12 Mar The Perils of Telephonic Interpreting

Posted at 01:05h in Athena Matilsky, Interpreting, Medical Interpreting, New Ideas, Odds & Ends, Recent Posts by Observer Editor 3 Comments

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“Excuse me, speaking as the interpreter, could you please move the phone closer to the patient? The interpreter is struggling to hear everybody.” That was me, a week ago, attempting to provide telephonic medical interpreting services. The nurse complied, and the quality of the call...

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12 Feb The Fine Art of Making Mistakes

Posted at 01:00h in Athena Matilsky, Interpreting, Language, New Ideas, Odds & Ends, Recent Posts by Observer Editor 9 Comments

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“Oh, that was terrible! I can’t believe how bad that looks,” said my 8-year-old niece the other day. She was referring to her own drawing, which was actually a very nice depiction of a butterfly. My niece would never speak that way about somebody else’s...

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22 Jan How to Shamelessly Steal Language Skills from our Friends and Colleagues

Posted at 02:00h in Athena Matilsky, Language, New Ideas, Odds & Ends, Recent Posts by Observer Editor 6 Comments

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January is the month of the year when most of us want to start fresh with a clean slate. I recently learned that some people, especially in Europe, call the third Monday in January Blue Monday because it’s supposedly the most depressing day of the...

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18 Dec A Year Like Any Other

Posted at 02:00h in Athena Matilsky, Odds & Ends, Recent Posts, Self care by Observer Editor 4 Comments

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Well, folks, it’s December. And looking back, 2020 was just another boring year, right? Nothing momentous happened. Nothing eventful—just a year like any other. Same old, same old. With the exception, of, well, you know. EVERYTHING. The interesting thing about 2020 is that no matter...

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13 Nov Lessons from Grace

Posted at 00:02h in Athena Matilsky, Interpreting, Odds & Ends, Recent Posts, Self care by Observer Editor 15 Comments

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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...

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08 Oct An Honest Conversation with Fear

Posted at 23:50h in Athena Matilsky, Interpreting, Odds & Ends, Professional Hazard, Recent Posts, Self care by Observer Editor 11 Comments

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“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....

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02 Oct The Couch – Avoiding Horror Stories Through Client Education

Posted at 01:03h in Interpreters, New Ideas, Odds & Ends, Recent Posts, TRAINING by Observer Editor 6 Comments

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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...

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11 Sep Interrupting Without Intruding

Posted at 00:05h in Athena Matilsky, Community Interpreting, Conference Interpreting, Court Interpreting, Interpreting, Medical Interpreting, New Ideas, Odds & Ends, Personal Growth, Recent Posts, Tools of the trade by Observer Editor 13 Comments

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“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...

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04 Sep Taking on the Role of TNO Editor

Posted at 00:03h in Gladys Matthews, NAJIT Affairs, Recent Posts, Volunteer by Observer Editor 16 Comments

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It is with a great deal of excitement and anticipation that I let you know that I have the honor of serving as the new editor of the NAJIT Observer. It is a role I take on in the hope that I can build on...

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22 Aug Cracking the Code: What’s that Word in your Language?

Posted at 13:56h by Guest 0 Comments

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