On joining AIIC
After the talk given by Barbara Bethäusser-Conte, I take a moment to reflect on the pros and cons of joining the world's biggest association of conference interpreters, as the road to membership can look rather disheartening for someone starting out.
Barbara teaches interpreting at Leeds University and also works as a freelancer, both on the private market in London and at several institutions. She very kindly accepted the invitation of the university to give a talk about the International Association of Conference Interpreters, their role as a non-profit organisation and why conference interpreters should join.
AIIC was founded in 1953 and has been promoting quality and ethics for the profession all over the world. Much progress has been made thanks to the lobbying pursued by the association’s representatives, as acceptable working conditions and the establishment of standard practices when it comes to pricing and payments. Still, there is a dire need for the public to be aware of what conference interpreters are and what they do, not least to be able to explain why high-quality professional services deserve decent pay – AIIC can help with this.
If you’re thinking of joining AIIC offers you many different levels of membership – pre-candidate, candidate, member and associate – depending on your level of experience, just like many professional organisations. This information can be found on their website www.aiic.net. Barbara has been quite straightforward on this: joining AIIC is not a piece of cake and you can’t do it in a heartbeat. AIIC represents an international network of experienced conference interpreters, and by definition, someone with experience cannot be a newly graduated interpreting student. There is a quite rigid and long sponsorship system in place, so that the candidates are internally vetted by other experienced interpreters that can then vouch for them. This guarantees that all members work in a certain way when in the booth, and comply with the same code of ethics and professional standards.
Even though it seems, and probably is, a long and hard marathon, there are many advantages for AIIC’s members. Firstly, you are bound by the code of ethics and by AIIC’s professional standards, which act as a guarantee for the client that is contracting you. A very relevant and important issue that Barbara underlined is confidentiality, especially in today’s digital world: unfortunately, it has happened that interpreters have checked into hotels on social media creating massive security concerns. Being an AIIC member guarantees to your client that such things will never happen. It also means being present in “the book”, aka the annual directory that features all members from all over the world, which can be viewed by clients but also colleagues looking for someone to recommend. The association runs a solidarity fund (they recently helped interpreters in Afghanistan and Iraq who were persecuted), training opportunities and several job boards.
AIIC is often considered as a guarantee of quality, although, as the speaker pointed out, quality as such can sometimes be “an elusive concept.” However, AIIC Members generally strive for a high performance level in conference interpreting.
I personally will be completing my pre-candidature soon as I believe that the advantages of being an AIIC member far outweigh the disadvantages and I am looking forward to working towards my 150 days of conference work.
If you require more information about how to join AIIC, then please contact the Region’s Vega Member (who is advising budding colleagues) of the AIIC Region UK and Ireland.
