Interpreting issues, interesting links ... y otras yerbas!

AIIC seminar in Buenos Aires

2011-09-17T11:29:00.000-07:00

Association Internationale des Interprètes de Conférence
International Association of Conference Interpreters
________________________________________
Intermediate/Advanced Spanish>English Simultaneous Interpretation Seminar, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 9-11 January 2012
Place: Colegio de Traductores Públicos de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Date: 9-11 January 2012
Subject to registration by 20 qualified applicants, a simultaneous interpretation seminar, sponsored by AIIC South America, will be held at the Colegio de Traductores Públicos de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires from 9 to 11 January, 2012. The working languages will be English (A or B) and Spanish (A, B or C). There will be two sections, one in the morning and one in the evening, each section comprising approximately 10 participants and each totaling 9 hours of practicum over 3 days. The proposed schedule is as follows:
Monday 9 January 8:30 AM: Registration, morning section 4:30 PM: Registration, evening section
9 -12 5:00 – 8:00
Monday 9 January Spanish > English Session 1 Spanish > English Session 1
Tuesday 10 January Spanish > English Session 2 Spanish > English Session 2
Wednesday 11 January Spanish > English Session 3 Spanish > English Session 3
Program:
Each 3-hour session will comprise a brief presentation and a workshop conducted “round-table” fashion, using audio and video recordings, with an emphasis on speeches delivered at governmental and intergovernmental fora (UN, OAS, EU, OSCE, NATO, OECD, etc.). Topics addressed will include: 1. Speaking; 2. Preparation / Anticipating The Speaker; 3. Complex Syntax / Compression; 4. Word Order / Clusters; 5. General Adverbial Clauses; 6. Untranslatability; 7. Figures Of Speech; 8. Argumentation; 9. Diction / Register; 10. Formal Style; 11. The Lengthy Policy Address; 12. Quotations / Allusions / Transposition; 13. Political Discourse; 14. Economic Discourse; 15. Humor; 16. Latinisms; 17. Numbers; 18. Note-Taking.
The seminar will include reading assignments and exercises.
Recommended reading:
Interpretation Techniques and Exercises by James Nolan (Multilingual Matters, 2005, ISBN: 1853597910), available from internet booksellers.
Facilitator:
James Nolan, a consulting linguist and legal writer, has served as Deputy Director of the Interpretation, Meetings and Publishing Division of the United Nations, Head of Linguistic and Conference Services of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, Chief of the UN Verbatim Reporting Service, UN Senior Interpreter, and Linguist/Legal Writer with The Garden City Group. A graduate of the School of Translation and Interpretation of the University of Geneva and of New York Law School, Mr. Nolan is accredited by the interpretation services of the United Nations, the European Union, the U.S. State Department and the Canadian Government. Mr. Nolan has 30 years of experience as a translator, interpreter, language services manager, and trainer. He has given lectures, courses and seminars on interpretation at New York University, the University of Ottawa, Glendon College, Marymount Manhattan College, the Monterey Institute of International Studies, Howard University, the Universidad de Belgrano, the University of Wisconsin and the University of the Witwatersrand. He is a consultant to the OSCE, the US National Center for State Courts, the Canadian Forces Language School and the Canadian Language Industries Association (AILIA). Author contact: jamespnolan@aol.com / j.nolan@aiic.net
Applications:
Applicants must have substantial interpretation or translation experience in the relevant language combination. To apply, please send an e-mail to jamespnolan@aol.com with the following information:
• Name, address, telephone number and e-mail
• Brief description of translation & interpretation experience
• Native language, other languages & degree of fluency
All applications will be reviewed by James Nolan who will select the participants and will inform the selected participants by e-mail.
Fee:
The fee per person for the 9-hour seminar is 700 US dollars for AIIC members and 750 US dollars for non-AIIC interpreters. The fee is payable upon acceptance (by check or bank transfer) during the registration period, from 15 October to 31 December 2011. The fee will be refunded if the seminar is cancelled.

Spanish C Workshop, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 7- 9 January 2012

2011-08-06T08:52:00.001-07:00

Spanish C Workshop, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 7- 9 January 2012
Date: 7- 9 January 2012
Place: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Time: 9:00 am - 1:00 pm

A reprise of the successful and well-attended Spanish C Workshop organized in 2011 will be held in the context of the Buenos Aires General Assembly for colleagues worldwide from January 7 to January 9, 2012. It will take place in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and will last 3 days, from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm.

The sessions will be devoted to language (including culture), economics, law, and politics.

Simultaneous interpretation mute booths will be provided, so those participants wishing to practice interpreting workshop speakers from Spanish into their working languages can do so. They will share the booth with a Spanish A coach who will assist them and answer Spanish language questions that may arise (idioms, syntax, cultural references, etc.). We are planning on having coaches with English, French and Portuguese, in their language combination.

The preferred number of participants is between 12 (minimum) and 24 (maximum).

Cost per person for the workshop
AIIC members: USD 650.-
Non-AIIC members: USD 700.-
Registration
Registration will be open only to AIIC members from July 9 through September 30, 2011.
Kindly register before September 30, 2011 by notifying the Workshop Coordinator, Daniel Giglio, at danielgiglio@earthlink.net

Non-AIIC interpreters are welcome to register after September 30 if there are vacancies left.

MACIT FOURTH ANNUAL MEETING

2011-06-03T05:58:00.000-07:00

MACIT2007.ORG
FOURTH ANNUAL MEETING
Saturday, JUNE 11, 2011. From 9 AM to 3 PM

Breakfast and lunch included - Free parking!
Montgomery College Rockville Campus, FACULTY LOUNGE
51 Mannakee St., Rockville, MD 20850
(Closest METRO Stops: Shady Grove and Rockville – Red line)
www.montgomerycollege.edu/maps/Rvic.html

Ms. Martha Gutierrez Shepard
a positive and practical seminar,
"Creating the Interpreting Community."
Apart from her wealth of experience in various governmental organizations including the Federal Courts, State Department, OAS and AOC, Ms. Shepard has been instrumental in several workshops for the State of Maryland, has served on the professional committee of the Consortium for Language Access in the Courts and has been a rater for the Federal Court Interpreter Certification Examination.
USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE FIELD OF INTERPRETATIONS & TRANSLATIONS
Our own Vicki Dopazo and Marty Hoskings will present on the basic elements of the new technology needed to save time, keep seamless organization and allow safe access to your data while remaining mobile. An interpreter panel will informally share their experiences of everyday use of these tools: what works, their value in improving service and increasing business and handy tricks to get you using at least one new technology right away! Bring your laptops/devices or use ours; there will be an opportunity for a hands-on session for those interested!

MACIT BUSINESS MEETING, TOPICS INCLUDE:

*BOARD TO MEMBERS: WE NEED YOUR HELP!
*SHALL WE EXPAND TO VIRGINIA and DC TO BECOME THE “METROPOLITAN” ASSOCIATION OF COURT INTERPRETERS AND TRANSLATORS?

Register ahead to help us plan for materials, certificates and refreshments
Please note that we cannot accept credit cards at the door.
ATA CREDIT REQUEST PENDING
PRICE: Non-members: $55 Members: $40
Anyone who paid for the prior meeting in advance will be admitted for no additional cost if you sign up before June 7th midnight if you sign up later or at the door $10 additional
Credit card payments accepted through PayPal
Go to Paypal.com make payment to macitorg@gmail.com.
Checks payable to MACIT Mail payment to:
MACIT, 6030 Marshalee Dr., Suite 122, Elkridge, Md. 21075
If you need more information please contact:
Nieves Valdes Costa at 301-370-7054 or speakfreely5@comcast.net
Mark E. Maier at 301-602-2838 or memaier@mindspring.com

Lost In Translation: American Decodes Weird Spanish Slang

2011-04-27T18:21:00.000-07:00

Monica Garske

Learning a foreign language is hard enough. But if that language is riddled with weird slang terms and ever-changing funny phrases, you may wind up lost in translation.

That's exactly what happened to former Maryland resident Jared Romey, author of Spanish slang books "Speaking Argento," "Speaking Boricua" and the most recent "Speaking Chileno" (RIL Editores) -- guides to understanding current slang in Argentina, Puerto Rico and Chile, respectively.

Back in 1997, Romey moved from the U.S. to Chile thinking he could get by solely on the years of Spanish language classes he had taken.

He was wrong. So wrong.

Courtesy of Jared Romey
Jared Romey moved from Maryland to Chile 14 years ago and couldn't keep up with Chilean slang to save his life. He's written books dedicated to weird Spanish jargon and runs the online slang guide SpeakingLatino.com.

Turns out his intensive studies -- including many Spanish courses while getting his MBA in international business at the University of Southern Carolina -- didn't mean squat when it came to actually living in Chile and communicating with Chileans.

"They didn't speak the Spanish I was used to," Romey told AOL News in an interview from his home in San Juan, Puerto Rico. "It was fast, different and full of odd slang. I was totally lost."

During those first few weeks in Chile, Romey said he found himself second-guessing his Spanish skills, constantly confused over the correct words for simple things like popcorn, underwear and traffic jam.

Chilean slang was all around him and he didn't understand a lick of it.

Luckily, a concerned friend slipped Romey a copy of "How to Survive in the Chilean Jungle," a popular Chilean slang guide written in 1996 by John Brennan and Alvaro Toboada. From there, he started getting hip to the native tongue.

Fifteen years later, Romey -- who now sells haircare products internationally, traveling mostly between Puerto Rico and Miami -- runs his own Spanish jargon database at SpeakingLatino.com.

Monica Garske for AOL News
If you visit major cities in Chile like Santiago, left, or Valparaiso, right, chances are you'll come across lots of offbeat Chilean slang. Good luck understanding it.

The online lexicon includes more than 8,200 offbeat Spanish slang words spanning countries like Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica and, of course, Chile.

Romey translates common colloquialisms into English so that Americans can actually understand what the heck locals are saying when they visit South American countries.

So, how about a little language lesson?

Romey wasn't kidding when he said Chilean slang is a language in and of itself. Here are some examples of weird words that could leave anyone scratching their head.

A calzon quitado: Literally, this translates into "taking off your underwear." In Chilean slang, this is an expression that means to get straight to the point; to hold nothing back.

Chupar: This word means "suck." In slang, chupar refers to drinking booze -- lots of it.

Anda a lavarte el hoyo: This phrase translates into "go wash your hole," as in your -- well, you know. In slang, this phrase is used to tell people to scram or go away.

Andar con el dragon: Roughly translates into "being with the dragon." Colloquially, it means you're so hungover from drinking all night that your breath is kicking. You're practically breathing fire, much like a dragon might.

Rayarse la pintura: A Spanish translator might tell you this means to "scratch the paint." However, a hip, jargon-speaking Chilean would tell you it actually means to rub up against someone sexually.

Lumami: This happens to be one of Romey's favorite Chilean words. It's a creative slang term used to describe leftovers in your fridge, a combination of the first two letters of the words "lunes," "martes" and "miercoles," or Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Lumami refers to a meal made of leftovers from those days of the week.

Hilo dental: This could mean one of two things. It literally means "dental floss." In slang, it refers to a woman's tiny, barely there panties, like a G-string or thong.

Pelo choclo: Translates into "corn hair," which makes no sense whatsoever. Hip Chileans, however, use the term when describing a blonde.

Gordo or Gorda: In traditional Spanish dictionaries, this translates into a fat man or woman. In Chilean slang, it's a term of endearment used to refer to your boyfriend, girlfriend, spouse or kids. It's as common as calling your loved ones "babe" in America.

Pokemon: No, not the little yellow anime cartoon. In Chile, a pokemon is the term given to alternative, edgy teenagers who dress in skater tennis shoes and baggy pants that are about to fall off. Pokemons usually sport long hair, lots of piercings and listen to Reggaeton music.

Tragarse un tony: This means to "swallow a clown." Um, awkward. In slang speak, however, this actually means to die of laughter.

Mas doblado que Chino con visitas: Another Romey favorite. It translates into "more bent over than a Chinese man with visitors." In slang, it means you're so drunk, you're tipping over, much like a Chinese man bowing to visitors. "This one is hilarious," Romey said. "It really captures the Chilean spirit and the playfulness of the language."

Advanced Techniques for Court Interpreters

2011-04-22T17:24:00.000-07:00

The Monterey Institute of International Studies is hosting a course for court interpreters in Tampa, FL June 20-24, 2011. I was wondering if you could help in posting this course description to interested participants.

Advanced Techniques for Court Interpreters
Description:
This 5-day, 30 hour course will provide advanced, experienced court interpreters with an opportunity to further hone their interpreting techniques. The instructors, both federally certified interpreters with many years of teaching experience, will provide exercises designed to improve consecutive and simultaneous interpreting and sight translation skills, with extensive individual feedback. In addition, issues of test anxiety will be addressed for individuals preparing to take certification exams. By the end of the course, participants will have made significant improvements in their interpreting skills and will be more confident in their abilities.

About The Instructors
M A R I A C E C I L I A M A R T Y
[Maria Cecila Marty T&I Court Interp]Ms. Marty became ATA accredited English into Spanish in 1990, graduating in 1995 with a Masters in Translation & Interpretation, Spanish from the Monterey Institute of International Studies. Her credentials include California Administrative Hearing Certification in 1993 and Federal Court Certification in 1997.

Since 1995 she has worked for the State Department as an Escort and Seminar level interpreter. She has taught for the University of Charleston Bilingual Legal Masters Program, Florida International University ISP Program and for the University of South Florida Continuing Education Department. She currently teaches for the American Translators Association's Professional Development Seminars and also teaches preparatory courses for the Federal Court Interpreter and Consortium Exams. She has trained the staff and contract judiciary interpreters for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the state of Connecticut. In 2002 she began developing her own training materials, videos and exercise cd´s. She has just published Transcription and Translation of Forensic Recordings: A Practical Approach, born of her expertise and experience as an Expert Witness in language-related matters.

N O R M A A L V A R E Z
Norma Alvarez is a freelance Spanish translator and interpreter
based in Atlanta, Georgia. She received her Masters in Translation and Interpretation from the Monterey Institute of International Studies, and is an ATA certified translator and Federally certified interpreter. Norma is currently an adjunct instructor in the Translation and Interpretation Certificate Program at Georgia State University. She's also conducted workshops and taught classes in translation and interpretation at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and UC Irvine. As a member of the Georgia Commission on Interpreters for five years, she played a central role in the creation and implementation of guidelines for certification and continuing education of judiciary interpreters in Georgia. With more than eighteen years of experience providing training in translation, interpretation, and judicial interpretation, Norma is committed to the education and training of translators and interpreters so they can develop their [Norma Alvarez bio pic] love for the profession and find a rewarding professional career in today's marketplace.

35 hours, 7 hours per day, 5 days, Monday - Friday
Dates June 20-24, 2011
Location: Tampa, Florida

Tuition: $1,300.00 USD
Registration Deadline: May 9, 2011
with $300.00 Deposit,
Final tuition due May 30, 2011

Thanks,

Heather Kokesch
Coordinator, Short Term Programs
Monterey Institute of International Studies
phone: 831-647-6422
fax: 831-647-3534
http://go.miis.edu/tisp

Word Magic, dictionary, tools

2011-04-19T09:25:00.000-07:00

http://www.wordmagicsoft.com/dictionary/en-es/a.php

American Translators Association : Conferences & Seminars : Add an ATA Conference Button to Your Website

2011-04-05T07:20:00.000-07:00

American Translators Association : Conferences & Seminars : Add an ATA Conference Button to Your Website

MACIT HOLIDAY PARTY - DECEMBER 3, 2010

2010-10-14T08:41:00.000-07:00

New! MACIT HOLIDAY PARTY!

(Save the Date!!)

Friday, December 3, 2010, 6:30 pm

Dinner, Music, Dancing!
Come celebrate our great work and our growing organization.
We are now 90 members and growing!

Free for members (Please join MACIT!)
$10 for guests

Place: Washington Ethical Society

7750 16th ST NW, Washington DC
(Closest METRO Stop: Silver Spring– Red line)
www.ethicalsociety.org

Intermediate/Advanced Spanish>English Simultaneous Interpretation Seminar

2010-10-14T08:25:00.000-07:00

Intermediate/Advanced Spanish>English Simultaneous Interpretation Seminar

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Colegio de Traductores Públicos de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires

18 – 21 January 2011

James Nolan announced a forthcoming simultaneous interpretation seminar co-sponsored by AIIC-Argentina and ADICA, to be held at the Colegio de Traductores Públicos de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires.

Comes highly recommended by colleagues, check it out!

Subject to registration by 20 qualified applicants, a simultaneous interpretation seminar, sponsored by ADICA (Argentine Association of Conference Interpreters) and AIIC South America, will be held at the Colegio de Traductores Públicos de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires from Tuesday, 18 January through Friday, 21January, 2011. The working languages will be English (A or B) and Spanish (A, B or C). There will be two sections, one in the morning and one in the evening, each section comprising approximately 10 participants and each totaling 12 hours of practicum over 4 days.

Program: Each 3-hour session will comprise a brief presentation and a workshop conducted “round-table” fashion, using audio and video recordings of UN and other speeches. Topics addressed will include: 1. Speaking; 2. Preparation / Anticipating The Speaker; 3. Complex Syntax / Compression; 4. Word Order / Clusters; 5. General Adverbial Clauses; 6. Untranslatability; 7. Figures Of Speech; 8. Argumentation; 9. Diction / Register; 10. Formal Style; 11. The Lengthy Policy Address; 12. Quotations / Allusions / Transposition; 13. Political Discourse; 14. Economic Discourse; 15. Humor; 16. Latinisms; 17. Numbers; 18. Note-Taking. The seminar will include reading assignments and exercises. Recommended reading: Interpretation Techniques and Exercises by James Nolan, available from internet booksellers.

Facilitator: James Nolan, a consulting linguist and legal writer, has served as Deputy Director of the Interpretation, Meetings and Publishing Division of the United Nations, Head of Linguistic and Conference Services of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, Chief of the UN Verbatim Reporting Service, UN Senior Interpreter, and Linguist/Legal Writer with The Garden City Group. A graduate of the School of Translation and Interpretation of the University of Geneva and of New York Law School, Mr. Nolan is accredited by the interpretation services of the United Nations, the European Union, the U.S. State Department and the Canadian Government. Mr. Nolan has 30 years of experience as a translator, interpreter, language services manager, and trainer. He has given lectures, courses and seminars on interpretation at New York University, the University of Ottawa, Glendon College, Marymount Manhattan College, the Monterey Institute of International Studies, Howard University, the Universidad de Belgrano, the University of Wisconsin and the University of the Witwatersrand. He is a consultant to the OSCE, the US National Center for State Courts, the Canadian Forces Language School and the Canadian Language Industries Association (AILIA). Author contact: jamespnolan@aol.com / j.nolan@aiic.net

Applications: Applicants must have substantial interpretation or translation experience in the relevant language combination. To apply, please send an e-mail to jamespnolan@aol.com and

veronicaperezguarnieri@gmail.com with the following information: Name, address, telephone number and e-mail / Brief description of translation & interpretation experience / Native language, other languages, & degree of fluency. All applications will be reviewed by James Nolan who will select the participants and will inform the selected participants by e-mail.

Fee: The fee per person for the seminar is 700 US dollars for AIIC members and 750 US dollars for non-AIIC interpreters. The fee is payable in advance (by check or bank transfer) during the registration period, from 15 October to 30 November 2010. The fee will be refunded if the seminar is cancelled. Special rates at selected hotels will be arranged.

Note: Following this seminar, AIIC interpreters Olga Álvarez-Barr and Daniel Giglio, are planning to organize in Buenos Aires a reprise of the Spanish C Workshop held in 2010 for colleagues worldwide. See AIIC website for details.

New publications from Intrans book service - April Newsletter

2010-04-21T03:34:00.000-07:00

Windows Live Hotmail

April's newsletter is a little late due to the fact that we had several serious internet outingswhich caused a lot of back-up. Also the publication of the new Book-of-the-Month, the longawaited second edition of the "Legal Dictionary/Diccionario Jurídico" by Guillermo Cabanellasand Eleanor Hoague, was postponed a number of times. But last week I heard that the book willbe available on the 22nd of April. You can reserve your copy now and it will be mailed as soonas the books come in. Many of you will know this first edition by the name of "Butterworth". Please keep in mind that the books are no longer available under that name. You will findinformation on the new edition at the main page of my web site: www.intransbooks.com Other new titles this month: "Investigative Surveillance" by Elena G. Rojas. This book deals with the procedures fortranscription of foreign language communication intercepts. For more information:http://intransbooks.com/book_story/0615299938 "Mexican Legal Dictionary", by Jorge A. Vargas, a revised and updated edition of the "MexicanLegal Dictionary and Desk Reference": http://intransbooks.com/book_story/0314921613 "Municipal and Justice of the Peace Court Interpreter's Manual". More information at:http://intransbooks.com/book_story/0884315061 "Bilingual Baseball Dictionary Eng-Spa/Spa-Eng". A dictionary with more than 7,500 baseballterms: http://intransbooks.com/book_story/0578010208 Also new this month is my blog - The Translator's Bookshelf - where I would like to bring booksof special interest to the attention of the reader and create a platform for translators andinterpreters to give their positive or negative comments and add favorites of their own. You cantake a look at it by going to: http://intransbookservice.blogspot.com/ I hope you find the choices for this month interesting. However, if you no longer wish to receivemy e-mail, please return this message with "remove"in the subject line. With kind regards, Freek Lankhoflankhof@intransbooks.com

Letter to the editor of the New York Times by Nancy Festinger

2010-03-30T17:51:00.000-07:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/29/opinion/lweb29translate.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

To the Editor:

In David Bellos’s otherwise excellent article about machine versus human translation, he conflates the work of translators with that of interpreters. In this he is not alone: most people use the words “translator” and “interpreter” interchangeably.

Your readers should know, however, that a translator works with written text and an interpreter works with oral speech. A writer is not the same as an orator: they use language in different ways.

Mr. Bellos states, “ In our courts and hospitals, in the military and security services, underpaid and overworked translators make muddles out of millions of vital interactions.”

Some translators may indeed be employed in these venues to translate documentary material, but the “vital interactions” Mr. Bellos refers to are most likely mediated by interpreters, who render oral communication between languages, a skill related to but not identical to translation.

In the courts, where I’ve worked for the last 28 years, it is interpreters who enable litigants to enjoy due process: far from “muddling” vital interactions, interpreters enable witnesses and defendants to communicate effectively and to hear the court proceedings simultaneously interpreted into a language they understand.

Thousands of interpreters work daily in our state and federal courts, and while there may be a few “muddles” along the way, most vital interactions are minor miracles of communication across languages and cultures.

And no machine can do what we do either.

Nancy Festinger
New York, March 21, 2010

The writer is chief interpreter in United States District Court, Southern District of New York.

Grammar girl

2010-03-26T03:15:00.000-07:00

Check out this site for great tips on grammar.

www.grammar.quickanddirtytips.com

Blogger Buzz: Blogger integrates with Amazon Associates

2010-03-26T03:14:00.000-07:00

Blogger Buzz: Blogger integrates with Amazon Associates

Availability for assignments March

2010-03-04T13:30:00.000-08:00

Available Friday, March 5 all day.

Availability for assignments Feb 18 to 26

2010-02-18T02:58:00.000-08:00

Thursday, Feb 18 in the afternoon

Tuesday, Feb 23 all day

Wednesday, Feb 24 all day

Team Interpreting - from NAJIT's publication

2010-01-19T18:37:00.000-08:00

________________________________________
PROTEUS, Vol. VI, No. 1 - Winter 1997

New Study on Fatigue Confirms Need for Working in Teams

Mirta Vidal

The practice of having simultaneous interpreters work in teams of two during lengthy assignments, although standard procedure in all other forums requiring interpretation, has never been universally accepted by the courts. In most state and many federal courts, it is simply not done. Attempts by interpreters to institute the policy have met with resistance from judges who consider it wasteful and administrators who cite budgetary constraints. But a study recently conducted at the University of Geneva has contributed important new information on the subject: its findings provide further scientific evidence to support the position that accuracy is directly related to the length of time that a person interprets.
The study by Barbara Moser-Mercer and her colleagues (forthcoming) at the University of Geneva’s École de Traduction et d’Interprétation constitutes the first part of a two-part study on stress and fatigue in conference interpreting. Its aim is to examine the fatigue factor during extended turns, as well as the coping behavior of interpreters when under stress. The subjects—five native English-speakers working from German into English, whose professional experience ranged from 12 to 25 years in the booth—were told to work until they could no longer provide acceptable quality. During the first 30 minutes the frequency of errors—as measured with an elaborate error scale—rose steadily. The interpreters, however, "appeared to be unaware of this decline in quality," according to the report, as most of them continued on task for another 30 minutes.
The error scale included several different categories by which quality can be determined. "Looking at the total number of errors," the report states, "we can see that the frequency increases from three minutes to 30 minutes." The category of most serious errors, i.e., errors in meaning, rose consistently with increased time on task. At 60 minutes, all subjects combined committed a total of 32.5 meaning errors. "Considering that each meaning error, no matter how minor, does distort the message, a considerable increase in the number of meaning errors after 30 minutes on task does represent a significant decline in output quality," the authors argue. In the category of nonsense, the number of errors committed by the subjects almost doubled after 30 minutes on task—from 4.5 after 15 minutes to 8.5.
Moser-Mercer and her colleagues conclude: The increase in the number of meaning errors combined with the interpreters’ lack of awareness of this drastic decrease in quality shed some light on the validity of interpreters’ judgement of their own output quality [...] This lack of judgement appears to be the result of cognitive overload: a situation in which the interpreter tries to economize on processing capacity and allocate resources only to those parts of the interpreting process that will ensure continuous output (irrespective of the quality provided) [...] We can conclude from this that shorter turns do indeed preserve a high level of quality, but that interpreters cannot necessarily be trusted to make the right decision with regard to optimum time on task. This is an important insight, since many interpreters, fearful of not getting work or of exposing what is erroneously perceived as a weakness, will insist that they can work for extended periods of time without any adverse consequences to accuracy. It also shows that some courts beg the question: if interpreters themselves are unable to judge the length of time beyond which the quality of their performance declines significantly, how can anyone else have the power to decide how long an interpreter should work without relief?
An additional conclusion reached by the University of Geneva team concerned the subjects’ emotional response to increased time on task. "Interpreters seem to experience an increase in stress during the first 30 minutes, as indicated by a rise in cortisole levels, but with task overload respond with an 'I couldn’t care less' feeling," they report, adding: "This is borne out by anecdotal evidence according to which interpreters try to deflect responsibility for the quality of output when they consider the demands to be unrealistic; this would include increased time on task, extremely fast speakers, and long working hours." Every court interpreter, no matter how experienced, would undoubtedly corroborate this finding.
H. McIlvaine Parsons, a fellow at the Institute for Behavioral Research, in Silver Spring, MD, reached similar conclusions in a consultation he conducted in 1975 for the United Nations. The study was part of an investigation that followed a job action in which UN interpreters stayed away from their jobs for one day to protest "working hours and the stress and tension they said resulted from working more than seven half-day sessions per week." McIlvaine Parson’s objective was in part to "create a wider understanding than there seemed to be of the interpretation process. If some of these factors could be ameliorated," he argues, "the interpreters might experience less stress and tension and they might be less likely to avoid that stress and tension by failing to come to work."
McIlvaine Parsons reported that "the interpreters were emphatic that more than three hours in a booth [taking turns with a colleague] resulted in excessive stress and tension, especially compared with a shorter time." Other factors rated by the subjects as stressful or extremely stressful included: the speaker talking very fast, lack of clarity or coherence by the speaker, the need for intense concentration, inexperience with the subject matter, a speaker’s accent, long speaker utterances between pauses, background noise in the meeting room, and mispositioning of the speaker’s microphone relative to the speaker. All of these would be equally applicable to court interpreters.
As a result of his study, McIlvaine Parsons recommended to the UN Secretariat "that a simultaneous interpreter should not be required to work more than three half-day sessions in succession." It should be borne in mind that UN interpreters work in teams of two at all times. Skeptics might be inclined to argue that these studies do not refer specifically to interpreters who work in court and are therefore not applicable to this sector. A comparison of court and conference interpreting, however, can easily demonstrate that the former is in fact more demanding and stressful than the latter.
Although the definition of the word fatigue seems obvious, there is considerable confusion among the general public and the legal profession about its meaning and consequences in a courtroom setting. Fatigue for interpreters is not primarily physical, as in the case of athletes, whose muscles become strained after sustained exertion: it is mental fatigue. It results from complex mental processing and the high degree of concentration the interpreter must have to hear, then understand, analyze and finally express ideas coherently in another language. "Most people do not realize that an interpreter uses at least 22 cognitive skills when interpreting," states Patricia Michelsen in an article published in The Court Management and Administration Report. Other studies of simultaneous interpretation have shown that fatigue is exacerbated by environmental factors that interfere with various aspects of the cognitive process.
Taking into consideration both cognitive processes and environmental interference, the degree of concentration required of an interpreter is many times greater than that of any other person in a courtroom. In a 1995 study on fidelity assessment in consecutive interpretation, Daniel Gile reports that a group of subjects asked to rate an interpretation "were found to be unreliable fidelity assessors: they did not detect all interpretation errors on the one hand, and imagined errors that had not been made by the interpreter on the other." This is not surprising to interpretation teachers, according to Gile, since "ordinary listening entails too much loss, and [...] interpreters have to listen to speakers with much more concentration than is usual in everyday life."
While conference interpreters must cope with the stress generated by the job’s cognitive demands, their booth-enclosed environment is relatively stress-free compared to a courtroom setting. As Michelsen indicates, "Conference interpreters work under better conditions: they concentrate on only one speaker at a time, often have a prepared text of the speech ahead of time, address the audience in only one level of rhetoric, and usually do not have audibility problems."
Audibility is one of the key factors contributing to the stress suffered by court interpreters. In 1974, an enlightening study on the effects of noise on the performance of simultaneous interpreters was conducted by David Gerver, then at the University of Durham, Great Britain. He found that, as the listening conditions deteriorated, significantly more errors where committed by the subjects when interpreting than when shadowing (repeating a spoken text in the same language).
This finding, according to Gerver, "suggested that difficulty in perceiving source language passages reduced the ability of simultaneous interpreters to monitor their own interpretations into the target language." He added that other studies indicated that "levels of noise which would not necessarily impair perception of speech by simultaneous conference interpreters could interfere with the processes involved in the retrieval and transformation of the messages being interpreted." Listening conditions are most relevant to any discussion of interpreter stress and fatigue. Since monitoring their own utterances and making corrections is one of the many cognitive functions performed by interpreters, if their ability to self-correct is impaired, their level of stress and resulting fatigue also increase proportionately. "It is perhaps not surprising," Gerver comments, "that simultaneous interpreters are particularly sensitive to environmental noise and that they will often refuse to work in conditions which, to the observer at least, do not appear particularly stressful."
While Gerver’s study was conducted with a monitored increase in noise level, the same conclusions would apply to a situation in which the interpreter is simply unable to hear, as too often occurs in the courtroom. Given that acoustic impairments cause conference interpreters stress and fatigue, we can safely conclude that court interpreters are at a distinctly greater disadvantage acoustically, and therefore subjected to even more severe stress. Unlike conference interpreters, who work in soundproof booths and hear the sound through headphones connected to a stationary microphone, court interpreters hear telegraphic, often-interrupted messages from speakers distributed throughout the courtroom. Although many courts have microphones, they are not multi-directional and often distort the sound more than they amplify it. The interpreter must then filter this message through myriad other noises polluting the audible space, such as telephones ringing, jurors coughing, babies crying in the gallery, and so on. The best kept secret in the courtroom may well be that interpreters are often unable to hear what they are expected to interpret. When interpreting simultaneously into a microphone, they are invariably made to position themselves at the point furthest away from the witness stand, so as not to disturb jurors and those testifying. When no simultaneous equipment is available, the interpreter is obliged to sit next to the defendant—the hardest place from which to hear the proceedings. (By contrast, court reporters are granted the choice spot in the well of the courtroom to maximize their ability to hear every word uttered.) Moreover, no one seems to realize that the interpreter’s hearing is further obstructed by the sound of his or her own voice overlapping the original speaker’s at all times, creating an additional acoustical impediment. The bolder or more experienced interpreters will interrupt to insist that the parties speak up or rearrange themselves to improve audibility. But courtroom atmospheres are not always conducive to intransigence on the part of someone who is supposed to be invisible and unobtrusive, and even well-meaning judges and court clerks often have little or no control over antiquated sound systems or acoustically faulty architecture.
All of the factors found by the various studies described here to be major causes of conference interpreter stress and fatigue—acoustics, prolonged periods on task, lack of familiarity with relevant terminology, excessively fast or incoherent speakers, etc.—are in fact more applicable to interpreters in court than in any other setting. Moreover, judiciary interpreters have the additional pressure of knowing that nothing less than the life and liberty of human beings are at stake in the proceedings they are called upon to duplicate in a defendant’s native tongue. The awareness that each word mistranslated or omitted hinders the non-English speakers’ ability to follow the proceedings against them is a constant source of tension. Whereas the conference setting allows for much more flexibility, interpreting in court requires greater precision, since a complete and faithful rendition must include hesitations, false starts, repetitions and inaccuracies. It follows then that judiciary interpreters face more demanding and stressful working conditions than their counterparts elsewhere.
While these studies make an important contribution to the body of scientific data needed for a better understanding of the interpreting process and its complexities, they merely corroborate what practicing interpreters have known and argued all along: that work quality—i.e., accuracy and coherence—begins to deteriorate after approximately 30 minutes of sustained simultaneous interpreting, and that the only way to ensure a faithful rendition of legal proceedings is to provide interpreters with adequate relief at approximately half-hour intervals.
Conscientious administrators in several federal courts, the United Nations and the U.S. State Department recognized the need for tandem interpreting and adopted the practice early on. Team interpreting, in fact, dates back to the Nuremberg trials. At the State Department, which according to Harry Obst, Director of the Office of Language Services, handles 200 to 300 interpreting missions in 100 different locations per day, it is considered an inviolable policy. In response to a request from Ed Baca of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, Obst pointed out that "The policy on simultaneous interpreters is simple and corresponds to that of all other responsible interpreting services in the entire world (United Nations, European Commission, International Red Cross, International Court of Justice, foreign ministries in other nations.) No individual simultaneous interpreter is allowed to work for more than 30 minutes at a time." The letter continues, "This is also done for the protection of the users. After 30 minutes the accuracy and completeness of simultaneous interpreters decrease precipitously, falling off by about 10% every 5 minutes after holding a satisfactory plateau for half an hour." The reason, Obst explains, is that "The human mind cannot hold the needed level of focused concentration any longer than that. This fact has been demonstrated in millions of hours of simultaneous interpretation around the world since 1948. It is not a question of opinion. It is simply the result of empirical observation."
Echoing the results of the University of Geneva study, Obst adds that although some interpreters believe they can interpret longer than that, they do so because after 30 minutes "they can no longer differentiate between interpreting the original message or just babbling in the target language. Their mind is too tired to evaluate their own performance." The policy on the part of court administrators that interpreters work for an hour or more without relief, says Obst, "makes sense only in budgetary terms. It makes reliable interpreting impossible and denies the client who has to rely on the interpreter the due process that every person is entitled to under our laws."
And that is precisely the point. Unlike their colleagues in any other sector, judiciary interpreters are placed under oath to "truly and accurately interpret" the proceedings. Accuracy in a legal context is not an academic concept or an abstraction that can be quantified in relative terms. It is the cornerstone that guarantees limited-English litigants equality under the law. That was the spirit of the Court Interpreters Act enacted in 1978. It is also the spirit of the Code of Professional Responsibility drafted by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, which compels interpreters to "fulfill a special duty to interpret accurately and faithfully" and "perform to the best of their ability to assure due process for the parties" and "refuse any assignment [...] under conditions which substantially impair their effectiveness." If interpreters are to be expected to comply with these canons, they will need the full support of administrators in both the state and federal courts, who will place due process considerations above the temptation to trim their budgets at the expense of those who come before the bar of justice.
Dueñas González, Roseann, Victoria F. Vázquez and Holly Mikkelson. 1991. Appendix C: Code of Professional Responsibility of the Official Court Interpreters of the United States Courts. In Fundamentals of court interpretation, (pp. 585-586). Durham, N.C.: Carolina Academic Press.
Gerver, David. 1974. "The effects of noise on the performance of simultaneous interpreters: Accuracy of performance." Acta Psychologica. 38:159-167.
Gile, Daniel. 1995. "Fidelity assessment in consecutive interpretation: An experiment". Target. 7.1:151-164.
McIlvaine Parsons, H. 1978. "Human factors approach to simultaneous interpretation." In David Gerver and H. Wallace Sinaiko, eds. Language interpretation and communication (pp. 315-321). New York: Plenum. Michelsen, Patricia. 1992. "Court interpreting." The Court Management & Administration Report. 3.10-16.
Moser-Mercer, Barbara, Alexander Künzli and Marina Korac. 1996. "Prolonged turns in interpreting: Effects on quality, physiological and psychological stress". Working Paper. University of Geneva, École de Traduction et d’Interprétation. Unpublished manuscript.
________________________________________
________________________________________
Obst, Harry. [11 June 1996]. [Letter to Mr. Edward Baca, District Court Administration Division, Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, Washington, D.C.].
© 1997 by NAJIT

Working with an interpreter at a deposition

2009-10-17T12:59:00.000-07:00

http://courtreportingservice.blogspot.com/2009/10/some-steps-for-work-with-legal.html

Friday, October 16, 2009

The first thing to do is to invest in a certified interpreter with a legal specialty. You've heard it before: bilingualism does not an interpreter make. Neither does a bachelor degree in a language. Nor a high school class. Professional interpreters are qualified linguists whose number one goal is to help you communicate with speakers of other languages. They should have trustworthy references and formal training. You can use an agency to hire an interpreter or you can contract a freelance interpreter directly. There are advantages and disadvantages to both approaches.If possible, ask the interpreter or translator to come in early so that you have time to run through the basics. Even if this means you will have to pay for the "extra" time, it'll be worth it when you find that the language communication part of the deposition is running smoothly. Briefly interview your client with the assistance of the interpreter. This will give the interpreter the chance to familiarize herself with your client's voice, speaking style, dialect, etc. This is a good idea especially if you have not provided any information about the case to the interpreter beforehand.Provide material days in advance for the interpreter to review before the deposition. You don't have to give her your entire case file, but some background is helpful. Making the basics of the case available to the interpreter (who, what, where, when, etc.) will help her prepare and ensure that the communication side of your deposition goes well. If you have documents in another language that you will ask the interpreter to sight translate into the record, make sure she has these well before the start of the deposition.At the very least, provide the interpreter with a list of names and dates that will be used during the deposition. This will ensure that all names and dates coming from you will be interpreted accurately.Always use the second person when addressing your client or other parties and look at them directly. For example, you should say "state your name for the record," rather than "tell him to state his name for the record." Never look at the interpreter unless you are addressing her directly.Consider keeping your sentences short and simple. When addressing your client, it is a good idea to stay away from long, complex sentences with multiple subordinate clauses, unless doing so interferes with your litigation strategy.Understand that a legal interpreter must remain neutral and not demonstrate partiality toward any party. When the deposition begins, and even during the brief client interview (if you hold one beforehand), the interpreter will go into professional legal interpreter mode. Her face will be minimally expressive; her body movements almost non-existent; her voice will echo each speaker's voice in tone. If the interpreter is especially good, you may even forget that she is present.Keep in mind that at times the interpreter will go into simultaneous/whispering mode. Whenever anything is said on or off the record, the interpreter must interpret it to the client in order to preserve his right to be present in the legal proceeding.Make reasonable requests of the interpreter. For example, if you find that the interpreter is too loud during simultaneous interpretation, ask her to speak in a lower tone. Don't be reluctant to make reasonable requests of the interpreter to ensure that the deposition runs smoothly. Professional interpreters appreciate direction from their well-informed clients.Take into account that accuracy decreases with increased fatigue. If you are in a long deposition, consider asking the interpreter if she would like a break. Or better yet, agree at the beginning that you will take pre-determined breaks. Mental fatigue will affect the accuracy of the interpretation.Remember that a deposition with an interpreter will inevitably take longer than a "regular" deposition. Everything is being said twice. Most of the deposition will take place in consecutive mode. For example: one party asks a question in the source language (for example, English), the interpreter repeats the question in the target language (for example, Spanish), the party addressed answers the question in the same language (Spanish), and the interpreter repeats the answer in the original language (English). Not surprisingly, this interaction takes longer than normal interactions. If you accept that the deposition will take twice as long as a "normal" one, you will be in the right mindset to work with an interpreter. What's more, you are setting yourself up for a pleasant surprise if the deposition should not take as long as you expected.Finally, put the interpreter out of your mind. You've done your homework. You can afford to pretend that you are in a "regular" deposition. Your colleagues, on the other hand, may not be so lucky.
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Short term availability

2009-10-11T13:21:00.001-07:00

Availability for the Week of January 3, 2010

Wednesday, January 6. Available all day.

I am also available after hours, i.e. jail visits.

Victoria Kirchgessner , Spanish Interpreter, FCCI,
vkirchgessner@msn.com or 410-905-5400

Check here for short term availability, if you need to cover an interpreting assignment with short notice. I will be posting my availability for the current week.

Of course it is always better to book in advance and we are often booked well in advance. However there are many occassions when we are booked for trials which later are cancelled, postponed, plead and we become available. Coordinators often have situations when although they have planned in advance found themselves in need of another interpreter for various reasons. For those occasions I thought it would be of mutual benefit to post the short term availability.

Eventually I may also post the availability of other colleagues who would be willing to accept assignments on short notice as well.

Colleagues: e-mail me with your availability for the week if you are interested in sharing it here.

please include, date, name, certifications and contact info.

interpreter fatigue _ Interpreter collapses at UN

2009-09-26T23:49:00.000-07:00

Gaddafi interpreter 'collapsed during UN speech' - Times Online
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Muammar Gaddafi's personal translator broke down towards the end of the Libyan leader's meandering 94-minute UN speech and had to be rescued by a UN Arabic speaker.http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6849070.ece

I feel so sorry for the poor interpreter that was subjected to these working conditions. I just encountered a prospective employer that suggested that team interpreting was not necessary, except in cases of "complex" trials of more than 3 days, that is in cases of multiple defendants. Would be nice if they read this article, just for a glimpse of what the job of simultaneous interpreting entails, and the risks of doing it alone.
I know I am preaching to the choir here but I thought it was worth sharing and passing it along. Just as a fellow interpreter posted it on facebook I thought perhaps others would like to share it too with the lay people that somehow get to make the interpreting hiring decisions. Wouldn't hurt if they become more informed, in my humble opinion.

MACIT 2nd. FALL CONFERENCE

2009-07-26T20:40:00.000-07:00

MACIT will be holding its Fall Conference on September 26, 2009.

Registration and Continental Breakfast will be
from 8:30 am until 9:00am.

Our program will start promptly at 9:00am.

PLEASE NOTE THE SPECIFIC LOCATION OF THE MEETING ROOM!
MONTGOMERY COLLEGE- ROCKVILLE CAMPUS
CAMPUS CENTER BUILDING (CC)
FACULTY & STAFF DINING ROOM #158.

When you're coming on 355, take:
North Campus Drive.
Here is a map of the campus to ensure that you don't get lost!

http://www.montgomerycollege.edu/maps/rcamp.html

PARKING: Anywhere in the Student Parking Lot # 4, with the exception of places marked "FACULTY".
Otherwise you could be fined.

To those who have not yet registered and intend to do it at the door, please send your application via fax or scanned via email, or print it and bring it with you already filled out.

We can only accept cash or check payments at the door.

for more info go to www.macit2007.org

Los argentinosJulián Marías* habla de los argentinos, cortesía de Sole Frecon

2009-07-15T10:49:00.000-07:00

(*) Filosofo - Catedrático - Político - Escritor y Periodista ESPAÑOL

Una vez alguien le pidió a un filósofo español, Julián Marías, muy conocedor del pueblo argentino y de sus costumbres y, con un gran cariño por nosotros, que hablara de los argentinos, pero con visión desde fuera del bosque y de toda pasión.... ...Esto fue lo que dijo:

'Los argentinos están entre vosotros, pero no son como vosotros. No intentéis conocerlos, porque su alma vive en el mundo impenetrable de la dualidad. Los argentinos beben en una misma copa la alegría y la amargura. Hacen música de su llanto -el tango- y se ríen de la música de otro; toman en serio los chistes y de todo lo serio hacen bromas. Ellos mismos no se conocen. Creen en la interpretació n de los sueños, en Freud y el horóscopo chino, visitan al médico y también al curandero todo al mismo tiempo. Tratan a Dios como "El Barba" y se mofan de los ritos religiosos, aunque los presidentes no se pierden un Tedeum en la Catedral. No renuncian a sus ilusiones ni aprenden de sus desilusiones. No discutáis con ellos jamás!!! Los argentinos nacen con sabiduría !!! Saben y opinan de todo!!! En una mesa de café y en programas de periodistas / políticos arreglan todo. Cuando los argentinos viajan, todo lo comparan con Buenos Aires. Hermanos, ellos son "El Pueblo Elegido" ...por ellos mismos. Individualmente, se caracterizan por su simpatía y su inteligencia. En grupo son insoportables por su griterío y apasionamiento. Cada uno es un genio y los genios no se llevan bien entre ellos; por eso es fácil reunirlos, pero unirlos... imposible. Un argentino es capaz de lograr todo en el mundo, menos el aplauso de otro argentino. No le habléis de lógica. La lógica implica razonamiento y mesura. Los argentinos son hiperbólicos y desmesurados, van de un extremo a otro con sus opiniones y sus acciones.
Cuando discuten no dicen: No estoy de acuerdo, sino: Usted esta absolutamente equivocado.. Aman tanto la contradicción que llaman "Bárbara" a una mujer linda; a un erudito lo bautizan"Bestia", a un mero futbolista "Genio" y cuando manifiestan extrema amistad te califican de "Boludo". Y si el afecto y confianza es mucho más grande, "Eres un Hijo de Puta". Cuando alguien les pide un favor no dicen simplemente "Si", sino "Como No". Son el único pueblo del mundo que comienza sus frases con la palabra NO. Cuando alguien les agradece, dicen: "NO, de nada" o "NO"... con una sonrisa. Los argentinos tienen dos problemas para cada solución. Pero intuyen las soluciones a todo problema. Cualquier argentino dirá que sabe como se debe pagar la deuda externa, enderezar a los militares, aconsejar al resto de América latina, disminuir el hambre de Africa y enseñar economía en USA. Los argentinos tienen metáforas para referirse a lo común con palabras extrañas. Por ejemplo, a un aumento de sueldos le llaman... "Rebalanceo de Ingresos", a un incremento de impuestos... "Modificación de la Base Imponible" y a una simple devaluación.. . "Una Variación Brusca del Tipo de Cambio". Un Plan Económico es siempre... "Un Plan de Ajuste" y a una Operación Financiera de Especulación la denominan.... "Bicicleta". Viven, como dijo Ortega y Gasset, una permanente disociación entre la imagen que tienen de si mismos y la realidad. Tienen un altísimo numero de psicólogos y psiquiatras y se ufanan de estar siempre al tanto de la última terapia. Tienen un tremendo súper ego, pero no se lo mencionen porque se desestabilizan y entran en crisis. Tienen un espantoso temor al ridículo, pero se describen a si mismo como liberados.Son prejuiciosos, pero creen ser amplios, generosos y tolerantes. Son racistas al punto de hablar de..."cabecitas Negras". LOS ARGENTINOS SON ITALIANOS QUE HABLAN EN ESPAÑOL. PRETENDEN SUELDOS NORTEAMERICANOS Y VIVIR COMO INGLESES. DICEN DISCURSOS FRANCESES Y VOTAN COMO SENEGALESES. PIENSAN COMO ZURDOS Y VIVEN COMO BURGUESES. ALABAN EL EMPRENDIMIENTO CANADIENSE Y TIENEN UNA ORGANIZACIÓN BOLIVIANA. ADMIRAN EL ORDEN SUIZO Y PRACTICAN UN DESORDEN TUNECINO. Son Un Misterio'.

Interpreter Training

2009-07-14T18:36:00.000-07:00

Sept. 4, 5, & 6 - INTERPRETERS & TRANSLATOR'S CONFERENCE. Don't miss out on this once-a-year opportunity to NETWORK with like-minded PROFESSIONAL INTERPRETERS while learning fromTOP MINDS in FORENSICS, WEAPONS, LINGUISTICS, GOVERNMENT, & of course STATE / FEDERAL INTERPRETATION! Space is limited & time is running out!!! REGISTER NOW at: www.interpreter-training.com

Our friend and colleague Diana Jovanovic

2009-07-02T18:50:00.000-07:00

I am sad to pass this news along. Eileen just forwarded this note with the request to pass it along to all those who were fortunate to know Diana. She will be missed.

Copy of Eileen's message:

Thursday, July 02, 2009 8:29 PM
Subject: Our Friend Diana

I don't know how to best compose this e-mail. I just wanted to let you know that our friend Diana Jovanovic passed away today. She put up a fight until the very end and was in the hospital with her daughter and son. The family is very appreciative of all the love and support showered upon her, especially in these last few weeks.

The family will advise me when there will be a memorial service for her, either this Monday or Tuesday. I will forward the details when I get them. Please pass this message along.

God bless you all,

Eileen

Interpreter Training, federal exam preparation

2009-06-25T09:20:00.000-07:00

Intensive Bootcamp Session I
Sunday, July 5 - Thursday, July 9.
Payment must be received in full by June 15.

Intensive Bootcamp Session II
Monday, July 20 - Friday, July 24.
Payment must be received in full by June 29.

Test Taking Techniques and Oral Test Self-Evaluation Mock Exam
Saturday, July 25.

fittsbootcamp@live.com or fittservices@ureach.com
For info:(787) 536-0101
All training will be held at the FITTS Offices located in Suite 200, 1250Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036.

Interpreting Theory - Recommendations

2009-06-19T04:01:00.001-07:00

Note-taking for Consecutive Interpreting - A Short Course
Andrew Gillies, Translation Practices Explained: Volume 8, 2005, St Jerome.
and
Conference Interpreting Explained.
Jones, Roderick. 1998 Manchester . St Jerome. Pages 12-70.
If you want to read excerpts of each book, you can go to this website.
http://interpreters.free.fr/reading/consec.htm

Robert's Rules...

2009-06-01T19:35:00.000-07:00

For reference on Robert's Rules of Order, check this page http://www.parlipro.org/minutes.htm

Perlita en castellano. Artículo de Eduardo Galeano, cortesía de Elsa Sebastiao

2009-05-15T09:49:00.000-07:00

Para Mayores de 40 años. (Los argentinos lo apreciarán en mayor grado)

Lo que me pasa es que no consigo andar por el mundo tirando cosas y cambiándolas por el modelo siguiente sólo porque a alguien se le ocurre agregarle una función o achicarlo un poco. No hace tanto, con mi mujer, lavábamos los pañales de los críos, los colgábamos en la cuerda junto a otra ropita, los planchábamos, los doblábamos y los preparábamos para que los volvieran a ensuciar. Y ellos, nuestros nenes, apenas crecieron y tuvieron sus propios hijos se encargaron de tirar todo por la borda, incluyendo los pañales. ¡Se entregaron inescrupulosamente a los desechables! Si, ya lo sé. A nuestra generación siempre le costó tirar. ¡Ni los desechos nos resultaron muy desechables! Y así anduvimos por las calles guardando los mocos en el bolsillo y las grasas en los repasadores. ¡¡¡Nooo!!! Yo no digo que eso era mejor. Lo que digo es que en algún momento me distraje, me caí del mundo y ahora no sé por dónde se entra. Lo más probable es que lo de ahora esté bien, eso no lo discuto. Lo que pasa es que no consigo cambiar el equipo de música una vez por año, el celular cada tres meses o el monitor de la computadora todas las navidades. ¡Guardo los vasos desechables! ¡Lavo los guantes de látex que eran para usar una sola vez! ¡Apilo como un viejo ridículo las bandejitas de espuma plástica de los pollos! ¡Los cubiertos de plástico conviven con los de acero inoxidable en el cajón de los cubiertos! ¡Es que vengo de un tiempo en el que las cosas se compraban para toda la vida! ¡Es más! ¡Se compraban para la vida de los que venían después! La gente heredaba relojes de pared, juegos de copas, fiambreras de tejido y hasta palanganas de loza. Y resulta que en nuestro no tan largo matrimonio, hemos tenido más cocinas que las que había en todo el barrio en mi infancia y hemos cambiado de heladera tres veces. ¡¡Nos están fastidiando! ! ¡¡Yo los descubrí!! ¡¡Lo hacen adrede!! Todo se rompe, se gasta, se oxida, se quiebra o se consume al poco tiempo para que tengamos que cambiarlo. Nada se repara. Lo obsoleto es de fábrica. ¿Dónde están los zapateros arreglando las media-suelas de las Nike? ¿Alguien ha visto a algún colchonero escardando sommiers casa por casa? ¿Quién arregla los cuchillos eléctricos? ¿El afilador o el electricista? ¿Habrá teflón para los hojalateros o asientos de aviones para los talabarteros? Todo se tira, todo se desecha y, mientras tanto, producimos más y más basura. El otro día leí que se produjo más basura en los últimos 40 años que en toda la historia de la humanidad. El que tenga menos de 40 años no va a creer esto: ¡¡Cuando yo era niño por mi casa no pasaba el basurero!! ¡¡Lo juro!! ¡Y tengo menos de... años! Todos los desechos eran orgánicos e iban a parar al gallinero, a los patos o a los conejos (y no estoy hablando del siglo XVII) No existía el plástico ni el nylon. La goma sólo la veíamos en las ruedas de los autos y las que no estaban rodando las quemábamos en la Fiesta de San Juan. Los pocos desechos que no se comían los animales, servían de abono o se quemaban.. De 'por ahí' vengo yo. Y no es que haya sido mejor. Es que no es fácil para un pobre tipo al que lo educaron con el 'guarde y guarde que alguna vez puede servir para algo', pasarse al 'compre y tire que ya se viene el modelo nuevo'. Mi cabeza no resiste tanto. Ahora mis parientes y los hijos de mis amigos no sólo cambian de celular una vez por semana, sino que, además, cambian el número, la dirección electrónica y hasta la dirección real. Y a mí me prepararon para vivir con el mismo número, la misma mujer, la misma casa y el mismo nombre (y vaya si era un nombre como para cambiarlo) Me educaron para guardar todo. ¡¡¡Toooodo!!! Lo que servía y lo que no. Porque algún día las cosas podían volver a servir. Le dábamos crédito a todo. Si, ya lo sé, tuvimos un gran problema: nunca nos explicaron qué cosas nos podían servir y qué cosas no. Y en el afán de guardar (porque éramos de hacer caso) guardamos hasta el ombligo de nuestro primer hijo, el diente del segundo, las carpetas del jardín de infantes y no sé cómo no guardamos la primera caquita. ¿Cómo quieren que entienda a esa gente que se desprende de su celular a los pocos meses de comprarlo? ¿Será que cuando las cosas se consiguen fácilmente, no se valoran y se vuelven desechables con la misma facilidad con la que se consiguieron? En casa teníamos un mueble con cuatro cajones. El primer cajón era para los manteles y los repasadores, el segundo para los cubiertos y el tercero y el cuarto para todo lo que no fuera mantel ni cubierto. Y guardábamos.. . ¡¡Cómo guardábamos!! ¡¡Tooooodo lo guardábamos!! ¡¡Guardábamos las chapitas de los refrescos!! ¡¿Cómo para qué?! Hacíamos limpia-calzados para poner delante de la puerta para quitarnos el barro. Dobladas y enganchadas a una piola se convertían en cortinas para los bares. Al terminar las clases le sacábamos el corcho, las martillábamos y las clavábamos en una tablita para hacer los instrumentos para la fiesta de fin de año de la escuela. ¡Tooodo guardábamos! ¡¡¡Las cosas que usábamos!!!: mantillas de faroles, ruleros, ondulines y agujas de primus. Y las cosas que nunca usaríamos. Botones que perdían a sus camisas y carreteles que se quedaban sin hilo se iban amontonando en el tercer y en el cuarto cajón. Partes de lapiceras que algún día podíamos volver a precisar. Tubitos de plástico sin la tinta, tubitos de tinta sin el plástico, capuchones sin la lapicera, lapiceras sin el capuchón. Encendedores sin gas o encendedores que perdían el resorte. Resortes que perdían a su encendedor. Cuando el mundo se exprimía el cerebro para inventar encendedores que se tiraban al terminar su ciclo, inventábamos la recarga de los encendedores descartables. Y las Gillette -hasta partidas a la mitad- se convertían en sacapuntas por todo el ciclo escolar. Y nuestros cajones guardaban las llavecitas de las latas de sardinas o del corned-beef, por las dudas que alguna lata viniera sin su llave. ¡Y las pilas! Las pilas de las primeras Spica pasaban del congelador al techo de la casa. Porque no sabíamos bien si había que darles calor o frío para que vivieran un poco más. No nos resignábamos a que se terminara su vida útil, no podíamos creer que algo viviera menos que un jazmín. Las cosas no eran desechables. Eran guardables. ¡¡¡Los diarios!!! Servían para todo: para hacer plantillas para las botas de goma, para poner en el piso los días de lluvia y por sobre todas las cosas para envolver. ¡¡¡Las veces que nos enterábamos de algún resultado leyendo el diario pegado al trozo de carne!!! Y guardábamos el papel plateado de los chocolates y de los cigarros para hacer guías de pinitos de navidad y las páginas del almanaque para hacer cuadros y los cuentagotas de los remedios por si algún medicamento no traía el cuentagotas y los fósforos usados porque podíamos prender una hornalla de la Volcán desde la otra que estaba prendida y las cajas de zapatos que se convirtieron en los primeros álbumes de fotos. Y las cajas de cigarros Richmond se volvían cinturones y posa-mates y los frasquitos de las inyecciones con tapitas de goma se amontonaban vaya a saber con qué intención, y los mazos de naipes se reutilizaban aunque faltara alguna, con la inscripción a mano en una sota de espada que decía 'éste es un 4 de bastos'. Los cajones guardaban pedazos izquierdos de palillos de ropa y el ganchito de metal. Al tiempo albergaban sólo pedazos derechos que esperaban a su otra mitad para convertirse otra vez en un palillo. Yo sé lo que nos pasaba: nos costaba mucho declarar la muerte de nuestros objetos. Así como hoy las nuevas generaciones deciden 'matarlos' apenas aparentan dejar de servir, aquellos tiempos eran de no declarar muerto a nada: ¡¡¡ni a Walt Disney!!! Y cuando nos vendieron helados en copitas cuya tapa se convertía en base y nos dijeron: 'Cómase el helado y después tire la copita', nosotros dijimos que sí, pero, ¡¡¡minga que la íbamos a tirar!!! Las pusimos a vivir en el estante de los vasos y de las copas. Las latas de arvejas y de duraznos se volvieron macetas y hasta teléfonos.. Las primeras botellas de plástico se transformaron en adornos de dudosa belleza. Las hueveras se convirtieron en depósitos de acuarelas, las tapas de botellones en ceniceros, las primeras latas de cerveza en portalápices y los corchos esperaron encontrarse con una botella. Y me muerdo para no hacer un paralelo entre los valores que se desechan y los que preservábamos. ¡¡¡Ah!!! ¡¡¡No lo voy a hacer!!! Me muero por decir que hoy no sólo los electrodomésticos son desechables; que también el matrimonio y hasta la amistad son descartables. Pero no cometeré la imprudencia de comparar objetos con personas. Me muerdo para no hablar de la identidad que se va perdiendo, de la memoria colectiva que se va tirando, del pasado efímero. No lo voy a hacer. No voy a mezclar los temas, no voy a decir que a lo perenne lo han vuelto caduco y a lo caduco lo hicieron perenne. No voy a decir que a los ancianos se les declara la muerte apenas empiezan a fallar en sus funciones, que los cónyuges se cambian por modelos más nuevos, que a las personas que les falta alguna función se les discrimina o que valoran más a los lindos, con brillo y glamour. Esto sólo es una crónica que habla de pañales y de celulares. De lo contrario, si mezcláramos las cosas, tendría que plantearme seriamente entregar a la 'bruja' como parte de pago de una señora con menos kilómetros y alguna función nueva. Pero yo soy lento para transitar este mundo de la reposición y corro el riesgo de que la 'bruja' me gane de mano y sea yo el entregado. Hasta aquí Eduardo Galeano

perlita del idioma inglés

2009-04-27T14:29:00.000-07:00

courtesy of a colistero de Najit,
In the current issue of the World Wide Words Magazine (http://www.worldwidewords.org/nl/ymhc.htm), there's a widely-circulated but unfortunately anonymous poem which listeros may enjoy:

We’ll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes,
But the plural of ox should be oxen, not oxes.
Then one fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of mouse should never be meese,
You may find a lone mouse or a whole nest of mice,
But the plural of house is houses, not hice.
If the plural of man is always called men,
Why shouldn’t the plural of pan be called pen?
The cow in the plural may be cows or kine,
But a bow if repeated is never called bine,
And the plural of vow is vows, never vine.
If I speak of a foot and you show me your feet,
And I give you a boot would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth, and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn’t the plural of booth be called beeth?
If the singular’s this and the plural is these,
Should the plural of kiss ever be nicknamed keese?
Then one may be that and three would be those,
Yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
And the plural of cat is cats, not cose.
We speak of a brother, and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren,
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
But imagine the feminine she, shis and shim,
So the English, I think, you all will agree,
Is the queerest language you ever did see.

Glossaries, publications and other resources

2009-04-13T16:05:00.000-07:00

http://www.usa.gov/webcontent/spanish_guide/spanish_glossary.shtml _English-Spanish Glossary of Federal Agencies, Officials and Laws

http://www.intransbooks.com/ Book Service for Professional Interpreters and Translators

http://www.ata-divisions.org/MD/medical-translation-resources.htm
Medical Division of ATA

http://www.consejeria.df.gob.mx/legislativos/archivo_general/ordenacion.html
Documentos legales, notariales de Mexico. Good for sight translation Spanish > English.

http://www.wordreference.com/ for consultation on translation

http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/region/news/ This page has links to Latin American newspapers and a lot more from around the world.

http://www.saccourt.com/geninfo/legal_glossaries/legal_glossaries.asp legal glossaries

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page Wonderful encyclopedia, collaborative effort, various languages

http://www.acronymfinder.com/about.asp List of acronyms

http://www.proz.com/ Great for terminology discussion, consultation with colleagues.

http://www.irs.gov/ - publications - Glossary of Spanish-English Terms.

http://www.ssa.gov/ Social Security Administration has a good glossary. Publications.

www.orgsites.com/ny/mvoiti/http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/ Phonetics

http://www.rae.es/ DRAE Diccionario de la Real Academia Española.

http://www.terra.com.ar/ links to Radio Continental and news sites from Argentina

http://www.clarin.com/ Diario argentino. Links to Radio Mitre

http://www.legalinttrans.info/ Recommended reading, listening
Prior Bad Acts, by Tami Hoag – on tape, disks – great for context and vocab.
http://www.othertongues.net/audiobooks.html
books on tape, Spanish and other languages, resources for audio tape, cd mp3 downloads from NY library – out of state residents $100 for library card.
TIPS:
Your local public library may have audiobooks in foreign languages.
Use portable, variable speed tape players to slow down books-on-tape. Click here.
AUDIOBOOKS IN ELECTRONIC FORMAT ONLINE
The New York Public Library's Collection of Audiobooks http://ebooks.nypl.org/ Download auidobooks from the library as WMA files. Free for residents of New York State. Non-residents of New York can apply for a library card, $100 annual fee. Many of their audiobooks are in the public domain and can be burned to CD, while others cannot. Files can be played on your PC or downloaded to a portable device that plays WMAs for the duration of the library's lending period. The software available from the library does not convert even files to any format except WMA, but software to convert WMAs to MP3s and other formats is available online. One example is www.wma-mp3.com/
www.digitalbookindex.org/foreignlangs.htm Digital Books Index's catalog of foreign language sites for eBooks
http://www.audiolibros.com/cgi-local/SoftCart.100.exe/titles_e.htm?E+scstore AudioLibros
http://www.worldlanguage.com/Products/Spanish/AudioBooks/Page1.htm World Language: Direct link to list of more than 200 AudioLibros on CD and cassette
http://www.audioeditions.com/showcat.cfm?catname=Spanish&subcat=ALL Audio Editions: Twelve pages of audiobooks in Spanish
http://www.audiobookcentral.com/ Tip: On "Catalog" look under "Foreign Language Study", then "Spanish" then "Foreign Language Content". Also, look under "Fiction" then "Foreign Language Content"
http://www.foreignaudiobooks.com/ Foreign Audio Books
http://www.audiocoleccion.com/ AudioColeccion Located in Valencia, Spain. Books that Speak to You. Jorge at AudioColeccion writes: "The AudioColeccion offers 'movies with no image', with many castings of top actors."
A Few Recommended Titles:
"Como Agua Para Chocolate" by Laura Esquivel
"La Ciudad de las Bestias" by Isabel Allende
"Aura" by Carlos Fuentes
"Cristina" by Cristina Saralegui, TV talk show host and journalist
"Mi Hermana Frida" by Barbara Mujica
"Bendíceme, Última¨by Rudolfo Anaya
"El Diario de Claudia Eugenia" by Jose Manuel Villalpando Also: Refer to recommendations of books on tape from Clara Grebel: http://www.portlandspanish.com/booksontape.htm
You can also find news and information podcasts in Spanish for download as MP3s at various sites. A few are:
Al Grano con Maria Hinojosa (USA): www.npr.org/rss/podcast.php?id=510217Download these biweekly podcasts from NPR as an MP3. (Unfortunately this series appears to have been discontinued, but archived podcasts are still available.)
Colombia Informa (Colombia): http://www.earthmusicnetwork.com/colombiainforma/%22. Download and listen to the most recent episode as an MP3.
Democracy Now! Los Titulares de Hoy: Daily news summary translated into Spanish, http://www.democracynow.org/. Go to "Browse Archives by Date" and download the daily news summary as an MP3.
Desde al Bano: http://desdeelbano.blogspot.com/
BBC Mundo Radio live in 33 languages: www.bbc.co.uk/radio/RSS feed text examples:* BBC Mundo Hoy: http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/worldservice/mh/rss.xml * BBC Enlace: http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/worldservice/enlace/rss.xml

Professional Associations

2009-04-13T16:04:00.000-07:00

www.najit.org NAJIT - National Association of Judiciary Interpreters

www.atanet.org ATA - American Translators Association

www.macit2007.org MACIT - Maryland Association of Court Interpreters and Translators

Interpreter Training

2009-04-13T16:03:00.002-07:00

Interpreter Training

www.delamorasolutions.com Interpreter Training by James Plunkett

http://www.fittservices.com/ Interpreting Training by Maria Cecilia Marty

http://www.aliciaernand.com/html/courses.htm
Continuing Education courses for interpreters by Alicia Ernand. Audio lessons based on real cases. 15 CD’s

http://www.ncsconline.org/D_Research/CourtInterp.html National Center for State Courts, Consortium of State Courts information on Court Interpreter Certification.

Fees, pricing

2009-04-13T16:03:00.001-07:00

Please refrain from inquiring about fees. We can’t give advice on how much to charge for professional fees. Most of us are freelancers and set our own fees. By law we can’t agree among ourselves to charge a certain amount, lest we be accused of price fixing. Rates set by the Administrative Office of the Courts in different states and by U.S. District Courts are published in their web sites.
A very a pro po quote… A colleague sent this precious quote to the NAJIT listserve and I quote:
"The minute you settle for less than you deserve, you get even less than you settled for." (Maureen Dowd)

MACIT 2ND ANNUAL MEETING, A TOTAL SUCCESS!

2009-04-11T20:24:00.000-07:00

MACIT'S S SECOND ANNUAL MEETING. HELD ON MAY 2. 2009, WAS A TOTAL SUCCESS!
CONGRATULATIONS TO MY COLLEAGUES WHO PUT IT TOGETHER.
HERE ARE SOME OF THE COMMENTS FROM ATTENDEES:

“Great job!”

“Excellent program.”

“Excellent presentation and pre-meeting communication.”

“More interesting than I thought.” [referring to Weapons and Forensics]

“Excellent topics and presentation.”

“3rd presentation good info. about transcription process – still need practical and examples about being an Expert witness: what are the issues and how to address [them]”

“Great location, great topics. Would like more time for socializing and network.”

“Thank you!”

“I would like to thank all [the] officer’s hard work and involvement.”

“Congratulations!”

“Super presentations! Great idea offering the training in connection with the meeting to maximize attendance. Bring back James W. Plunkett, Maria Cecilia Marty ( and Kim) any time!!! Fantastic food, coffee (very important), excellent team work, effort and motivation by all MACIT organizers. Great idea, having Freek Lankoff bring an exhibit.”

“Very helpful, although the gun and forensics are fun and informative, I do not think I would really have any use for the info. I obtained.”

“Excellent!”

“Great firearms and forensic package!”

“It was good to have Freek Lankhoff here.”

“Most informative and enjoyable. Very well organized.”

“The meeting was very enjoyable and very informative. Thank you.”

For information about MACIT, please visit us at http://www.macit2007.org/