Rolling on to the Columbia – the upcoming 65th American Translators Association (ATA) conference

 

[Columbia River]

In around one week, the ATA conference will open in Portland, Oregon. If you have never attended a large national translation/interpreter conference, it is a special experience involving bountiful opportunities to network, learn and expand horizons. The ATA annual conference generally attracts around two thousand people.  This year, I personally have a special interest in it not only professionally but also personally but any person that is currently a part of or considering joining the language industry can benefit.

One of the amazing riches of the conference is the overwhelming choice of lectures. During each lecture period, a participant can choose among nine different presentations. It is almost too much especially since conversations in the hallway on the way to the lecture often prevent you from getting to them. This year, I will be giving two presentations, one on project-based quotes and the other demonstrating a step-by-step approach to preparing presentations. For a full program, see here. Clearly, regardless of a person’s actual area of specialization, there are numerous lectures of interest. Notwithstanding this opportunity to gain knowledge, the most important benefit of the conference is the creation and reinforcement of the feeling of a translator community, a large one even, so often lost as we work alone in our (office) caves, isolated from others. I finished my last ATA conference in Palm Springs, before Corona struck, exhausted but inspired. If you have a chance to attend this year or in the future, it is a worthwhile investment of time and money.

On a personal basis, I lived in Oregon before I immigrated to Israel 35 years ago. I am looking forward to seeing both the friends and place I left behind. Aside from attending a reunion party of Hopa, the Balkan dance troupe in which I was a member back then, I plan to rediscover and show my wife the beauty of Oregon as I remember it: Multnomah Falls in the Columbia River Gorge, Mount Hood, the Oregon Coast, the 5^th Street Market in Eugene and any of the places I can get to. Of course, rain is forecast. The joke is that it rains twice a year in Oregon, from January to June and June to January. My wife and dealt with killer humidity in Shanghai in July; we will deal with frequent pissing from the sky in Oregon. Another, albeit unfortunate, personal benefit is that we will not have to be on constant alert for air raid warnings as is the situation right now in Israel. They do get one one’s nerves very quickly. Thus, I am looking forward to returning to Oregon even if you cannot go home again as Thomas Wolfe wrote.

Therefore, if you can attend the conference and are interested in any aspect of the translation and interpretation (including the effect of AI on the business), it is not too late to register and profit from an amazing event in all aspects. Contact me if you want to meet at the conference. As follows from the words that Woody Guthry wrote in the song about the building of a hydroelectric dam on the Columbia river, you can see the power of language turn the darkness to dawn. Roll on to the Columbia, roll on.

Inn come issues – the essentials of a comfortable hotel stay

 

[hotel room]

The British television program Four in a Bed is a reality program on hotel stay, whether a full hotel or glamping site or anything in between, and its ultimate measure, the value for the price. On that subject, ny wife and I have just completed a trip involving several, maybe too many, hotels in Crete and Nurenberg (Germany). Each of the hotels, while in a similar price category, had its unique elements that added or subtracted from the ease and comfort of the stay. I am aware people have individual priorities, e.g. the cleanliness and quality of the linen and variety of teas and coffees in the room. I am less critical of such details, within reason, but wish to share which elements influence my perception of these temporary abodes.

Two essential factors for any stay over one night are a comfortable mattress and room to open two valises. A good night’s sleep is the basis for a good day. By contrast, back pain from a poor mattress is a good reason to find another hotel if the management cannot find a solution. In fact, I stopped going to Marriot Hotels for that reason. It is important to be aware that many major chains use the same category mattress in all of their hotels. As for room size, unless I plan to spend significant time at the hotel, the physical dimensions of the room are primary visual until it is too small to lay out two valises without blocking access to the bed. European urban hotels understandably tend to be rather limited in space but proper room planning can at least allow this action. I will put up with such a small space for one night but that is all. I am happy to report that I was satisfied with all of the hotels in these respects.

The most variable room in hotels in the bathroom. I have the impression that, unlike in truly luxury hotels, nobody in the management actually spent a night in the room and tried to take a shower. In some cases, the height of the shower forces the bather to adopt a strange posture while in other cases much of the water ends up on the floor near the toilet. In terms of safety, I have experienced numerous bathrooms in which entering and exiting the shower required great dexterity and seemed an accident in waiting. I believe that the fanciness of the pieces does not make a good bathroom but instead its ergonomics. As poorly designed bathrooms are the rule, not the exception, we just have to put up with the them and complain, just like the weather.

An important factor that many hotels, even otherwise quality one, ignore is hanging space. When traveling in wet countries or in the wet season, it is often necessary to hang jackets and sweaters to dry out. The closet is not an ideal option for obvious reasons. It is sometimes possible to do so in the bathroom but that creates other issues. It is so convenient where there are pegs or other designated places to air or dry out the day’s clothing. The floor lamp works but was clearly not designed for that purpose. When the hotel considers this need, it rates higher in my eyes.

Location was a surprising unclear factor. We stayed in a non-touristy business area on the main road, a hotel in the old part of the city one block from a red-light district and in the middle of a tourist area surrounded by restaurants and shops. Curiously enough, I found advantages in each area and ignored the less attractive elements of the location. The actual surroundings had relatively little impact on the pleasantness of the experience.

By contrast, the level of service was the key for me. When I interacted with friendly and helpful front desk people that understood English to a reasonable level, I enjoyed the stay and was willing to ignore the quaintness of the hotel. On the other hand, dealing with service people that neither really understood English nor truly attempted to resolve issues was a major turnoff regardless of the fanciness of the hotel. A manager at a major international chain actually told me that it had subcontracted room service and had no direct control of room cleaning. As in all service businesses, customers want to feel appreciated and understood. Otherwise, they do not come back, in this case physically.

Clearly, each customer and each hotel have their specific demand and capacities. For me, the bed and a reasonable room size with a friendly staff available to solve a problem is the key to a return visit with other elements of less importance, depending on the daily rate even if it involves only two in a bed.