Translating in Saskatchewan since 1980

The Association of Translators and Interpreters of Saskatchewan was created in 1980 in that province of Southern Canada. It was born from the effort of a group of people who had in common their interest and concern for translation and interpretation. ATIS is the only translators association in the area, and it is committed to reaching “high professional standards in its translation and interpretation services”.

Their first aim was “to foster and promote these professions in the province and to provide representation from Saskatchewan” on national institutions.

According to ATIS, “translation involves rendering a written text from one language into another, conveying the message as fully as possible”, whereas “interpreting involves orally restating as accurately as possible a message expressed by a speaker using another language”.

The founders of this translation association have defined a – short yet strong – list of objectives that is followed today as it was in the time of its creation. The first aim is to offer a collective voice to their group of associates, who must exercise the job without neglecting the association’s code of professional ethics. The last but not the least is to provide users of translation and interpretation services with access to a whole set of competent professionals.

ATIS represents translators and interpreters from the province of Saskatchewan nationally. It also administers certification examinations.

In order to provide its member with updated information concerning the profession, ATIS publishes a bulletin. Other than that, it “provides information to translators and interpreters on professional ethics and practices”. The translators association from Saskatchewan also organises workshops both for aspiring and experienced translators and interpreters. The point of all this is to provide “visibility for the local translation and interpretation industry, particularly for its members”.

The services offered by ATIS members go from translating written documents to consecutive interpretation. They also have simultaneous interpretation available. The association makes a point of saying that “fees for translation and interpretation are not set by ATIS, but negotiated between translator / interpreter and client”.

Membership at ATIS

Professionals who wish to become a member of ATIS must go through an evaluation process, which includes either the ATIS Entrance Exam (which leads to associate member status, not to certification) or certification obtained through a national exam. The third way in is a “rigorous on dossier process”.

Those who pass the Admission exam will earn the right to have their names listed on the association’s website.

The Admission process includes registration before the deadlines defined previously by ATIS, the proficiency exam, which takes 45 minutes, and attendance of an information session. If, as a candidate, you wish to translate from English to another language, you will have to read a text in English and answer some reading comprehension multiple choice questions. If wishing to translate to English, you will have to identify and correct mistakes in an English text.

Keep in mind that Canada’s two main languages are English (58.8 % of the population) and French (23.2 %). In Saskatchewan, there are around 1 million inhabitants, of which 95% speak English, 4% speak French and the remaining population speaks other languages. Around the world, there are around 328 million native English speakers (the actual figures are estimated to be much higher), whereas French native speakers are about 125 millions.

LEXIS INFORMS:
When you fill-in your profile details to become a Lexis member, always choose your mother tongue as your working language. Lexis – Connections with meaning

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