In September, FIT LatAm celebrated International Translation Month with a lineup of distinguished speakers: specialised translator Pablo Mugüerza, joining from Europe, delivered an insightful presentation on ‘The best medical translation’, full of language and terminology tips. Silvia Bacco, president of CTPSF, addressed ‘Quality in translation and interpreting’ and shared her guidance on professional standards. The third hour of learning was in the hands of Andy Benzo, ATA’s president-elect, who presented on ‘Law and order: civil versus criminal law in the US’. A global audience enthusiastically engaged in the Q&A session. The event had simultaneous interpreting, and the recording is available on FIT LatAm’s YouTube channel.
Also in September, FIT LatAm attended the CEATL conference remotely, with a video especially prepared to share the experience of the literary translation workshop Cantera de Traducción, submitted by AATI on behalf of alitral to the FIT Regional Fund in 2023. Sandra Mouton (FIT Europe) and Jan Ness (FIT) included this initiative alongside other projects in the ‘Translating the World’ section of the conference during their FIT presentation. What a great way to showcase education and advocacy efforts from all regions of FIT! FIT LatAm participants streamed the conference live.
In October, continuing with its regional training programme, FIT LatAm hosted the talk ‘Poor translator: the rebellion of machines’, by German Garis, who contributed his perspectives on AI, LLMs, MT, and NLP, exploring our roles, challenges, and opportunities in the current context of technological innovation.
In November, the FIT LatAm Board held another edition of our Annual Presidents’ Forum. The agenda included a review of what they did in 2024, a special presentation of the 2025 FIT World Congress, and the selection of the venue for our next annual general meeting. Invited speaker Cecilia Lipovsek, a specialist in diplomatic T&I living in London, delivered a motivating talk entitled ‘How to leverage marketing and storytelling for effective communication’.
In December, as part of an MoU with the Ibero-American Terminology Network (RITerm), FIT LatAm co-hosted a conversation on ‘Terminology, corpus and translator training in the context of AI: new tools and technologies’, with experts Chelo Vargas (IULMA), Jorge Lázaro (RITerm), and Christof Sulzer (UNAM). This transatlantic discussion was very insightful, and we’ll look forward to sharing more about it in a future issue.
Breaking news during this final stretch of the year: there is a new addition to FIT LatAm! We are proud to welcome Universidad Cesar Vallejo (UCV), from Peru, admitted to the FIT family as an associate member. You can read more about them in this issue.
It has been a fruitful year, with several associations celebrating major anniversaries and milestones, organising educational events, engaging in the discussion, and staying at the forefront of innovations in the profession. Our social media team is always actively supporting the conversation. We look forward to new and engaging activities in 2025!
Marita Propato, FIT LatAm VP