“Wherever you are, be totally there.” Eckhart Tolle My father is 90 years old. He recently wrote an open letter to his family that started with the words: “With so much time in my hands, I have decided to write...
On a sunny fall day in 2013, I received a phone call from Grace. Who is Grace, you ask? It is hard to say who Grace is to me. She is a colleague, certainly. A mentor. A friend. My personal interpreting fairy godmother. It was...
I don’t know if it’s the strange times we are living through, or perhaps it’s that I’m approaching retirement, but I find myself reflecting quite a bit on my career these days. It took unexpected twists and turns, and I can’t say I accomplished everything...
In this unprecedented health crisis, language professionals are fortunate because they can work remotely. But the downside is that, while videoconference platforms like Zoom and MS Teams allow us to keep working, the loss of opportunities to meet with clients and colleagues in person can...
I’m sure most, if not all, of you have heard about emotional vampires or relationship vampires. Those are the people who suck your emotional energy and leave you feeling drained after they’ve been near you for any amount of time. Well, there is something else...
I am not a big fan of Halloween, but I appreciate spooky decorations, creative costumes, and chilling activities at this time of the year. Their purpose is to stimulate anxiety, fear, and tension for fun and entertainment. Halloween can be fun and enjoyable, and the...
“The terror of performing never goes away. Instead, you get very, very comfortable being terrified.” ~Eric Whitacre I like that quote. It speaks to me. I think you could replace the word “performing” with “interpreting” and paste it on the walls of all our offices. Interpreting...
The Couch is a learning place, not only for its contributors but also for our readers who engage in the ensuing discussions. So much has changed in the performance of our profession that educating clients about how to work more effectively with interpreters has become...
Interpreting attorney-LEP client communications is an integral and confidential function of the court interpreter´s job. Due to social distancing, however, the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to restrict attorney-LEP client communications or create unsafe proximity risks for interpreters and their clients. Nonetheless, these bilingual communications can take...
“One moment, the interpreter needs a repetition,” I said in English, followed by “Excuse me, could you repeat that for the interpreter?” in rapid-fire Spanish. It was about fifteen minutes into the interpretation, and the fourth time I had interrupted. I was feeling a bit...