2019 Conference Schedule

Translation and Interpreting in an Era of Change

Click on session descriptions and presenter names to access descriptions and bios. 


Friday, March 22

Pre-conference Interpreter Workshops
Times: 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (one hour break for lunch)

Workshop 1: Pre-Natal Genetics for Interpreters
Marcela Renna and Susan Hughes
Note: This workshop has been approved for credit as 5.0 CCHI instructional hours.
RC 101A

Workshop 1: Intermediate/Advanced Word and Excel and InDesign for Translators
Christy Rogers and Lorie Blevins
RC101B

Conference Welcome Reception
Sponsors: German Context and Beehive Projects
5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
RC 270


Saturday, March 23

Continental Breakfast and Registration
Sponsor: Xavier Domenech
7:45 a.m. to 8:30 a.m.
Atrium

Welcome
Cristina Wolff, Johnson County Community College
8:30 a.m. to 8:45 a.m.
NM Hudson Auditorium

Plenary Session
Holly Mikkelson, ATA Representative
8:45 a.m. to 9:45 a.m.
NM Hudson Auditorium

Morning Break and Refreshments
Sponsor: All Access Interpreters
9:45 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.
Atrium

Concurrent Session 1
All times: 10:00 a.m. to 10:55 a.m.

Translator Strand
Machine Translation – Here to Stay
Frieda Ruppaner-Lind and Birgit Scherer-Wiedmeyer
RC 101A

Interpreter Strand
Interpreting for Mental Health Sessions
Tingting Qin
NM Hudson Auditorium

Resources Strand
Handling Atypical Situations in Medical Interpretation
Dr. Hiba Gharib
RC 101B

Concurrent Session 2
All times: 11:00 a.m. to 11:55 a.m.

Translator Strand
Introduction to SDL TradosStudio
John Matthews
RC 101A

Interpreter Strand
The Legal Immigration Journey and Interpreting: An Immigration Lawyer’s Point of View
Mira Mdivani and Leyla McMullen
NM Hudson Auditorium

Resources Strand
Getting Started in T&I
Jean Marie Trujillo and Gabby Doherty
RC 101B

Luncheon
Sponsor: TranslationPerfect
Special Presentation: Cultural Dimensions in Interpreting for Nutrition
Presenter: Francisco Martinez
Time: Noon to 1:30 p.m.
Location: RC101C 

Concurrent Session 3
All times: 1:30 p.m. to 2:25 p.m.

Translator Strand
The Before and After of Translation: Research and Quality Control
Birgit Scherer-Wiedmeyer and John Matthews
RC 101A

Interpreter Strand
Consecutive Interpreting Theory, Strategies and Practice, Part 1
Holly Mikkelson
NM Hudson Auditorium

Resources Strand
Healthcare Interpreter Career Path: CCHI Perspective as a National Certifying Body
Francisco Martinez
RC 101B

Concurrent Session 4
All times: 2:30 p.m. to 3:25 p.m.

Translator Strand
From Amateur to Professional: Digital Natives and Translation
Dr. Tonia Tinsley
RC 101A

Interpreter Strand
Consecutive Interpreting Theory, Strategies and Practice, Part 2
Holly Mikkelson
NM Hudson Auditorium

Resources Strand
What Agencies Look for in Translators and Interpreters
Panel:

RC 101B

Afternoon Break and Refreshments
Sponsors: Cross-Cultural Communications, LLC and Children’s Mercy Kansas City
3:30 p.m. to 3:45 p.m.
Location: Atrium

Concurrent Session 5
All times: 3:45-4:40

Translator Strand
Fora Linguarum Translation Slam
Interactive Sessions
RC 101A, then breakout rooms

Interpreter Strand
Caring for LEP Children and Families – Overcoming Challenges
Nick Gomez
NM Hudson Auditorium

Resources Strand
Fora Linguarum Translation Slam
Interactive Sessions
RC 101A, then breakout rooms

Conference Wrap-Up
4:45-5:00
NM Hudson Auditorium

Dinner
On your own. Go out with friends!


Sunday, March 24

ATA Certification Examination
Time: The exam begins at 9:00 a.m. Registered test-takers should arrive by 8:30 a.m.
Location: RC Room 183

Please note: Separate registration is required with the ATA for the examination. Please visit
www.atanet.org/certification/index.php or call (703) 683-6100 to register.


Session Descriptions

Pre-Natal Genetics for Interpreters

Marcela Renna and Susan Hughes

Every medical specialty provides its own challenges for interpreters, be it specialized vocabulary, complex concepts or cultural barriers. Genetic counseling adds the extra challenge of being a highly technical, rapidly advancing and little understood area of medicine. It can be confusing not only for LEP patients, but also for the general public and even many health care providers. Given the fact that, as medical interpreters, it is very difficult to interpret well what we don’t understand, I hope that by concentrating into just one area of genetic medicine, we as a group can effectively improve interpreter understanding and interpreter practice in this focused and previously unaddressed field. The workshop, then, is designed to give a basic overview of the key concepts in genetics in general, and about prenatal genetics, specifically. Participants will receive a digital copy of the PowerPoint presentation, practice exercises, and starter bilingual glossaries in Spanish, Traditional Chinese for Cantonese speakers Vietnamese and Arabic.

Intermediate/Advanced Word and Excel and InDesign for Translators

Christy Rogers and Lorie Blevins

The Saturday workshop for translators is divided into two parts. The first will focus on getting the most out of Microsoft Word and Excel, and the second provides an in-depth look at Adobe InDesign.

Word/Excel Portion

Microsoft Word functions to be covered include:

  • Use Quick Parts to create shortcuts to type phrases often used
  • Create Organizational Charts using SmartArt
  • Use the Track Changes feature to see who changed what in a document.
  • Creating Sections Breaks
  • Allows for different formatting on same page
  • Inserting various types of watermarks but only on selected pages
  • Comparing two Word documents side by side to find the differences
  • Tricks for converting digital PDF to Word without special software

Microsoft Excel functions to be covered include:

  • Auto Fit Row Height
  • Text Functions:  =Concatenate (), =Trim (), etc.
  • Changing formatting (fonts, font size) for all tabs in MS Excel with one action
  • Creating and editing Pivot Tables

InDesign Portion

Giving your documents a well-designed, professional look will put you a step ahead in the marketplace cluttered with all kinds of communications. Discover paragraph and character styles that allow you to format pages of text uniformly and layout features that help you to build alternate size configurations of your document. Adobe® InDesign® has all the tools you need to elevate the look of your document and get it out to the people who need to see it, whether it be in print or on the web.

This half-day session will discuss and demonstrate the following:

  • Review of the InDesign Interface
  • Adding Text and Graphics To A New Document
  • Using Color, Graphics and Styles To Enhance A Document
  • Threading Text Frames
  • Preparing Documents For Multiple Layouts
  • Linking and Reusing Content
  • Working With Graphic Creation Tools
  • Exporting Files For Print and Web

Cultural Dimensions in Interpreting for Nutrition

Francisco Martinez

Over the last few years, working in a pediatric home clinic in and educational hospital, where children receive integral primary care including community resources education, behavioral and nutrition services, among others, has provided me an opportunity to educate a number of providers on how to work better with interpreters regarding cultural brokerage. In the specific case of nutrition, awareness of meals progression, cultural beliefs regarding food and beverages, and body image is key. This is an abridged presentation that I have used to educate bilingual residents, nutritionist, dietitians and interpreters to help them understand the role of culture in nutrition healthcare, develop awareness on how to work with interpreters for the success of nutrition care plan, and to understand the interpreter’s role as a cultural broker, emphasizing that interpreters are not necessarily “experts”, nonetheless, they may provide important, and accurate information regarding the culture of origin of the patients.

Machine Translation – Here to Stay

Frieda Ruppaner-Lind and Birgit Scherer-Wiedmeyer

This session will define the terms surrounding the complex topic of Machine Translation (MT) and will sort out some of the acronyms surrounding this topic.  It will show how MT has become an essential part of a translator’s tool set.  It will then drill down to the tasks involved in post-editing computer-generated translations.  The presenters will give examples of potential pitfalls as well as methods how to become more efficient and productive in post-editing.

Interpreting for Mental Health Sessions

Tingting Qin

Mental health sessions are different from other doctors’ appointments. Mental health providers cannot do physical exams on patients’ minds. Instead, they have to rely on words and behaviors to reveal a patient’s mental state. In interpreted sessions, the interpretation serves as the basis for evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment. Therefore, interpreters need to pay special attention to their renditions in mental health sessions. In this workshop, the presenter will discuss the purposes and goals of different mental health sessions, what the providers are looking for, and different techniques that interpreters may use for better results.

Handling Atypical Situations in Medical Interpretation

Dr. Hiba Gharib

Through my career as a medical interpreter, I have faced many unusual situations, sometimes with patients and other times with the facilities I worked for. I successfully dealt with most of those situations without embarrassing myself or the other individuals involved. In my presentation, I will discuss those situations and I hope this will benefit medical interpreters. Some of those situations put me in a narrow corner that either had me choosing between putting aside my values as a person or breaking the rules and regulations of my carrier. There is that kind of a patient who cannot differentiate between your profession as an interpret or, the nurse or the caretaker profession and asks you do something that is out of your profession, in this case what would be the best way to deal with this situation? Other times because of cultural overlapping and traditions, the patient or the client feels that he or she can contact you at any time and ask for your help directly or talk about the interpretation session and ask you to give him/her details or repeat what has been said, which is not right to do. Such situations and many more that the interpreter faces daily and needs to be wise to overcome the issue in a way that neither embarrasses the client nor risks her/his career. I am proud that I could find some solutions that satisfy all parties involved.

Introduction to SDL Trados Studio

John Matthews

SDL Trados Studio is a computer-assisted translation (CAT) software suite of programs.  It is a powerful software system that is perhaps the industry standard among such programs to assist translators in producing consistent, high-quality translations, to pre-translate documents by re-using previous translations of the same content that have been stored in the translation memory, and to store translations of terminology and re-use them so consistent terminology can be used throughout all documents. Today’s short session will provide practical live demonstrations of how to use this software to translate several similar documents, and to store terminology in the MultiTerm software program that is integrated with the main program. This session is ideal for beginning translators, students or anyone who is interested in improving the quality of their translations by using a CAT software tool.  You are welcome to bring your computer to the presentation if you have SDL Trados Studio installed or to simply watch and learn.

The Legal Immigration Journey and Interpreting: An Immigration Lawyer’s Point of View

Mira Mdivani

Immigration lawyers Mira Mdivani and Leyla McMullen have experienced the immigration journey first-hand, from being first-generation immigrants to the United States, going through all stages of the immigration process, becoming naturalization U.S. citizens, obtaining Doctor Juris Degrees by attending law schools in the U.S., and now practicing immigration law. In this presentation, they will cover the role and challenges interpreters and lawyers face in providing immigrants with a crucial opportunity for to be heard in the byzantine and hostile immigration process. 

Getting Started in T&I

Jean Marie Trujillo and Gabby Doherty

If you are interested in the nuts and bolts of starting up in translation or interpreting, plan to attend this joint session by Jean Marie Trujillo and Gabby Doherty. Jean works primarily as a translator, and her presentation will be “Getting Started as a Translator: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.” Gabby works primarily as an interpreter, and in her presentation, “Entering the Interpreting Profession,” she will speak about how she got started in the field, what she has learned in her many years of experience, and her recommendations for new interpreters. 

The Before and After of Translation: Research and Quality Control

Birgit Scherer-Wiedmeyer and John Matthews

Two veteran ATA-certified translators will present ways to improve your translations by paying attention to steps in advance of the actual translation process and steps after the text has been translated. “Before” aspects of translation they will address include research on the subject matter and terminology in order to improve not just the translation but also the client’s own source content and methods to identify inconsistencies or even errors that the client is not aware of. “After” aspects include various quality control methods in MS Word & Excel and in SDL Trados Studio and final procedures before sending in your translation so you can deliver a product that will stand up to review/edit by the translation agency, satisfy the client, improve your reputation, and lead to further business.

Consecutive Interpreting Theory, Strategies and Practice, Parts 1 and 2

Holly Mikkelson

This hands-on, interactive workshop will begin with a review of the basic principles of consecutive interpreting, including listening, processing and producing the target-language message, as enunciated in Gile’s (1995) Effort Model, with adaptations for the special requirements of court interpreting (particularly with respect to controlling the flow of communication effectively without intruding on the interlocutors or sacrificing precision). Protocols and techniques for interpreter interventions in the legal environment will also be discussed in light of the strict requirements of keeping a record in judicial and quasi-judicial proceedings. Participants will be guided through a series of exercises designed to enhance listening and retention, note-taking and production. Special emphasis will be placed on the long, convoluted questions in English that typify courtroom and deposition testimony. Participants will then implement the skills and concepts in scenarios and scripted role-play exercises.

Learning outcomes:

  • Become familiar with Gile’s Effort Model as it applies to court interpreting
  • Practice strategies for effective listening
  • Practice strategies for enhancing recall
  • Practice balancing note-taking with listening
  • Practice appropriate protocols for intervening to manage the flow of communication during legal proceedings

Healthcare Interpreter Career Path: CCHI Perspective as a National Certifying Body

Francisco Martinez

The U.S. healthcare interpreting industry has experienced the national interpreter certification since 2010. Over 3,800 interpreters have been certified by CCHI. Our profession has established a career path. Presenter will address aspects of professional growth and challenges that certification presents to interpreters and their employers as well as will elucidate its benefits. Certification’s national trends, impact and future implications for all healthcare industry stakeholders will be discussed. Presenter will also share how CCHI’s exam content is continuously updated based on the results of the national Job Task Analysis survey.

From Amateur to Professional: Digital Natives and Translation

Dr. Tonia Tinsley

This session will provide insights into the recruitment and preparation of future translators by examining three specific translation projects undertaken by university-level students of French. We will especially discuss attitudes and approaches to archival and formal text types that pose unusual challenges to digital natives; we will also provide and seek ideas for how to initiate students into the profession, make them aware of resources and the importance of cross-disciplinary knowledge for it, and how to recruit them to pursue the mastery of it. Examples will include hand-written letters and printed source text excerpts in French.

What Agencies Look for in Translators and Interpreters

Panel:

The market for independent translators and interpreters is an increasingly competitive space. It is therefore important to forge lasting relationships with translation service agencies that provide a steady income for contractors.  In this panel discussion, representatives of agencies will share the skills and qualities sought in new recruits. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions and learn how their résumé can stand out and which best practices help them become an agency’s preferred translator or interpreter.

Fora Linguarum Translation Slam

Interactive Sessions

MICATA is bringing back its Fora Linguarum Translation Slam tradition for the 2019 Conference. In this engaging activity, participants complete a brief translation before the conference and then get together with colleagues to discuss their translation solutions and strategies during an informal, interactive session. Be sure to join your colleagues at the final session. You can start preparing now by downloading the source text you’d like to translate by selecting its link on this webpage: http://micata.org/fora-linguarum-translation-slam. Then just translate the text and bring it with you (in electronic or hard copy form) to the conference.

Caring for LEP Children and Families – Overcoming Challenges

Nick Gomez

This presentation will highlight CMH’s role addressing LEP needs in our community and the steps it has taken to bridge linguistic barriers by working with professional Medical Interpreters and Translators. This presentation will focus on the role the Language Services Department plays in order to accomplish that objective.


Presenter Bios

Lorie Blevins

Lorie Blevins is a passionate educator focusing on Career and Technical Education for all ages. She is an instructor at Training Umbrella in Overland Park, Kansas, and is a Google Certified Educator. She is currently an adjunct instructor in the School Of Education Graduate Program at Baker University. She teaches courses in Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Google. Her undergraduate degree is from Evangel University with a BBA in Business Education and a Master’s Degree from Emporia State University in Business Education. She was an educator within the Shawnee Mission School District, located in Overland Park, Kansas, for over 30 years teaching in the field of Career and Technical Education. During that time, she was also Department Chair of CATE working with the Business, Industrial Technology, FACS and Medical Science departments. Along with her passion for teaching computer skills courses, she was actively involved in the development and implementation of curriculum for the Visual Arts Pathway and has taught graphic design courses to students for many years. Lorie enjoys sharing her passion for learning and has devoted her professional life to the classroom. She enjoys spending time with her daughters and granddaughter, travelling with her husband, and anything outdoors.

Andrea Brito

Andrea Brito is the founder and CEO of Lexicon Pros LLC. She is originally from Venezuela, came to the United States 19 years ago and worked as an interpreter for the Kansas city School District for 7 years. She went to school at MCC to get at certificate in foreign language interpreting. She worked for a clinic and trained as a medical Interpreter. After that she started to work as a freelance interpreter and in 2017 started to work on an idea of a way to make a better agency. Last year she gathered a team and started to develop an application that will help freelance interpreters to get more contracts. This year her team has taken a step forward towards contracting more interpreters by means of an app that will be running by the end of the year.

Kim Chao

Kim Chao is the Director of Business Development at TranslationPerfect.com. Since 2002, Kim has worked with thousands of customers across a wide spectrum of industries, including healthcare, legal, manufacturing, and K-12 schooling.  At TranslationPerfect.com Kim works to understand and successfully meet the language needs of each customer. This includes leveraging TranslationPerfect.com’s 20+ years of industry experience to develop customer-specific translation and interpretation solutions, comprehensive regulatory compliance, top language talent in even the rarest languages and dialects. Kim received a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from University of Missouri-Kansas City.  She is a member of Asian American Chamber of Commerce of Kansas City, The Society of Human Resource Management of Greater Kansas City, Association of Language Companies. Kim loves to travel around the world, enjoys meeting new, interesting, and diverse people in new lands and connect with them through learning about their culture.

Gabby Doherty

Gabby Doherty is from Mexico and has been a successful interpreter and translator since 2003 that she moved to Kansas. She has a Bachelor degree as a Montessori Educator; and a degree on Public Administration from the Mexico City “Universidad del Claustro de Sor Juana”. Her main expertise is on Spanish<>English, but she also speaks Italian and French. She has served as Secretary, Treasurer, and Board member of MICATA Board of Directors. She is a State Court Certified Interpreter, and she also has a Certificate as Medical Interpreter from the University of Arizona. She is continuously working on improving her skills, as well as interacting with colleagues to help improving our profession. She works as a court, medical, conferences, and phone interpreter. And as a translator she works mainly on legal and medical documents.

Xavier Domenech

Xavier Domenech is the owner of Domenech Expressions Interpreters, Missouri Certified Court Interpreter and National Certified Healthcare Interpreter, Member of the ATA, MICATA and the NAJIT associations. Among his many duties within the organization as owner and fellow interpreter is the leadership of his team by leading by example, meeting new potential freelance interpreters, and establishing new clients and ensuring client/interpreter satisfaction. Being the owner hasn’t stopped him from pursuing his passion for interpreting and he continues to grow as an interpreter and to motivate other freelancers that want to thrive in this amazing field.

Sara Gardner

Sara Gardner has owned Interpreters, Inc. since 1999. She is a MO and IA state certified court interpreter as well as certified as a healthcare interpreter through CCHI. In addition, she is a Foreign Language Instructor at Maple Woods Community College with 11 years of experience and a Licensed Trainer of The Community Interpreter, International. She holds a BA in Foreign Languages and Literature with an emphasis in Spanish. 

Dr. Hiba Gharib

Dr. Hiba Gharib is a PhD holder in linguistics. She received her PhD and MA from The University of Kansas; she has another MA from the University of Sulaymany.  She obtained her BA in translation and interpretation. Dr. Gharib was one of the teaching staff members in the English department of the University of Sulaimany/Iraq for more than 19 years. At the same time, she worked as a translator and an interpreter in different fields. Dr. Hiba has a number of published articles in different international and local journals. She speaks three languages fluently: (Kurdish, Arabic and English). She has participated in many conferences and workshops as a translator; she also has translated many booklets and brochures from Kurdish to English or Arabic and vice versa. Dr. Gharib participated in many language courses and has a handful of certificates in teaching English to foreign learners. Currently, she works with many companies and organizations as an onsite and on phone interpreter and resides in Kansas City, Kansas. You may contact her email at gharibhiba@gmail.com.

Nick Gomez

Nick has worked in the interpreting profession since 2013; he started out as a legal interpreter for a local agency and later transitioned as a medical interpreter at Children’s Mercy Hospital (CMH) and is now supervisor of Language Services at CMH. Nick has developed and taught Advanced Medical Interpreting Courses (AMI) so medical interpreters can successfully pass National Certification. He is actively committed to the growth of the interpreting profession by serving as a coach and mentor to medical interpreting students that come to CMH to fulfill their practicum requirements; he has developed simulation scripts for medical interpreter training and research. Nick took the Foreign Language Interpreting program at Maple Woods Community College and is in the process of completing a degree in Business Administration at EGCC.

Susan Hughes

Susan Starling Hughes, MS, CGC, is a certified pediatric genetic counselor who works with patients and their families at Children’s Mercy Kansas City. Her primary clinical focus includes pediatric genetics, as well as craniofacial genetics and associated syndromes. Susan is an active member of the National Society of Genetic Counselors and the American Cleft Palate and Craniofacial Association, where she has given many well-received presentations comprised of novel research. She is passionate about education and rare disease awareness. Susan holds a Master’s degree in Genetic Counseling from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Francisco Martinez

Francisco “Paco” Martinez, born in Mexico City, raised in San Luis Potosí, joined Children’s Mercy Kansas City as a staff medical interpreter in 2014. His position now is the Culture and Language Coach who works with bilingual residents to ensure that encounters with Spanish speaking families are safe and free of misunderstandings, and to improve residents’ communicative skills, and understanding of Spanish-speaking patients’ cultural beliefs. At the beginning of his career, Paco worked in the hospitality industry, run a school of English as a foreign language (EFL), and a translation/interpretation firm.  He did technical translations, conference and business interpreting, and video dubbing for companies such as Cummins Engines, Aceros San Luis, Mexinox, Cigarrera la Moderna, and the Secretaria de Comercio Exterior in San Luis Potosí among others. In the ‘90s, Paco worked for Richmond Publishing, the EFL/ESL branch of Santillana Editores, supervised and trained new EFL instructors, and taught TOEFL preparation courses at Instituto Angloamericano in Leon, Guanajuato, and was the Academic Chair of Instituto De La Salle de Leon, from kindergarten to High School. From 2001-2014, he was a visiting lecturer of Spanish at Northwest Missouri State University, faculty at their Spanish study-abroad program, and was the interim chair of the Foreign Language Program. Paco holds an undergraduate degree in Business and a Masters in English, and since 2016, he has been a nationally certified interpreter in healthcare. Finally, Paco has just become a Commissioner at CCHI working as a strong advocate for high quality language access to health care for all as well for the exploration and creation of new roles for the professional, certified healthcare interpreters.”

John Matthews

John Matthews has been a member of MICATA for 30+ years, is a Life Member of the ATA, and has been ATA-certified in Japanese > English translation since 1987.  He periodically writes a column in the MICATA Monitor, “Business 101 for Translators & Interpreters.”  With an MBA from Thunderbird focusing on East Asia and a BS from Georgetown University in Japanese and Applied Linguistics, he worked for 20 years at the Consulate General of Japan at Kansas City where duties included in-house translation.  He is a fulltime freelance translator focusing on legal, pharmaceutical, automotive, electronics and general business matters, and uses SDL Trados Studio frequently in his translation business.

Mira Mdivani

Mira Mdivani currently is President-Elect of the Kansas Bar Association and Leyla McMullen is active in the Hispanic Bar Association of Greater Kansas City.  Both Mdivani and McMullen have years of experience as legal interpreters and have been involved in management and officer roles with interpreting industry, currently leading TranslationPerfect.com, a language services provider Mdivani founded while she as in law school in 1995.

Holly Mikkelson

Holly Mikkelson is Professor Emerita at the Graduate School of Translation, Interpretation and Language Education, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. She is an ATA-certified translator (Spanish>English, English>Spanish) and a state and federally certified court interpreter who has taught translation and interpreting for four decades. In addition to co-authoring Fundamentals of Court Interpretation: Theory, Policy, and Practice, she is the author of Introduction to Court Interpreting as well as the Acebo interpreter training manuals and numerous articles on translation and interpretation. Professor Mikkelson has consulted with many government and private entities on interpreter testing and training, and has presented lectures and workshops to interpreters and related professionals throughout the world. In 2011, the American Translators Association awarded her the prestigious Alexander Gode Medal for outstanding service to the translation and interpreting professions.

Marcela Renna

Marcela Renna is a full-time freelance English< >Spanish Interpreter. She holds a Masters’ Degree in Education with Emphasis in ESL from the University of Kansas and she is a federally and state certified Spanish court interpreter. She is an instructor for the orientation of the Consortium for State Court Interpreter Certification and a rater for the oral portion of the Federal Spanish Court Interpreter Exam. She is also an Adjunct Professor in the Legal Interpreting Program at Johnson County Community College. Marcela recently became an ATA English>Spanish certified translator. When she is not interpreting in court or at a jail, or translating documents, she enjoys friends, movies, trips, books in English and Spanish, down time with her family, and triathlon training.

Christy Rogers

Christy Rogers is the founder and lead instructor at Training Umbrella, a company that specializes in teaching Microsoft and Google Applications. She has been involved in the planning and training of multiple software migrations in the Kansas City area and across the United States. Christy is a Google Certified Individual and Microsoft Office Specialist. She believes that “Knowing the technology is not the same as knowing how to teach it.” A degree in education from Kansas State University has supported her career path that included time educating students in a high school classroom, teaching for ExecuTrain, a nationwide technology training company and opening the doors of Training Umbrella in January 2011.

Frieda Ruppaner-Lind

Frieda Ruppaner-Lind has been a full-time English>German translator for over 25 years and is ATA-certified (English<>German). She is a graduate of the Translators and Interpreters Institute at the University of Heidelberg with a degree in English and Spanish (Diplom-Übersetzerin). Her main areas of specialization are technology, including medical technology, and related areas. She has been active in ATA both on the regional and national level for many years as chapter president, division administrator, ATA committee chair, and ATA board member in addition to giving presentations at regional events and the ATA conference.

Birgit Scherer-Wiedmeyer

Birgit Scherer-Wiedmeyer has a degree in Interpretation (German, French, English) from FAS Germersheim, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz in Germany and an M.A. in English Literature and Composition from Southern Illinois University. After working as an in-house translator at Intergraph Corporation in Huntsville, AL, gathering experience in technical translations and localization, she moved to the Midwest where she has been working as an independent interpreter and translator. At this year’s MICATA conference, she will co-present with two other ATA-certified translators in sessions covering Machine Translation, Post-Editing, and adding value for translation clients.

Dr. Tonia Tinsley

Dr. Tonia Tinsley has roughly 20 years’ experience teaching Foreign Languages, ranging from elementary to higher education in the United States and France. She has taught at the secondary, university, and graduate levels in multiple languages. She holds a Doctorate in French Language and Literature from Washington University in Saint Louis. Her most recent translation projects include 17th-19th century French archival documentation including wills, correspondence and military records from officers in the Ancien Régime, familial notebooks and correspondence from Laurent Clerc, the person who brought sign language to the United States in the 1800s, and academic abstracts for specialized publications in archeology and French Revolutionary-era History. She has been awarded a Faculty Research grant from Missouri State University to consult archival collections of military correspondence in France, in the goal of translating selected letters and making them available to Anglophones. She has organized an undergraduate course that initiates students to the challenges and fun of translation, in hopes that they a) will recognize the skill and depth of cross-disciplinary depth of knowledge required, and b) be drawn to pursue it as a career. Her most recent original scholarly work includes publications in English on Teacher Preparation and Digital Learners and Languages, as well as textual analyses in French of prose works by L-F Céline, a controversial 20th-century French novelist.

Jean Marie Trujillo

Jean Marie Trujillo, an ATA Certified Translator (Spanish>English; Portuguese>English) and a CCHI Certified Healthcare Interpreter™ professional (Spanish<>English), completed her Ph.D. in Spanish at The University of Kansas in 2016, with a focus on Latin American Literary and Cultural Studies.  She currently balances translation and interpretation work with part-time language teaching at Baker University and serves on the MICATA board of directors.

Tingting Qin

Tingting Qin has been a professional Chinese translator and interpreter since 2007. She is a CCHI certified healthcare interpreter, Missouri Court certified interpreter, CATTI (China Accreditation Test for Translators and Interpreters) certified translator, and secretary of MICATA. Some highlights of her past translation and interpretation experience include: simultaneous interpreter for the 2018 Omaha Summit, liaison and escort interpreter for the Finnish sailing team in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and co-translator of five books published by Qingdao Publishing Group in China. With an MA in English linguistics and an MBA, Tingting’s goal is to bridge language and cultural gaps among people through translation, interpretation, and education.

Rommy Vargas-Bezzubikoff

Rommy Vargas-Bezzubikoff is the owner of Spanish Ad Hoc Translations (2012 up to date), a company that provides written translations and interpretations for organizations and individuals in our community, in the medical field, worker’s comp, immigration, special education, and other areas, as well as diversity consultancy, editing and tutoring.  She has over 20 years of experience as an adult educator with Master’s degrees in Education (Spanish and ESOL) and Spanish Literature, with emphasis in Translations, and a Bachelor’s degree in Food Science Engineering.