Localization & recruiting: join us for our September 12th meeting

Our next general meeting, to be held on Saturday, September 12, 2020, from noon to 2:30 p.m., will feature a presentation by Georgina Teran-Manrique on “Localization Essentials for Newbies.” Her presentation will be followed by a recruiting event with a representative of the US Department of State. The meeting will be held online via Zoom. Scroll down for information on how to connect to the meeting.

Georgina Teran-Manrique is a Spanish language manager for the localization team at LinkedIn. She also created and leads their Quality Program. She has a degree in translation and interpreting from the University of Salamanca (Spain) and 20 years of experience working as a translator, eight of which have been in the localization industry. Before entering the tech world of Silicon Valley, she worked as an in-house translator and quality control manager responsible for Spanish translation work for some of the largest companies in the banking, medical, and retail industries.

This presentation will put you on the path to a career in localization and give you a broader perspective on the industry. Topics will include the ins and outs of translating user interface strings, key terminology, and common industry-specific tools. Special focus will be placed on understanding how to work with different types of string formats and how to adopt internationalization best practices in a way that works for your target market.

The State Department’s Office of Language Services (LS) carries on a tradition of support to the country’s leadership that dates back to 1781, when the fledgling U.S. Government hired its first translator, who specialized in French.  Now with a permanent staff of 60, and a vast pool of tested contractors, LS provides interpreting and translation support to the White House, the Secretary of State, all State Department Bureaus, and dozens of Federal Government agencies, in nearly 140 language combinations. 

Joe Mazza, Chief of the LS Translating Division, hails from Bucks County, PA, near Philadelphia. His first language teachers were his grandparents—all children of Ellis Island immigrants from Sicily and Poland.  He studied French, Spanish, and Russian in high school and college, adding his now rusty Chinese along the way.  Before earning a BA in International Relations at DC’s George Washington University in 1984, he landed a clerk-translator position with the Navy Department, where he rose up the ranks, specializing in Russian and co-editing a digest of Soviet Bloc naval news. 

As the Cold War ended, Joe transferred to the State Department’s Office of Language Services (LS) in 1989, shifting his focus to Romance languages, having already added Italian and Portuguese to the mix.  In the 1990s, he translated at Summits of the Americas in Miami and Santiago, worked with UN colleagues in Geneva, and took up the study of Arabic (now rusty too!).  In 2002, he became Chief of the LS Romance Translating Branch, and in 2006, Chief of the LS Translating Division—responsible for most State Department translations. 

He taught English as a Second Language at a community school in Washington, DC, for 10 years, and has been an instructor in Spanish/English translation with the Graduate Studies in Interpreting and Translation (GSIT) at the University of Maryland since 2015.  Joe concludes his second term as Administrator of ATA’s new Government Division this fall.  Joe is an avid historian/genealogist, an incurable dabbler in languages he will never even begin to master, and an eager student of world cultures, especially the culture of Peru—his wife’s country.

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