08 Mar Business As Usual

Posted at 18:06h in Business Practices, Hilda Zavala-Shymanik, Interpreters, Mentoring, Personal Growth, Professional Development, Recent Posts, The Profession by Observer Editor 4 Comments

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I had my first business at the age of twenty. It was a furniture store a block away from the main plaza in downtown Celaya, Mexico. Business has been in my blood since I was born. My father was an entrepreneur and we, the sisters,...

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07 Feb A System of Checks and Balances

Posted at 10:16h in Advocacy, Business Practices, Community Interpreting, Court Interpreting, Ethics, Hilda Zavala-Shymanik, Immigration, Leadership, Professional Practices, The Profession by Observer Editor 9 Comments

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During my years of interpreting in many different areas, mostly in court and other legal settings, I have observed situations that seem, at the very least, inappropriate, unfair, and perhaps even illegal. One of the first and simplest examples I can give is an assignment...

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03 Jan New Beginnings

Posted at 07:27h in Business Practices, Certification, Community, Hilda Zavala-Shymanik, Interpreters, Personal Growth, Professional Development, Self care, Volunteer by Observer Editor 9 Comments

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Discoveries As I look back on what stays behind after this eventful 2021, I see the mistakes I have made and on the other hand the great choices as well. I would like to think that the latter outweigh the former, but a deep analysis...

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25 Nov A Thanksgiving List

Posted at 01:00h in Certification, Continuing Education, Court Interpreting, Hilda Zavala-Shymanik, Immigration, Interpreters, Leadership, Professional Development, Recent Posts, The Profession by Observer Editor 0 Comments

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Talking to my mother the other day, I asked her if anything similar to Thanksgiving Day existed in Mexico, but it seemed that the closest thing we have there is New Year’s. She was right! It’s hard to remember all those holiday details after living...

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22 Oct Do I have enough?

Posted at 11:20h in Hilda Zavala-Shymanik, Personal Growth, Recent Posts by Observer Editor 19 Comments

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Background Growing up in Mexico, I spent all my Christmases with my paternal grandparents and with many of their fifteen children (my aunts and uncles) and their families. Needless to say, my sisters and I had tons of cousins and amazing holidays. Since all families...

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03 Sep It’s Up in the Air

Posted at 11:28h in Attorney Education, Business Practices, Court Interpreting, Hilda Zavala-Shymanik, Interpreting, Leadership, Professional Hazard, Recent Posts, Technology, Tools of the trade by Observer Editor 10 Comments

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An open or shut case? A couple of weeks ago, a woman I was interpreting for started chatting with me before an interview, and she asked me if I had heard about upcoming plans to reopen the courthouse. During this conversation, she shared her view...

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20 Aug Desarraigo (Uprooting)

Posted at 20:51h in Community, Hilda Zavala-Shymanik, Immigration, Interpreters, Recent Posts, The Profession, Uncategorized by Observer Editor 23 Comments

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Uprooting While I was sitting on the couch with my mother, who is currently visiting me from Mexico, she sighed deeply, and when I asked her why she was sighing, she looked at me and said: “I so regret the decision I made years ago...

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16 Jul Message from the Chair

Posted at 14:21h in Janis Palma, NAJIT Affairs, Recent Posts, The Profession, Uncategorized by Observer Editor 13 Comments

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This message from the NAJIT Chair was originally published in the 2021 summer issue of Proteus, NAJIT’s Quarterly Newsletter. Dear NAJIT Members: For those of you who don’t know me, let me tell you a little bit about myself. I have been a member of...

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04 Jun To be or not to be , that is the question…

Posted at 14:29h in Court Interpreting, Ethics, Interpreting, Personal Growth, Recent Posts, Uncategorized by Observer Editor 17 Comments

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When I hear fellow interpreters say they entered the profession for their calling to help others, I worry. I guess, in a sense, we do help people. We are a communication bridge, making it possible for a voice to be heard in a different language....

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23 Apr Virtually Impossible? The Opposite is True!

Posted at 12:45h in Interpreting, NAJIT Affairs, NAJIT Conference, Odds & Ends, Personal Growth, Professional Development, Recent Posts by Observer Editor 4 Comments

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If I had been told a year ago that NAJIT’s Conference Committee would be organizing a remote event, I would not have believed it. The virtualization of “virtually” everything around us caught us all by surprise. It is a well-known fact that humans by our...

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