| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4] > | London conference 2008 - Proz conference expectations Thread poster: Ellen Singer
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Karen Stokes 
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:33
Member (2003)
French to English
| Multiple memberships | Nov 26, 2008 |
Ellen Singer wrote:
Any ideas on the number of members from each of these organizations? I do wonder......
Many of us are members of all three, so it's not quite as easy as adding up the numbers in each group.
Ellen Singer wrote:
It felt more like an ITI meeting where we were allowed to attend and were supposed to feel jealous of the ITI groupies....
I certainly met lots of ITI colleagues - which is hardly surprising, given that ITI and CIoL are the two professional bodies for translators in the UK and that many of us live within easy reach of London. But I talked to plenty of new people too, with whom I had some interesting and productive conversations. I truly find it hard to believe that anyone was made to feel jealous or why they would feel that way: as you say, we're all perfectly capable of choosing the people we find congenial.
Best,
Karen
[Edited at 2008-11-26 20:04 GMT]
| | | | Giles Watson
Italy
Local time: 08:33
Italian to English
In memoriam
Karen Stokes wrote:
I certainly met lots of ITI colleagues - which is hardly surprising, given that ITI and CIoL are the two professional bodies for translators in the UK
As a member of the UK Translators Association (no apostrophe, apparently), I take slight exception to that assertion
More to the point, I have attended, and indeed given presentations at, Proz conferences in Porto Santo Stefano (2001), Oxford (2004) and Edinburgh (2006), but decided not to attend the London event, which appeared from the start to be focused on the interests not of translators but of large-scale consumers of translation and their suppliers (SDL).
Squabbling over the relative prestige of the CIoL, the ITI, or indeed my own more modest association, smacks of deckchair rearranging on the Titanic.
That said, I hope that future Proz conferences will again focus on translators, not software houses, language providers or corporations. I have enjoyed and benefited from all of the conferences I have attended so far and look forward to doing so again in other congenial locations.
Best to all,
Giles
| | | | | Funny you should mention that | Nov 26, 2008 |
Giles Watson wrote:
... decided not to attend the London event, which appeared from the start to be focused on the interests not of translators but of large-scale consumers of translation and their suppliers (SDL).
This seemed to be the prevailing view in the smoking room (metaphorically - we were outside). You did well to spot that from the programme alone.
That said, I'm generally pretty OK with the idea of things being client-driven; to do otherwise would appear to me to put the cart before the horse. But I don't feel massively strongly either way. Unlike some. Which is fair enough. If you do, you certainly did right to miss it.
| | | | | Thanks for the feedback | Nov 26, 2008 |
Hi all,
Thanks for the feedback, folks. As it happens, a post-conference survey is currently underway; you should have received an invitation for feedback by email. I invite you to complete that if you have not yet done so. The feedback will help us to make sure that future events meet your expectations.
Personally, while I was not able to attend, I am happy that members of ProZ.com, the ITI and CIoL were brought together in the same place. If egos were shown, I'd sugge... See more Hi all,
Thanks for the feedback, folks. As it happens, a post-conference survey is currently underway; you should have received an invitation for feedback by email. I invite you to complete that if you have not yet done so. The feedback will help us to make sure that future events meet your expectations.
Personally, while I was not able to attend, I am happy that members of ProZ.com, the ITI and CIoL were brought together in the same place. If egos were shown, I'd suggest we take it in stride. After all, cooperation is generally a good thing, and if we are to cooperate as translator groups, we have to start somewhere. Holding a face-to-face event together is a good way to start.
Congratulations to Michael Benis for putting the event together. It was a lot of work.
Henry
PS. As for my reason for not attending, as was explained at the event, an update to the code for the first annual contest unfortunately required my attention. I regret not having had the opportunity to spend some time with everyone, and among other things discuss the Certified PRO network. But I hope to catch you at a future event! (By the way, voting will be open soon on the contest...) ▲ Collapse
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Ellen Singer
Local time: 08:33
English to Spanish
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TOPIC STARTER | Statistics and such | Nov 26, 2008 |
I would still appreciate knowing how many were members of which organization. People can be counted as a member of as many organizations as they have joined..... So if you are a member of two you are counted as a member of both.... I wonder what this will show.....
Getting organizations to cooperate is good.... but equally
Not stating who is who at the round the table discussion is an oversight which I fin... See more I would still appreciate knowing how many were members of which organization. People can be counted as a member of as many organizations as they have joined..... So if you are a member of two you are counted as a member of both.... I wonder what this will show.....
Getting organizations to cooperate is good.... but equally
Not stating who is who at the round the table discussion is an oversight which I find hard to understand. And a round table discussion is a round table discussion, not a setting for a panel of "experts" who decide what is worthy of their answer and what is not, nor what is to be repeated until everyone is falling asleep and what is not, etc.
And yes, I am aware a lot of work and effort went into the organization..... but good intentions and good results do not automatically go hand in hand.
I wish I had put the research into the speakers I will put in future to find out if there is any imbalance which should trigger my alert signals and stop me from registering.
I hope this thread has shown there are quite some improvements to be made to meet the expectations Prozians have after attending some international events
Thanks for all the honest work and effort, but no thanks to any attempt to show us the way! ▲ Collapse
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member of ITI, CIoL and Proz... full house!
I did enjoy it... but more for the networking side (part of the smoking room...) than for the actual lectures... so it was in Oxford, a conference much more varied and "flexible"... having said that, I think Michael did a remarkable job and I thank him for that. I really enjoyed talking to the staff... such lovely and friendly people... and the curry goat, obviously...![]() ... See more member of ITI, CIoL and Proz... full house!
I did enjoy it... but more for the networking side (part of the smoking room...) than for the actual lectures... so it was in Oxford, a conference much more varied and "flexible"... having said that, I think Michael did a remarkable job and I thank him for that. I really enjoyed talking to the staff... such lovely and friendly people... and the curry goat, obviously...
G ▲ Collapse
| | | | Ellen Singer
Local time: 08:33
English to Spanish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Thanks for sharing your affiliations! | Nov 26, 2008 |
Hello Giovanni,
Great that you inform us! If others follow suit I will make a graph.....
| | | | | Mr Statistics speaks | Nov 27, 2008 |
Ellen Singer wrote:
Hello Giovanni,
Great that you inform us! If others follow suit I will make a graph.....
If anyone responds on this thread who is not part of Proz, I shall buy a hat, and then eat it.
In Trafalgar Square.
Naked.
In other words, surely by definition, anyone you ask on here is gonna be on Proz, no?
For the purposes of your graph, please be advised that I am not a member of either of the august bodies in question.
Moving on, I found the organisation was great - easy place to find, a good venue, speakers in the order advertised, and so on.
As regards the "angle" some speakers adopted, well, one could point out that a bunch of people who hold exactly the same view as you telling you a load of stuff you already knew could possibly be just a teensy bit dull after a while. Hearing differing views can be interesting.
So, for example, although the "content management" session seemed to cause borderline apoplexy in some people, at least we are all aware of it being in the pipeline (with some client segments, anyway) and can be prepared to act accordingly.
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mariana24
Uruguay
Local time: 03:33
Spanish
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Hi All,
I signed up to attend the conference and had to cancel everything, which cost me some money and meant even more work for Michael, whom, I know even not having been able to attend, did a great job (I still thank you, Michael).
Now, I am following this thread with great interest, I'm sure you'll understand, I want to know whether it was good or bad for me not being able to be there.
I understand there was some kind of translators' organisations ... See more Hi All,
I signed up to attend the conference and had to cancel everything, which cost me some money and meant even more work for Michael, whom, I know even not having been able to attend, did a great job (I still thank you, Michael).
Now, I am following this thread with great interest, I'm sure you'll understand, I want to know whether it was good or bad for me not being able to be there.
I understand there was some kind of translators' organisations tour de force, which I truly find hard to believe, looking at it from down here, the uncivilised world....but...apart from the SDL/ITI oriented week-end, could someone tell me about any content they found interesting, new, worth knowing of or that they would like to share with someone that was so eager to be present and couldn't?
Thanks very much.
Mariana (Proz.com and CIoL member, by the way) ▲ Collapse
| | | | Giles Watson
Italy
Local time: 08:33
Italian to English
In memoriam | Client(s)-driven | Nov 27, 2008 |
Charlie Bavington wrote:
That said, I'm generally pretty OK with the idea of things being client-driven;
It's OK, provided there's a bit of competition to keep the focus on the translators, not the kit.
One of the great things about the Proz conferences I have attended was the opportunity to learn first-hand about translation software and the like from several horse's mouths at the same time.
For me and, I suspect, for many others who earn their living by translating, SDL's vision of locking freelancers into a supply chain for wholesale consumers of language services is to all intents and purposes irrelevant. I simply don't work on that kind of text with that kind of client in that kind of relationship.
I do, however, find great benefit in using Trados as part of my current workflow and am always keen to hear from SDL and its competitors.
Giles
PS for Giovanni: If you have any published book translations to your name, you could join the Translators Association. After all, four of a kind beats a full house
| | | | Karen Stokes
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:33
Member (2003)
French to English
Giles Watson wrote: As a member of the UK Translators Association (no apostrophe, apparently), I take slight exception to that assertion
My apologies, Giles, no offence intended, I guess I was in conference mode, but I do hear good things about the TA and the Society of Authors.
Best,
Karen
| | | | Ellen Singer
Local time: 08:33
English to Spanish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Naked statistics | Nov 27, 2008 |
Dear Charlie,
You wrote:
If anyone responds on this thread who is not part of Proz, I shall buy a hat, and then eat it.
In Trafalgar Square.
Naked.
I must say, this does sound tempting.... It should be fun, especially in winter and in Britain (can we sell tickets?)
In truth, the translation industry is a very ... See more Dear Charlie,
You wrote:
If anyone responds on this thread who is not part of Proz, I shall buy a hat, and then eat it.
In Trafalgar Square.
Naked.
I must say, this does sound tempting.... It should be fun, especially in winter and in Britain (can we sell tickets?)
In truth, the translation industry is a very in-crowd. In various situations the same names turn up.... I know this is Proz.com and not the others..... which means that only Prozians will read this.... but if the will is there we should be able to reach wider...... There are only 7 steps from any human being to another on this planet (including hermits) so in this trade, two steps should suffice.... ▲ Collapse
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Mervyn Henderson (X)
Spain
Local time: 08:33
Spanish to English
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I must say I'm intrigued by these signs of bad feeling between ITI, Proz etc. I had no idea. Am I the only one? I was toying with the idea of going to the London hoe-down, but I had too much on, and so it stayed at toying. If I go to one of these things now, I'll be going with a large dose of cynicism. Still, that curried goat sounded good.
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Giles Watson wrote: PS for Giovanni: If you have any published book translations to your name, you could join the Translators Association. After all, four of a kind beats a full house
Any? I've translated about 87 children's books... I'm running out of space in my house...
| | | | Ellen Singer
Local time: 08:33
English to Spanish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Mervyn Henderson wrote:
I must say I'm intrigued by these signs of bad feeling between ITI, Proz etc. I had no idea. Am I the only one? I was toying with the idea of going to the London hoe-down, but I had too much on, and so it stayed at toying. If I go to one of these things now, I'll be going with a large dose of cynicism. Still, that curried goat sounded good.
I must say I did not know about this before either.... And there was no apparent problem there.... ITI was mentioned various times but the others were not...
The goat sounded good to many actually present....
I believe the translation industry should not be a cut-throat industry. Most of us can and do help others out. Knowing more than one language usually means knowing more than one culture well and, thus, being able to see there are more ways than one to deal with life, problems, work, etc. That is the element I found missing during the conference. Every speaker was set in their ways and acted as if that was the best way for all others.... Some more listening, some more down time to meet the others would have done everyone a lot of good! The inexperienced translators were at a loss when trying to find their way..... many asked in the line of "so xxx is the best option, is it?" and were faced with a variety of answers which they could not wade through......
As a participant of the Budapest conference I must say this was not a typical Proz.com meeting.... Just look at the plans for the next Dortmund meeting.... No speakers or programme is available but 25 people have already registered! That is what happens when a previous conference is a success
Most of the UK conference was about people informing us how important and great they are..... They also told us that we should all know certain companies, big fish I must say, but only if you are into technical and software translation, not any other field..... So why would a literature translator come across them at all? Or a legal translator? Not my cup of tea
Please try to push cynicism aside and go to meetings where there are long, long breaks between speakers. You will have a great time and find other souls who you will like to meet again and again!
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