Category: court certification

court certification, court interpreting, grad school, health care interpreting, interpreter life, interpreter services, Interpreter Training, language access, leadership for interpreters, medical interpreting, new interpreters, Personal, self discovery for interpreters, teaching and training, working with interpreters

A Day in the Life of a Freelance Interpreter

thatinterpreter

As a freelance Spanish interpreter working in legal, court, and conference settings, my days vary. A lot.

Working from the booth, one of my favorite places to be!

A bit of background first: I’ve been in the freelance market for two years now, and it’s been three years since I finished my graduate work in interpreting. Before grad school, I worked as a staff interpreter and an interpreter services supervisor for about ten years. Before that, I worked as a subcontracted interpreter for an agency for a couple years while I was finishing my bachelor’s degree in Spanish, and for a while after I finished undergrad. So while I’m not new in interpreting, I’m still pretty new as a freelancer.

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certification for healthcare interpreters, certification prep, conference interpreter training, court certification, grad school, health care interpreting, Interpreter Training, medical interpreting, new interpreters, oral exam preparation, supervising interpreters, teaching and training

The Interpreter and the Sandwich, or: Why Feedback Is Not About Your Feelings

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Feedback forms from my work in this year’s co>lab interpreting intensive in Mexico City. These comments from colleagues are like nuggets of gold!

There’s a funny thing about feedback and interpreters. We all claim that when it comes to feedback: Tell it to us like it is! Don’t mince words! I can take it! Bring it on! As if feedback is this awful thing we must brace ourselves for.

I’ve (very generally) seen feedback divided into two main camps: We should be gentle in our feedback so that we protect the interpreter’s self esteem. Or, we should just tell it to them straight because this is the real world and clients aren’t going to handle them with such care. But there’s another approach that is considerate, yet straightforward: We should base our feedback on goals that are established by the interpreter so that it is useful. Continue reading “The Interpreter and the Sandwich, or: Why Feedback Is Not About Your Feelings” →

certification for healthcare interpreters, certification prep, court certification, health care interpreting, Interpreter Training, medical interpreter written exam prep for national certification, oral exam preparation

Feedback: Going Beyond “That Was Great”

thatinterpreter

Giving and receiving feedback is great when you know how!
Giving and receiving feedback is great when you know how!

Interpreting practice and feedback are important.  One of my grad school professors wrote an article about peer assessment that inspired me to write about my own experience.  Practice with a partner or in groups involves giving feedback to others, and in turn accepting others’ feedback.  It requires a lot of work from everyone involved.  It’s not just a matter of half-listening and then telling your practice partner, “Yeah, that was great.”

In 2012, I practiced alone and with a partner to prep for my state court exams.  In 2015, I prepped the staff interpreters at my hospital Language Services department for their national certification exams. That same year, I prepped for my transition exams to be admitted to the second year of my graduate program, and then I passed my exit exams and graduated. Here’s what I’ve learned about feedback in interpreting practice, and how to make the best use of your time.

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certification for healthcare interpreters, certification prep, court certification, health care interpreting, Interpreter Training, medical interpreting, oral exam preparation

Oral Exam Prep for Interpreters

thatinterpreter

get out your red pens, it's test prep time!
Get out your red pens, it’s test prep time!

In this post, I’ll tell you how I prepared my staff interpreters to take their oral exam for certification. This is the method I learned when prepping for my state court oral exam, and then we used this same method in some of my grad school courses. Here’s what you’ll need:

Texts: Dialogues (for consecutive) or monologues (for simultaneous), and audio recordings of the same dialogues (or monologues).

Recording device: You can download one free on your smartphone, or use a digital recorder. You can try http://www.vocaroo.com on your browser, or download Audacity to your computer. Continue reading “Oral Exam Prep for Interpreters” →

court certification, oral exam preparation

Just Keep Going: State Court Oral Exam for Interpreters

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After I wrote my last post,  I had an “uh-oh” moment.  I wrote on and on about anticipating my oral exam for state court certification, and even named the date and time I was taking the exam.  And then I was like, “uh-oh.  I just made a really publically big deal about taking this test.  What if I don’t pass it?”

My exam date has come and gone.  It has been scored, the results recorded.  So before I tell you about getting my results, let’s talk about what happened during the time that passed between my last post and this one.  Lessons learned.  (Just to be clear, we’re talking here about lessons from test-taking strategies, not interpreting in the field.) Continue reading “Just Keep Going: State Court Oral Exam for Interpreters” →