Association of Romanian Translation Agencies

Summary of the Round Table Meeting of December 13, 2008

Introduction

The round table meeting was held in Bucharest, at the Tulip Inn Hotel. There were 19 attendees representing 13 translation agencies.

Topics

1. ABTR Projects in progress

• "Theory and Practice of Translation" - a course organized by ABTR and the Centre for Professional Training in Culture
• IT Terminology Project

2. Future projects

• Establishment of workshops on various themes: project management, time management, SR EN 15038 standard and terminology management
• "Guide to procurement of translation and interpreting services" - a project focused on the establishment of a guide to purchasers of translation and interpreting services

3. Free discussions

• Impact of world financial crisis on translation market
• Alternative employment methods
• ABTR membership importance and benefits.

Summary of discussions

The project started with a pilot course and 9 trainees. The trainees' feedback was positive and the round table attendees expressed their interest in it.

It was a short discussion on the opportunity to have such a project; as a result, an ample talk will constitute one of the topics at the next round table.

It was presented the list with the following themes: project management, time management, SR EN 15038 standard and terminology management.
The participants expressed their interest in these projects. ABTR will include the course on the list with potential objectives for 2009.

This guide aims to become an instrument for purchasers of translation and interpreting services.
The discussions during the round table meeting reached the conclusion that the guide would be conceived by ABTR in 2009, with the support of the meeting attendees.

The discussion started from several statistics representing the economic development forecasts for the major countries. A short survey was made during the meeting which showed the effects of the financial crisis on the participating companies. Also, ideas were exchanged with respect to the measures to be taken in such a period by translation agencies.