI members Catherine Jagoe, Sasha Federiuk, and Diane Grosklaus Whitty met at an annual conference and decided to create a local space where they could gather with fellow professionals and “talk shop” without any specific agenda. The group remains unaffiliated and has no formal structure.

What started as mixed meetings of translators and interpreters later split into separate gatherings: one for translators and one for interpreters. The gatherings are attended by medical and legal interpreters as well as translators specialized in fields as diverse as law, veterinary medicine, health care, and literature. Represented languages include Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, French, German, Catalan, Farsi, Bengali, Hindi, Japanese, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Russian, and Swedish. Conversations run the gamut from accounting issues and CAT tools to sharing both good and bad news on the professional and personal fronts.

Participants say that the major gain is a sense of belonging and support that helps them keep up their good work, encourages them to try new tools and approaches, and acknowledges their personal and professional achievements. Information on the meetings, which are open to all translators and interpreters, including students, are announced on the group’s Facebook page (Madison Area Interpreters & Translators). If you happen to be in the Madison area, you are cordially invited to attend!

Some participants of the Madison Area Interpreters and Translators group met in December 2016. From left to right: Sylvia Gilbertson, Alex Wills, Huan-Hua Chye, Erin Woodard, Thaís Passos, Diane Grosklaus Whitty, and Manuela Francavilla.