Top-left: Maria Vilardo;
top-right: Sabrina Mosquera;
bottom-left: Maya Smundak;
bottom-right: Jessie Doherty
In response to the growing demands of the ICANN community, we have embarked on a plan to restructure the Language Services department, which includes the addition of four language experts and head interpreters.
Maria Vilardo (French), Jessie Doherty (Chinese), Sabrina Mosquera (Spanish) and Maya Smundak (Russian) have joined ICANN Staff under the supervision of Christina Rodriguez, Manager, Language Services Department.
All four of these language experts have been affiliated with ICANN for years and are extremely proficient in Internet Governance issues and its associated jargon.
Their responsibilities include: developing terminology standards, performing review validation cycles of third party translator vendors, creating, maintaining and distributing glossaries in their designated languages and leading the interpreters team as Head Interpreters. They will also be working closely with ICANN community members to provide language support in each of their corresponding native languages.
The ICANN community has long expressed the need for quality interpretation and language services. As ICANN linguists, we take the responsibility of conveying the messages in the right way very seriously. We strive to deliver using the same terminology people use in their local environment, community, and industry. This is the secret ingredient of ICANN, making sure that people from all over the world have the tools they need to be able to engage, fully understand, and participate. Language is the key to understanding cultures and by enhancing our language services we will be able to open the door to a truly global organizational culture.
Our Language Experts are already hard at work to ensure quality control over all translated products delivered by ICANN and our contracted parties. One of the first project they embarked on aims at updating the translation of the ICANN glossary terms and acronyms. Our team is working hand in hand with members of the community, and they will unveil the reviewed glossary during an open public session at ICANN 48 in Buenos Aires.
Our goal is to help inform people from as many different regions, cultures, and perspectives as possible, so they can successfully participate in our process. This is a key principle to allow the bottom-up multistakeholder model that defines us to thrive, and the reason why language services are crucial for our organization.
Nora Abusitta
VP, Public Responsibility Programs