Mediterranean Editors and Translators (MET) is a non-profit, interdisciplinary association for language professionals who work mainly with or into English within the Mediterranean area. The association's members include translators, authors' editors, copy editors, writing and presentation coaches, teachers of academic writing, applied linguists, interpreters, professional writers and more. MET offers training workshops, an annual conference, networking and other opportunities of continuing professional development for its members. The activities of the association are guided by six objectives, summarized as follows:
Contents
- Maintain a stable network and means to hold events for English language consultants
- Communicate knowledge that can contribute to improving the quality of language support services available in the Mediterranean
- Be a conduit for exchanging information between language consultants in our geographic area and those in other parts of Europe and the world
- Stimulate research in Mediterranean communities on the needs of academics, scientists and others and on promising practices that meet their needs well
- Identify local expertise in language support and help our experts share their knowledge with a wider audience
- Help users of language support services locate appropriate solutions to their needs and promote mutual understanding between suppliers and users of these services
History and organization
MET was founded in Barcelona, Spain, in the spring of 2006 after an initial, exploratory meeting the preceding autumn. It is registered in the Generalitat de Catalunya and has a legally binding charter (written in Catalan but translated into English). Its activities are directed by a Governing Council. The council, elected every two years, is composed of council chair and vice-chair, secretary, treasurer, officers for membership, continuing professional development and promotion, and a webmaster.
MET is a member of the VERTICE network of Spanish associations of translators, interpreters and editors, and of the Spanish Network of the Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for the Dialog Between Cultures. It also maintains relationships with the Society for Editors and Proofreaders (SfEP), European Association of Science Editors (EASE), Eastern Mediterranean Association of Medical Editors (EMAME), Associazione Italiana Traduttori e Interpreti (AITI), and APTIC (association of translators and interpreters in Catalunya), offering their members discounted rates to the annual meeting. MET was a source of inspiration and information that facilitated the founding of Nordic Editors and Translators (NEaT) in 2014.
Members and membership
MET's members are mostly based in the Mediterranean region and elsewhere in Europe, but some members from further away join because of their shared interests. MET has both individual and institutional members.
MET's approximately 300 individual members hail from about 25 countries in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia (data of November 2016). They are employed in freelance, entrepreneurial and institutional settings and work in a wide range of subject areas including science, technology, engineering, medicine, business, commerce, finance, law, politics, art and other cultural areas. Because of the association's focus on communication in the English language, many members originate from countries where English is the vernacular.
MET’s institutional membership is a way for institutions and companies to access continuing professional development activities for their staff and to support the association’s mission. Currently there are about 10 institutional members.
Conferences
MET holds a conference every year, usually in early autumn. This is also the occasion for the general assembly of the members. Conferences tend to last 1.5 days and are preceded by two half-days of training workshops. Each “MET meeting” is named with the acronym of METM followed by the last two digits of the year. For example, METM17 is the name given to next year's meeting, to be held on 26-28 October 2017 in Brescia, Italy.
Previous METMs and their themes are:
Workshop program
MET organizes a workshop program every spring in Barcelona, although on request workshops may be organized in other cities. Workshops are usually developed and delivered by MET members, and everyone who attends must be a member (or a member of certain sister associations).
Publications
MET members have written a guide entitled "The English-Language Consultant: MET’s guidelines for choosing an editor, translator, interpreter or other language service provider"; the second, revised edition is available on the association's website. In addition, a limited group of MET members and their colleagues contributed to the edited volume Supporting Research Writing: Roles and challenges in multilingual settings, published in 2013 by Chandos (now Elsevier). Additional publications by MET members related to the annual conferences, including reviews of the meetings and papers based on the presentations, are listed on the association's website.