McElroy Translator Tales
An Oral History of Translators and Interpreters
By Rebecca Petras, Public Relations Manager
Translators and interpreters tell stories, but the stories they translate and interpret day in and day out are not their own.
Yet these tales are quite rich. Living around the world, speaking many tongues, and talking to people from all walks of life, translators and interpreters are by nature fascinating folks.
That’s why McElroy created Translator Tales, an oral history of translators and interpreters. Initiated at the American Translator Association’s annual conference last fall, the oral history was formalized this spring and reintroduced at the ATA’s Business Seminar in Washington, DC, May 16–17. Each participant is recorded as they answer a series of questions on their careers, their likes and dislikes, and their most memorable jobs.
The recorded tales collected so far present a fascinating global portrait from an internationally diverse workforce: A New Zealander who helped Russian immigrants integrate in Australia; the World Language Hall of Famer from Maryland who bought a Japanese dictionary at an antique store as a kid and never looked back; the German to English translator who learned his craft on the Czech border with the German Democratic Republic; the Jordanian translator who helped Iraqi refugees.
The tales from the seminar are currently in editing and will appear on the McElroy website within a month. McElroy is also working with the ATA to offer Translator Tales on the ATA website and beyond. We will also slice and dice the stories to get a better understanding of the world of translating—from what translators and interpreters like about their jobs to what they do not like and how they keep themselves going year after year. Translator Tales will become a public record of stories, preserved forever in a database maintained by McElroy. We will continue to build the database at ATA events around the country and at the annual conference in the fall. If you are a translator or interpreter with an interesting story, do not miss this opportunity to be preserved in history!
