Letter from the Editor: Proteus 2015 Fall Volume XXVIII Issue No 3

By Dan DeCoursey

Dear readers:

Welcome to the fall issue! It is getting cooler in most of the country, and we believe that Proteus is getting cooler, too.

First things first: Our tireless editor-in-chief, Athena Matilsky, is currently recovering from a concussion, so she asked me to write this letter for her. All of us on the editorial staff are very grateful for all of her hard work and guidance, and we are wishing her the speediest of recoveries. Athena, please take all the rest and relaxation (and Netflix streaming) you need, because we need you for the winter issue!

Where I’m from in the Midwest, we have a saying regarding the fall: If you don’t like the weather, just wait a minute. In other words, be ready for sudden, drastic changes. That would be good advice for the T & I community as well. In her letter, NAJIT Chair Esther Navarro-Hall reminds us of all of the work NAJIT is doing behind the scenes to help us get ready. The interpreting community is facing many issues and challenges: new technologies, language access plans, and huge changes for interpreters in immigration courts. Esther encourages all of us to volunteer for NAJIT committees so that our organization can respond to these issues as quickly and effectively as possible. Of course, some issues we encounter need to be resolved on the spot. In “How I Handled It,” Ernest Niño-Murcia writes about a split-second decision he had to make that strikes at the core of our ethical obligations.

This edition’s feature articles should give us cause for hope, as they both demonstrate the huge demand and need for our services. Chris Kunej discusses how some state courts are failing to provide meaningful language access to persons who speak languages of lesser diffusion, a problem that he believes can be solved with more uniformity among state courts. David W. Gilbert points out that in Australia substandard translations of electronic surveillance transcripts are not only a growing issue for the courts, but are rising to the level of a national security hazard.

We hope you enjoy this issue. It’s the product of a lot of brainstorming by the staff. In the near future, we hope to revamp our newsletter’s design to make Proteus even more eye-catching. Of course, quality content is what matters most. Your contributions will make Proteus even cooler. Big changes are ahead for the T & I community, and the more we share ideas with other, the better we can all navigate these challenges. So research, write, and submit! Those leaves in your yard can wait a bit longer.

Kind regards,
Dan DeCoursey