Category: leadership for interpreters

court interpreting, interpreter life, leadership for interpreters, medical interpreting, new interpreters, Personal, self discovery for interpreters

What I’ve Learned in 8 Years of Blogging

thatinterpreter

When I started this blog in 2012, I was thinking of applying to graduate school, and a friend told me that I should start to develop an online presence to give myself an edge over other applicants. He told me an easy way to do that was through blogging. Easy! Ha.

I’m not sure if it gave me an edge applying to grad school, but I did learn that it’s not actually that easy, and if you do it right, a blog can work for you in ways that you hadn’t thought of. My blog is something I hold very dear. It’s something I created from nothing, that I can share and use to connect with others. It’s followed me through lots of ups and downs. Here, I’m sharing with you the highlights of what I’ve learned in 8 years of blogging.

Continue reading “What I’ve Learned in 8 Years of Blogging” →
change, court interpreting, grad school, health care interpreting, interpreter life, interpreter services, leadership for interpreters, medical interpreting, new interpreters, self discovery for interpreters

“Getting It”: One Interpreter’s Reflections on Jonathan Downie’s Interpreters vs Machines

thatinterpreter

Known for his “troublesome” pushing back against the status quo, Dr Jonathan Downie structures Interpreters vs Machines: Can Interpreters Survive in an AI-Dominated World?— his second book — as a game, and invites us to play.

The robots are pretty cute, actually.

OK, I’m in.

He speaks from his experience as a researcher and conference interpreter, but from the beginning he brings us all into the fold– spoken and signed language interpreters in every setting. No matter where we’re working, we’d all do well to pause and reflect on how we understand and talk about our work. The fundamentals of what we do and how we talk about it to clients also seem relevant to my previous work in running an interpreter services department in the healthcare setting, where even though in theory, the services were required by law and hospital policy, in practice, we still very much had to sell interpreter services (even though the service came at no cost to the users!).

Continue reading ““Getting It”: One Interpreter’s Reflections on Jonathan Downie’s Interpreters vs Machines“ →
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.

Continue reading “A Day in the Life of a Freelance Interpreter” →
certification for healthcare interpreters, health care interpreting, leadership for interpreters, medical interpreting

The Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters, the Job Task Analysis, and You!

thatinterpreter

certification for healthcare interpretersWe all know the benefits of certification.  Some of us have already passed our exams, or are preparing for them.  But did you ever wonder where those exams come from?  How do they know what to include in the exams?  The certifying body (in this case, CCHI) starts by doing what’s called a Job Task Analysis (JTA) of healthcare interpreters all over the US.  Through surveys, the JTA identifies the current knowledge, skills and abilities needed to competently perform as a healthcare interpreter. At the end of the survey, the data is analyzed and published in a report that’s available to the public.  The CCHI’s first JTA was in 2010 and led to the development of its certification exam.  You can see the 2010 report here. Continue reading “The Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters, the Job Task Analysis, and You!” →

health care interpreting, interpreter services, language access, leadership for interpreters, medical interpreting, supervising interpreters

Defining and Evaluating Bilingual Hospital Staff and Interpreters

thatinterpreter

IMG_3830Back when I was supervising my Language Services department, one of my responsibilities was overseeing our bilingual staff and interpreter approval program.  Honestly?  It wasn’t ever anything I wanted to be in charge of.  But I thought it was important.  I think it just made me uneasy in the beginning because I could never really pin anyone down to help guide me and answer my questions: Whose language should we evaluate?  What should we evaluate?  How do we know if they’re “proficient”?  What does that mean?  How do we evaluate language?  Who can be an interpreter?  What’s the difference between interpreters and bilingual staff?  How do we come up with an evaluation process that people will actually use?  Why do we evaluate them?  How do we follow up?  Essentially: How can we make sure that patients are getting what they need through effective communication when they’re being served by interpreters and bilingual staff?

I’ve got some basics here that may be helpful if you’re responsible for these kinds of things, or if you yourself are a bilingual person working in healthcare, wondering what it means to be an interpreter. Continue reading “Defining and Evaluating Bilingual Hospital Staff and Interpreters” →

change, health care interpreting, interpreter services, leadership for interpreters, medical interpreting, remote interpreting, supervising interpreters

Remote Interpreters Need Love Too

thatinterpreter

Love for ALL interpreters! How's about it, guys?
Love for ALL interpreters! How’s about it, guys? (stickers from http://www.loveyourtranslator.com)

Managing the switch from on-site to remote interpreter services: Lessons learned from the hospital.

What do you think about telephonic interpreter services? Video remote interpreter services? Yeah, I know. Everyone wants an on-site interpreter. Any time I see an article about remote interpreter services, and I read the comments, I cringe. People are super mad about integrating the use of remote interpreter services into patient care. And I mean, all people. I’m disappointed that those people include interpreters.  Continue reading “Remote Interpreters Need Love Too” →

leadership for interpreters, supervising interpreters

Boss Moves

thatinterpreter

Love your interpreter, love your supervisor (we hope).
Love your interpreter, love your supervisor (we hope).

Hey, guys!  I’m on my way out of the hospital, and on my way out of the Language Services Supervisor position I’ve held for the last few years.  Over the years I’ve learned a lot, through leadership training and experience, and I’m sharing here a few points for your consideration if you find yourself in the tough position of being a new leader.  The especially tough part of it is that usually you’ve been promoted from an interpreter position to a supervisor position, but the learning curve is so rough at first, it sure doesn’t feel like a promotion.  These tips come from my experience supervising interpreters, but could probably be applied to many fields.

Spend time with the people you supervise or manage:  I’m kind of a loner.  I have a tendency to isolate myself.  When I was an interpreter, that didn’t matter much.  But it matters a lot when you’re supervising people.  For introverts like me, you have to make a conscious effort to get up from your desk and talk to people.  Build relationships with them.  It will be easier for you to give them feedback, and easier for them to approach you if they’re struggling with something.  For people who really thrive spending time with others, the challenge will be to maintain professional boundaries and not over-share. Continue reading “Boss Moves” →

language access, leadership for interpreters

Delivering Bad News for Interpreters

thatinterpreter

people sitting in front of wooden table
Photo by rawpixel.com on Pexels.com

Last year, I was doing some research to prepare for a workshop that I named, “How Much Do You Want To Know: Delivering Bad News for Interpreters”. If you’re a medical interpreter, and/or if you’ve ever received really bad news in the hospital, you know what’s coming after the doctor says, “How much do you want to know?” Well, maybe you don’t know what’s coming exactly, but you do know one thing: It’s not going to be good news. I wanted to develop a workshop that would prepare interpreters to interpret bad news. So, what’s the big deal with bad news? Continue reading “Delivering Bad News for Interpreters” →

leadership for interpreters

From Peer to Leader: An Interpreter’s Tale

thatinterpreter

In a recent conversation with a good friend, he asked, “So, how’s work?”  He asked because he has witnessed my struggle through the transition from interpreter to supervisor of interpreters.  It has been rough.  Like anything else, there was a learning curve.  My answer to his question offered a moment of self-awareness: I’m over the learning curve.  Not done learning, but done with the roughest time, on the level part of the curve, where the “curve” looks more like a horizontal line.  I actually know what I’m doing.  I can catch my breath.  And it occurred to me that I might offer something to other former interpreters who are now leading interpreters who used to be their peers. Continue reading “From Peer to Leader: An Interpreter’s Tale” →