In choosing Translators’ Rights as the theme for International Translation Day 2003, the International Federation of Translators (FIT) wanted to revisit one of the reasons it was established 50 years ago.

Translators’ rights have been one of the main concerns of FIT since its beginning. The Translator’s Charter, published in 1963 and amended in 1994, and the Recommendation on the legal protection of Translators and Translations and the practical means to improve the Status of Translators, adopted by UNESCO in Nairobi in 1976 (Nairobi Recommendation) are evidence of this. (These documents can be found on the FIT website at www.fit-ift.org.)

The FIT Executive, in deciding the theme for this year's International Translation Day, wanted to emphasize
the effects of the work of translators and interpreters on society at large.

This year ATINS will celebrate International Translation Day in conjunction with Word on the Street. On Sunday, Sept. 29, between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. we will be sharing a table in the Village at Pier 20 with the Editors’ Association of Canada (EAC).

This is your chance to take part in the very first of what we hope will become an annual event for ATINS. We would like to schedule people to work in pairs for one-hour shifts at the ATINS booth. So please sign up for a shift: get to know a colleague better, meet some editors, and then explore the rest of the Word on the Street festival.

The Congress theme, 'Translation: New Ideas for a New Century', will be addressed through the following streams:

• Literary Translation
• Translation Studies
• Specialties in the Translation Profession: scientific, technical, legal and commercial
• Specialties in the Interpreting Profession: conference, court, medical and community
• Terminology
• Localization
• Multi-media
• Technology and Translation
• Ethics, Status and Future of the Profession

Dalhousie University invites you to its Eighth International Symposium on Linguistics. This year’s theme is: Translation and terminology: their role in linguistic, intellectual and cultural enrichment.

The theme for this year's ITD is Translation and Ethics - The ethical commitment of professional translators.

In order to encourage further debate on this crucial issue for our profession and provide some elements which might give rise to ideas about the celebration of this year's translation day, FIT (International Federation of Translators)is offering the following comments to all Translators and their professional organizations:

The concept of ethics (and ethical behaviour) is being discussed much more often for a variety of reasons. Ethical. behaviour in the professions has become the subject of discussion and debate principally because the complexities and processes in modern communication practices, highlight more starkly the pitfalls which await the unwary and the scope for discrediting the profession through unethical behaviour has increased.

Born at Stridon, a town on the confines of Dalmatia and Pannonia, about the year 340-2; died at Bethlehem, 30 September, 420.
He went to Rome, probably about 360, where he was baptized, and became interested in ecclesiastical matters. From Rome he went to Trier, famous for its schools, and there began his theological studies.

The Congress theme, TRANSLATION: NEW IDEAS FOR A NEW CENTURY, will be addressed during the Congress through the following streams:

• Literary Translation
• Translation Studies
• Specialties in the Translation Profession: scientific, technical, legal and commercial
• Specialties in the Interpreting Profession: conference, court, medical and community
• Terminology
• Localization
• Multi-media
• Technology and Translation
• Ethics, Status and Future of the Profession

The Colegio de Traductores Públicos de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina, invites you to the III Latin American Congress of Translators and Interpreters
"From Babel to the Internet" to be held in Palais Rouge Convention Center, Buenos Aires, Argentina from April 23 to 25, 2001. Please visit www.traductores.org.ar for further information.

Read the press release in Spanish.

The International Federation of Translators invites detached consideration of this topical issue during the celebrations of 30 September 2000. It invites the professional associations of Translators all over the world to draw the attention of their members and the public at large, to the advantages and disadvantages of the new tools employed in our profession.

ATINS' participation in the Business to Business Expo, sponsored by the Halifax Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, was certainly a success. Our booth was well visited, directories and business cards were in demand, and the general feeling was that we had come a big step ahead in introducing ourselves. So, the next time a client contacts you for a translation, maybe the contact was initiated at that trade show.

Special thanks to Tatiana Neklioudova, Jennifer Strachan, Karima Bushra, Claudia Kingston, Mariane Leclerc, Sibylle Bechtold and Sylvain Fillion who donated some their time to promote the ATINS and its members.

The Canadian Translation Industry Sectoral Committee launched its final report entitled Survey of the Canadian Translation Industry: Human Resources and Export Development Strategy on September 30, 1999, International Translation Day. The launch was held concurrently in Moncton, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver.

The Commission nationale des parents francophones has awarded its annual Plaque for outstanding contribution to ATINS in recognition of the work of nine ATINS members who helped translate material into English to support a court case. The Fédération des parents acadiens de la Nouvelle-Écosse (Nova Scotia Federation of Acadian Parents) filed a suit against the Conseil scolaire acadien provincial (Acadian school board) in order to maintain the implementation schedule for homogeneous French language schools. There was considerable translation work involved - some 200,000 words.