The Couch is a place to exchange ideas and brainstorm, not only for its contributors but also for our readers who engage in the ensuing discussions. Sometimes, even when everyone in the room has the best of intentions, role boundaries can get muddied, and then everyone...

This post is on the topic of monotasking. That’s right, you read it correctly. Monotasking. What’s that, you ask? Well, it’s the opposite of multitasking. In other words, instead of doing a ton of things at once, you do one. Thing. At. A. Time. I first...

The Couch is a place to exchange ideas and brainstorm, not only for its contributors but also for our readers who engage in the ensuing discussions. Sometimes, a day’s proceedings in the courtroom can seem more like an episode of Jerry Springer than they do a trial....

THE FOLLOWING IS NOT YOUR TYPICAL DAY IN COURT.  What do you do when you are challenged? Is it professional of an interpreter to request a break? Dilemma in the courtroom! What would you have done? The following is an experience I had in a Superior Court in Georgia...

The Couch is a place to exchange ideas and brainstorm, not only for its contributors but also for our readers who engage in the ensuing discussions. Sometimes, without the remotest fault on interpreters’ part, a crowd can have its suspicions aroused against them...

Editor’s note: This week’s post will have a special focus. NAJIT is sponsoring the upcoming 4th International Virtual conference organized by Linguist Education Online. If you can sign up, please do so! This year, NAJIT is partnering with Linguist Education Online (LEO) to support LEO’s 4th...

The Couch is a place to exchange ideas and brainstorm, not only for its contributors but also for our readers who engage in the ensuing discussions. Although interpreter ethics exist in part to prevent interpreters from getting into sensitive situations as much as possible, sometimes...

“No me falte usted al respeto, no soy cualquier cosa, soy el acusado. Yo ahí afuera tengo otro detalle, no así no se porta con uno la gente.” - Cantinflas, “El juicio,” available here No small ripple In 1992, the Real Academia Española accepted the term “cantinflear” for...

The Couch is a learning place, not only for its contributors but also for our readers who engage in the ensuing discussions. The subject of this month’s Couch is the transition to “normal.” As in-person services gradually resume (or at least are on the horizon), what do...