Have you ever heard of the ATA? It is the American Translators Association, which currently has around 11,000 members in over 90 countries. Veritas is actually a member as an international language service provider.

The ATA is quite old, as it was founded in 1959. Similar to other associations of this kind, the ATA is committed to promoting the role and status of language professionals, as well as encouraging communication among members and offering an accredited qualification.

The ATA includes something called ‘divisions’, which are groups of interpreters and translators with the same interests. For example, there are not only language divisions, such as German and Chinese, but also some for topics (Medical Division, Literary Division) and others for professions (Interpreters Division and Translation Company Division). Joining a division allows members to link with fellow professionals who share the same interests, as well as receiving regular updates on that topic.

As is the case with other professional bodies, joining the ATA is quite a challenging process. What is interesting is that they have a list of accredited universities and institutions around the world, and a prospective member’s degree needs to come from one of those universities, although the list can be updated. This could be a useful tool if you plan to study interpreting or translation and don’t know what country you want to be based in!

Are you a member of the ATA and one of its Divisions? What do you like most about them?