Meet the ITD 2024 Team

Translation Commons gratefully acknowledges the generous contributions of the multiple parties that came together to produce the 30 September 2024 celebration of the International Translation Day with the online event “Translation, an art worth protecting: Moral and Material rights for Indigenous Languages”.

We thank all participants, all contributors, all supporters, and all attendees, and we hope that the shared experience, knowledge, and inspiration gained from this event will carry all stakeholders forward in their work in Indigenous languages.

Our special thanks go out to the following teams and individuals:

Event Steering Committee

Dr Siva Prasad Rambhatla, Former Honorary Professor, University of Hyderabad (India)
Dr Udaya Narayana Singh, Professor, Amity University Haryana, Gurgaon (India)
Dr Prabhakar Rao Jandhyala, Professor of Linguistics and Head of the Centre for Foreign Language Studies, University of Hyderabad
Ms Saumya Sharma, Freelance Ethnographer and Qualitative Researcher (India)
Dr Tabea De Wille, Associate Professor, University of Limerick (Ireland)
Mr Michael Wynne, Digital Applications Librarian, Washington State University (USA)
Mr Tex Texin, Globalization Architect, Board of Advisors, Translation Commons (USA)
Ms Jeannette Stewart, Founder & Board of Advisors, Translation Commons (USA)

It has been our sincere pleasure to produce this event with all of you! Thank you for your hard work and thoughtful participation to raise awareness about the importance of professional translation and interpretation to Indigenous communities and to explore the impact of emergent technologies on the field of translation.

Dr. Alan Melby, Language Terminology/Translation and Acquisition Consortium President

• Infrastructure support
• Hosting of the event

A kind thank-you to Alan for providing the Zoom platform for the panels and presentations, and for hosting and monitoring the event with us. Your technical support has allowed the program to stream online to countless viewers.

Translation Commons Volunteers

The truly awesome Translation Commons volunteers have put in the tireless behind-the-scenes work to handle the nuts and bolts, branding, endless detail, and coordination that is necessary to produce an event such as this one. This represents months of work, coordination, patience, and a sense of humor! These may be some of the least visible volunteers in an online event, but they are the most important, and we thank all of them!

Leonidas Pappas, Event coordinator, Event hosting, Branding, Social media
Nigar Hasanova, Event manager, Logistics coordinator, Zoom hosting
Reshma Mohan, Event coordinator
Aparna Jorapur, backup Event coordinator
Utkarsh Sinh, Web developer, Maintenance
Shreyans Magdum, Zoom host, Web developer, Maintenance
Sree Yashwanth Sai Venkatesh, Zoom host, Web developer, Maintenance

Session Presenters

Ms Jeannette Stewart, Founder Translation Commons, (USA)
Dr Tawfik Jelassi, Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information Sector, UNESCO (France)
Ms Alison Rodriguez, President, International Federation of Translators (New Zealand)
Ms Dorothy Gordon, Chair, UNESCO Information for All Programme (Ghana)
Dr Elin Emilsson, CEAL-UPN Mexico, UNESCO Chair Linguistic Policy for Multilingualism (Mexico)
Mr Nelson Martinez, Researcher at National Institute of Indigenous Languages
Dr Marie-Odile Junker, Director of the Algonquian Linguistic Atlas and Algonquian Dictionaries Project (Canada)
Mr Kawiti Waetford, Certified Translator and Interpreter for the Māori Language Commission (New Zealand)
Dr Samar Sinha, Professor, Department of Nepali & Centre for Endangered Languages, Sikkim University (India) (10 min)
Mr Evandro de Sousa Bonfim, Professor of Ethnology and Anthropological Linguistics, Anthropology Department, National Museum, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
Dr Altaci Rubim, Member of Associação dos Índios Kokamas Residente no Município de Manaus (AKIM) (Brazil)
Mr Roy Boney, Cherokee Language Film and Media Producer (USA)
Mr Serge Gladkoff, CEO, Head of R&D, Logrus Global, MQM Council (USA)
Dr Tariq Khan, Professor, National Translation Mission, Central Institute of Indian Languages (India)
Ms Patry Muñoz Andrés, Director of Translation & Localization, Linguava (Spain, Argentina)
Mr Juan Cruz Vera Ocampo, Localization Project Manager, Linguava (Spain)
Mr Abdulaziz Aldhohayan, Interpreter Trainer, Faculty of Translations, Kent State University (Saudi Arabia)
Mr Valts Ernštreits, Director of the University of Latvia Livonian Institute, Co-chair of Ad-Hoc group on Digital Equality and Domains
Ms Sharong Yang, Innovation Programs & Partnerships, Meta Platforms (USA)
Mr Kevin Chan, Global Policy Campaigns Strategy Director, Meta Platforms (USA)
Mr Dev Kumar, Chairperson, Indigenous Television (Nepal)
Mr Tex Texin, Globalization Architect, Board of Advisors, Translation Commons (USA)