13 Feb Moving forward… but where do we go from here?
The act of interpreting has been taking place ever since two groups of people met but could not speak each other’s languages. A friend of mine, who is working on her doctoral dissertation, found this quote from the work of Marzena Chrobak[1]: “In the Near...
06 Feb Is it Better to be Hired by Assignment or by the Day?
Posted at 14:06h
in Business Practices, Court Interpreting, Finances, Hilda Zavala-Shymanik, Interpreters, Recent Posts
13 Comments
Per Diem vs. Per Assignment I have been a freelance interpreter since January 2007. For the first seven years of that period, I was hired exclusively to work per assignment by agencies. It wasn’t until 2014, when I first became certified, that I started working...
07 Nov Building the New
Posted at 15:07h
in Advocacy, Business Practices, Court Interpreting, Ethics, Immigration, Interpreting, Janis Palma, Language, Recent Posts, Technology, The Profession
14 Comments
“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new” —Socrates Jon Leeth was the Special Assistant to the Assistant Director in Charge of Court Reporting and Interpreting Services, also referred to as Chief...
31 Oct Transcription In The Interpreting Profession: An Exciting Time To Be An Interpreter
Posted at 10:01h
in Business Practices, Court Interpreting, Equipment, Interpreting, New Ideas, Recent Posts, Remote Interpreting, Technology, Translation, Uncategorized
9 Comments
We have all been there: tired and in need of a partner. Could there exist a machine that does the notetaking for me? I started to ponder about speech recognition many years ago when ASR (automatic speech recognition) was accessible via software (think Siri). I...
03 Oct Not All Language Communities Are Served Equally
Posted at 01:00h
in Advocacy, Attorney Education, Community, Community Interpreting, Court Interpreting, Ethics, Immigration, Interpreters, Language, Recent Posts
1 Comment
Interpreters are proving to be an indispensable resource to indigenous communities as the demand for their services increases. While a handful of language-service agencies claim to offer some of these languages, they cannot guarantee the interpretation provided is true or accurate. This is why, to...
19 Sep A Spanish interpreter communicating in Polish? Not quite!
Posted at 01:00h
in Community, Ethics, Hilda Zavala-Shymanik, Interpreting, Language, Recent Posts, Translation
5 Comments
I have been familiar with nonverbal language my whole life. As a child, I used to sign with my sisters and friends. We were just doing it the other day in court actually, my sister Marisa and me. But the first time I attended a...
27 Jun The Couch: A Disagreement on Terms of Payment
Posted at 01:30h
in Business Practices, Court Interpreting, Finances, Interpreters, Mentoring, Recent Posts
14 Comments
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, if not everything is clearly laid out from the beginning, embarrassing and undesirable situations can follow. Thank you to...
07 Jun The Subjects Matter
Posted at 10:31h
in Advocacy, Community, Community Interpreting, Court Interpreting, Ethics, Personal Growth, Professional Hazard, Recent Posts
7 Comments
The practice of interpretation allows interpreters to take a break from themselves and from their own lives. I was smitten by this profession since the day I got to interpret for stars at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). A combination of circumstances led me...
31 May The Couch: A Partner Whisked Out of Sight
Posted at 13:20h
in Court Interpreting, Ethics, Interpreters, Leadership, Odds & Ends, Recent Posts
11 Comments
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, the sudden loss of a partner can be challenging, and even though the solution may be clear from an...