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The Maltese Translation Department
 Bil-Malti
Incredible but true: requests for translations from or into Maltese were few and far between for us at ITA until a couple of years ago, when Malta shifted to a higher gear to ready itself in time for EU accession in May 2004. Gradually, the trickle of work consisting mainly of birth certificates and the odd contract, swelled to such proportions that we felt the need to set up a unit within the company that would exclusively manage these requests. That’s how the Maltese Translation Department came into being.
As can be expected, the first difficulty we encountered was the lack of trained Maltese translators, for Malta has never had a strong tradition of translation. In the circumstances, and given the pressing need for more professionals to handle the work, we had no choice but to train people ourselves. After a very thorough selection process, based on very clear and stringent criteria, we invited a group of graduates to attend an intensive in-house training course in translation skills. These individuals had proved their potential after having demonstrated a marked aptitude in the test they took. The course focused mainly on raising participants’ awareness of the basic elements that constitute a good translation. Apart from sessions on translation theory and practice, the course also included sessions run by foreign and local experts in their respective fields namely Maltese orthography, the European Institutions, the nature of legal discourse, quality standards expected by the Institutions and a seminar on the use of translation memory tools.
Today, these people constitute ITA’s complement of Maltese in-house translators. In May 2004, ITA was awarded two translation contracts: an EU Framework contract that it won independently and a DG Enterprise contract for technical translations through a Brussels-based partner. ITA also provides translations into Maltese for numerous foreign translation companies.
Quality is the golden word at ITA and we try our best not to leave anything to chance and to apply the same strict quality assurance criteria as we do for other language pairs. Whenever possible, we try to match our translators’ profiles with the job. In-depth terminology and documentary research is carried out before the job actually reaches our translators and once the translation is completed, it is submitted for thorough revision and proofreading before it is returned to the client.
A few months have elapsed since we embarked on this journey, there is still much to be done and learned but the experience we are all gaining is invaluable. Moreover, we are extremely proud to see Maltese raised to the status of an EU official language and intend to strive to do everything in our power to ensure that it is second to none.
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