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Welcome to the NAJIT Observer

The NAJIT Observer (TNO) was created in 2011 in response to NAJIT’s members need for a tool

to share information, first-hand experiences, and the occasional fun moment with colleagues.

We are delighted with the response TNO has received from our members and subscribers. And

thanks to our dedicated and generous contributors, TNO’s archive features an amazing number

of posts that you can search by category or author.

Do you want to contribute a post?  Send us an email at TNO_editor@najit.org.

Enjoy The NAJIT Observer!

08 Dec

Posted at 12:02h in Advocacy, Attorney Education, Business Practices, Community, Continuing Education, Court Interpreting, Interpreters, Leadership, NAJIT Affairs, Professional Practices, Recent Posts, The Profession, TRAINING by
0 Likes

Oh, no! It happened again. A client insulted you. They had a non-native, non-translator correct your work and asked for a refund. They asked you to volunteer to interpret out of the goodness of your heart.  Maybe it wasn’t intentional, or maybe it was. Perhaps it...

15 Nov

Posted at 11:34h in Athena Matilsky, Business Practices, Ethics, Interpreters, Language, Leadership, Personal Growth, Professional Development, Recent Posts, Technology, TRAINING by
1 Like

During the first pandemic winter, I took on one of the hardest teaching assignments I’ve ever experienced: I tutored the son of a dear friend of mine with his fifth-grade homework. He was struggling a lot, and there were concerns that he might not be...

07 Nov

Posted at 15:07h in Advocacy, Business Practices, Court Interpreting, Ethics, Immigration, Interpreting, Janis Palma, Language, Recent Posts, Technology, The Profession by
0 Likes

“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new” —Socrates Jon Leeth was the Special Assistant to the Assistant Director in Charge of Court Reporting and Interpreting Services, also referred to as Chief of the...

31 Oct

Posted at 10:01h in Business Practices, Court Interpreting, Equipment, Interpreting, New Ideas, Recent Posts, Remote Interpreting, Technology, Translation, Uncategorized by
0 Likes

We have all been there: tired and in need of a partner. Could there exist a machine that does the notetaking for me? I started to ponder about speech recognition many years ago when ASR (automatic speech recognition) was accessible via software (think Siri). I...

17 Oct

Posted at 13:16h in Court Interpreting, Interpreters, Interpreting, Language, Personal Growth, Professional Development, Recent Posts, The Profession by
0 Likes

I was so comfortable, but man was I bored. I had the privilege of being a Spanish teacher for two and a half decades, which brought with it tremendous success, along with some cool perks. I had taught in the International Baccalaureate program for twenty...

10 Oct

Posted at 01:00h in Certification, Court Interpreting, Ethics, Interpreters, Janis Palma, Personal Growth, Professional Development, Recent Posts, The Profession, TRAINING by
0 Likes

There is one aspect of all judiciary interpreters’ certification exams that I find somewhat inconsistent with real-life practice. In real life, being able to anticipate and appropriately reformulate what judges and attorneys say is very closely linked to the repetitious nature of legal language. There...

03 Oct

Posted at 01:00h in Advocacy, Attorney Education, Community, Community Interpreting, Court Interpreting, Ethics, Immigration, Interpreters, Language, Recent Posts by
1 Like

Interpreters are proving to be an indispensable resource to indigenous communities as the demand for their services increases. While a handful of language-service agencies claim to offer some of these languages, they cannot guarantee the interpretation provided is true or accurate. This is why, to...