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Award for excellence in translating

5 December 2007

Marc Orlando from the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics has won an award for excellence in translating.

Marc Orlando, from the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, is the recipient of the Australian Institute of Interpreters and Translators national award for 'Excellence in Translating'.

The award recognises outstanding performance in translating and is open to all practitioners in the government and private sector across Australia.

Mr Orlando received the award for his French translation of War Zone - A Reporter's Story, an 11,000-word magazine feature article on the war in Iraq by New Zealand journalist Jon Stephenson.

The original article, which needed to be translated into French in order to compete in the Bayeux International Prize for War Correspondents, won the prestigious journalism prize in 2006.

"I was really overjoyed one year ago when I learnt Jon won the Bayeux Prize because the job he did as an independent, not embedded, war correspondent is simply extraordinary," Mr Orlando said.

"And I felt privileged to have, in a way, participated to the circulation of a such a report; such a comprehensive snapshot of the complex situation in today's Iraq.

"I considered I had really succeeded in my job as a translator; a go-between trying to bridge different worlds and cultures; someone trying to be the voice of someone else in another country."

Mr Orlando said he felt "really honoured" to receive the award.

"Translators and interpreters work most of the time in the shadow, and this award definitely contributes to bring some recognition to the profession. At a personal level, it gives me more momentum and confidence for future assignments."