The ATA Chronicle - September/October 2022 - 35

GEEKSPEAK By Jost Zetzsche
Ridiculous Generosity
I'm so happy to announce that we'll once again have a Dictionary Exchange
at ATA's 63rd Annual Conference in Los Angeles (October 12-15, 2022).
Many of you know that this has been my favorite ATA event during the
past few years because it allows us to be ridiculously generous with
our own dictionary treasures while making our spouses or partners
happy with reclaimed bookshelf space. It's also amazing to see a
table full of dictionaries in rather unexpected language combinations
(Czech<>Albanian, anyone?), and the flushed cheeks of translators
who have just grabbed one or two or even more of those gems. All the
recipients have to do in return is...oh, that's right: nothing!
W
e started the
exchange at ATA59
in New Orleans
four years ago and-perhaps
unsurprisingly-this has
become a very popular event.
(You can read my report of
the first Dictionary Exchange
in the January/February
issue of The ATA Chronicle1
.)
Reading that account, you'll
find that one thing we make
sure of each year is that
the handful of dictionaries
that don't find a new owner
aren't simply tossed in the
trash. Instead, they go to
a reputable bookstore or
college library. We try not to
just honor the old and new
www.ata-chronicle.online
owners of the books, but also
the books themselves.
If you don't want
to schlepp your print
dictionaries but have
glossaries to share, you can
bring a description of that
glossary along with a QR
code on a printed sheet of
paper that will bring your
colleagues to its online
location. Of course, you can
also email that code to me
(jost@internationalwriters.com)
and I'll display it on the
Dictionary Exchange
table. All of these will then
also be shared under the
#dictionaryexchange tag
on Twitter.
An additional new feature
this year that ATA PresidentElect
and Conference
Organizer Veronika
Demichelis has come up
with is a (non-dictionary)
book exchange. Unlike the
Dictionary Exchange, this
is a " true " exchange where
you can bring your favorite
book of the past year or so
and exchange it for someone
else's favorite book. This
should not only make for
interesting reading on the
plane, train, or automobile
back home, but also for
interesting conversations at
the conference, and possibly
new friends as well.
It may be that very last
thing ( " new friends " ) that
ends up being at the core of
why the Dictionary Exchange
is so great, and why I
would strongly encourage
other associations to offer
something similar at their
meetings. The world of
translation is a strange
and beautiful place where
we cooperate rather than
compete, where we help each
other rather than stand in
each other's way. This event
is that principle exemplified
beautifully and practically.
Again, be sure to bring your
dictionaries. If you've already
gifted your dictionaries at a
previous Dictionary
Exchange, help spread the
word on social media or any
other place where you
interact with colleagues.
NOTES
1.
Zetzsche, Jost. " Wondrous
Things at the ATA59
Dictionary Exchange, " The
ATA Chronicle (January/
February 2019), 31.
Jost
Zetzsche is
a translation
industry and
translation
technology consultant. He
is the author of Characters
with Character: 50 Ways
to Rekindle Your Love Affair
with Language. jzetzsche@
internationalwriters.com
This column has two goals:
to inform the community
about technological
advances and encourage
the use and appreciation
of technology among
translation professionals.
American Translators Association 35

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The ATA Chronicle - September/October 2022

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