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    Sometimes, words just don’t cut it. As interpreters, we often have to rely on facial expressions, body language, voice tones, quality of speech… aspects of communication that we can easily take for granted. Of course, life usually gives us the experience we need to understand the unspoken, and we...

26 November, 2012 /
First off, I apologize to Robert Pollard for getting his name wrong last time! In any case, this will be the last entry in my “Time for a Paradigm Shift” series. But in the immortal words of Winston Churchill, “this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” I’ve spent the last six months laying out a framework for a new perspective on our field (and by “our field,” I mean interpreting as a whole and unique field); but unless we implement that perspective, it’s nothing more than a thought exercise. (And I, for one, would be disappointed if there weren’t practical implications as well, after all that.)

A quick review of teleological decision-making

In this series, I’ve introduced the concept of teleological [outcome-oriented] decision-making and the Demand-Control Schema. To review, this process requires that we:
  1. Be aware of our values as interpreters: accuracy, completeness, neutrality, professionalism, and so on.
  2. Recognize the demands being placed upon us in any given situation. What environmental, interpersonal, paralinguistic, intrapersonal, linguistic, and divergent factors are influencing the way in which we do our work?
  3. Identify the controls at our disposal. What are all of the things that we could do, regardless of whether or not we should do them?
  4. Be aware of the values of the context in which we are working. What is valued in a legal setting? A medical setting? A religious setting? A conference setting?
  5. Handle the demand(s) by applying the control(s) that best fits with our values as interpreters and those of the context in which we are working.

31 August, 2012 /

I didn’t exactly grow up on a farm, but my small town was indeed surrounded by fields of corn and soybeans. When I was in my teens I started out on what turned out to be years of travel, living in enormous cities both in...

24 August, 2012 /

I’d like to share with you an ethical dilemma that has been an ongoing subject of debate among interpreters I know for the last several years. First I’ll set up the situation for you; then I’ll offer you the two extreme opposing points of view....

27 July, 2012 /

By Barry Slaugther Olsen, Co-President, InterpretAmerica The word “technology” means different things to different people.  But when it comes to interpreters, the “T” word tends to conjure up all sorts of largely unfounded fear and denial. “Will I be replaced by a computer?” or “Oh, a computer...

29 June, 2012 /

I have been working as an interpreter and the owner of an LSP for over thirty years so one would imagine that I have been around the block and back in terms of working with a large number of interpreters, both in court interpreting and...

22 June, 2012 /