The Day of the Dead: El Día de Muertos – A Lesson in Adapting to Change By Reme Bashi [caption id="attachment_37368" align="alignright" width="225"] A striking portrayal of La Catrina in front of an intricately carved stone archway during El Día de Muertos celebrations[/caption] If you are unfamiliar with El...
Breaking Attorney Client Privilege: “Who, Me?” By: Hilda Shymanik [caption id="attachment_37318" align="alignright" width="300"] A glimpse of popular productivity and design tools on a device screen, including Zoom for virtual meetings.[/caption] A few months ago, while working remotely during a bond hearing, I was interpreting in the consecutive mode...
It’s Always a Good Day to Make New Friends By: The NAJIT Observer Meet NAJIT’s new Publishing Coordinator and Editor-In-Chief, Julli Jaramillo. Her C.V. will tell you that she graduated from New York University with a Master’s in Translation, specializing in Spanish-to-English and legal translation. Her background...
There’s something we never want to talk about. Not unless it comes knocking on our door. But lately, it’s been knocking on many people’s doors, people I know, people I don’t know, one right after the other: mothers, fathers, leaving us grown children orphaned and...
Have you ever been on assignments that booked you for a hearing but turned out to be a full-length trial? One that involves extensive evidence submission and multiple witnesses. These situations are inevitable as sometimes thing changes at the last minute. But what can we...
When the topic comes up among my colleagues of discussing our work as interpreters with lawyers and judges, they unanimously and enthusiastically agree that we have a lot to tell them. The following is the gist of what I would say upon such an opportunity. I...
Any seasoned interpreter will tell you why we work in teams on long assignments. There is research on the matter of interpreter fatigue and the negative effect it has on accuracy and appropriate rendition. Team interpreting has been done at least since the Nuremberg trials,...
The cat is out of the bag. You can’t un-ring a bell. These are a couple of sayings we hear to express the concept of not being able to go back. This is our reality with remote interpreting in court. Many courts have found tremendous...
Over a year ago, I landed a great gig. I work four days a week under an open-ended long-term contract and have been happy there. However, the job is unexciting and repetitive. My colleagues are great, the judges treat me well and are accommodating when I...
In a prior blog, I wrote about the interpreter’s qualifications from a Human Resources perspective. Today I would like to share my thoughts as an interpreter and tell you about some ways I think we gain knowledge and experience, aside from formal education. I’ve been an...