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A few weeks back, I traveled to a distant town for a court interpreting assignment. It had been well worth the trip from a financial point of view, but I was really beat when I got home. As I was drifting off to sleep for...

14 September, 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’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 Gio Lester (c) 2012 We are Communicators. As translators, interpreters and multicultural individuals we delight in acquiring knowledge as much as in sharing it. And what we do with our knowledge is exactly what this article is about. Our knowledge base consists of cultural and...

20 July, 2012 /

  This week, physicists revealed to the world that they’ve all but confirmed the existence of the Higgs boson, called the “God Particle” in layman’s terms. The discovery is said to answer the riddle of how subatomic particles were formed, and what gives them their mass....

06 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 /

By Katharine Allen, InterpretAmerica  © 2012 "Rejected Afghan Interpreters Get Second Chance to Come to Canada"[1] “US Contract Interpreter Missing and Believed Kidnapped in Iraq”[2] "Families of Dead US Soldiers Sue Over Afghan Interpreter's Armed Rampage"[3] “Iranian Refugee Nearly Latest Victim of Poor Translation”[4]  “Japanese Earthquake Highlights the Need for Multilingual...

27 April, 2012 /
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