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Welcome to the AUSIT Blog

Browse here for recent T&I-related research, developments and events, plus articles from our award-winning magazine In Touch, and other publications. 

Every year, AUSIT asks each of our Educational Affiliate institutions to nominate up to four graduating students – based on academic merit – to receive AUSIT Student Excellence Awards (SEAs).... more
Communications Officer
Kevin is the first AUSIT  member shortlisted for this prestigious biennial honour, which he shares with co-translator Elena Govor. Between 1912 and 1919, seven Russian newspapers were published... more
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OBITUARY AUSIT member Sarah Jane Walls lost her battle with a lengthy and progressively debilitating illness on 1 June. Her friend and colleague, AUSIT past president Yveline Piller, tells us a... more
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LEGAL T&I AUSIT’s recent past president J. Angelo Berbotto is both a translator and a solicitor. As such, he read Victor Xu’s article ‘Translation and sight translation for family law... more
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Asking around to find out who should next be interviewed for our AUSIT Stalwarts series, several people mentioned David Connor (Davo). When contacted, David replied that he was unable to participate... more
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TRANSLATION: SPECIALIST AREAS As sharing food is a feature of cultures around the world, it’s not surprising that there is a need for translators to tackle the nuances of labels, ingredients and... more
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HISTORY OF T&I Having previously worked anonymously or hidden behind male pseudonyms, women translators began to sign their work with their real names in the 16th century. Often forgotten or... more
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Farooque Ahmed Khan Translator or interpreter (or both): both Language(s) and direction(s): Bangla–English  Location: Sydney, NSW Practising as a translator/interpreter since: 2000 Member of... more
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RECENT RESEARCH Researchers: Professor Reema Harrison and Dr Ashfaq Chauhan Institution: Macquarie University, NSW Funded by: Cancer Institute NSW Some of the most crucial health conversations are... more
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RECENT RESEARCH Researcher: Ran Yi (諘 窴) PhD supervisors: Professors Sandra Hale and Ludmila Stern, and Dr Natalie Martschuk  Institution: UNSW, Sydney Imagine being required to appear in court,... more
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In this series we’ve already covered 12 AUSIT roles filled by members. In this issue we look at one of the organisation’s ‘honorarium roles’ – that is, roles that involve more work than... more
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AUSLAN INTERPRETING This time last year we published an article by Auslan interpreter Meredith Bartlett on a major breakthrough in inclusion that resulted from the Victorian Law Reform Commission’s... more
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BOOK REVIEW by Jennifer Croft reviewed by Elvira Bianchi ‘This ingeniously structured novel … humorously manages to free our profession of its invisibility cloak.’ This ingeniously... more
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AUSIT Fellow Lia Jaric has been involved with the organisation since the early days, and not long after the NSW Branch was established she volunteered to set up and convene a committee on working... more
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VIC Branch Committee on Degraves St – Jess is third from the left In this series on the wide variety of roles that AUSIT members take on to help keep the organisation ticking over, we’ve covered... more
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UNION ACTION The union Professionals Australia – through its Translators and Interpreters Australia (TIA) group – is the industrial voice of Australian T&I practitioners. TIA’s WA Branch... more
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LEGAL T&I Chief Justice Helen Bowskill – the second female chief justice of the Supreme Court of Queensland, sworn in in March 2022 – is also Chair of the Judicial Council on Diversity and... more
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LEGAL T&I Chinese–English T/I Victor Xu has recently been engaged to provide language services for a number of family law matters, ranging from child custody cases to domestic violence orders.... more
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TRANSLATION & TECHNOLOGY Local and international restrictions implemented during the COVID pandemic affected how both individuals and organisations related to and navigated the world. While... more
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AUSIT NEWS Have you checked out AUSIT’s exciting new online space for members, dedicated to getting together with colleagues from around Australia?  If you are passionate about a specific area... more
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BOOK REVIEW edited by professors Riccardo Moratto and Irene A Zhang  reviewed by Dr Vera YZ Gu ‘The volume … adeptly documents the profession’s historical roots …’ This volume... more
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Zhengyu (Yoyo) Fry Translator or interpreter (or both): translator Language(s) and direction(s): Chinese<>English Location: Canberra, ACT Practising as a translator/interpreter since: 2010... more
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SPECIAL FEATURE: PRACTITIONERS’ TIPS Translator Cathlin Barrett received her NAATI certification in French>English translation last March, joined AUSIT in April, graduated from Macquarie... more
'In Touch' Editor
Allison Sonneveld Translator or interpreter (or both): translator Language(s) and direction(s): Indonesian>English Location: , Canberra, ACT Practising as a translator/interpreter since: 2023... more
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There are so many ways AUSIT members can contribute some of their time to the organisation. Here we ask five members how they feel presenting at the annual National Conference benefited AUSIT,... more
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In our last issue (pages 10–12), Jemma Ives and Nancy Guevara described creating live interlingual subtitles in real time for a major sporting event. We asked their manager on that project, Margaux... more
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HEALTH CARE INTERPRETING Stefania Zen is the Education and Engagement Manager for Transcultural & Language Services and Narrun Wilip-Giin Aboriginal Support Unit, both run by Northern Health, the... more
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In Dave Deck‘s Member Profile in our December 2022 issue, he told us that he graduated with a degree in Indonesian and Malayan studies in the late 1960s, spent 24 years in the Royal Australian... more
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PRACTITIONERS INTERVIEWED interviewed by Cristina Savin Stephen F Nagle When ex-medical translator Stephen F Nagle commented that a translation of a Rilke poem wasn’t very good, he was challenged... more
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AUSIT NEWS AUSIT was officially formed in 1987 as a professional organisation for interpreters and translators working in Australia’s multicultural society, and has since served as a model for... more
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SPECIAL FEATURE: PRACTITIONERS’ TIPS Experienced translator, translation checker and proof-reader Eirlys Chessa recently emailed us this very handy set of tips ‘to pass on … to my... more
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SPECIAL FEATURE: PRACTITIONERS’ TIPS In early 2022, while completing her master’s in T&I, Caroline Darke was invited to join a translation revision club with three professional... more
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BOOK REVIEW edited by Miranda Lai, Oktay Eser and Ineke Crezee reviewed by Dr Ron Witton ‘Miranda Lai reminds us of the pioneering role played by Australia in this area …’ There are 17... more
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BOOK REVIEW by Brooke Robinson reviewed by Daniel Collado Sanz ‘ We may sometimes forget how important our role is for others: how we connect strangers …’ The Interpreter is a 336-page... more
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PRACTITIONERS’ STORIES Dorothy Prentice’s professional lanyards identify her as an interpreter, but some interpreting assignments go beyond interlingual transfer. Here she describes a pair of... more
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All Graduates provides T&I services across New Zealand and Australia, and also conducts PD programs via its training division, NEXPD (formerly Conversa Training). We asked All Graduates’... more
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For the tenth interview in this series on the various roles taken on within AUSIT by its members, we talk with Marita Quaglio, a member of the Ethics and Professional Practice Committee. Hours per... more
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Yilin Wang Our October issue covered literary translator Yilin Wang’s recent battle with the British Museum, which had published her translations without her knowledge or permission. To find out... more
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LITERARY TRANSLATION In what was probably a first for Australia, the Australian Association for Literary Translation (AALITRA) recently presented a ‘Literary Translation Slam’. One of the... more
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The AUSIT Excellence Awards recognise initiatives and activities by individuals and organisations operating in all sectors of the translating and interpreting industry. They encourage best practice,... more
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23–25 November, University of New South Wales (Kensington Campus), Sydney, on Bedegal country There were almost 500 registrations for AUSIT’s 36th Annual National Conference and related events.... more
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AUSIT NEWS (image: istock.com/mustafahacalaki) Each year, AUSIT invites students and recent graduates of its Educational Affiliate institutions to enter its Translation Competition. The focus... more
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CREATIVE PRACTICE Mandarin–English T/I Johnny Yi Wang recently submitted some digitally drawn images to In Touch, and we think these two fit really well into our Summer issue! We asked Johnny to... more
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Giulyanne Sousa Costa Translator or interpreter (or both): translator Language(s) and direction(s): Portuguese<>English  Location: Perth, WA Practising as a translator/interpreter since:... more
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FORENSIC T&I T&I practitioners and educators Dr Miranda Lai and Steve Elkanovich share a wealth of experience in working with law enforcement agencies, including providing language services... more
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SUBTITLING Delivering live subtitles for a major international sporting event in more than one language is a race in itself. Live subtitlers Nancy Guevara and Jemma Ives share their experience... more
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SPECIAL FEATURE: LITERARY TRANSLATION, PART 4 Over recent months, award-winning Chinese–Canadian writer, poet, editor and translator Yilin Wang has successfully taken on the British Museum over... more
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SPECIAL FEATURE: LITERARY TRANSLATION, PART 4 During this year’s London Book Fair (18–20 April), Publishers Weekly published some advice for aspiring literary translators from experienced... more
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directed by Rudy Valdez (2023) presented by U.S. Bank reviewed by Tania Pineda-Stuart ‘… it’s hard … sometimes I don’t know the word.’  Simple details and characters make a story.... more
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The University of Western Australia’s Master of Translation Studies program is offered in 10 languages. We asked the program’s coordinator, Anna Gadd, a few questions about the translators who... more
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POEM … and who are you? I am the Interpreter who speaks your words in another language but … I am not your Spokesperson. And words you hear from me may sound like advice but … I am not... more
'In Touch' Editor
AUSIT NEWS Every year, AUSIT asks each of our Educational Affiliate institutions to nominate up to four graduating students – based on academic merit – to receive AUSIT Student Excellence... more
'In Touch' Editor
INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENTS  There’s a lot being said about ChatGPT, and AUSIT Senior Member Sam Berner has – not surprisingly – found it hard to condense all she’s learned about the ‘chatbot’... more
'In Touch' Editor
For the third in our series of interviews with long-standing AUSIT members who have contributed to the organisation and/or the T&I profession in Australia over many years, In Touch Editorial... more
'In Touch' Editor
INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENTS Chinese–English T/I Alisa Tian works in subtitle translation for two of Australia’s most influential current affairs programs: Insight and Dateline, both on SBS TV. Here she... more
'In Touch' Editor
RECENT RESEARCH Researchers: Miranda Lai, Erika Gonzalez Garcia and Jacqueline Skewes Institution: RMIT University, funded by the City of Melbourne From late 2021 to mid-2023, RMIT worked on a... more
'In Touch' Editor
You (Claudia) Zhou Translator or interpreter (or both): both Language(s) and direction(s): Mandarin–English (interpreter) & Chinese>English (translator) Location: Hobart, TAS Practising as a... more
'In Touch' Editor
As the aim of this series is to look at the wide variety of roles that are taken on by AUSIT members, we’ve decided that it’s time we looked at ourselves! So, in this issue we talk to Nicola... more
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Emily Plank Translator or interpreter (or both): translator Language(s) and direction(s): German, French & Spanish>English Location: Perth, WA Practising as a translator/interpreter since:... more
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SPECIAL FEATURE: LITERARY TRANSLATION, PART 3  Following on from her article on translating ideophones in our April issue, T&I master’s student Laura Fritch reports on how she went with her... more
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Transcultural Mental Health Centre is located in Parramatta, the heart of Sydney’s ethnically diverse western suburbs. We asked TMHC’s manager, Maria Cassaniti, a few questions about how her... more
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INDUSTRY PROGRESS In April 2021, the Victorian Law Reform Commission (VLRC) interviewed AUSIT’s Immediate Past President Erika Gonzalez Garcia and Auslan interpreter Meredith Bartlett for their... more
'In Touch' Editor
SPECIAL FEATURE: LITERARY TRANSLATION, PART 3 In 2021, playwright R. Johns engaged literary translator Cristina Savin to translate her play Birthday Book of Storms into Romanian. As Cristina... more
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Karine Bachelier If you’ve been working in the T&I field for a decade or more, you may be eligible to become an AUSIT Senior Member. With the two new Senior Members featured here swelling the... more
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To continue our series of interviews with AUSIT members who have contributed to the organisation and/or the T&I profession in Australia over many years, foundation member Dr Adolfo Gentile is... more
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RECENT RESEARCH Researchers: Erika Gonzalez Garcia and Jacqueline Skewes Institution: RMIT University, funded by Translators and Interpreters Australia* As is well known, the translating and... more
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When translator Ilgin Yildiz took part in our regular Member Profiles feature in 2021, we noticed that she was living in Istanbul. Ilgin has maintained her AUSIT membership since returning to live in... more
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PRACTITIONER TIPS Periods of time – of varying lengths – spent ‘on hold’ are a consistent feature of telephone interpreting. Whether this downtime is seen as a bane or blessing depends on how... more
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The Australian Institute of Interpreters and Translators (AUSIT) is the peak professional body for Australian translators and interpreters, and the author of the Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct in... more
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*** T&I students and recent graduates *** (*** experienced translators: see call below for assessors ***) entry is now open for AUSIT Translation Competition 2023 (image:... more
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In this series on the roles – both voluntary and remunerated – fulfilled by AUSIT members, we’ve covered six roles to date. Haven’t found one that you think would suit you yet? Don’t... more
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SPECIAL FEATURE: LITERARY TRANSLATION, PART 2 Uruguayan-born author, editor and English-to-Spanish translator Rosario Lázaro Igoa was intrigued to be asked to translate a novel that has Māori words... more
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PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Carina interpreting in one of the sessions The Queensland Branch’s Chair, Carina Mackenzie, had often heard of ‘in-person practice groups’ for conference interpreters... more
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Victor Xu Translator or interpreter (or both): both Language(s) and direction(s): Mandarin<>English Location: Canberra, ACT Practising as a translator/interpreter since: December 2006 Member of... more
'In Touch' Editor
interviewed by In Touch’s Editorial Committee In September 2022, Brisbane-based translation practitioner Alison Rodriguez was elected to the presidency of FIT, the ‘voice of associations of... more
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INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENTS NAATI has developed a new digital ID system for translators and interpreters, including a much requested digital stamp. In Touch’s T&I Editor Hayley Armstrong asked... more
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INTERVIEW SERIES In Touch is starting a series of interviews with longstanding AUSIT members who have made significant contributions to the organisation and/or the T&I profession over many years.... more
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RECENT RESEARCH Researcher: Alisa Tian Supervisor: Mira Kim Institution: School of Humanities and Languages, UNSW Long sentences are often considered difficult to translate. However, the challenge... more
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RECENT RESEARCH Researchers: Sixin Liao, Lili Yu, Jan-Louis Kruger, Erik D Reichle Institution: Dept of Linguistics & School of Psychological Sciences, Macquarie University Recent research has... more
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RECENT RESEARCH Researcher: Elizabeth Schmidt MRes supervisors: Kerry Robinson and Nichole Georgeou Institution: Western Sydney University The importance of trust … cannot be overstated.... more
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When AUSIT National President J Angelo Berbotto was introduced to Patrick Parsons – a student member volunteering at the organisation’s National Conference 2022 last November, and about to... more
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BOOK REVIEW edited by Erika Gonzalez, Katarzyna Stachowiak-Szymczak and Despina Amanatidou (2023) reviewed by Ron Witton The 10 chapters in this very useful volume report on contemporary research in... more
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QUALITY ASSURANCE English>Arabic translator Bayane Abou Saada has a folder of screenshots on her phone dedicated to poorly translated ads, some of them minor. But when a recent mistranslation... more
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SPECIAL FEATURE: LITERARY TRANSLATION, PART 2 The title of this article by Akiko Uchiyama alludes to translation theorist Lawrence Venuti’s highly influential book The Translator’s Invisibility:... more
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SPECIAL FEATURE: LITERARY TRANSLATION, PART 2 While studying for her master’s in translation, budding Japanese>English practitioner Laura Fritch has developed a passion for ideophones. For this... more
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Submission form

for court interpreters to report incidents or issues that occur in court interpreting assignments.

Purpose and function of this information submission form.

This form enables you to report issues or problems that you encounter in the course of court interpreting assignments. These issues and problems will be collected by AUSIT to report to the JCCD (the Judicial Council on Cultural Diversity) to monitor the implementation of the Recommended National Standards. The reporting of these issues and problems enables AUSIT to work with the JCCD to suggest steps to address these issues and to avoid the repetition of these problems in the future.

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