12 Mar The Perils of Telephonic Interpreting
Posted at 01:05h
in Athena Matilsky, Interpreting, Medical Interpreting, New Ideas, Odds & Ends, Recent Posts
3 Comments
“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...
12 Feb The Fine Art of Making Mistakes
Posted at 01:00h
in Athena Matilsky, Interpreting, Language, New Ideas, Odds & Ends, Recent Posts
9 Comments
“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...
22 Jan How to Shamelessly Steal Language Skills from our Friends and Colleagues
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...
18 Dec A Year Like Any Other
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...
13 Nov Lessons from Grace
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...
08 Oct An Honest Conversation with Fear
Posted at 23:50h
in Athena Matilsky, Interpreting, Odds & Ends, Professional Hazard, Recent Posts, Self care
11 Comments
“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....
02 Oct The Couch – Avoiding Horror Stories Through Client Education
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...