João Roque Dias, CT

So, let’s look! Because, if we don’t, we don’t know where we are, or where we’re going.

While the whole world was having a big old party, a few outsiders and weirdos saw what no one else could. Not me. I’m not a weirdo, I’m pretty fucking cool. These outsiders saw the giant lie at the heart of the economy, and they saw it by doing something the rest of the suckers never thought to do: They looked.

 — The Big Short (film), based on the book by Michael Lewis.

I know, you know, things happen so very fast these days. And in our profession, things even seem to fly: short deadlines and short fees are, some tells us, the new future. And yet, these universal truths may just be a giant lie and not so true after all. All we have to do is to find why they are presented to us as “universal” and “inescapable”. And, for that (see above), we have to act as outsiders in our own profession and do something the rest of us (suckers?), never thought to do: look! In this presentation, in which we’ll all have plenty of time to exchange our views, I’ll invite you to look, by asking some questions, but without no answers, like bidding for jobs online? Seriously? We need 230 words within 2 hours, or 5 “linguists” to share the job. Really? Or why is money pouring in into the translation market? Isn’t there anything more profitable? So, let’s look, then!

BIOGRAPHY

Mechanical Engineer and Technical Translator. Undertook various duties in engineering, consulting and construction companies in Portugal, Israel, Denmark, United States, Bermuda, Angola, Mozambique and Dubai. Member of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM International). Independent translator since 1988 and Certified Translator (CT) by the ATA (English-Portuguese), since 1993. ATA Accreditation Exams Grader from 1994 until 2001. Member of the International Association of Professional Translators and Interpreters (IAPTI). Invited speaker at several translator conferences in Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Israel, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom and the United States. Author of several articles and glossaries related to technical translation and Mechanical Engineering. My professional website is at www.jrdias.com and I tweet about everything technically translated at @PORTranslation.