The Houston Interpreters & Translators Association (HITA) was established in 1993 to create a forum for individuals, businesses, and institutions interested in sharing their experiences, to promote the interests of translators and interpreters in Houston, Texas and surrounding areas, and to serve in cooperation with other regional and national organizations in the recognition of translation and interpreting as professions.
HITA has over 200 members, including translators, interpreters (including interpreters for the Deaf), translation agencies, and institutional members. It offers several programs and services, including seminars and workshops on topics of general interest to the professions.
HITA is a member of the Greater Houston Partnership and an affiliate of the American Translators Association.
The first attempt to create a translator group in Houston was born at the 1980 ATA Conference in San Francisco. Two Houston translators, Joyce Baghdadi and Lupita Pinter, attended the conference and had many eye-opening experiences, among which was the discovery of many “local” groups and a world of extremely interesting people. By the time they returned home, they were ready to form a local group in the Houston area.
The two set a date for a “networking” party, and called all the translators they knew, and asked them to call all the translators they knew, and so on, and so on. This, of course, included interpreters, too, just as ATA does.
That first get-together was held at Pinter’s home. Over 50 people came to meet, chat, and exchange business cards and contact information. Baghdadi and Pinter announced their intention to form a group to keep in touch and form professional relationships. The response was very enthusiastic, and a guest list was kept to arrange for future contacts.
Besides Pinter and Baghdadi, Jaime Bitran, Eta Trabing and Terry McElhaney were part of the “core group” who named the association (Houston Professional Translators Forum), sent out announcements of meetings, wrote bylaws (modeled on ATA’s), issued membership cards, collected dues, published a newsletter and a directory, arranged for meeting locations and activities, and touched base with other groups.
HPTF meetings were held at available locations, such as members’ homes, Italian restaurants, The Astrohall, and the old HL&P building. Every meeting included a workshop, modeled on some of the seminars that had been seen at ATA Conferences – panel discussions, court interpreting tips and protocol, false friends, specific subjects, book sales. ATA President Benjamin Teague came to Houston from Atlanta to provide information about ATA, and Dallas ATA Chapter President Javier Escobar addressed the group on becoming an ATA Chapter. It’s believed that at one time the Houston Professional Translators Forum had more members than any local group in the country. Because of its size, the group was widely recognized at the 1981 ATA Conference in Dallas. The Forum also hosted several ATA exam sessions.
As often happens with such groups, HPTF was not long-lived – just a few years, but it did awaken many local professionals to the existence of a vast world beyond their formerly insular lives – maintaining contact with other translators, joining ATA and becoming certified professionals, and attending national conferences and regional events.