I love the idea of singing as a warm up, specially if no one else will be listening.

You mention developing guidelines. Who is going to do that? WE the professionals, together with our professional associations, have to do that. ASTM, AIIC, NAJIT, ATA have been working hard on that front, but if the practicing individuals to not educate themselves with regard to standards, guidelines, provisions, etc. what good is their work?

This is a very good theme for a future blog article )

You said: “However, they still need to learn what can and what cannot be expected in terms of interpreter performance.” I think that this can also be something interpreters can use some guidance as well. I’ve been in situations many times where it seems like I have to comply with whatever the clerk or judge thinks I can do with technology. Luckily, after many years in the business, I feel like I have a voice to step in and say, “Wait a second…” and exercise my right to be the human, and the professional, in the situation.

Perhaps more guidelines can be developed, much like a subsection of an ethics/standards document on this topic. Again, the interpreters who deal with any remote technology could stand to have something to guide them, and even back them, in these situations.

As always, nice work!

One thing we did was sit around the office and dust off an old consecutive exercises book and kinda quizzed each other. It was a bit intimidating to try to demonstrate our note-taking skills and consecutive abilities in front of very talented colleagues, especially because the exercises were a bit complex, but it was a great exercise. We are all more aware of our strengths and weaknesses, and there is a renewed commitment to continually polish our skills.

Thanks for the post. It was really great!

I do always try to avoid straining my voice when I’m going to be doing a lot of long hearings or trials, so there’s definitely a lot to be said for how we get our voices warmed up.

A colleague of mine strained her voice over the weekend and was miserable in court for the first few days of the week. Laryngitis is not easy to get over, that much I know.

Thanks!