| Year | Events |
| 1984 | Patrick Delhaye and Bill Aldridge started to discuss forming a professional body of translators and interpreters. 11 May: First recorded meeting held in Auckland (Bill Aldridge, Patrick Delhaye, lka' Tameifuna) September: First meeting of the unofficial NZSTI Council in Auckland. December: First meeting of the Wellington branch |
| 1985 | Letter sent to the International Federation of Translators (FIT) outlining the intention to form a representative professional body. |
| 1986 | 24 August: Provisional constitution approved. 24 October: NZSTI became an incorporated society. The Wellington branch welcomed its first guest speaker, Mr Wiremu Parker, with a presentation on the history of Te Reo translation and interpreting. |
| 1987 | February: The NZSTI Council, to be based in Wellington, was established at the AGM. July: NZSTI was accepted as an Ordinary Member Affiliated with FIT. September: Creation of the Australian Institute of Interpreters and Translators (AUSIT), a sister organisation to NZSTI. Regular branch meetings started in Auckland and Wellington. Māori Language Act 1987: Māori was recognised as an official language and the Māori Language Commission was established. |
| 1988 | First NZSTI Conference was held in New Plymouth. A draft code of ethics, based on overseas models, was presented at the conference for consideration. A discussion also took place on using the NAATI exam system as an accreditation standard for NZSTI membership. NZSTI had 30 provisional members. |
| 1989 | NZSTI Conference was held in Rotorua. NZSTI adopted its first code of ethics. |
| 1990 | NZSTI Conference was held in Havelock North. NAATI 3 certification was adopted as the minimum qualification for NZSTI membership. |
| 1991 | The first issue of NZSTI’s newsletter, Word for Word, was published. |
| 1992 | 12 February: NZSTI’s constitution was finally ratified. |
| 1993 | 20 October: NZSTI was struck off the register of incorporated societies due to inactivity. |
| 1994 | 18 August: NZSTI was reregistered as an incorporated society. |
| 1995 | The Sign Language Interpreters Association of New Zealand (SLIANZ) was formed. |
| 1996 | NZSTI Conference was held in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington. NZSTI introduced an ‘Associate’ category of membership. Grant Waller designed the ‘talking heads’ logo for NZSTI, which was adopted at the AGM. An NZSTI delegation attended the FIT Congress in Melbourne (Dr Sabine Fenton, Timoti Karetu and Patrick King). |
| 1997 | NZSTI Conference was held in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. NZSTI was gifted its Māori name by Timoti Karetu: Te Rōpū Kaiwhakamāori ā-waha, ā-tuhi o Aotearoa. NZSTI took a major step as a professional body and established a PO Box address in Newmarket, Auckland (NZSTI did not have a physical office until 2021). |
| 1998 | No conference held (postponed to 1999). NZSTI announced its affiliation with SLIANZ. First NZSTI scholarships awarded. Membership numbers rose above 100. First membership cards issued for translators. The Canterbury branch was formally established. |
| 1999 | NZSTI Conference was held in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington. Grant Waller stepped down as Word for Word editor. |
| 2000 | NZSTI Conference was held in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. The NZSTI homepage was updated on Geocities. Membership reached 126 members. University of Auckland launched a new graduate diploma in translation studies. New issue of Word for Word published after a break of 18 months. |
| 2001 | NZSTI Conference was held in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington. After 7 years in the role, Dr Sabine Fenton stepped down as NZSTI President. NZSTI had 173 members. Dr Sabine Fenton and Patrick Delhaye were made the first two Fellows of NZSTI. The NZSTI Council met by ‘speakerphone’ for the first time in November. University of Auckland launched its Masters in Translation. |
| 2002 | NZSTI Conference was held in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. The first nzsti.org website was launched. NZSTI had 171 members at the start of the year, growing to 200 later in 2002. Membership stamps were made available to Full Members (translation). The first online member directory was published in November. |
| 2003 | Joint NZSTI and SLIANZ Conference was held in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington. Membership grew from 216 at the start of the year to nearly 300. A memorandum of understanding was drawn up with Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori/Māori Language Commission and signed on 1 June. |
| 2004 | NZSTI Conference was held in Ōtautahi Christchurch for the first time. A professional indemnity policy for members was negotiated with Lumley insurance brokers.
A new branch funding model was agreed and branch bylaws were adopted.
NZSTI ran its first NAATI test preparation course.
This year’s AGM saw discussion on moving to three tiers of membership, with associate to be replaced with affiliate and the introduction of an observer category. |
| 2005 | NZSTI Conference was held in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Three membership categories were adopted at AGM (Member, Affiliate, Observer). The adoption of Māori as a working language of NZSTI was discussed at the conference. Guidelines for translation of official documents were agreed with official bodies and adopted at the AGM. |
| 2006 | NZSTI Conference was held in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington. Wendy Dawson started in post as NZSTI’s first paid administrator. NZSTI had around 400 members. The first ever national member survey was conducted. The survey was completed by 135 people, 20% of whom were non-members. The largest language combinations were ENG-CHI, GER-ENG and FRE-ENG for translators and CHI, FRE and RUS for interpreters. |
| 2007 | NZSTI Conference was held in Ōtautahi Christchurch. |
| 2008 | NZSTI Conference was held in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. New Zealand Centre for Literary Translation was opened by Prime Minister Helen Clark in March. |
| 2009 | NZSTI Conference was held in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington. Work started on updating the NZSTI website, which included a forum for the first time. |
| 2010 | NZSTI Conference was held in Ōtautahi Christchurch. The second version of nzsti.org was launched in February. NZSTI signed a memorandum of understanding with AUSIT in November. Patrick King was made a Fellow of NZSTI. |
| 2011 | NZSTI Conference was held in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. NZSTI celebrated its 25th anniversary. Work started on revising the Code of Ethics to be in line with the AUSIT version. Membership was approaching 500. |
| 2012 | NZSTI Conference was held in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington. February: Agreement was reached with the Ministry of Justice that court interpreters must be Full Members or Affiliates of NZSTI. The NZSTI book project was launched. June: Membership numbers exceeded 500. July: The new Code of Ethics was adopted at the AGM NZSTI Fellow Dr Sabine Fenton was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to translation and interpreting. |
| 2013 | NZSTI Conference was held in Tauranga, organised by the Canterbury Branch. Membership reached 580 over the course of the year. |
| 2014 | NZSTI Conference was held in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. NZSTI launched a new ID card at the AGM, extending availability to interpreters and Affiliates. Hannah Brodsky was made a Fellow of NZSTI. NZSTI past-president Henry Liu was elected President of FIT at the annual FIT Congress in Berlin. |
| 2015 | NZSTI Conference was held in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington. Membership numbers rose to over 600. NZSTI introduced new rules for using translator stamps, membership cards and the NZSTI logo. Sibylle Ferner was made a Fellow of NZSTI. |
| 2016 | NZSTI Conference was held in Ōtautahi Christchurch. NZSTI celebrated its 30th anniversary. The Treaty Times 30 project was set up by the Wellington Branch. Translators were enlisted to translate Te Tiriti o Waitangi into 30 of the languages spoken in Aotearoa New Zealand. The final translations were compiled into a book and published in print, as a PDF, and as a video of the Māori version in New Zealand Sign Language. The last issue of Word for Word appeared in December. |
| 2017 | NZSTI Conference was held in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Henry Liu was made a Fellow of NZSTI. |
| 2018 | NZSTI Conference was held in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington. NZSTI Insignia for Full Members and Affiliates were created and introduced at the AGM, and the rules around using them were added to the constitution. NZSTI member Isabelle Poff-Pencole was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to translation and interpreting. |
| 2019 | NZSTI Conference was held in Ōtautahi Christchurch. Isabelle Poff-Pencole was made a Fellow of NZSTI. |
| 2020 | NZSTI Conference cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic. The third version of nzsti.org went live, including automated billing for the first time. NZSTI held its first-ever online AGM. Peter Tuffley and Ian Cormack were made Fellows of NZSTI. |
| 2021 | NZSTI's annual conference was held online for the first time, run by the Auckland branch. Administrator Wendy Dawson retired after more than 15 years in the role. Business Professional Services Ltd (BPS) were engaged to provide virtual office and secretariat support and accounting services. NZSTI signed a contract with MBIE to support interpreters sitting a NAATI test as part of the Language Assistance Services project. |
| 2022 | NZSTI Conference was held online (organised by the Wellington Branch). |
| 2023 | NZSTI Conference held in Ōtautahi Christchurch. NZSTI engages its first operational management contractor in order to deliver reliable services to its members and relieve pressure on its volunteers. |
| 2024 | NZSTI Conference was held in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. A second operational management contractor was engaged to manage events and communications. NZSTI ran its first national survey of rates and working conditions for translators and interpreters in Aotearoa New Zealand, gathering responses between July and September, with the report released in early 2025. |
| 2025 | NZSTI Conference was held in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington. NZSTI signed a contract with Te Tari Mātāwaka Ministry for Ethnic Communities (MEC), to continue its work to support the professionalisation of the interpreter workforce in Aotearoa New Zealand. The NZSTI Constitution was overhauled to be compliant with the Incorporated Societies Act 2022 and NZSTI reregistered as an incorporated society under the new Act. Full Member and Affiliate membership category names were changed to Accredited Practitioner and Practitioner, respectively, and a new category was introduced: Provisional Practitioner. |
| 2026 | NZSTI celebrated its 40th anniversary. |