Abbreviation IAPTI Legal status active President of the Board of Directors Aurora Humarán | Formation 30 September 2009 Region served Worldwide | |
Location Buenos Aires, Argentina | ||
The International Association of Professional Translators and Interpreters (IAPTI) is an international professional association of translators and interpreters based in Argentina.
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History
Based in Buenos Aires, Argentina, IAPTI was established on 30 September 2009, Saint Jerome's day. Created by a group of professional language mediators as a vehicle for promoting ethical practices in translation and interpretation and providing a forum for discussing problems typical of the globalized world, such as crowdsourcing, outsourcing, bad rates and other abuse.
It was founded by Aurora Humarán, an Argentinian sworn translator, Corresponding Member of the North American Academy of the Spanish Language, and marketing specialist.
IAPTI applied for registration as a civil association in the City of Buenos Aires (Argentina). Its legal registration under the name "International Association of Professional Translators and Interpreters" took a long time to process with the Office of the Argentine Inspector-General for Justice. On 23 February 2017 it was announced that the Inspector-General for Justice has finally approved IAPTI as a civil association.
According to its bylaws, the Association is directed and managed by a Board of Directors made up of the six following officers: President, Vice President, Secretary General, Treasurer, two Voting Members and two Alternate Voting Members.
Events, webinars, publications
IAPTI has held three international conferences, in London (2013), Athens (2014), and Bordeaux (2015). The fourth conference is being organised in Buenos Aires for early 2017, which will be held at the Claridge Hotel.
The organization also offers free webinars and other courses to its members, as well as a digital newsletter The IAPTImes.
Partnerships
In 2013, IAPTI joined forces with AIIC, Red T and FIT in the Open Letter Project, which had been launched in 2012. Later they were also joined by Critical Link International, the International Council for the Development of Community Interpreting (CLI), and the World Association of Sign Language Interpreters (WASLI).
They have sent open letters addressing several issues, among others:
Honorary members
Its honorary members are the following:
Supports and disputes
Since 2009 language professionals from several countries have been active members of IAPTI, such as interpeter Tony Rosado or academic Mona Baker. Further, IAPTI's actions regarding freedom of expression received support from the New England Translators Association.
Anthony Pym wrote in 2013 that there were issues regarding the AATI (a member of the FIT), from which three founding members had been expelled. IAPTI, on its part, lamented AATI's assertion of "undermining it", since IAPTI's aims do not compete with those of AATI, but they are complementary. Despite this fact, in 2012 IAPTI was accepted as "Partner" by the International Federation of Translators (FIT).
In November 2016, a number of staff members stepped down from their positions, including its former Ethics Committee president, claiming IAPTI's legal status controversy, unaccountability and lack of transparency of IAPTI, as well as its failure to hold elections since its establishment. As a response, IAPTI’s board informed that several modifications of its bylaws had been made to accommodate the requirements of the Argentine regulatory authority, and dismissed the claims as baseless, unfounded charges by some of its former members. Some months later, the Argentine regulator finally approved IAPTI.