NAATI - A connected community without language barriers

Q: A short introduction about yourself?
A: My name is Perry Zamek. I was born in Melbourne in 1958. I settled in Israel in 1987, although I still have family in Australia whom I visit regularly.
Q: How long have you been a translator?

I grew up in country NSW being the only person in my family with hearing. My grandfather was Deaf, as well as both my parents and my brother. In the Deaf world I am what is known as an ‘only hearing CODA’ (child of Deaf adults).
Deafness was my norm, I thought it was strange that other people used spoken languages and did not communicate using their hands and facial expression....

For me, language access has always been important. I had a Deaf cousin, my family finger spelled and used basic signs, and I had a passion for inclusion.
At the age of 4, after watching the Miracle Worker, a movie about the early life of Helen Keller, I apparently announced to my mother that I was going to be an interpreter “when I grew up”. Considering I also wanted to be a professional mountain climber...

Contributed by Dr Miranda Lai, RMIT University
Atsuko Taniguchi
4 May 2022 is an extremely sad day for RMIT University’s Translating and Interpreting family. We lost a much-loved colleague Atsuko Taniguchi to cancer, which she had fought bravely for four years. It is also an immeasurable loss for the T&I vocational...