Austin Area Translators and Interpreters Association (AATIA) is a professional organization based in Austin, Texas, and affiliated with the American Translators Association. The AATIA was founded in 1985 and incorporated as a non-profit organization (business league) in 1994. It promotes the translation (written) and interpretation (spoken) services of its members through advertising and community outreach. It also educates the public about these language-based professions.
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AATIA members include freelance translators and interpreters, as well as businesses in the translation and interpretation industries. As of 2011, there are about 240 members working in the following languages: Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Bengali, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dari, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Gujarati, Hungarian, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Kurdish, Latin, Mandarin, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Romanian, Serbo-Croatian, Slovak, Swedish, Spanish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese.
Professional Development
Translation and interpretation are professions which continue to evolve and specialize, requiring ongoing education. The AATIA holds public meetings on the first Saturday in January, March, May, July, September and November, with presentations in English of general interest and a forum for networking and mentoring. Several training events are also held each year to help its members meet continuing education requirements for their certifications, often targeting a certain speciality like Spanish court interpreting. These events may be held at the AATIA office in Austin, or online by webinar, and are sometimes recorded for future viewing on DVD.
Leadership
The AATIA board of directors consists of six volunteer members elected annually from the active membership.
Special Interest Groups
AATIA SIGs normally meet six times a year to focus on the unique needs and interests of different kinds of members. These may be formal meetings at the AATIA offices or smaller, informal groups at other sites.
The Interpreter SIG supports a large group of spoken-language interpreters, who may work in the legal, medical, commercial or social services fields.
The Literary SIG provides a forum for experienced and beginning translators of literature to discuss detailed challenges of their current projects with their peers. The LitSIG also sponsors public events to promote public awareness of translated literature.
The Russian SIG and Spanish SIG bring together members who work in these two languages to address linguistic and cultural issues in a more detailed, bilingual setting.