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Category Brand

Our story

 

TranslateCluj was initiated in 2018, by a small team of translators who wanted to do something for the language professionals’ community in Romania. It had been a long while since anyone organized a CPD event in our country, so it seemed a good idea to host an annual conference in Cluj-Napoca, one of the most dynamic, fun and well connected cities in Romania. 

I guess you could say we are a start-up, and like any start-up, we first developed an MVP—this was TranslateCluj 2019 (for details about speakers and sessions, see here). We designed the first edition with a simple and clear concept in mind: four speakers, two and a half days of hands-on, practical workshops and three directions: technology training, translation practice and marketing. We invited speakers both from within and outside the industry. The concept worked! By the end of the event, 70 happy translators, mostly freelancers, went home with quite an extensive knowledge baggage and with the sense that they contributed to the birth of a community :).

For the second edition of TranslateCluj we invited Ellen Singer as keynote speaker. Also, since SDL Trados Studio is developed in Cluj, it was only logical to initiate a collaboration with SDL Cluj for the second edition. We ramped up the technology component of our event and invited Paul Filkin, Marek Pawelec and Jerzy Czopik to organize workshops on technical topics such as RegEx, advanced CAT tool features and software interoperability. We stood by our initial concept of inviting both ‘insider’ and ‘outsider’ speakers, who covered a wide-array of topics, from digital marketing to non-violent communication, the relationship between translators and project managers, medical interpretation, Google (re)search and community building.

 

We’re all about hands-on training 

Regardless of the topic, we invite speakers to deliver hands-on, practical workshops with the purpose of boosting  productivity and quality.

Our main focus is translation technology

 

Following the feedback gathered after the first two editions, we will further consolidate our technology dimension by inviting leading CAT tool, MT and AI speakers and experts. We are also reflecting on the possibility of bringing linguists and developers together, in the attempt to intensify dialogue and improve bilateral feedback.

Expert training

 

We believe it’s important for freelance translators and interpreters to learn how to manage, market and streamline their businesses from field experts. This is why we’re always on the lookout for talented speakers who are willing to share their knowledge with the language professional community. But it’s equally important to enhance our field expertise, so we’ll also focus on finding top life science, legal, financial or other experts to help us become better translators in our specialty fields.

Integrated CPD activities

 

We’re currently exploring ways to expand our CPD initiative beyond the annual conference. We have several options on our drawing board: CAT tool training workshops, feedback sessions with translation technology providers, practical sessions with fiscal and accounting experts, hands-on digital training on various specialized topics.

Community building & networking

 

The language professionals’ international community is stronger if people cooperate and share knowledge efficiently. Networking and community building are key to any CPD initiative, and TranslateCluj is committed to its role as a ‘catalyst’ for cooperation and idea sharing between stakeholders of the translation industry.

 

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