Tag: draft1

Structure

Governing Bodies

FIT’s supreme body is the statutory congress, which is held every three years. It brings together delegations from the member associations, and it elects the Council, which in turn elects its Executive Committee and directs FIT until the next world congress. The governing bodies are supported by different committees, which report to the Council annually about their activities, and to the congress. The statutory congress is followed by an open congress, which is an outstanding platform for exchanges among all professionals in the profession.

Committees and Task Forces

The Federation, through its committees and task forces, undertakes to meet the various expectations of its members by addressing matters of training, conditions of work, the various aspects of the profession, and the categories of translators, interpreters and terminologists. To take part in the work of one of them is an individual contribution to the profession as a whole.

Secretariat

FIT has a part-time secretariat. The secretariat is the anchor for FIT’s membership administration and activities. The secretariat works closely with the EC and Council and relevant task forces.

Regional Centres

Three regional centres are currently active: FIT Europe, FIT Latin America and FIT North America. A fourth centre is being considered in Asia. These centres foster the activities of FIT in their regions, organising meetings to strengthen exchanges between member associations on any questions concerning the profession, and liaising with the FIT Council.

FIT Europe

FIT Europe is a regional branch of the International Federation of Translators. FIT Europe’s mission is to represent the interests of translators, interpreters and terminologists in Europe. To achieve this, FIT helps member associations exchange information, experience and best practices. It also represents these associations to EU institutions, as well as liaising with other stakeholders in the translation field.

Services to translators include surveys of working conditions and other specific aspects of the profession. FIT is actively involved in standardization and certification projects, while its code of ethics outlines definitions of best professional practice.

Visit the FIT Europe website at fit-europe-rc.org.

FIT North America

FIT North America is a regional Centre of the Fédération Internationale des Traducteurs / International Federation of Translators. As a Regional Centre of FIT-IFT, we work to promote translation, interpreting, and allied professions in Canada, Mexico, and the United States.

FIT LatAm

FIT LatAm was organized in 2003 under the name Regional Centre Latin America (CRAL) to serve the interests of FIT members and to facilitate, promote and support the aims and efforts of FIT as a whole, pursuant to the Mission Statement for the establishment of FIT Regional Centres and for FIT Regional Centre activities, as adopted by the FIT Executive Committee in Brussels (January 1998) and ratified by the FIT Council in Geneva (April 1998).

Its objectives include fostering ongoing training and education; creating new professional associations and encouraging them to join FIT; promoting sound intellectual property policies and professional standards; developing institutional relationships between associations and educational institutions; and raising awareness about the importance of the profession, among others.

FIT LatAm’s geographical coverage includes Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries in the Americas.

FIT Council 2022-2025

Executive Committee

Alison Rodriguez

President

Alexandra
Jantscher

Secretary General

Ted Wozniak

Treasurer

Alejandra Jorge

Vice President

Eleanor Cornelius

Vice President

Annette Schiller

Vice President

Council Members

Tiina Tuominen

Council Member

Iris Gretchen González Nieto

Council Member

Olga Egorova

Council Member

Marta Morros Serret

Council Member

Jan Naess

Council Member

Anming Gao

Council Member

Viktorija Osolnik Kunc

Council Member

Victoria Lei Cheng Lai

Council Member

Guillaume Deneufbourg

Council Member

Roula Kamal Salam

Council Member

Katia Jiménez Pochet

Council Member

All Council members can be contacted through the Secretariat.

Nairobi Recommendations of 1976

The Recommendation for the Protection and Improvement of the Legal and Social Status of Translations and Translators, adopted by UNESCO in 1976 at its general conference in Nairobi, marked a milestone in the history of the translating profession. The Translator’s Charter, revised in 1994, specifies the rights and duties of translators and recommends the principles of their organisation into associations. FIT is pleased with the significant progress made in defense of the profession since its foundation, but remains conscious of the need to further develop international cooperation. It will continue to play its vital role in overcoming linguistic boundaries and thus maintaining good communication and understanding between the peoples of the world.

The full text in all official UN languages can be accessed on the UNESCO website.

Become a member of FIT

FIT is a federation of national associations, not of individuals. All translators, interpreters or terminologists interested in our activities are invited to join their national association or any other association affiliated to FIT.

What we can do together

Working together, FIT members benefit from both local and international activities coordinated by a federation with global presence and established connections Activities at an international level provide benefits that would be difficult for a national association to achieve on its own. FIT focuses on four main areas: Community, Professional Development, International Visibility and Representation.

Can my association join FIT?

The FIT family of translators’ associations and institutions is always happy to welcome new members to its fold.

Your association can join FIT as regular member when its members are individual professional translators, interpreters or terminologists. This excludes organizations having students and corporations as regular members. If you are not yet convinced of the advantages of being a FIT member, you can join for three years as an observer without voting rights. Universities and other training institutes are welcome as associate members, also without voting rights. You will find more details on FIT membership in the menu About us. Please also refer to the Bylaws and Rules of Procedure on this website.

Membership fees

  • Regular members: 3.10 Swiss Francs per capita. (Your association must have at least 20 members, so the minimum contribution is 62 Swiss Francs). The maximum annual contribution is limited to 4,500 Swiss Francs.
  • Associate members: 435 Swiss Francs
  • Observer members: 124 Swiss Francs

Procedure for becoming a member

Please complete the online membership application form. You will need a pdf copy of your association’s bylaws in their original language and in English, French or Spanish.

Your application will be submitted to the FIT Council who can admit you as a candidate member up until the next Statutory Congress, where your membership must be ratified. Even as a candidate member, your association will appear immediately on the FIT website and you will have full membership rights, except for active and passive voting rights.

Applications may take 3 months to process, or longer if we require further information. Please don’t wait for the next Statutory Congress to apply: submit your request at least four months prior, or your application may not be processed in time to be ratified. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the FIT Secretariat.

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In Memoriam: Anna Lilova

It is with deep regret that FIT announces the death,
on 30 July 2022, of

ANNA LILOVA

FIT Honorary Advisor, former president and founding member of the Bulgarian Translators’ Union.  


One of the first to be awarded the role of Honorary Advisor (then the ‘Council of Elders’), Anna was ‘a friend and a disciple’ of Pierre-François Caillé, FIT’s founding father. She joined FIT Council in 1974, became Vice President in 1978, was elected as interim President after Caillé’s death in 1979, going on to serve in the role for three successive terms (1979-1990).  While continuing to follow in the founder’s footsteps, she recognised that the demands of the profession were changing with the times.

She wrote “In the Cold War of that period, the federation was able to retain a spirit of understanding, convinced that unity would give us strength.”

Her words echo loudly today, in the current global atmosphere, where so much has changed and so much remains the same. Anna Lilova understood that translators and interpreters are crucial to global understanding and under her leadership the Federation continued to bring together organisations from all continents, establishing regional centres, and promoting activities and cooperation between them. She continued Pierre-François Caillé’s work on collaborating with UNESCO and other UN bodies, and was a key figure in FIT’s publishing endeavours, including as an Editor of Babel. 

President, Vice-President and Winner of FIT’s highest honour, the Pierre-François Caillé Medal, Anna is remembered for her extraordinary contribution to the progress and reputation of the translation profession at international level, particularly during her eleven years as president.

Her own body of academic research highlighted the relationship between theory and practice, and covered European cultural heritage and translation theory, making a significant contribution to studies of translation as an art and a science essential to our cultural, physical and political existence. She also established translation studies as an academic discipline at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” and was a founding and integral member of the Bulgarian Translators’ Union in 1974.  

FIT today has much to thank her for. Through her talent as a diplomat, Anna Lilova made a noteworthy contribution to the recognition of FIT outside Europe, particularly through the organisation of events in Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

She was one of the first to emphasise the common problems encountered by members: poor and sporadic remuneration for the work of scientific and literary translators, the absence of respect for the work of translators, publishers’ failure to mention the name of the translator, and protection of translators’ rights.

In her mind, translation was a creative activity important in a thriving society and served three main imperatives, that is, the imperative of communication, to serve knowledge and mutual understanding; the cultural imperative, to fulfil our obligations towards universal culture; and the humanitarian imperative, highlighting our moral responsibilities in an era of forays into outer-space and nuclear power, to bring universal harmony to the forefront of people’s minds and consciences. Again, so much of what Anna Lilova thought, said and did, the clarity of her vision on the main issues facing the profession, remains as relevant today as it was in 1987.

Those who knew her remember her as an academic, diplomat, tireless advocate of the global importance and reputation of the translation profession, supportive colleague, esteemed friend. Those of us who did not have the fortune to know her, remember her as an often talked about, ever-present key figure in the history of FIT. She will be sadly missed and fondly remembered. Rest in peace, Anna Lilova.