No, NAJIT has not gone into the dictionary business. We are just trying to make things clear so folks know what they mean exactly when they use a word like "translator," or "interpreter." We are providing definitions that will, we hope, help those who need our...
Article by Kathleen Shelly, originally published on May 18, 2014. Images from University of Massachusetts Amherst I used to be a grasshopper, you know, like the one in Aesop’s fable. It wasn’t that I didn’t work—I did. It’s just that after paying for rent, utilities and...
Monday, May 22 is NAJIT Advocacy Day. Join NAJIT in Washington, DC. Together our voices are louder and can reach farther! NAJIT will be scheduling a group visit with Executive Branch offices and recommend interpreters and translators schedule appointments with their own legislators. That is only one part of...
Here’s the thing about my Spanish: I learned it from a book. When I enrolled in my first Spanish class, I didn’t even know how to ask someone, “How are you?” But I progressed quickly, with brilliant professors hailing from places like Peru, Costa Rica,...
We have renamed the "What Would You Have Done?" section. Presenting to you, The Couch. We trust you will feel the same warm welcome here, and confident enough to air issues and to help our colleagues. All data that might make the parties or case identifiable have been...
This article by Jennifer de la Cruz was originally published in August 2014. We thought it was especially relevant after Athena's piece on sight translation. This is a new aspect of what we do in court interpreting. When Facebook and Instagram and even text messaging were...
This is Part II of Javier Aparisi's report on his Brazilian adventure. Pedri, a family friend from my early years in São Paulo, accompanied me a few days later in our visits to the Barra Funda regional court in São Paulo. This judicial complex offered a...
This week we welcome Javier Aparisi as a guest author sharing his findings on a personal quest. Below is Part I of Javier's journey into Brazilian jury trials. Photo credit: Valter Campanato, Agência Brasil [agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br] By Javier Aparisi ©2016 [caption id="attachment_18061" align="alignleft" width="218"] Ministry of Justice entrance, Brasilia,...
- by Athena Matilsky © 2017 Ah yes. Sight translation. The interpreter tendency to ignore sight translation is kind of like that affliction suffered by us, middle children. You know middle child syndrome, right? It’s like this: our big brother Simultaneous is overtaking the track field and...
Here is another installment of WWYHD. We thank our colleagues who have shared their experiences with us and invite YOU to contribute. All articles are shared anonymously and to avoid breach of confidentiality, all identifiable details are removed from the stories shared with us in compliance...