What is your professional association doing for you?

Here is a double feature on new member benefits and an overview of upcoming webinars. Enjoy!   What is your professional association doing for you? - By Aimee Benavides, NAJIT Chair Professional associations have an important role in the lives of those they serve. In the case of NAJIT, our...

09 November, 2018 / 2 Comments

The Real Life of Interpreters

[vc_row][vc_column width='2/3']This was real life. There was no do-over. My identity crisis started almost exactly two years ago when I left my job as a staff interpreter in New Jersey and headed into the Great Unknown (Montreal, Canada, to be exact). My plan was to work on...

01 June, 2018 / 9 Comments

Procedural Memory and the New Kid Jitters

Once again, we revisit our archives for articles that were well received by our long time readers. Not so much of a throw-back, but a recycling of pertinent and valuable knowledge. Use the comments area to let us know how you like it. By Jennifer de...

06 October, 2017 / 5 Comments

Future Idaho Court Interpreters Join Efforts with Future Immigration Attorneys

Our Guest Author this week is Fatima Cornwall, who comes to us from the Azores Islands, by way of Boise Idaho University.  Be a Guest Author: Your contributions enrich The NAJIT Observer. Please do keep them coming. Send an email to tno_editor@najit.org and we will...

07 April, 2017 / 3 Comments

So You Want to Be the Favorite Freelancer

I’ve been working as a staff interpreter for a long time in various jurisdictions, so I’ve hired freelance interpreters (of languages from Achi to Zuni) hundreds of times—probably thousands. And let’s face it: every court has its favorites. For any language for which a court has multiple options, certain freelancers (or agencies, but that’s another subject) will be the go-to when there’s a big assignment, or a last-minute one, or a vacation to be covered. Well-meaning administrative offices try to encourage or enforce a fair rotation, but there will always be someone who has an extra edge. A question asked by prospective and working freelance interpreters alike is often: how can I get more work? Or the flip side: is there really enough work for me? So here’s the answer: There may not be enough work for everyone, but there will always be enough work for those who go the extra mile to make working with them a pleasure. So how do you become one of those people? Let’s see:

26 August, 2016 / 1 Comment

The NAJIT Renaissance

Yes, I heard someone use that word during the NAJIT conference this past May 14 & 15 in San Antonio, Texas: Renaissance. And it was so fitting! The energy in the air was electrifying. The conference attendants were excited about the conference topics, and very...

27 May, 2016 / 20 Comments

Learning by Osmosis

OSMOSIS – an ability to learn and understand things gradually without much effort. (Merriam-Webster) I was joking with some colleagues about having parents who were physicians and, therefore, how these friends had learned medicine by osmosis. We have all had that experience: learning about a particular...

26 February, 2016 / 8 Comments

The Fixer

          In my home I am “the fixer”. This is not a role that I chose knowingly and intentionally; it just came with the territory. I own a home, so if anything breaks I am the one in charge of fixing it or finding someone...

17 October, 2014 / 2 Comments

Fresh Air at the 2013 NAJIT Conference

Maybe it was spring fever, but I don’t think so. I definitely felt what I can only describe as a breath of fresh air during the 34th NAJIT Annual Conference May 17-19, 2013,  in St. Louis, Missouri. So often nowadays I hear interpreters talk about the “graying”...

14 June, 2013 / 0 Comments

Me, You and the Next Generation of Interpreters

A few weeks back, I traveled to a distant town for a court interpreting assignment. It had been well worth the trip from a financial point of view, but I was really beat when I got home. As I was drifting off to sleep for...

14 September, 2012 / 0 Comments