Translating in Catalonia

The Association of Professional Translators and Interpreters of Catalonia (Associació Professional de Traductors i Intèrprets de Catalunya, APTIC) was founded in 2009, as a result of the fusion of two general translators associations: the Associació de Traductors i d'Intèrprets de Catalunya (ATIC) and Traductors i Intèrprets Associats pro Col•legi (TRIAC). It is an independent, non-profit association, open to professionals from the sector, with academic background or proven experience.

The ATIC was founded in 1994, by a group of students who wished to “confront the lack of specific legislation and organisation within this sector”. TRIAC was born in 1995, with the main purpose of creating a professional college of translators and interpreters, “allowing for the regulation of this professional activity in Catalonia”.

These two translation associations worked separately for ten years. However, in 2006, there was a new law to regulate the activity of “qualified professions and professional associations”. This ruled out the chances for creating an official professional college of translators and interpreters. Taking into the account that the objectives of both ATIC and TRIAC were now the same, the two associations decided to merge.

As a result of this fusion, APTIC was born, counting on more than 500 members, and making use of over ten years of experience “representing the translation and interpreting community, organising training activities and promoting the profession”. In 2012, there were over 650 associates.

The objects of APTIC are clear. They wish to represent professional translators and interpreters' interests. Other than that, it is their wish to make a contribution towards the improvement of working conditions for translators and interpreters, as well as to ensure their social acknowledgement.

APTIC also wishes to “facilitate the training and retraining of professionals”. For that purpose but not only, the Catalonian translators association wants to ensure that “the association’s activities benefit society” as well as it means to “offer resources and activities open to the public”. In the end, APTIC wants to encourage a spirit of association and to promote culture.

In order to become a member of APTIC, you must meet at least one of the established requirements. You have to hold a university degree in translation or interpretation, or to be a higher education student in one of the above-mentioned subjects. The third option is that you are a graduate student or you hold a graduate or doctoral degree in translation or interpreting. You qualify as well if you have experience teaching translation at university level, if you’re a sworn translator or interpreter, if you have published translations of at least two books, you have been awarded a national, regional or international prize on translation or, finally, if you prove continuous professional experience of more than two years in translation and interpreting.

If you meet any of these conditions, you’re welcome to contact APTIC’s offices, which will guide you through the affiliation process.

Activities

The APTIC’s Activities Committee has been especially active. It’s “made up of entirely volunteer APTIC members”. They have been responsible for a “full and varied programme of courses, talks and other activities”.

During the first three years of this very recent translation association, “83 activities were organised: 38 short training courses, 30 free talks, 9 social activities and 6 activities to promote the profession in conjunction with other associations”.

Keep in mind that Catalonian is the sole official language of Andorra and one of the official languages of Spain (Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and the Valencian Community). It is estimated that there are 11 million speakers of Catalonian around the world.

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