The National Language Conference
June 22-24, 2005

Marla Schulman, President
Schreiber Translations, Inc.

I am very appreciative to have had the opportunity to attend the National Language Conference, sponsored by the Department of Defense and the Center for Advanced Study of Language. The call, at a federal and national level, for addressing the issues and problems, and indeed threats to our national security, that we face as Americans as a result of our language isolationism, is long overdue. This conference held the aura of an historical turning point.

The devil, however, lies of course in the details. How will we as a nation institute a cultural attitude shift with regard to the learning and achievement of proficiency in languages other than English by Americans? And how will we institute an overhaul of our educational system from the earliest levels on in order to accommodate this necessary attitude shift? The message of the National Language Conference was that these challenges will only be overcome through the hard work and cooperation of numerous individuals acting individually and through organizations, associations, agencies, corporations, and the like.

However, there is an aspect of the national language issue that received far too little attention during the National Language Conference, centered around the fields of translation and interpretation. There are three main points to be made about the translation and interpretation industry with regard to the matters discussed at the conference.

1. An issue that was brought up several times during the conference was how to incentivize young people in the U.S. to strive for bilingual or trilingual proficiency, given the strong focus on material success present in our culture today. Quite simply, promoting translation and interpretation as a profession is one answer to this challenge. As one example, my language services company procures the services of hundreds of trained, skilled and experienced professional translators and interpreters each year, with many of them earning income in the range of $50K-$90K per year from the work they do for us.
2. Representatives from various federal agencies spoke of the lack of resources available to meet their translation and interpretation needs. Yet, many of them do not turn to the very viable industry of translation and interpretation companies, also called language services providers. Our expertise as language services providers lies in mobilizing and managing large teams of professional, trained and experienced translators and interpreters, while adding the important value of quality control to the language services we provide.
3. The distinction must be made between language proficiency and translation or interpretation proficiency. Providing translation and interpretation at the professional level requires skills, training and experience beyond those needed to acquire basic language proficiency. Many representatives from government and industry at the conference spoke of their agency's or corporation's language needs, when actually what they have are translation and interpretation needs. And while it is true that Fortune 500 multinational corporations must have employees at all levels with multilingual proficiency in order to be successful, it is not true that the bilingual attorney negotiating a supply or distribution deal with a foreign counterpart has the skills and ability to ultimately provide a translation of the resulting written contract.

All in all, the National Language Conference was an excellent start. I will personally work to do what I can to help move its agenda forward, including acting as a voice for the translation and interpretation profession in order to ensure that this profession is given an opportunity to play the important role it can in promoting language awareness in the U.S. and helping to close the language gaps that we face as a nation.