Where nothing is true, but people believe, anyway
Here’s a terrifying picture: some companies report that more than 90% of the CVs received are fake, and nearly one in four admit having sent jobs to fraudulent “translators” presenting themselves with stolen credentials. And if you are a language professional, you have probably received e-mail from scammers intending to use your name and qualifications, along with promises of lots of work. Or you have unknowingly requested work from someone who was not who you thought they were or given work to an imposter. In this session I will show the most common (and not so common) practices used by scammers and present a checklist to help spot fake CVs and translator impersonators.
Mechanical Engineer and Technical Translator. Discharged several duties in engineering, consulting and construction companies in Portugal, Israel, Denmark, United States, Bermuda, Angola, and Mozambique. Member of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM International). Independent translator since 1989. Certified Translator (CT) by the ATA (English-Portuguese) since 1993. ATA Accreditation Exams Grader from 1994 until 2001. Head of the IAPTI Portugal Chapter. Vice-chair of the Organizing Committee of contrapor2006 – 1st Portuguese Translation Conference, Scientific Advisor and speaker at the 2007, 2009 and 2010 TRADULÍNGUAS Translation Conferences (Lisbon, Portugal). Invited speaker at several translators meetings in Portugal, United States (ATA, and Colorado Translators Association), United Kingdom (ITI 14th Annual Conference), Israel (ITA 2015 Conference), Czech Republic, Argentina, and Brazil. Keynote Speaker at the 3rd ABRATES International Translation and Interpreting Conference (2010, Porto Alegre, Brazil) and at the Powell River International Translators Conference (2013, Powell River, BC, Canada). Trainer of Mechanical Engineering Translation and Professional Development for Translators. Author of several articles and glossaries related to technical translation and mechanical engineering. João’s professional website is at www.jrdias.com and tweets about everything technically translated at @PORTranslation.