This article by Athena was first published in November 2014. We liked it so much that we decided to share it with our readers once again. Enjoy! Those who know me outside of interpreting know that acrobatics (specifically, partnered “Acroyoga”) is my not-so-secret other love. I...
Has it ever happened to you that there is something you have believed all your life, something you have never even considered questioning, and then out of nowhere you see something or hear someone say something that makes you feel like your brain has been...
I pulled up to the National Guard’s State Emergency Operations Center on Monday April 20th, 2020 unsure of what to expect on my first day interpreting a COVID-19 press briefing by Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds. I passed through a sign-in desk and had my temperature scanned...
If I had been told a year ago that NAJIT’s Conference Committee would be organizing a remote event, I would not have believed it. The virtualization of “virtually” everything around us caught us all by surprise. It is a well-known fact that humans by our very...
Happy April, everyone! Wow. We are one quarter of the way through 2021. It always amazes me how time just keeps on dashing by. I do love this time of year. Even Montreal is starting to wake up from its winter slumber (though I’m sure there...
“Excuse me, speaking as the interpreter, could you please move the phone closer to the patient? The interpreter is struggling to hear everybody.” That was me, a week ago, attempting to provide telephonic medical interpreting services. The nurse complied, and the quality of the call improved…a...
It is hard to believe that it has been a year since I started working from home due to the pandemic. It feels so long ago, but I remember the uncertainty vividly. Something ominous hung heavily in the air, blinking question marks hovered in everyone’s...
One of the hardest things in our profession to get a handle on is how much to charge for our work. I’m certainly no expert on this, but perhaps my recent experience will be useful to you as you deal with this never-ending question. Although I’ve...
“Oh, that was terrible! I can’t believe how bad that looks,” said my 8-year-old niece the other day. She was referring to her own drawing, which was actually a very nice depiction of a butterfly. My niece would never speak that way about somebody else’s...
I truly believe life is a great journey, and it sometimes takes us places we didn't know we would go. In my first interpreting position, I was hired as a staff medical interpreter, and after a few years interpreting in the real world and completing...