I believe that the hierarchy and macrocosm of nature, should be reflected in its many microcosms, one of which is the interpreting profession. Accordingly, to be successful, the values exhibited at the apex must be mirrored in the other. Today I am going to write about...
One year ago this month, when the NAJIT Blog was just getting started, I ended my post with these words: Whether you call it love, passion or simply enjoying your career, I think we can all agree that having a true calling and affinity for this...
I am interpreting consecutively. I am well-rested, fully focused, alert and engaged. Almost effortlessly, I allow the equivalent words,phrases and structures to flow through my brain and out my mouth. An interpreting instructor of mine once called this being “in the groove.” It doesn’t happen every...
[caption id="attachment_839" align="alignleft" width="214" caption="Roseann Dueñas González"][/caption] Dr. Roseann Dueñas Gonzalez is a 21st Century luminary in the field of language access in the U.S. She was the founder and long-standing Director of the University of Arizona National Center for Interpretation, Testing, Research and Policy. I...
Warning!! The flexibility, variety, mobility and enjoyment that come with being an interpreter or a translator (or both!) can be addictive, turning us into smiling, giddy workaholics! Do you sometimes feel like your life is holding you back from achieving all you can in your career?...
My mother died a few weeks before Thanksgiving. She was a remarkable woman who gave each of her children a great love of learning and an appreciation for art, music, language and books, books, books! There was so much I loved and admired about her,...
Our family recently embarked on an educational journey when we put our son into an online homeschooling program. In my job as an interpreter, trainer, and advocate for our profession, my days are already focused on finding the most effective educational tools and resources for...
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...
I’ve only been active on Facebook for a couple of years, if you could call having a few family members as friends “active”. In a sense, I’d been wading gradually into the social networking scene up until fairly recently. I’d always signed up for listservs and yahoo groups...
The Love of Language A number of thoughts and events came together recently to start me thinking about how we acquire language and how the ability to speak more than one language and interpret from one to the other is seen by those outside of the...
