By Marion Rhodes
CTA Social Media Director
January 29, 2014
The Colorado Interpreters & Translators Association is pleased to introduce the candidates in the election for the 2014-2016 CTA Board. Running for the presidency is Thaïs Maria Lips, who is currently serving as vice president of CTA. Thaïs translates mainly between English < > Portuguese, but also from French and Spanish. She specializes in legal, finance, marketing, literature and social sciences.
Marion Rhodes: You’ve been CTA’s vice president for two years. What motivates you to serve the Colorado Interpreters & Translators Association?
Thaïs Lips: All of us need ongoing continuing education and networking. I like to support our community and give back as I have received from CTA’s previous administrations; the way I see it is that everything I do for CTA comes back to me as well. Members should consider volunteering for the Board at some point.
MR: How do you see the role of the CTA Board in the organization? What would you expect of its members?
TL: I expect the Board to be sharp, in unison, with each one of us bringing our best leadership assets to the table, as it has happened in the present Board. Communication flow is paramount.
MR: In the last year or so, CTA has come a long way. It has become an official ATA chapter, has a brand-new, state-of-the-art website… What are some goals you still have for the association?
TL: Keeping the standards to remain an ATA chapter; finalizing the IRS tax exemption application with the help of our treasurer Mery Molenaar; maintaining and keeping the website updated to run smoothly and with new applications; improving media presence with your input :); developing new marketing strategies for CTA’s greater exposure in Colorado; organizing professional development workshops and social networking; and holding our successful Annual Conference. Legacy is important, a compilation of the Board chores and how-to-dos is something that I have in mind to pass on to the next Board at the end of our term.
MR: What challenges is CTA facing along the way?
TL: For me, the biggest challenge is that Colorado is large enough to have members spread out in different areas. I would like to see more members’ initiatives to promote local networking and workshops in their areas. Just bring us a proposal and we will evaluate and support it. BTW, Marion, when are you organizing one in Colorado Springs? LOL
MR: What must CTA do to retain its members and attract new ones, particularly young language professionals?
TL: I think that we have been doing reasonably well reaching out to younger and new translators. Promoting who we are is a never-ending campaign. Last year, many didn’t renew on time, but by Conference time we were back with the right figures and today we have 175 members, which I believe is more than in recent previous years. Facebook, LinkedIn and media efforts have played an important role in it. But people may move out of state or change careers, this is part of the dynamics of an association.
MR: Being a Board member, your three primary roles are ambassador, advocate and asker. Which area is your greatest strength, and how do you plan to leverage it during your tenure as CTA president?
TL: My greatest strength is seeing that things are organized and getting things done.
MR: In your opinion, what is CTA’s role with regard to the translation profession in general?
TL: Now that we are an ATA chapter and have its support, we need to make sure that we always abide by its rules in order to remain a chapter. I see it as a benefit to us. Workshops and networking help ensure that members are in tune and pursuing high professional standards. We need to keep the bar high, always, so the association doesn’t collapse as I have seen elsewhere.
MR: Is there anything else that you would like to add?
TL: I want to thank CTA members for trusting me as vice president and I promise to do my best as president if you trust me again.
Some tidbits about Thais:
Sign: Aries.
Countries lived: Brazil, France, Wales, Oman and England.
Something nobody would guess about you: I have a PADI – Professional Association of Diving Instructors – Advanced Diver Certificate (scuba diving).
The longest translation: Not the lengthiest, but certainly the longest time to translate is the Catholic book that I am finishing now into English: Darkness or Light, The Seven Deadly Sins by Dom Joaquim Justino Carreira, the recently deceased Bishop of Guarulhos, São Paulo, Brazil. This is taking a long time because almost every paragraph quotes the Bible, St. Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica and other Vatican documents. I cannot translate these quotes with my own words; instead, I have to research and find out how they were previously translated into English. For example, specifically in the case of the Bible, it has to be the Jerusalem Bible, i.e., the Catholic version. So, this is very time-consuming, but I’m enjoying it, it is my Zen time.
The most meaningful translation: I translated into English, The Social Mobility of Blacks in Brazil for my son, Rafael Guerreiro Osorio, PhD, and I was very proud of it in many ways.
