Educational Conference Schedule: Saturday & Sunday

LEVEL: INTERMEDIATE
LANGUAGE: LANGUAGE NEUTRAL
PRESENTER: ENRIQUE GARCIA

Expert witness testimony can be one of the most challenging tasks for a court interpreter in the simultaneous mode. This is especially true in the field of ballistics and firearm identification. This presentation will dissect the testimony of such experts to reveal a common and prepared format that witnesses follow on the stand. Knowing what is going to be discussed, in what order, and the most commonly used terms during such testimony, the interpreter can be more successful in his/her interpretation. The presenter will rely upon his own personal experience as a staff interpreter who has interpreted during numerous trials where expert testimony was given by members of the Philadelphia Police Department’s Firearm Identification Unit. The presenter will also provide actual transcripts to widen the participant’s knowledge of the boilerplate formatting and delivery of such testimony.

Objectives: Participants will gain a greater understanding of the methodology and format of firearm identification testimony, which can be used to enhance their own vocabulary, preparation, mechanics, and delivery during simultaneous interpretation.

LEVEL: ALL
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
PANELISTS: CARMEN BESTUÉ, VANESSA CAÑETE JURADO, SAMANTHA CAYRON, ELENA GANDÍA GARCÍA, AND ELOÍSA MONTEOLIVA GARCÍA
MODERATOR: PROF. AÍDA MARTÍNEZ-GÓMEZ, SSTI VICE-PRESIDENT

This panel, sponsored by the Society for the Study of Translation and Interpreting (SSTI), aims to foreground the connections between empirical research and the actual practice of legal and judiciary interpreting and translation. It is designed as an opportunity for researchers, professionals, and trainers to reflect jointly upon the present and the future of our discipline.

It will comprise four presentations that cover different aspects of our profession in a variety of geopolitical areas. Profs. Cañete-Jurado and Gandía-García will present the results of a survey-based research project on the application of current codes of professional conduct to interpreting assignments in asylum cases involving unaccompanied minors in the United States. Ms. Monteoliva-García will explore the concept of the ‘stand-by mode of interpreting’ and its implications, including their collaborative potential and their associated risks, for police interviews with Spanish-speaking suspects in Scotland. Prof. Bestué will discuss the usefulness of corpus-based research to identify and classify interpreting problems and strategies/techniques in the context of criminal proceedings conducted in three language pairs (English/French/Romanian-Spanish) in Spanish criminal courts. Prof. Cayron will describe a theoretical model to solve legal translation problems stemming from asymmetries between the different legal systems and will illustrate it with authentic notary public documents from France and Spain.

Objectives: In this session, attendees will become familiar with different research methods and projects aimed at advancing our knowledge of the legal/judiciary translation and interpreting field, reflect about the constraints of current codes of professional conduct when working with unaccompanied minors, reflect on their own use of the ‘stand-by mode of interpreting’ in actual practice and its implications for specific communicative events, become familiar with typical interpreting problems and strategies/techniques common in court proceedings and with tools to identify and classify them, learn about a theoretical model to solve legal translation problems stemming from asymmetries between different legal systems.

LEVEL: INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED
LANGUAGE: LANGUAGE NEUTRAL
PRESENTER: GLORIA RIVERA, Ph.D.

Most people have a general understanding of the basic structure of their bodies. They may know the location of their heart, the size of their liver, and which foot is the left one. But a certified interpreter requires a deeper understanding of anatomical terminology and concepts since they will have to interpret for a Qualified Medical Evaluator (QME), sight-translate a pathology report, or render an expert witness’ testimony in court. In this session, participants will be exposed to basic anatomical terms, levels of organization, and structure of the body (cells and tissues, and the integumentary, skeletal, muscular, nervous, endocrine, cardiovascular, lymphatic/immune, respiratory, digestive, urinary, and reproductive systems), basic functions, and common signs and symptoms of illness.

Objectives: Participants will learn basic anatomical terms, levels of organization, and structure of the body, its basic functions, and common signs and symptoms of illness or disease.

LEVEL: ALL
LANGUAGE: LANGUAGE NEUTRAL
PRESENTER: MARGARET WOLFE-ROBERTS

Participants will be introduced to a highly efficient system of note-taking that allows for the retention of 2-3 times more spoken information than one could write out in complete words. I have developed and refined this system over several years’ time in court and other legal settings. Using it, I personally can interpret 120-150 words of witness testimony at a time with a high degree of accuracy. At the heart of the method is a specially designed concepts-based symbology consisting of about 90 basic elements, many of them common shapes of letters and numbers, such as, for example, the number 7, which represents a bent leg, implying all types of movement. These elements can be combined in logical ways to create a vast arsenal of easy-to-learn symbols capable of covering much of the vocabulary one typically encounters in legal proceedings. Participants will receive copies of a Quick Jots glossary and a variety of worksheets. We will discuss the training of mind and hand for successful use of the system, and have fun giving it a try. We will also learn and practice how to appraise source statements for their essential concepts and discuss how to adapt the system for individual use, how concepts map to language, and why a language-neutral system for note-taking is desirable. Note: Attendees should bring 20 pages of unlined paper for practice.

Objectives: By the end of the session, participants will be well-equipped and on the road to acquiring a note-taking system that has the potential, with practice, to double or triple their retention during consecutive interpreting.

LEVEL: ALL
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
PRESENTER: KELLY VARGUEZ

Many ethical codes for interpreters include a canon on maintenance and improvement of skills. How can interpreters find the time to follow through on this important professional standard with all the commitments and responsibilities of work and private life? Join Kelly Varguez (U.S. Court Certified Interpreter) to explore the ethical issues surrounding skills maintenance and development. In this practical interactive session, you will discover the power of establishing tiny habits; devise ways to weave skills work into your regular day; find free and low-cost tools to help you change your habits, and leave with a renewed desire to set and reach ambitious goals.

Objectives: This session will discuss ethical issues surrounding skills development, evaluate current habits and level of compliance with the skills development canon, identify free and low-cost tools to help build positive skills-improvement habits, and develop a plan for consistent skills-improvement work.

LEVEL: ALL
LANGUAGE: LANGUAGE NEUTRAL
PRESENTER: AGUSTÍN SERVIN DE LA MORA

Many Interpreters may be familiar with “the 4 agreements”, a philosophy championed by renowned author Don Miguel Ruiz.  But did you know that there is a “4 agreements” just for interpreters? Come find out how four simple statements can make a world of difference in your day-to-day interpreting activities. Be more mindful, more careful and more honest with yourself as you journey and grow in the interpreting profession. For interpreters of all levels.

LEVEL: ADVANCED
LANGUAGE: SPANISH
PANELISTS: RAFAEL CARRILLO, LAURA GARCÍA-HEIN, KATTY KAUFFMAN, JANIS PALMA, AND ALÍ SALCEDO
MODERATOR: ERNEST NIÑO-MURCIA

Have you wondered how your colleagues render troublesome federal court terms like guideline range and downward departure? Hear suggested interpretations for these and other terms from a panel of federally-certified interpreters from different regions, with experience interpreting in both a staff and freelance capacity. Discussion will focus on the rationale behind different renditions, including the spectrum of interpreting terms via linguistic calques or researching and finding equivalent terms from the Latin American legal codes.

Please note that this is intended to be an advanced-level session, so it will be assumed that audience members are already familiar with the meaning of legal terms in English.

Objectives: Participants will be able to identify different interpretations of given terms and understand the rationale behind these proposed renderings.

LEVEL: ALL
LANGUAGE: LANGUAGE NEUTRAL
PRESENTER: ATHENA MATILSKY

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results”—Attributed to Albert Einstein. In this workshop, participants will discover new ways to critically evaluate their interpreting output and practical ways to improve, so they don’t do the same thing over and over. Participants will be given the tools to use their study time more effectively. The session will focus specifically on the Consecutive Mode. Participants will be given a multitude of practical exercises and ways to approach different problem areas such as names and numbers, fast-paced speakers and long, complicated utterances. Whether they hope to pass a specific exam or simply improve their on-the-job renditions, participants will come away from the presentation more confident, prepared, and ready to achieve their professional goals. The session is language-neutral and applicable to legal, medical and community interpreters.

Objectives: Participants will learn how to optimize their self-study techniques, learn from mistakes, and improve accuracy and self-confidence. Knowledge learned can be applied to state certification exams, federal certification exams, and medical interpreting exams. These techniques can also be used to strengthen on-the-job interpretation skills.

LEVEL: ALL
LANGUAGE: LANGUAGE NEUTRAL
PRESENTER: JEFF TORRES

This session will familiarize the participant with the structure of criminal street gangs, associated drug organizations, and their present-day involvement in the sale and transportation of illegal narcotics, including current cultural trends, phrases, and terminology. Participants will also learn about the lifestyle, common phrases, hierarchy, pagan idols, and the symbolic/religious customs generally associated with these criminal and “narco” gangs.

Objectives: To familiarize participants with gang-related criminal behavior, gang-related terminology, narcotics-related terminology, and narco/gang-related culture and its effects on witness/suspect/victim testimony in the courtroom.

LEVEL: ALL
LANGUAGE: LANGUAGE NEUTRAL
PRESENTER: SANDRO TOMASI

Legal translation/interpreting is a double operation consisting of both legal and interlingual transfer, with an emphasis on legal transfer, which constitutes the principal operation. An essential step in the translation/interpreting process is ascertaining the legal meaning of the source-language term. Some English common-law terms can be prima facie deceptive and are analogous to the tip of an iceberg in that they only represent part of the picture. Translators/interpreters need to understand the full size, shape and depth of a legal term before even attempting to translate/interpret. This workshop will offer an in-depth view of some of the most commonly mistranslated English common-law terms, providing a legal-semantic picture of what needs to be translated into any language.

Objectives: Interpreters and translators will learn how to go beyond the prima-facie meaning of a legal term by using statutes and treatises to identify the full legal semantics thereof.

LEVEL: ALL
LANGUAGE: LANGUAGE NEUTRAL
PRESENTER: JUDY JENNER

Do you hate Twitter, not understand it, or think it’s a waste of time? Are you still puzzled when someone uses the term “hashtag?” Love it or hate it, Twitter is here to stay and there’s no doubt that this platform has a major impact on business. The presenter, who has more than 11,000 followers on this divisive social media platform, will explain, in clear language, what Twitter is, how it should be used, and what you can expect from using it, from increasing your public profile to interacting with others in the profession. No technical experience is necessary, and participants do not need a Twitter account to benefit from the presentation. The speaker will also cover the importance of safeguarding your online reputation, explain how to use lists and hashtags, address ethics and trolling, and will gladly decipher Twitter lingo for you.

Objectives:  Twitter is a relatively new technology, and the presenter will provide an overview of what Twitter is for, how it works, and how linguists can use it to further their careers and exposure at no cost, beyond the cost of your time.

LEVEL: ALL
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
PRESENTERS: HON. STEVEN K. AUSTIN AND ELIZABETH TAM-HELMUTH

A member of the Language Access Plan Implementation Task Force (Task Force) and a program staff member will provide an update on ongoing efforts to implement the Strategic Plan for Language Access in the California Courts (adopted January 2015). The presentation will cover plan implementation efforts and progress to date, including securing funding for interpreters to provide services in civil cases, and a Video Remote Interpreting (VRI) Pilot Project with spoken language interpreters to evaluate different equipment solutions. The session will highlight various language access products developed by the Task Force and added to the online resource, the Language Access Toolkit. These include a Notice of Free Language Access Services (translated into nine languages); a Request for Interpreter (Civil) INT-300 Form; a Translation Protocol and Translation Action Plan; a Model Complaint Form and Model Procedures; and Web Guidance Materials for Courts to ensure that LEP court users can easily locate relevant and accessible materials on court websites. The session will also provide an opportunity for participants to ask questions and make comments about ongoing plan implementation and monitoring.

LEVEL: ALL
LANGUAGE: LANGUAGE NEUTRAL
PRESENTER: JACKI NOH

Conference interpreters face unique challenges when it comes to demonstrating competence in simultaneous interpreting. Except for tests given by the United Nations and the US State Department or possession of a degree in Translation and Interpretation, there are no official exams that conference interpreters can take to demonstrate to organizers and language service providers their competence in simultaneous interpreting. Each assignment, therefore, becomes a “test” of its own. How do you prepare for that “test” once you receive a signed contract? The presenter will draw on her own experiences and share valuable tips about researching and studying subject matter to become a successful conference interpreter.

Objectives: Attain a clear understanding of what “conference interpreting” is, strategies on how to prepare for an assignment, the reasons why one needs to prepare, and how to organize files for interpreting assignments.

LEVEL: ALL
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH WITH SPANISH AND FRENCH LEXICON
PRESENTER: JULIE SELLERS, Ph.D.

Mobile devices offer language professionals a wealth of possibilities for improving their skills and managing daily work. Sometimes, however, the sheer number of options is overwhelming. The presenter will share and demonstrate a selection of apps that support interpreters and translators in the various facets of their work. Some of the apps to be covered are aids for practice and skill development, note-taking, editing, and project management and collaboration. Others are annotation tools or dictionaries. This presentation will include apps for both interpreters and translators and will provide examples in multiple languages, with English translations as necessary. All apps will be demonstrated to help participants tap into the technology available to support their work.

Objectives: To introduce participants to a selection of useful apps that support language acquisition, assignment management, editing and annotating, and professional practice, while providing an interactive space for interpreters and translators to share useful apps.

LEVEL: ALL
LANGUAGE: LANGUAGE NEUTRAL
PRESENTER: GLORIA RIVERA, Ph.D.

Forensic science is the application of scientific principles and technological practices to the study and resolution of criminal, civil, and regulatory issues for the purpose of justice. There are many specialized fields within forensic science, and each one is based on a type of evidence often found at crime scenes. Fingerprint analysis, blood typing, and DNA fingerprinting use biological samples for profiling suspects, identifying criminals, and disproving claims. Each one uses different procedures for collecting, analyzing, and matching said samples, and court interpreters should be familiar with these. During this workshop, participants will learn basic terminology, concepts, collection, classification, and uses of fingerprints, blood analysis, and DNA fingerprinting in criminology.

Objectives: 1) Participants will learn about blood (components, structure, types), fingerprints (origin, structure, classification, how to get them, how they are matched), DNA (origin, structure, how it is collected and matched), and their use as aids in criminology.

LEVEL: ALL
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/SPANISH
PRESENTER: VINKA VALDIVIA

This seminar will present recent legislation and changing attitudes that have affected the LGBT community. It will also discuss the situations in which interpreters might encounter LGBT issues in the courtroom and how to choose the most appropriate terminology. Both the legalization of same-sex marriage by the Supreme Court and recent so-called bathroom laws have increased the likelihood of more cases involving LGBT people, including divorce, adoption, domestic violence, and sexual harassment, just to name a few. Will you be prepared with the correct terminology when you come across one of these cases? Will you know how to address a transgender person? Don’t wait until you find yourself in one of these cases to answer these questions. Inform yourself and be prepared.

Objectives: This session will address recent legislation affecting the LGBT community and the need for interpreters to be informed regarding the proper terminology. The instructor will present a list of terminology and possible translations into Spanish, when appropriate. Participants will also receive a list of websites to research this subject further.

LEVEL: ALL
LANGUAGE: LANGUAGE NEUTRAL
PRESENTER: STEPHEN IWICKI, VICE PRESIDENT, SOS INTERNATIONAL (SOSi)
MODERATOR: ROBERT CRUZ, NAJIT’s EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

This session will include a brief overview from SOSi on the current state of their Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR) court interpreter contract with the Department of Justice (DOJ) focusing on the relationships and current challenges between EOIR, SOSi, and the interpreting profession. Mr. Iwicki will reserve the majority of the session’s time to engage in a Q&A with the audience. This is a unique opportunity for current and prospective court interpreters to ask questions, get factual answers, and share concerns about the program.

LEVEL: ALL
LANGUAGE: LANGUAGE NEUTRAL
PRESENTER: ANNA M. MEDINA

The U.S. Justice Department Civil Rights Division has been engaged in a comprehensive initiative to increase language access in state courts nationally utilizing its enforcement authority under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  This session will feature a senior DOJ attorney who has worked on the DOJ Courts Language Access Initiative since its inception in 2009 who will provide an overview of the initiative, including issues of interest to court interpreters.  DOJ has sought to encourage comprehensive language access in all court proceedings, as well as court services and programs.  The work has relied upon not only civil rights investigations and voluntary settlements, but also technical assistance and collaborative outreach to bar and court organizations, advocates, and interpreters, including NAJIT leadership.  Interpreters will gain an understanding of the Initiative, legal requirements, the importance of court programs and services outside the courtroom, and trends nationally.  The presenter will also discuss the different roles court interpreters are playing in court reform. Lastly, time will be available to engage in a Q&A session.

Objectives: Attendees will learn about the application of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 requirements to state courts and DOJ’s Courts Language Access Initiative, understand what comprehensive language access means for court interpreters and translators (it’s not just criminal proceedings anymore), and hear about national trends and the roles interpreters and organizations can play in pushing for continued improvements.

LEVEL: ALL
LANGUAGE: LANGUAGE NEUTRAL
PRESENTER: JOE MAZZA

The US State Department’s Office of Language Services (LS) carries on a tradition of diplomatic translation dating back to 1781. How is the work of a diplomatic translator changing in our technology-driven age? What are the lexical challenges, old and new? How does LS deal with languages of limited diffusion? Most importantly: how does a 236-year-old office stay so young? Join the Chief of LS’s Translating Division for a lively and interactive presentation on language and the secrets of eternal youth.

LEVEL: ALL
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
PANELISTS: RAFAEL CARRILLO, GLADYS MATTHEWS, ESTHER NAVARRO-HALL, ERNEST NIÑO-MURCIA, HILDA SHYMANIK
MODERATOR: ROB CRUZ, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Join the NAJIT Board and key committee chairs to discuss NAJIT and issues within the profession.

LEVEL: ALL
LANGUAGE: LANGUAGE NEUTRAL
PRESENTER: PROF. AÍDA MARTÍNEZ-GÓMEZ

Interpreter education has traditionally focused on elective sequential bilinguals (i.e., individuals who grew up as monolinguals and purposefully acquired their L2 after childhood). However, the student body in college-level interpreting programs in the U.S. is mainly comprised of heritage learners who also have previous experience as ad hoc language brokers for their families and communities. So, what do we as interpreter educators do when faced with this major contradiction between theory and practice? This presentation includes basic research methods to assist in gathering empirical information about students’ “starting points” and training models that can inform their efforts to adapt the curricula. These theoretical concepts will be illustrated using a project developed within the framework of the BA in Spanish and the undergraduate Certificate programs in Legal Translation and Interpretation at John Jay College of Criminal Justice (City University of New York).

Note: Though the examples shared will be based on Spanish-speaking students and education programs, the content of this session is applicable to and relevant for any language combination.

Objectives: This session aims to equip interpreting educators with innovative pedagogical and research tools to identify and respond to the backgrounds, expectations, and needs of students, particularly those with ad hoc language-brokering experience. In this session, participants will become familiar with the profile of undergraduate legal interpreting students, research methods to identify students’ self-reported abilities, learn to identify students’ strengths and weaknesses prior to the start of their education programs and to use the PACTE translation competence model for curricular design.

LEVEL: ALL
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH WITH SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE LEXICON
PRESENTER: AIMEE BENAVIDES

This session is designed to help language professionals get the most out of their research time and achieve the highest quality output. In addition to dictionaries and glossaries, parallel texts provide enormous benefits beyond the words that are used. Interpreters can become subject matter experts within a short amount of time to the benefit of their listeners. Translators can find the industry-specific jargon needed to localize their translations. Not everything on the internet is an asset, and this presentation will also warn of pitfalls to be avoided. The presentation will be in English with a few examples given in Portuguese and Spanish. However, any language professional can benefit from this workshop.

Objectives: Providing proven tips for using the internet to research scientific and technical terminology and industry-specific jargon necessary for court and conference interpreting. Parallel texts will be defined. Specific topics where these parallel texts are especially useful will be examined. Additional skill-building resources will be discussed once the texts have been chosen. This session will focus on the subject of ballistics and how to find relevant terminology.

LEVEL: ALL
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
PRESENTER: JAVIER SOLER

Join a representative from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts to discuss recent updates and engage in a question and answer session.

LEVEL: ALL
LANGUAGE: LANGUAGE NEUTRAL
PRESENTER: HEIDI CAZES

Interpreting goes beyond transferring a message orally from a source language to a target language. Interpreting takes place in many fields, including conference, business, medical, community and legal, and uses different modalities, generally simultaneous or consecutive. Each of these fields and modalities require interpreters to play different roles and adhere to different codes and rules in their rendition.

Legal or judiciary interpreting is subject to specific, strict canons and is guided by a succinct code of ethics, which applies to all work done in the courtroom and for the record. At first glance, there appears to be very little room for variation, but legal interpreters commonly work in different scenarios beyond the courtroom, where the existing guidelines are not sufficient.

This presentation will briefly mention the different modalities and fields of interpreting in general, focusing on the characteristics that distinguish judiciary interpreting. It will proceed to present the different settings —including courtrooms, jails, depositions, investigations— where interpreting takes place between different parties, including attorneys, prosecutors, investigators, witnesses, and defendants. It will concentrate on the different roles judiciary interpreters play, depending on the setting and for whom they are interpreting, and the corresponding decisions they must make.

The presenter will give practical examples and suggest how interpreters can best handle different situations when lacking specific guidance, using as their anchor the code of ethics and a clear understanding of their duty and where their obligations lie.

LEVEL: ALL
LANGUAGE: LANGUAGE NEUTRAL
PRESENTER: TERRY BURDETT

Within our court systems, providing interpretation has become a major challenge, and revising the way we conduct video interpretation has become a necessity. With the right technologies in place, court personnel will be able to provide any necessary interpretation services for those who are incarcerated and move such processes along in a more efficient, cost-effective manner. Technology is also allowing for interpretation services to be expanded across court systems and beyond, to remote locations when necessary.

Such technologies are leading to the “digitization” of the justice system by connecting the various systems and persons involved. Technology is changing the way law enforcement interacts with LEP communities and is helping them to better understand and serve their needs.

Objectives: 1. Educate people who are afraid of technology to help them become more comfortable with it. 2. Show how technology —when used properly from a business architecture standpoint— can improve experiences for the customer and the consumers who use it. 3. Provide examples of how technology facilitates communication for business or medical purposes without requiring an interpreter at the jail with the inmate. 4. Present ways that court systems —with limited resources— can provide assistance to growing LEP communities while complying with their mandates. 5. Explain how digitization can save massive amounts of time and resources so that the focus remains on the mission at hand.

LEVEL: ALL
LANGUAGE: SPANISH
PRESENTERS: SANDRO TOMASI and KATTY KAUFFMAN

With the criminal procedure reforms in Latin America throughout the last couple of decades, most Spanish-speaking countries have switched from a Roman-law inquisitorial system (sistema inquisitivo) to a common-law-based adversarial system (sistema acusatorio). With this change, arraignments in Latin America are quite similar in many ways to the ones in the United States. This seminar will explore the commonalities between the two systems from a legal-terminology perspective to give court interpreters more terms for their arsenal.

Objectives: Learning legal terms that are used in Latin-American courts, which can serve as functional equivalents for interpreting/translating legal terms used in American courts. The idea is for language professionals to avoid reinventing the language wheel.

LEVEL: BEGINNER/INTERMEDIATE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
PRESENTER: JAMES W. PLUNKETT, III

This session will provide participants with hands-on sight translation exercises that are designed to improve accuracy, speed, and completeness in all interpreting modes. Through individual and small-group exercises, participants will improve analytical skills, accuracy, completeness, speed, reformulation agility, and delivery in all interpreting modes. Participants should bring a recording device and earphones to this session.

Objectives: Improve performance in sight translation, and thus consecutive and simultaneous interpreting modes, through self-evaluation of skill-building exercises. Review theory on sight translation; practice the three modes via sight translation exercises.

LEVEL: ALL
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH WITH SPANISH & FRENCH LEXICON
PRESENTER: OLIVER RENWICK

Interpreters in institutional contexts —be they judicial, medical or social services— are on the front lines of the growing public health crisis of drug and alcohol addiction and are in dire need of more robust training and resources to cope with interpreting this peculiar discourse. This session will equip participants with biomedical, faith-based, philological and cultural conceptual frameworks to understand the experience of addiction and recovery, and the issues surrounding it. Using these frameworks as a backdrop, the session will open up for an in-depth discussion of the vocabulary of this discourse.

The session will be presented with ample resources for the Spanish and French languages, as well as monolingual English resources for those interested in building resources for other target languages.

Objectives: Participants will learn what addiction is and is not, gain insight into the current public health crisis, be exposed to archetypal discourses of recovery and their religious counterparts. They will become familiar with the concept of recovery (‘recovered’ vs ‘recovering’), as well as self-diagnosis, non-medical treatment, and institutional contexts of addiction recovery.

LEVEL: ALL
LANGUAGE: LANGUAGE NEUTRAL
PRESENTER: AGUSTÍN SERVIN DE LA MORA

Increase your confidence and accuracy of recall in the consecutive mode. Participants in this seminar will be invited to exercise their memory using visualization techniques and integrating the process with note taking, to produce a holistic approach to this mode. Several mnemonic techniques and mind mapping will be discussed. Practical consecutive exercises will be utilized during the session. Fast-paced and interactive.

LEVEL: ALL
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
PRESENTERS: VINKA VALDIVIA, ERNEST NIÑO-MURCIA, MAGDALENA GIRÓN, ARMIDA HERNANDEZ, AND ELIZABETH TORRES

It is not uncommon for interpreters in the legal field to encounter attorneys and/or judges unfamiliar with the inner works of our profession. This presentation, featuring materials created by the NAJIT Bench and Bar Committee, will offer a resource for interpreters who wish to help educate attorneys and judges about our field. The idea behind this effort is to provide ready-to-use, high-quality materials that are relevant to the specific geographical area needed so that interpreters can be eloquent and informative when giving such presentations. The session will model such a presentation and provide a question-and-answer period afterwards for comments from the audience. Key principles covered include the qualifications of a professional interpreter, how to best work with an interpreter, the interpreters’ code of ethics, and modes of interpretation.

Objectives: Participants will have a solid idea of how to present our profession to an audience of legal professionals and an understanding of the rationale behind the presentation.