05 Nov It’s Always a Good Day to Make New Friends
It’s Always a Good Day to Make New Friends By: The NAJIT Observer Meet NAJIT’s new Publishing Coordinator and Editor-In-Chief, Julli Jaramillo. Her C.V. will tell you that she graduated from New York University with a Master’s in Translation, specializing in Spanish-to-English and legal translation....
11 Sep A Balancing Act
Posted at 10:03h
in Hilda Zavala-Shymanik, Interpreters, New Ideas, Odds & Ends, Recent Posts, Self care
21 Comments
Over a year ago, I landed a great gig. I work four days a week under an open-ended long-term contract and have been happy there. However, the job is unexciting and repetitive. My colleagues are great, the judges treat me well and are accommodating when...
27 Aug Brain Marathon Training
Posted at 07:22h
in Athena Matilsky, Interpreters, Odds & Ends, Personal Growth, Recent Posts, Self care
4 Comments
Dear Readers, Happy September! I’ll never understand how, but time just keeps whizzing by. I hope that you have all enjoyed your summer. I spent mine in the trenches of remote interpreting (and attending Co>Lab, a peer study group for interpreting nerds!) but that will...
11 Mar The Assignment of My Dreams
Posted at 08:12h
in Athena Matilsky, Community, Community Interpreting, Conference Interpreting, Interpreting, New Ideas, Recent Posts, Volunteer
20 Comments
Well, folks, I did it! I got my dream assignment. Perhaps surprisingly, it wasn’t for the United Nations, or for any other important governmental (or non-governmental) entity you may have heard of. What was it, you ask? Well, can you guess? What would your dream...
27 Nov A Judge’s Discretion
Posted at 11:36h
in Advocacy, Athena Matilsky, Attorney Education, Business Practices, Court Interpreting, Ethics, Interpreters, Leadership, Professional Practices, Recent Posts
16 Comments
Early on in my interpreting career, I learned an important lesson: the Judge is the king or queen of the courtroom. What they say goes. This means that as interpreters, we should address the judge when we need anything. And we do need things, on...
29 Aug An Ode to Failure
Posted at 15:07h
in Athena Matilsky, Interpreters, Leadership, Mentoring, Personal Growth, Professional Development, Recent Posts, Self care
10 Comments
“Tell me about your mistakes,” Sara Blakely’s father used to ask every night while she and the rest of their family ate dinner. She and her siblings would go around the table, comparing notes, discussing when they had messed up. “Congratulations,” her father would tell...
02 May The Art of Being Good Enough
This past March, I had the privilege of hosting a community coffee hour for one of my biggest heroes. Our guest of honor was Holly Mikkelson, who, among other notable accomplishments, created the ACEBO self-study interpreting materials. She never ceased to amaze me during our...
10 Apr NAJIT 44th Annual Conference (2023)
Posted at 15:47h
in Community, Court Interpreting, Hilda Zavala-Shymanik, Interpreters, Language Associations, NAJIT Conference, Professional Development
2 Comments
Coming Full Circle This is one of the last blogs I will write while serving as NAJIT’s Vice-Chair, so I want to write about something that I am passionate about and that is extremely relevant at a time when we are working towards better compensation...