Marian S. Greenfield Financial Translation Presentation Award

Liming Pals is the recipient of the 2021 Marian S. Greenfield Financial Translation Presentation Award. The award is given by the American Foundation for Translation and Interpretation (AFTI) to recognize an outstanding presenter of a financial translation session during ATA’s Annual Conference. 

Liming presented an intermediate session (International Mergers and Acquisitions and Common Translation Pitfalls) at ATA’s 62nd Annual Conference in Minnesota. She discussed the important role translators and interpreters play in the success of cross-border and multinational mergers and acquisitions. These transactions rely on effective understanding and communication across all parties, no matter the country or spoken language of the companies involved. As a legal and financial translator, Pals provided attendees with an overview of the general legal framework for international mergers and acquisitions before discussing the various agreements involved. She used some translation pitfalls as examples to explain key terminology. 

Liming Pals is an ATA-certified English<>Chinese translator with over 12 years of experience in legal and financial translations. She has a master’s degree in international law from China’s Northwest University of Political Science and Law. She graduated from Iowa State University with a dual degree (Master of Finance and MBA) in December 2021. She has worked on projects for global financial institutions and international law firms and has extensive experience translating documents related to mergers and acquisitions. 

Judith Lyons and Mary Lou Bradley are the recipients of the 2017 Marian S. Greenfield Financial Translation Presentation Award. The American Foundation for Translation and Interpretation (AFTI) offers this prize to recognize an outstanding presenter of a financial translation session during ATA’s Annual Conference. 

Judith and Mary Lou presented an advanced session (Financial Technology—Fintech) at the 2017 ATA Annual Conference in Washington, DC. They discussed how financial technology (or Fintech) is a rapidly growing disruptive force in the financial sector. New technology, like blockchain (the protocol underlying Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies), is expected to create long-term systemic changes to the global financial system. Keeping abreast of developments in Fintech and its potential impact on financial products and services, payment delivery and settlement processes, financial regulation, reporting and compliance, etc., will be important for financial translators, who will need to understand how Fintech is affecting the financial sector. The presentation provided attendees with a broad overview of some existing and potential use cases for Fintech, including an introduction to Fintech terminology. 

Judith has been a freelance (ATA-certified: French>English) translator since 2002, specializing in financial and legal texts. Her clients include multinational banks, investment companies, legal firms, and various direct and agency clients. Prior to translation, she worked for many years in commercial and retail banking in the U.S. and France and in the financial units of multinational corporations. She has a bachelor’s degree in languages and a translation certificate from Georgetown University, as well as a master’s degree in French from New York University. 

Mary Lou is a financial translator (ATA-certified: French>English) with seven years of experience. She has been a freelance translator for the past three years. She has 17 years of commercial banking experience, during which she spent 10 years focusing on the electric power generation sector. She has an MS in translation from New York University. She lived in Paris and Milan from 1997–2014 and now divides her time between western Massachusetts and Paris.

Ralf Lemster is the recipient of the 2013 Marian S. Greenfield Financial Translation Presentation Award. The American Foundation for Translation and Interpretation (AFTI) offer this prize to recognize an outstanding presenter of a financial translation session during ATA’s Annual Conference. Ralf presented two sessions at the 54th Annual ATA conference in San Antonio, Texas. 

In his first presentation, “CMBS, RMBS, and ABS of CDO: Some Insights into the Alphabet Soup,” Ralf examined a number of acronyms and similar concepts commonly used in the context of structured investment products, securitizations, and similar structures. His second presentation, “Credit Derivatives: Key Concepts, Applications, and Terminology,” explored key concepts of credit derivatives, their primary fields of application, and the main technical terms financial translators need to know. 

Ralf is a managing partner of Ralf Lemster Financial Translations GmbH, a specialist financial translation company focusing on complex financial markets texts. Following more than 10 years of investment banking experience with a major German bank, he has been working as a full-time translator since 1997, having passed the German state examination for English that same year. He is a vice president of the German Federal Association of Interpreters and Translators (BDÜ). 

Javier Gil is the recipient of the 2012 Marian S. Greenfield Financial Translation Presentation Award. The American Foundation for Translation and Interpretation offers this $1,000 award to recognize an outstanding presenter of a financial translation session during ATA’s Annual Conference. Javier presented an advanced session entitled “Hot Topics in Financial Translation” at the 53rd ATA Annual Conference in San Diego, California. 

In his presentation, Javier addressed some of the most relevant developments affecting the main financial sectors—from asset management and accounting to banking and insurance—and their implications for the financial translator. Also covered were the terms being introduced as a result of new regulations. 

Javier is a freelance financial translator and external translator at the European Central Bank. He has over 13 years of experience, including serving as the head of the Spanish Translation Service at KPMG Spain. He has a translation degree from the Universidad Europea de Madrid and a master’s degree in management and finance from Bath University (U.K.). He works for private companies in the financial sector and a number of international bodies. He delivers financial translation seminars at universities in the U.K. and Spain on a regular basis. 

Eugenio Virguti, of Naples, Italy, is the inaugural recipient of the Marian S. Greenfield Financial Translation Presentation Award. The American Foundation for Translation and Interpretation offers this $1,000 prize, which recognizes an outstanding presenter who offers a financial translation session at ATA’s Annual Conference. Virguti presented a preconference seminar, “Translating for the Asset Management Industry,” at the 56th ATA Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida. 

Virguti has been a financial/accounting translator and a management advisor for the banking and financial services industries for the past eight years. He provides translation services to accounting standard-setting organizations and to international asset management firms. He also provides consulting services to banks and investment firms on hedging strategies, and has trained financial advisors primarily on asset management and selling skills. Prior to this, he served 15 years in banking as a chief financial officer and a chief risk officer for U.S. and Italian banks. His extensive experience includes serving as a management advisor and trainer for Ganigreg SRL, a consulting firm in Milan, Italy; as a chief financial officer/risk manager for Banca Della Campania; as a financial controller for Citibank Italia; and as a financial analyst for Citicorp/Citibank EMEA Consumer Banking Division in London and Brussels. 

He is an ATA-certified English Italian translator. He was a speaker at ATA’s Financial Translation and Interpreting Conference in New Jersey in 2005.