Alumni Archives - University of Massachusetts Boston Translation Program

We’re pleased to announce that our program graduate Marko De La Garza will be presenting at the 2023 Observatorio Instituto Cervantes Symposium on June 2nd. His presentation is titled “How AI Web Development and Translation Programs Are Impacting the Global Spanish Community and the Spanish Language” (Zoom).

To attend:

RSVP: https://bit.ly/RSVP-Observatorio
or email: info-observatory@fas.harvard.edu

The Cervantes Institute at Harvard University organizes its eighth annual symposium, with the general theme “Spanish in/for Science and Technology,” and an attractive program including two keynote lectures by prestigious researchers: Roger Fu (John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Natural Sciences at Harvard University) and Pilar Manchón (Senior Director of Engineering, AI Research Strategy, at Google Research). The conference will also feature a range of experts from the fields of Spanish language and Hispanic cultures, as well as from the sciences, who will share unpublished papers covering a variety of topics related to the general theme chosen this year.

June 1st Keynote Lecture (1pm, ET): “Las estrellas a través de las araucarias: La etnoastronomía mapuche-pewenche” by Roger Fu (Harvard University)
June 2nd Keynote Lectutre (1pm, ET): “La importancia de la lengua española en la IA Generativa” by Pilar Manchón (Google Research)

See attached program for further details: simposio_programa_2023_-_vf_2

https://cervantesobservatorio.fas.harvard.edu/en/activities/other/2023-observatorio-instituto-cervantes-symposium

This summer, the Translation Certificate Program’s graduate Héctor del Valle (‘21) got hired as the District Translator for the Seminole County Public Schools.

Before joining the program, Héctor was a Spanish High School Teacher for 22 years in New York City. He holds a BA in Secondary Education from the University of Puerto Rico, and a Master’s Degree in Bilingual Special Education from Fordham University in NYC.

At the end of the program, Héctor volunteered as a reviewer of one of the 2021 New England Translators Association Conference presentations titled “From Snippets to Corpora – Looking up the Senses of a Word’s Meaning” by Alejandra Patricia Karamanian. His review was published in the Summer 2021 issue of the NETA News. He received a special recognition from the Conference Committee for his contribution to the 2021 NETA Conference.

After successfully completing two semesters of the program, Héctor passed the UMass Boston Translation Certificate Exam, which is designed to determine whether a candidate is able to produce a translation that is professionally usable within the framework provided by the Translation Instructions.

We were happy to receive the news about Héctor’s becoming the District Translator for the Seminole County Public Schools, knowing that he will become a true asset in this education setting.

Grateful Notes from Héctor:

“It is an honor to let others know how this excellent and well-organized program has given me the tools, the motivation, and the relevant methods and techniques to empower me with the ability to become an efficient translator.

While I was taking the classes, my goal was to implement my translation knowledge in the education field. I was constantly searching for positions from various agencies on a weekly basis. Finally, the position I hold today was there on the SCPS website. It was like a dream come true, but it was real. Today, I am translating documents and students transcripts from countries like Cuba, Honduras, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, México, and even from Turkey.

Every time, at the end of the day, I thank the Almighty and the UMB Translation Program Faculty.”

Program Graduate Marko De La Garza ’20 at the 2023 Observatorio Instituto Cervantes Symposium

Program Graduate Gets Hired as the District Translator for the Seminole County Public Schools

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