Memorandum of Understanding between FIT and PEN International - draft 2025.11.25
Memorandum of Understanding/MoU (Cooperation
agreement) between the International Federation of Translators/FIT and PEN
International/PI.
The overall purpose of the MoU is to facilitate
cooperation at an organization level and at the members’ level with the aim to
empower the work and to optimize the efforts of both organizations.
Read the
MoU here:
FIT /
PEN cooperation via a Memorandum of Understanding https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:ugcPost:7360297542078599168/
The
structure of the two organizations is quite similar:
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President, Vicepresidents, etc. |
President, Vicepresidents, etc. |
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Secretariat in France |
Secretariat in London |
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UNESCO: Consultative status |
UNESCO: Consultative status |
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Regional Centres |
Regional Coordinators |
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FIT Africa FIT AFRICA is one of the five regional centres of the International Federation of Translators (FIT) Our main aim is to serve, promote
and protect translators, terminologists and interpreters on the African
continent. We also strive to raise the status of the profession and to
maintain standards across Africa. FIT Africa was founded during an inaugural meeting
on 29 July 2023 and officially launched on 29 September 2023.
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Nduko o’Matigere, Head of Africa
Region |
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FIT Africa |
Mina Thabet, Head of Middle East
and North Africa Region |
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FIT America, North |
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FIT Asia |
Ross Holder, Head of Asia/ Pacific
Region |
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FIT Europe |
Aurélia Dondo, Head of Europe
Region |
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FIT Latam, https://linktr.ee/FITLATAM? https://www.facebook.com/share/1ADBJMeUNt/ |
Alicia Quinones, Head of Americas
Region |
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Standing Committees |
Committees
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- Association Development. - Audiovisual Translation. - Awards Management. - Translation. - Solidarity Fund. - Legal Translation. - Babel. - Communications. - Crisis Settings. - Education and Professional
Development. - External Partnerships. - Indigenous Languages. - Interpreting. - Investment and Budget. - Procedural. - Standards. - Technology. - Translating for Publishing
Houses and Copyright. |
- Translation and Linguistic
Rights Committee/TLRC, website under construction - Young Writers’ Committee https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61575292145957 ** -
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Directory of members |
Member Centers |
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The directory of members lists all
current members. Any organisation claiming to be a member but not displayed
in this directory is likely not a current member of FIT. Contact us for any queries regarding membership. |
We are present in over 100
countries, from Malawi to Japan, Afghanistan to South Africa, Canada to Chile
and Norway to New Zealand. While all PEN Centres adhere to the ideals of the
PEN charter, each has its own priorities. Some focus on campaigning for freedom
of expression, others on education and literacy programmes. Some champion
their national literatures, or work on promoting writing from different
cultures and languages. |
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North America: |
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Regional Centre: FIT North America
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AIT Association of Interpreters
and Translators https://www.facebook.com/AIT.professionals ATA – American Translators
Association https://www.atanet.org/
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PEN America |
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Latin America |
Americas Region |
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Regional Centre: FIT LATAM |
Alicia Quinones, Head of Américas
Region |
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Argentina |
Argentina, Centro PEN Argentina |
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Bolivia |
Bolivia, PEN Santa Cruz Bolivia Facebook |
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Mexico Asociación Mexicana de
Traductores Literarios – Ametli |
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Panama |
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Peru Colegio de Traductores del Perú |
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Europe |
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Regional Centre FIT Europe |
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Danish PEN |
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Finnish PEN |
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Low German and Frisian PEN |
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Irish PEN https://irishpen.com/ |
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Norwegian PEN |
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Polski PEN Club https://www.facebook.com/share/17GxNsD1PZ/ |
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PEN Languages of Russia |
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Slovene PEN Centre |
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PEN Spain |
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Sweden |
Swedish PEN |
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Switzerland PEN Swiss German adi.blum@outlook.com; |
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English PEN |
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Africa |
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FIT Africa Regional Centre
Our main aim is to serve, promote
and protect translators, terminologists and interpreters on the African
continent. We also strive to raise the status of the profession and to
maintain standards across Africa. FIT Africa was founded during an inaugural meeting
on 29 July 2023 and officially launched on 29 September 2023. |
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Cameroon The Association of Professional
Translators and Interpreters of Cameroon (APTIC), as its name implies, is an
association of Cameroonian translators and interpreters. It has among its
ranks, highly reputed professionals in Cameroon and around the world. APTIC
aims at fostering professional translation and interpretation in Cameroon,
and protecting its members from the dangers they could be exposed to in
practicing their profession. |
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Congo (DRC) ATIPCO DR Congo ATIPCO, language professionals'
regulatory in DRC The Association of Professional
Translators and Interpreters of Congo is a non-profit association, under
Congolese law, established in Kinshasa, the capital city of the Democratic
Republic of Congo, following the laws laying down the general provisions applicable
to non-profit associations in force (see Article 1, ATIPCO Statutes). It is
professional, scientific, and apolitical, created for an unlimited period. It
aims to evolve until it secures the creation of a National Association for
Professional Translators and Interpreters of the Congo. |
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Ethiopia ETA - Ethiopian Translators Association Founded on December 29, 2024, at
the FDRE Ministry of Culture and Sports auditorium in Addis Ababa, the
Ethiopian Translators Association (ETA) is the first and only official
national body representing Ethiopia’s translators, interpreters, and language
professionals. With 106 founding members, including both individuals and
language service companies, ETA was born out of a shared vision: to create a
unified platform that promotes excellence, ethical conduct, and sustainable
growth in Ethiopia’s translation and localization industry.
We serve as a professional hub
where practitioners come together to enhance their skills, uphold industry
standards, and advocate for recognition in both local and global markets. |
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Kenya EAITA East Africa Interpreters and
Translators Association (operating from Kenya) Connecting Cultures Through
Language The East Africa Interpreters and
Translators Association (EAITA) is a professional body established to support
and promote the interests of interpreters and translators in East Africa.
With members spanning multiple countries, EAITA serves as a unifying force
for language professionals, advocating for their recognition and providing
them with the tools they need to excel in their careers. We believe
in; |
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Mozambique ATIM - Mozambique |
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Senegal Astra - Senegal QUI SOMMES–NOUS Portée sur les fonds baptismaux le 30
septembre 2017 et officiellement reconnue le 6 juillet 2018 sous le numéro
18870,Association sénégalaise des traducteurs (ASTRA) est une association
regroupant des traducteurs, interprètes et terminologues professionnels
qualifiés et spécialisés ayant adhéré sans réserve aux règles d’éthique et de
déontologie régissant la profession. Membre permanent de la Fédération
internationale des traducteurs (FIT) depuis 2018, l’ASTRA est résolument
engagée à la valorisation de la profession de traducteur au Sénégal et à son
développement |
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South Africa SATI - South Africa |
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Asia |
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Regional Centre FIT Asia |
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Independent Chinese PEN Center https://www.chinesepen.org/english/
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South Korea Directory of members –
International Federation of Translators |
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Sri Lanka |
Sri Lanka PEN |
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Syria |
PEN Syria |
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Oceania |
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Version 7.10.2025
FIT External Partnerships Standing Committee,
mandate:
The
External partnerships Standing Committee works to develop strong and long-term
partnerships
with international organizations relevant to translators, terminologists and
interpreters around the world.
Olga Egorova (egorovs.mail@gmail.com)
Alexandra
Jantscher (alexandra.jantscher@universitas.org
Alan Melby (alan.melby@gmail.com)
Eleanor Cornelius
(eleanorc@uj.ac.za)
Veronika Demichelis (veronika@veronikademichelis.com
Dominic Michelin (dommichelin@domtraductions.fr
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Organization |
URL |
MOU with FIT? (If so, add a link) |
FIT Liaison |
Nature of collaboration |
Update |
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AIIC
(International Association of
Conference Interpreters) |
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No |
Kevin Quirk (KQ) |
FIT is involved in the global
language alliance, which includes AIIC, where work has been ongoing to
protect linguists in high-risk settings. Informal discussions from time to
time with AIIC, which most recently led to a joint statement from AIIC, FIT
and WASLI concerning the economic effects on freelance interpreters and
translators worldwide following the spread of the coronavirus (https://www.fit-ift.org/joint-appeal-
coronavirus/). |
(Feb 2022) Continued cooperation
with AIIC via the global language alliance. Former AIIC President Linda
Fitchett and FIT President Kevin Quirk have both contributed articles on the
plight of linguists in high-risk settings to Circuit, the quarterly bulletin
of OTTIAQ. |
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AsLing
(International Association for
Advancement in Language Technology) |
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No |
Eleanor Cornelius |
Usually held in London every
November. FIT often participates. |
(Feb 2022) At the 2021 AsLing
conference, Eleanor moderated a panel discussion on unedited (raw) machine
translation. And FIT council member Alan Melby, with a colleague, made a
presentation about the MQM Scorecard app. |
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CEATL
(Conseil Européen des Associations de Traducteurs
Littéraires; European Council of Literary Translators Association) |
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Yes, see ProofHub files |
Kevin Quirk (KQ) |
FIT, together with FIT Europe,
signed a Memorandum of Understanding with CEATL in 2018. The FIT Literary
Translation and Copyright Task Force is actively involved in cooperation with
CEATL on a number of issues. Projects include an attempt to put in place an
important memorandum of understanding between FIT and CEATL with the Bologna
Children’s Book Fair aimed at drawing attention to the shockingly low levels
of remuneration offered to translators of children’s books in Europe and
elsewhere, monitoring copyright infringements and working with WIPO. |
(Feb 2022) Continued good
cooperation with CEATL. In partnership with CEATL, FIT Council members Marta
Morros and Kevin Quirk gave presentations at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair
in June 2021. FIT President also attended the CEATL annual meeting on the
island of Åland in the Baltic Sea 8-10 October 2021. In addition, CEATL
President Shaun Whiteside and FIT President Kevin Quirk both spoke at Salone
Internazionale del Libro Torino on the subject of literary translation. Kevin
Quirk has been part of the Authors’ Rights Workgroup in CEATL in recent
years, where implementation of the Digital Single Market Directive in
relation to copyright has been a hot topic along with other issues relating
to translators’ rights. |
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CIUTI
(Conférence internationale permanente d'instituts
universitaires de traducteurs et interprètes) |
Yes, trying to locate |
Olga Egorova (OE) |
CIUTI and FIT have collaborated
for many years. |
(Feb 2022). CIUTI has rendered
support to a project of the Education and PD Task Force - they helped us
gather updated information about T&I training programs around the world.
CIUTI requested all their members to send us the information and many did.
In September 2021 Olga Egorova
took part in (attended physically) the General Assembly of CIUTI in the
University |
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of Granada in Spain. CIUTI
elected a new president - Bart Defrancq. Olga Egorova discussed possibilities
of FIT-CIUTI cooperation. Possible participation of CIUTI in FIT events was
discussed, and one of the possibilities was inviting the CIUTI President to
speak at an online event of the Association Development TF (to be further
decided). CIUTI promised to further support and work together with the
Education and PD TF of FIT to create a comprehensive global database of TTI
training institutions and programs and contribute to other FIT projects when
necessary. |
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CRITICAL LINK INTERNATIONAL |
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No |
Kevin Quirk (KQ) |
FIT takes part in occasional
meetings/discussions with Critical Link International, which participates in
the global language alliance. Among other things, we are involved in the Open
Letter project, together with Red-T, AIIC, IAPTI, WASLI and several other
entities throughout the world, where open letters are sent to heads of state
and others to highlight the plight of linguists in high- risk settings (see,
e.g., the Open Letter to Australia’s Prime Minister from February 2020
https://wa1.fit-ift.org/wp- content/uploads/2020/02/OL_Prime-
Minister-Morrison_2020_REV2.pdf) |
(Feb 2022) Continued contact with
the president of Critical Link International, who is planning to attend the
FIT Congress in Varadero. Otherwise contact via the global language alliance
on issues relating to linguists in high-risk settings. |
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EST
(European Society for Translation
Studies) |
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Yes, trying to locate. |
Kevin Quirk and Reina de
Bettendorf |
FIT's commitment to promote
training and research worldwide coincides with EST's own mandate. EST has
been one of the oldest external partnerships that FIT has. Our cooperation
has not been active for a while. |
(Feb 2022) Kevin wrote recently
to EST vice-president Luc van Doorslaer to rekindle contact with EST. He
replied and informed Kevin that EST are considering sending a representative
to the FIT World Congress, if it is held physically in Varadero. |
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EU
(European Union) |
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No |
FIT-Europe Olga Egorova |
FIT Mundus and FIT Europe work
together to collaborate with the European Union. |
(Feb 2022) Olga Egorova has been
working closely with DG Interpretation of the European Commission in order to
make sure that the new DG will be a keynote speaker at the Cuba Congress. DG
Interpretation is waiting for the news about the format of the Congress. Olga
Egorova is also in close touch with: DG Translation of the EC, DG Logistics
and Interpretation for Conferences of the European Parliament and DG
Translation of the European Parliament (which includes the Terminology Unit). |
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no |
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GALA members consist primarily of |
(Feb 2022) AKM participated in a
panel discussion about |
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GALA
(Globalization and Localization
Alliance) |
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Alan Melby (AKM) |
medium to large language service
companies (LSPs). FIT sends a representative to GALA events to make
translators visible and to gather information about the translation sector
from the perspective of LSCs. |
translation & interpreting
related standards at the GALA Connected event in October 2021. His topic was
a commentary on an article by Tucker Johson about regarding translation
quality evaluation. AKM is scheduled to be part of a panel discussion about
translation grades and labels at the April 2022 GALA conference. |
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IAPTI
(International Association of
Professional Translators and Interpreters) |
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No |
Kevin Quirk (KQ) |
IAPTI is an association of
individual translators and interpreters, not a federation of associations,
like FIT. |
(Feb 2022) KQ has sporadic
contact with the president of IAPTI. |
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ISO
(International Organization for
Standardization) |
No MoU, but there is a formal
relationship. FIT is an official liaison organization with FIT. |
Alan Melby (AKM) |
Izabel Souza was the previous
liaison person between FIT and ISO. Now AKM is the liaison. There is a FIT
SCTF that is focused on monitoring and commenting on ISO Standards. |
(Feb 2022) Please see the report
from the FIT ISO SCTF. |
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JIAMCATT
(International Annual Meeting on
Computer-Assisted Translation and Terminology) |
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No
There is no MoU between FIT and
JIAMCATT, but FIT was accepted years ago as a
member of JIAMCATT. |
Alan Melby (AKM) |
FIT frequently sends a
representative to the annual JIAMCATT conference to make translators,
terminologists, and interpreters visible. And to gather information about the
translation sector from other JIAMCATT members, which are primarily
international organizations. JIAMCATT participants are primarily
representatives of translation departments in the respective JIAMCATT member
organization. |
(Feb 2022) The next JIAMCATT
conference is scheduled for April 2022 in Geneva, Switzerland, at the
headquarters of WIPO. |
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MCE
(Meet Central Europe) |
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No |
Alexandra Jantscher (AJ) |
AJ attended MCE (Meet Central
Europe) in Prague in October 2019 and made a presentation there entitled
"Benefits for Freelancers and Translation Companies - a
Contradiction?". AJ attended the event in Budapest in 2018. |
(Feb 2022) AJ is kept informed on
ongoing online activities. The next MCE event will likely be in Bratislava in
the autumn of 2022. |
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PEN International |
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Ongoing |
Alison Rodriguez (AR) / Reina de Bettendorf |
PEN is an association of writers,
including poets, playwrights, editors, essayists, novelists, journalists, and
historians. |
(Feb 2022) There has been no
recent contact between FIT and PEN. |
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Red-T
(Protecting translators and
interpreters in high-risk areas) |
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No |
Kevin Quirk (KQ) |
During the course of this mandate
(since Brisbane in 2017), KQ has attended and spoken at several events
organised by Red-T and the global language alliance at the UN Headquarters in
New York. These meetings and roundtables are aimed at raising awareness among
member states of the plight of linguists in conflict zones/high-risk
settings. KQ is currently working with Maya Hess, the founder of Red-T, on an
Open Letter to the President of Iraq to highlight the highly dangerous
situation faced by translators and interpreters in Iraq. |
(Feb 2022) Continued cooperation
and discussion with Maya Hess at Red T. Expressions of support for the work
of Red T given repeatedly via Facebook and Twitter. |
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TAUS
(Translation Automation User
Society) |
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No |
Alan Melby (AKM) |
AKM has a longstanding
relationship with Jaap van der Meer, the head of TAUS, and has presented
several times at TAUS events. |
(Feb 2022) A few years ago, TAUS
has published a position paper on transcreation, which is at odds with the
recently finalised FIT position paper on translation-related activities,
including transcreation. In the July-August issue of
Multilingual magazine, Jaap published an article claiming that the current
"mixed model" (free machine translation on the one hand and paid
human translation on the other) is unsustainable. AKM and a colleague, Christopher
Kurz, wrote a rebuttal, which was published in the November-December 2021
issue of the same magazine. See http://www.ttt.org/translation-
economics-and-rebuttal/ for both Jaap's article and the rebuttal.
The status of TAUS as a partner
with FIT clearly needs to be reviewed. |
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UN
(United Nations) |
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No |
Kevin Quirk |
Through its networks FIT provides
UN outreach to individual practitioners for recruitment, information and
up-skilling. It elevates the status of multilingualism, promoting education,
access, understanding and the importance of indigenous languages and cultural
diversity. FIT celebrates International Translation Day (ITD), now adopted by
Resolution A/RES/71/288 as a UN International Day. The selection of an annual theme
for ITD appears to be rather fragmented but worldwide FIT has dominated with
its theme and many follow our lead. FIT supports the International Decade of |
(Feb 2022) The priority with the
UN is to seek protection for interpreters working in conflict zones
/high-risk settings in collaboration with Red T, AIIC and others. Before the
pandemic, Kevin attended a presentation at the UN and has continued to be lead
in this. Another priority is International Translation Day, which Kevin has
discussed with various stakeholders and missions at the UN. |
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Indigenous Languages. FIT also
supports the protection of linguists in areas of conflict and post-conflict,
supporting the work of the UN Security Commission and proposals by Permanent
Delegations to the Council. There is overlap with other UN
agencies and JIAMCATT, but these are important synergies. FIT needs to keep the UN up to
date with our activities and monitor such activities within the UN that may
be relevant to us. |
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UNESCO
(United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization) |
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No |
Alison Rodriguez |
FIT is listed as an NGO partner
with UNESCO (see https://en.unesco.org/sites/default/files/ list_ngos_official_partners_unesco.pdf) |
(Feb 2022) FIT's status with
UNESCO will need to be renewed in 2023. |
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UNHCR
(United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees) |
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No |
Alexandra Jantscher |
UNHCR was added as potential
partner with FIT as we thought we might meet them in Vienna in 2019 during
the Presidents Forum. |
(Feb 2022) AJ has been in touch
with the headquarters in Geneva. It turns out they are only interested in
sponsors, not really in any cooperation in the sense we have cooperation with
other partners. |
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WASLI
(World Association of Sign
Language Interpreters) |
Yes; see ProofHub files |
Alexandra Jantscher (AJ) |
FIT cooperates officially with
the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD), and the World Association of Sign
Languages Interpreters (WASLI), on projects with common objectives
(translation support services in conflict zones, disaster relief and
equitable access to community services). |
(Feb 2022) Christopher Stone is
scheduled as one of the keynote speakers at the FIT Open Congress in Varadero
in June. A decision regarding the Congress will be taken soon. |
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FIT cooperates officially with
the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD), and the World Association of Sign
Languages Interpreters (WASLI), on projects with common objectives
(translation support services in conflict zones, disaster relief and
equitable access to community services).
AJ met representatives during the
WASLI conference in Paris, but there has beeb no other contact. They are a
very close partner of WASLI, so WASLI serves as a relay for FIT with regards
to this partnership. In the 2014-17 mandate we had contact with Colin Alan,
who was WFD President at the time. |
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WFD
(World Federation of the Deaf) |
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No |
Alexandra Jantscher (AJ) |
(Feb 2022) They have a new
president, Dr. Murray, whom Alexandra has tried to contact several times. Dr. Murray hardly ever replies.
When he does, there seems to be interest in collaboration; however, when AJ
writes back there is typically no reply. |
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Wikitongues |
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No |
Alan Melby (AKM) |
Wikitongues’ mission is to
document all the languages of the world, including those that do not have a
written alphabet. Wikitongues has received a $3000
grant, which they offered to split with FIT to work toward a directory for
translators of indigenous and underrepresented languages. FIT would gather
information, and WT would create the directory.
In October 2020, the FIT Council
approved a motion to use the portion of the money from Wikitongues (1500 US
dollars) going to FIT to pay a research assistant to with AKM to look for
existing directories of translators and interpreters maintained by various
organizations around the world. At the November 4, 2020, Council meeting it
was agreed that a short-term task force, consisting of three Council members
(not including AKM) would ask FIT member organizations for suggestions
regarding the research assistant and make a selection. |
(Feb 2022) Unfortunately, the
short-term task force did not select a research assistant. Consequently,
Wikitongues withdrew its offer to split the grant. |
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WIPO
(World Intellectual Property
Organization) |
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Yes; see ProofHub files |
Olga Egorova (OE) |
FIT cooperates officially with
World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) on translation practice and
copyright issues, through their Standing Committee on Copyright and Related
Rights (SCCR). Contacts have been:
· 36th
Session, May 28-31, 2018
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38th Session, Geneva, April 1-5, 2019
·
International Conference on Copyright Limitations and Exceptions for
Libraries, Archives, Museums and Educational & Research Institutions
Geneva, October 18 and 19, 2019 |
(Feb 2020)
The latest updates include
meetings with WIPO liaison Geoffrey Westgate who informed us that in the new
centrally approved workplan of WIPO there are defined two firm objectives
which can be explored and worked on in collaboration with FIT: a)
to investigate the possibility of including terms in indigenous
languages in WIPO Pearl, the aim being to make them visible, searchable, and
freely available. WIPO can’t create such content themselves (unlike the
terminology work they do for WIPO Pearl today), so WIPO would need to acquire
it and be given permission to publish it – with all due reference given of
course to the originators of the terms/the collections. They have been
exploring this to an extent for a few years and are discussing with a few partners
who are active in this field, but they never had a green light to do anything
concretely. That has now changed. At this stage, WIPO is very much in an
exploratory phase.
The intention is also to involve
colleagues who are responsible for WIPO’s activities regarding Traditional
Knowledge – they carried out the following initiative on this topic last
year, for example: https://www.wipo.int/tk/en/news/tk/2021/news_0005.html
The scope of their work covers
all aspects of TK of course, not just language aspects.
WIPO proposes to FIT to be
involved and to explore the possibility of working with the indigenous
languages terminology together, probably starting with New Zealand (Maori)
and then moving to Latin America and Central Asia/Caucasus.
b)
copyright issues - it is also part of the newest WIPO workplan to
explore the options of modifying the current copyright situation/documents
and it will be very logical to work together with FIT in order to explore
what are the most challenging areas and where translators' rights are most
unprotected in the nowadays world. |
FIT
Partners
UNESCO
Dear all,
I had the
pleasure to represent FIT at this online meeting as an online observer.
Being an
online observer, I didn't have to register, though I did. Being an online
observer, I wasn¨t allowed to speak either.
I was
interesting for me to learn how the meeting was planned, the format, the
procedures, the agenda items. All in all it was interesting, also the
mentioning of projects that I didn't know about.
All in all
it gave me a bit of experience and insights.
But it also
raises the question how FIT can truly benefit from being a NGO-partner to
UNESCO, apart from the brand value.
Since I
have mentioned that I intend to go through the character and status of our
formalized relations with other organizations, I will keep this on my list.
Thanks,
Jørgen
Linkedin:
I dindn't
make it to Paris this time. I echo Bob Dylan, who I will see perform in
Copenhagen on October 21 anyway: "I´m already there in my mind, and that´s
good enough for now!
What I did
make was to join the online UNESCO Meeting of the Committee on Non-Governmental
Partners (NGP), October 3, 2025. The International Federation of
Translators/FIT is a non-governmental partner to UNESCO with consultative
status, and I had the honour to represent FIT in the meeting.
**
Tjek FIT
hjemmeside
Memorandum of Understanding/MoU (Cooperation
agreement) between the International Federation of Translators/FIT and PEN
International/PI.
The overall purpose of the MoU is to facilitate
cooperation at an organization level and at the members’ level with the aim to
empower the work and to optimize the efforts of both organizations.
Read the
MoU here:
FIT /
PEN cooperation via a Memorandum of Understanding https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:ugcPost:7360297542078599168/
The
structure of the two organizations is quite similar:
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President, Vicepresidents, etc. |
President, Vicepresidents, etc. |
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Secretariat in France |
Secretariat in London |
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UNESCO: Consultative status |
UNESCO: Consultative status |
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Regional Centres |
Regional Coordinators |
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FIT Africa |
Nduko o’Matigere, Head of Africa
Region |
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FIT Africa |
Mina Thabet, Head of Middle East
and North Africa Region |
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FIT America, North |
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FIT Asia |
Ross Holder, Head of Asia/ Pacific
Region |
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FIT Europe |
Aurélia Dondo, Head of Europe
Region |
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FIT Latam, https://linktr.ee/FITLATAM? https://www.facebook.com/share/1ADBJMeUNt/ |
Alicia Quinones, Head of Americas
Region |
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Standing Committees |
Committees |
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- Association Development. - Audiovisual Translation. - Awards Management. - Translation. - Solidarity Fund. - Legal Translation. - Babel. - Communications. - Crisis Settings. - Education and Professional
Development. - External Partnerships. - Indigenous Languages. - Interpreting. - Investment and Budget. - Procedural. - Standards. - Technology. - Translating for Publishing
Houses and Copyright. |
- Translation and Linguistic
Rights Committee/TLRC, website under construction - Young Writers’ Committee -
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Directory of members |
Member Centers |
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The directory of members lists all
current members. Any organisation claiming to be a member but not displayed
in this directory is likely not a current member of FIT. Contact us for any queries regarding membership. |
We are present in over 100
countries, from Malawi to Japan, Afghanistan to South Africa, Canada to Chile
and Norway to New Zealand. While all PEN Centres adhere to the ideals of the
PEN charter, each has its own priorities. Some focus on campaigning for freedom
of expression, others on education and literacy programmes. Some champion
their national literatures, or work on promoting writing from different
cultures and languages. |
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North America: |
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Regional Centre: FIT North America |
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AIT Association of Interpreters
and Translators https://www.facebook.com/AIT.professionals ATA – American Translators
Association https://www.atanet.org/
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Latin America |
Americas Region |
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Regional Centre: FIT LATAM |
Alicia Quinones, Head of Américas
Region |
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Argentina |
Argentina, Centro PEN Argentina |
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Mexico |
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Panama presidencia@aptipanama.org.pa;¸ www.aptipanama.org.pa |
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Europe |
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Regional Centre FIT Europe |
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Danish PEN |
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Finnish PEN |
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Low German and Frisian PEN |
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Irish PEN https://irishpen.com/ |
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Norwegian PEN |
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Polski PEN Club https://www.facebook.com/share/17GxNsD1PZ/ |
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PEN Languages of Russia |
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PEN Spain |
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Sweden |
Swedish PEN |
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Switzerland PEN Swiss German adi.blum@outlook.com; |
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English PEN |
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Africa |
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FIT Africa Regional Centre |
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Asia |
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Regional Centre FIT Asia |
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Independent Chinese PEN Center https://www.chinesepen.org/english/
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South Korea Directory of members –
International Federation of Translators |
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Sri Lanka |
Sri Lanka PEN |
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Syria |
PEN Syria |
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Oceania |
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Version 7.10.2025
FIT External Partnerships Standing Committee,
mandate:
The
External partnerships Standing Committee works to develop strong and long-term
partnerships
with international organizations relevant to translators, terminologists and
interpreters around the world.
Olga Egorova (egorovs.mail@gmail.com)
Alexandra
Jantscher (alexandra.jantscher@universitas.org
Alan Melby (alan.melby@gmail.com)
Eleanor Cornelius
(eleanorc@uj.ac.za)
Veronika Demichelis (veronika@veronikademichelis.com
Dominic Michelin (dommichelin@domtraductions.fr
|
Organization |
URL |
MOU with FIT? (If so, add a link) |
FIT Liaison |
Nature of collaboration |
Update |
|
AIIC (International Association of
Conference Interpreters) |
|
No |
Kevin Quirk (KQ) |
FIT is involved in the global
language alliance, which includes AIIC, where work has been ongoing to
protect linguists in high-risk settings. Informal discussions from time to
time with AIIC, which most recently led to a joint statement from AIIC, FIT
and WASLI concerning the economic effects on freelance interpreters and
translators worldwide following the spread of the coronavirus (https://www.fit-ift.org/joint-appeal-
coronavirus/). |
(Feb 2022) Continued cooperation
with AIIC via the global language alliance. Former AIIC President Linda
Fitchett and FIT President Kevin Quirk have both contributed articles on the
plight of linguists in high-risk settings to Circuit, the quarterly bulletin
of OTTIAQ. |
|
AsLing (International Association for
Advancement in Language Technology) |
|
No |
Eleanor Cornelius |
Usually held in London every
November. FIT often participates. |
(Feb 2022) At the 2021 AsLing
conference, Eleanor moderated a panel discussion on unedited (raw) machine
translation. And FIT council member Alan Melby, with a colleague, made a
presentation about the MQM Scorecard app. |
|
CEATL (Conseil Européen des Associations de Traducteurs
Littéraires; European Council of Literary Translators Association) |
|
Yes, see ProofHub files |
Kevin Quirk (KQ) |
FIT, together with FIT Europe,
signed a Memorandum of Understanding with CEATL in 2018. The FIT Literary
Translation and Copyright Task Force is actively involved in cooperation with
CEATL on a number of issues. Projects include an attempt to put in place an
important memorandum of understanding between FIT and CEATL with the Bologna
Children’s Book Fair aimed at drawing attention to the shockingly low levels
of remuneration offered to translators of children’s books in Europe and
elsewhere, monitoring copyright infringements and working with WIPO. |
(Feb 2022) Continued good
cooperation with CEATL. In partnership with CEATL, FIT Council members Marta
Morros and Kevin Quirk gave presentations at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair
in June 2021. FIT President also attended the CEATL annual meeting on the
island of Åland in the Baltic Sea 8-10 October 2021. In addition, CEATL
President Shaun Whiteside and FIT President Kevin Quirk both spoke at Salone
Internazionale del Libro Torino on the subject of literary translation. Kevin
Quirk has been part of the Authors’ Rights Workgroup in CEATL in recent
years, where implementation of the Digital Single Market Directive in
relation to copyright has been a hot topic along with other issues relating
to translators’ rights. |
|
CIUTI (Conférence internationale permanente d'instituts
universitaires de traducteurs et interprètes) |
Yes, trying to locate |
Olga Egorova (OE) |
CIUTI and FIT have collaborated
for many years. |
(Feb 2022). CIUTI has rendered
support to a project of the Education and PD Task Force - they helped us
gather updated information about T&I training programs around the world.
CIUTI requested all their members to send us the information and many did. In September 2021 Olga Egorova
took part in (attended physically) the General Assembly of CIUTI in the
University |
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of Granada in Spain. CIUTI
elected a new president - Bart Defrancq. Olga Egorova discussed possibilities
of FIT-CIUTI cooperation. Possible participation of CIUTI in FIT events was
discussed, and one of the possibilities was inviting the CIUTI President to
speak at an online event of the Association Development TF (to be further
decided). CIUTI promised to further support and work together with the
Education and PD TF of FIT to create a comprehensive global database of TTI
training institutions and programs and contribute to other FIT projects when
necessary. |
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CRITICAL LINK INTERNATIONAL |
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No |
Kevin Quirk (KQ) |
FIT takes part in occasional
meetings/discussions with Critical Link International, which participates in
the global language alliance. Among other things, we are involved in the Open
Letter project, together with Red-T, AIIC, IAPTI, WASLI and several other
entities throughout the world, where open letters are sent to heads of state
and others to highlight the plight of linguists in high- risk settings (see,
e.g., the Open Letter to Australia’s Prime Minister from February 2020
https://wa1.fit-ift.org/wp- content/uploads/2020/02/OL_Prime-
Minister-Morrison_2020_REV2.pdf) |
(Feb 2022) Continued contact with
the president of Critical Link International, who is planning to attend the
FIT Congress in Varadero. Otherwise contact via the global language alliance
on issues relating to linguists in high-risk settings. |
|
EST (European Society for Translation
Studies) |
|
Yes, trying to locate. |
Kevin Quirk and Reina de
Bettendorf |
FIT's commitment to promote
training and research worldwide coincides with EST's own mandate. EST has
been one of the oldest external partnerships that FIT has. Our cooperation
has not been active for a while. |
(Feb 2022) Kevin wrote recently
to EST vice-president Luc van Doorslaer to rekindle contact with EST. He
replied and informed Kevin that EST are considering sending a representative
to the FIT World Congress, if it is held physically in Varadero. |
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EU (European Union) |
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No |
FIT-Europe Olga Egorova |
FIT Mundus and FIT Europe work
together to collaborate with the European Union. |
(Feb 2022) Olga Egorova has been
working closely with DG Interpretation of the European Commission in order to
make sure that the new DG will be a keynote speaker at the Cuba Congress. DG
Interpretation is waiting for the news about the format of the Congress. Olga
Egorova is also in close touch with: DG Translation of the EC, DG Logistics
and Interpretation for Conferences of the European Parliament and DG
Translation of the European Parliament (which includes the Terminology Unit). |
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no |
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GALA members consist primarily of |
(Feb 2022) AKM participated in a
panel discussion about |
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GALA (Globalization and Localization
Alliance) |
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Alan Melby (AKM) |
medium to large language service
companies (LSPs). FIT sends a representative to GALA events to make
translators visible and to gather information about the translation sector
from the perspective of LSCs. |
translation & interpreting
related standards at the GALA Connected event in October 2021. His topic was
a commentary on an article by Tucker Johson about regarding translation
quality evaluation. AKM is scheduled to be part of a panel discussion about
translation grades and labels at the April 2022 GALA conference. |
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IAPTI (International Association of
Professional Translators and Interpreters) |
|
No |
Kevin Quirk (KQ) |
IAPTI is an association of
individual translators and interpreters, not a federation of associations,
like FIT. |
(Feb 2022) KQ has sporadic
contact with the president of IAPTI. |
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ISO (International Organization for
Standardization) |
No MoU, but there is a formal
relationship. FIT is an official liaison organization with FIT. |
Alan Melby (AKM) |
Izabel Souza was the previous
liaison person between FIT and ISO. Now AKM is the liaison. There is a FIT
SCTF that is focused on monitoring and commenting on ISO Standards. |
(Feb 2022) Please see the report
from the FIT ISO SCTF. |
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JIAMCATT (International Annual Meeting on
Computer-Assisted Translation and Terminology) |
|
No There is no MoU between FIT and
JIAMCATT, but FIT was accepted years ago as a
member of JIAMCATT. |
Alan Melby (AKM) |
FIT frequently sends a
representative to the annual JIAMCATT conference to make translators,
terminologists, and interpreters visible. And to gather information about the
translation sector from other JIAMCATT members, which are primarily
international organizations. JIAMCATT participants are primarily
representatives of translation departments in the respective JIAMCATT member
organization. |
(Feb 2022) The next JIAMCATT
conference is scheduled for April 2022 in Geneva, Switzerland, at the
headquarters of WIPO. |
|
MCE (Meet Central Europe) |
|
No |
Alexandra Jantscher (AJ) |
AJ attended MCE (Meet Central
Europe) in Prague in October 2019 and made a presentation there entitled
"Benefits for Freelancers and Translation Companies - a
Contradiction?". AJ attended the event in Budapest in 2018. |
(Feb 2022) AJ is kept informed on
ongoing online activities. The next MCE event will likely be in Bratislava in
the autumn of 2022. |
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PEN International |
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Ongoing |
Alison Rodriguez (AR) / Reina de Bettendorf |
PEN is an association of writers,
including poets, playwrights, editors, essayists, novelists, journalists, and
historians. |
(Feb 2022) There has been no
recent contact between FIT and PEN. |
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Red-T (Protecting translators and
interpreters in high-risk areas) |
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No |
Kevin Quirk (KQ) |
During the course of this mandate
(since Brisbane in 2017), KQ has attended and spoken at several events
organised by Red-T and the global language alliance at the UN Headquarters in
New York. These meetings and roundtables are aimed at raising awareness among
member states of the plight of linguists in conflict zones/high-risk
settings. KQ is currently working with Maya Hess, the founder of Red-T, on an
Open Letter to the President of Iraq to highlight the highly dangerous
situation faced by translators and interpreters in Iraq. |
(Feb 2022) Continued cooperation
and discussion with Maya Hess at Red T. Expressions of support for the work
of Red T given repeatedly via Facebook and Twitter. |
|
TAUS (Translation Automation User
Society) |
|
No |
Alan Melby (AKM) |
AKM has a longstanding
relationship with Jaap van der Meer, the head of TAUS, and has presented
several times at TAUS events. |
(Feb 2022) A few years ago, TAUS
has published a position paper on transcreation, which is at odds with the
recently finalised FIT position paper on translation-related activities,
including transcreation. In the July-August issue of
Multilingual magazine, Jaap published an article claiming that the current
"mixed model" (free machine translation on the one hand and paid
human translation on the other) is unsustainable. AKM and a colleague, Christopher
Kurz, wrote a rebuttal, which was published in the November-December 2021
issue of the same magazine. See http://www.ttt.org/translation-
economics-and-rebuttal/ for both Jaap's article and the rebuttal. The status of TAUS as a partner
with FIT clearly needs to be reviewed. |
|
UN (United Nations) |
|
No |
Kevin Quirk |
Through its networks FIT provides
UN outreach to individual practitioners for recruitment, information and
up-skilling. It elevates the status of multilingualism, promoting education,
access, understanding and the importance of indigenous languages and cultural
diversity. FIT celebrates International Translation Day (ITD), now adopted by
Resolution A/RES/71/288 as a UN International Day. The selection of an annual theme
for ITD appears to be rather fragmented but worldwide FIT has dominated with
its theme and many follow our lead. FIT supports the International Decade of |
(Feb 2022) The priority with the
UN is to seek protection for interpreters working in conflict zones
/high-risk settings in collaboration with Red T, AIIC and others. Before the
pandemic, Kevin attended a presentation at the UN and has continued to be lead
in this. Another priority is International Translation Day, which Kevin has
discussed with various stakeholders and missions at the UN. |
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Indigenous Languages. FIT also
supports the protection of linguists in areas of conflict and post-conflict,
supporting the work of the UN Security Commission and proposals by Permanent
Delegations to the Council. There is overlap with other UN
agencies and JIAMCATT, but these are important synergies. FIT needs to keep the UN up to
date with our activities and monitor such activities within the UN that may
be relevant to us. |
|
|
UNESCO (United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization) |
|
No |
Alison Rodriguez |
FIT is listed as an NGO partner
with UNESCO (see https://en.unesco.org/sites/default/files/ list_ngos_official_partners_unesco.pdf) |
(Feb 2022) FIT's status with
UNESCO will need to be renewed in 2023. |
|
UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees) |
|
No |
Alexandra Jantscher |
UNHCR was added as potential
partner with FIT as we thought we might meet them in Vienna in 2019 during
the Presidents Forum. |
(Feb 2022) AJ has been in touch
with the headquarters in Geneva. It turns out they are only interested in
sponsors, not really in any cooperation in the sense we have cooperation with
other partners. |
|
WASLI (World Association of Sign
Language Interpreters) |
Yes; see ProofHub files |
Alexandra Jantscher (AJ) |
FIT cooperates officially with
the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD), and the World Association of Sign
Languages Interpreters (WASLI), on projects with common objectives
(translation support services in conflict zones, disaster relief and
equitable access to community services). |
(Feb 2022) Christopher Stone is
scheduled as one of the keynote speakers at the FIT Open Congress in Varadero
in June. A decision regarding the Congress will be taken soon. |
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FIT cooperates officially with
the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD), and the World Association of Sign
Languages Interpreters (WASLI), on projects with common objectives
(translation support services in conflict zones, disaster relief and
equitable access to community services). AJ met representatives during the
WASLI conference in Paris, but there has beeb no other contact. They are a
very close partner of WASLI, so WASLI serves as a relay for FIT with regards
to this partnership. In the 2014-17 mandate we had contact with Colin Alan,
who was WFD President at the time. |
||||||
|
WFD (World Federation of the Deaf) |
|
No |
Alexandra Jantscher (AJ) |
(Feb 2022) They have a new
president, Dr. Murray, whom Alexandra has tried to contact several times. Dr. Murray hardly ever replies.
When he does, there seems to be interest in collaboration; however, when AJ
writes back there is typically no reply. |
||
|
Wikitongues |
|
No |
Alan Melby (AKM) |
Wikitongues’ mission is to
document all the languages of the world, including those that do not have a
written alphabet. Wikitongues has received a $3000
grant, which they offered to split with FIT to work toward a directory for
translators of indigenous and underrepresented languages. FIT would gather
information, and WT would create the directory. In October 2020, the FIT Council
approved a motion to use the portion of the money from Wikitongues (1500 US
dollars) going to FIT to pay a research assistant to with AKM to look for
existing directories of translators and interpreters maintained by various
organizations around the world. At the November 4, 2020, Council meeting it
was agreed that a short-term task force, consisting of three Council members
(not including AKM) would ask FIT member organizations for suggestions
regarding the research assistant and make a selection. |
(Feb 2022) Unfortunately, the
short-term task force did not select a research assistant. Consequently,
Wikitongues withdrew its offer to split the grant. |
|
WIPO (World Intellectual Property
Organization) |
|
Yes; see ProofHub files |
Olga Egorova (OE) |
FIT cooperates officially with
World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) on translation practice and
copyright issues, through their Standing Committee on Copyright and Related
Rights (SCCR). Contacts have been: · 36th
Session, May 28-31, 2018 ·
38th Session, Geneva, April 1-5, 2019 ·
International Conference on Copyright Limitations and Exceptions for
Libraries, Archives, Museums and Educational & Research Institutions
Geneva, October 18 and 19, 2019 |
(Feb 2020) The latest updates include
meetings with WIPO liaison Geoffrey Westgate who informed us that in the new
centrally approved workplan of WIPO there are defined two firm objectives
which can be explored and worked on in collaboration with FIT: a)
to investigate the possibility of including terms in indigenous
languages in WIPO Pearl, the aim being to make them visible, searchable, and
freely available. WIPO can’t create such content themselves (unlike the
terminology work they do for WIPO Pearl today), so WIPO would need to acquire
it and be given permission to publish it – with all due reference given of
course to the originators of the terms/the collections. They have been
exploring this to an extent for a few years and are discussing with a few partners
who are active in this field, but they never had a green light to do anything
concretely. That has now changed. At this stage, WIPO is very much in an
exploratory phase. The intention is also to involve
colleagues who are responsible for WIPO’s activities regarding Traditional
Knowledge – they carried out the following initiative on this topic last
year, for example: https://www.wipo.int/tk/en/news/tk/2021/news_0005.html The scope of their work covers
all aspects of TK of course, not just language aspects. WIPO proposes to FIT to be
involved and to explore the possibility of working with the indigenous
languages terminology together, probably starting with New Zealand (Maori)
and then moving to Latin America and Central Asia/Caucasus. b)
copyright issues - it is also part of the newest WIPO workplan to
explore the options of modifying the current copyright situation/documents
and it will be very logical to work together with FIT in order to explore
what are the most challenging areas and where translators' rights are most
unprotected in the nowadays world. |
FIT
Partners
UNESCO
Dear all,
I had the
pleasure to represent FIT at this online meeting as an online observer.
Being an
online observer, I didn't have to register, though I did. Being an online
observer, I wasn¨t allowed to speak either.
I was
interesting for me to learn how the meeting was planned, the format, the
procedures, the agenda items. All in all it was interesting, also the
mentioning of projects that I didn't know about.
All in all
it gave me a bit of experience and insights.
But it also
raises the question how FIT can truly benefit from being a NGO-partner to
UNESCO, apart from the brand value.
Since I
have mentioned that I intend to go through the character and status of our
formalized relations with other organizations, I will keep this on my list.
Thanks,
Jørgen
Linkedin:
I dindn't
make it to Paris this time. I echo Bob Dylan, who I will see perform in
Copenhagen on October 21 anyway: "I´m already there in my mind, and that´s
good enough for now!
What I did
make was to join the online UNESCO Meeting of the Committee on Non-Governmental
Partners (NGP), October 3, 2025. The International Federation of
Translators/FIT is a non-governmental partner to UNESCO with consultative
status, and I had the honour to represent FIT in the meeting.
**
Tjek FIT
hjemmeside
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