Let me briefly introduce myself:  I am one of the founding members of IATIS, and I have served on the Executive Council from its inception. Following my studies in Germany and Canada, I have been involved in research and teaching in the fields of translation studies, intercultural communication, politeness and globalized discourse for the past forty years.  My two abiding concerns have been to  bridge the gap between linguistic and cultural studies from a broadly interdisciplinary stance, and to place our discipline on a sound and recognized research basis.

Together with our two Vice-Presidents, Mona Baker and Sebnem Susam-Sarajeva, and other members of the Executive Council, I will work hard over the next four years to ensure that IATIS continues to act as a truly international organization that represents all its members and the discipline at large. Since its inception, as many of you will know, IATIS has been committed to narrowing the divide between members from different parts of the world through instituting policies of differential membership fees, strategic placing of conference venues, ensuring the distribution and availability of both printed and on-line versions of the IATIS yearbooks, and extending membership across all countries and regions. Over the next four years, I hope to work with you to initiate other measures to alleviate difficulties in accessing mainstream research results. These might include organizing workshops and symposia in areas of the world where such events are not normally held.

Over the past six years of its existence IATIS has certainly fulfilled its objective of providing a meeting point for scholars of translation and interpreting across the world. IATIS has also begun to establish ways of offering all translation scholars easier access to resources and knowledge which those in well-endowed contexts are already taking for granted. In our highly successful and truly international conferences in Seoul, Cape Town and Melbourne we witnessed a steady increase in membership, and today IATIS has established itself as an open, vibrant and committed global association. We can be proud to say that IATIS continues to deliver on its promise of providing a link between new and established members in the field, through initiatives such as New Voices in Translation Studies.

As IATIS continues to develop and widen its membership base, I am confident that we will all work hard to maintain the spirit of solidarity that has made it such an energetic and effective association.

Sincerely,

Juliane House