The ATA Chronicle - September/October 2024 - 29

leads to a higher level of
ethical awareness and the best
translation and interpreting
services for all stakeholders.
Despite such efforts,
there are still many gaps to
overcome. In the Vietnamese
market specifically, while it's
a positive development that
educational programming
now includes topics on T&I,
many of those lecturing on
these topics in Vietnam are
not professional translators
or interpreters, nor have they
worked in the T&I industry.
On the surface, it also seems
to be a positive sign that
some T&I training centers
have been established, but
the courses they offer are
entry-level and participants
are awarded non-accredited
certificates. Some criticize
these courses for their fluff
and the lack of depth of
the programming. Most
importantly, while most of
Vietnam's current programs,
seminars, and conferences
are academic and theoretical,
they lack the practical
instruction needed (e.g.,
panel discussions, training,
or webinars on business
practices in the T&I industry,
financial practices for
translators and interpreters,
CAT tools, and client
negotiations) to standardize
linguistic requirements and
translation quality.
The outlook is better for
the Vietnamese markets
outside Vietnam, although a
community of professionals
still needs to be brought
together there as well. Many
Vietnamese translators and
interpreters working overseas
are bilinguals who have
not been formerly trained
due to a lack of standards
and credentialed training
programs. While efforts to
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While it's a positive development that educational
programming now includes topics on T&I, many of
those lecturing on these topics in Vietnam are not
professional translators or interpreters, nor have they
worked in the T&I industry.
establish informal groups
of T&I professionals for the
purpose of sharing knowledge
and building community
are underway, the overseas
markets still lack a formal
organization through which
professionals can represent
themselves in the industry.
These are indirect actions
in the establishment of a
standardized market and
the creation of credential
programs and training
opportunities for Vietnamese
translators and interpreters.
Overall, there is still much
work to be done in terms
of building a professional
infrastructure that will make
a significant difference in the
Vietnamese-language markets
in Vietnam and overseas.
Further developments
should be centered on
the need for unity. First,
professionals in Vietnam
and overseas should unite
to create a Vietnamese T&I
organization with a base
within and the support
of existing international
organizations such as ATA,
NAAIT, CIoL, or NZSTI.
Second, professional
and academic training
offerings should be unified
in the incorporation of
opportunities to learn
practical skills. From a very
big-picture perspective,
Vietnamese T&I programs
need to be developed at all
levels, including bachelor's,
master's, and doctoral
studies. Third, we need to
be united in saying " no "
to unacceptably low rates,
which requires us to have an
awareness of what different
Vietnamese markets are
facing within the larger
industry. This requires that
rather than thinking of the
current Vietnamese markets
as being in opposition,
we shift to viewing all
Vietnamese variants as
part of one language family
deserving of respect and
an open mind. Finally, we
need to unite in a call for the
Vietnamese government to
establish an organization for
T&I professionals in Vietnam.
As for ATA, it would be
great if members could
work together with the
Certification Committee to
establish a certification exam
for the English>Vietnamese
language pair. In the U.S.,
Vietnamese-language
professionals can only take
the medical interpreter or the
court interpreter certification
exams at the federal and state
levels. There is no written
translation certification exam
for professional Vietnamese
translators in the U.S. In a
wider context, only NAATI
at the national level, or
some provinces of Canada
at the provincial level,
have English>Vietnamese
American Translators Association 29
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The ATA Chronicle - September/October 2024

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