Interpreters face somewhat of a conundrum upon entering the profession. That is, we are expected to have “native-level” discourse and comprehension skills in all of our languages. Advertisements boast “perfect fluency,” and respectable interpreting courses necessarily steer their content away from language acquisition. Yet, of...
On March 14, 2012, Thomas Lubanga Dyilo became the first person to be found guilty through a trial in the International Criminal Court (ICC). Among the war crimes this Congolese warlord oversaw were enlisting and conscripting children under the age of 15 years and using...
This post was first published in November 2018. Exactly a week ago today, you would have found me in New Orleans with a colleague at an oyster bar on the banks of the Mississippi, discussing the Dunning-Kruger effect. For those of you who are unfamiliar with...
By Athena Matilsky © 2017 Last year I left my job as a Superior Court staff interpreter, and moved from New Jersey to the beautiful city of Montreal. I’m here temporarily, working on a book and improving my French. The idea is that with increased language...
Well, I made it! One more semester to go. As I write, the train wheels rumble underneath my seat. We are somewhere between Toronto and Montreal. When I made this journey in reverse three months ago, the leaves still adorned the trees. Now the fields...
Greetings from the Glendon campus in Toronto! I’m currently waiting for my News Class to begin. Winter is fast approaching over here and each sunny day could be the last. So I’m taking advantage of the unseasonably gorgeous weather, sitting outside the cafeteria at a...
This article was first published in November 2017. It seems appropriate that we dust it off now that the dates for the next Federal Interpreter Exam have been set. Good luck to all who will take the challenge. Reaching the Brass Ring I still remember it vividly:...
Do you want to know the funny thing about notes? The better you get at taking them, the less of them you need. I noticed this one day in court, a few years into my career when I took a look at my notepad and...
I find that there are two types of people in this world: Those who find interpreting to be awe-inspiring, and those who think it’s as simple as opening up Google Translate. Usually the ones who think it is simple haven’t actually tried it. I’m pretty sure I...
Have you ever met the interpreter who knew everything? I have. Well, not really. As a matter of fact, it’s not possible to have met such an interpreter, because nobody knows everything. That is the sad reality of being human. But I have most assuredly...