Portuguese association celebrates 10th anniversary under a new board

Portuguese association celebrates 10th anniversary under a new board

By Marta Aragão,
President of APET

presidencia [at] apet . pt
http://www.apet.pt/

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APET, the Portuguese Association of Translation Companies, celebrates its 10th Anniversary in 2009 under a new board presided over by Marta Aragão.

The new leading team is strongly committed to taking the Association’s goals ever higher. Over the next two years, a set of new projects will be further developed and implemented.

University training

Marta Aragão photo APET is one of the driving forces of CNT (National Council for Translation), a body that brings together Translation Companies, freelance translators, and public and private universities. The CNT’s main goal is to speak in a single voice and bring translation education closer to market requirements.

For some years now, Marta Aragão has also been involved in translation education and has been teaching subjects related to the translation market and project management at the University of the Algarve. Other universities are also being encouraged to contract translation professionals who can help university lecturers to teach their students in accordance with market’s current and emerging needs.

Another initiative is the creation of the “APET/Universities Conference Cycle” where the same conference programme and technical workshops are taken to different universities across the country over the course of the year, again strengthening the ties between universities and translation companies.

Training and consultancy

APET is also putting together a database of qualified trainers who can offer specific training to universities, translation companies and freelance translators who need to optimise their resources and skills. Consultancy services will also be available soon to both established and recently formed companies operating in the sector with the aim of providing instruction on good translation practices based on the principles of EN 15038.

EN 15038 certification

Having developed a document detailing the required certification procedures to be used by its member-companies as a guideline in drawing up their own certification manuals, APET is now ready to help certify its members and engage in active promotion of EN 15038. The final stage before implementation of the norm is approval by Bureau Veritas of the above mentioned Procedures Manual, which is the exclusive property of APET.

Universities are also hearing about EN 15038 in conferences, seminars and talks, and this is one of the topics covered by the programme of the “APET/Universities Conference Cycle”.

APET website

APET’s revamped website will soon be online and will be translated into a number of other languages.

Court charges - translation fees

On 26 February, Decree Law No. 34/2008 governing the Regulation of Court Charges was published. This law lays down a system of simplified costs, bringing together in a single document all the normal procedures relating to liability for court charges (comprising judicial fees, charges and associated costs), encompassing amounts charged for judicial, administrative and fiscal procedures. However, simple in this case also means unworkable.

The fee of €6.40 per translated page established by the law makes it economically impossible for translation companies to work for the courts. APET is making every effort to contest the law in question and is striving to find a solution that works both for the judicial system and for TSPs.

martaaragao [at] inpokulis . pt

http://www.ape-trad.pt/

Published - April 2009

Republished from Communicate newsletter