Exam Day: The Federal Court Interpreter Certification Examination (FCICE)

Last week, Judy finally took the oral portion of the Federal Court Interpreter Certification Examination (FCICE). We have written about this exam before: have a look here and here. Please read on for Judy's account of the exam day. This post will not focus on her preparation, which we have addressed in other posts (here and here) and will also discuss in future posts.

Final countdown to the exam. 

After much back and forth, I chose to take the exam in Denver (one can list a first, second and third choice when you register), and a full four weeks or so before the exam, the organizers finally confirmed the date and the location: July 16 at 10:30 in a Denver suburb (Aurora, infamous because of the movie theater shootings). Of course, there's much room for improvement within the registration process, but for now, let me focus on the exam. After months of worrying, agonizing, spending lots of money on courses and scolding myself for not studying enough, I can finally say: it's over. In summary, I'd also say that this exam is quite fair. I won't tell you, but in very general terms, what's on the exam, and it's hard to tell how I did, as only certain words (called scoring units) are actually scored. Now the waiting game beings -- 13 weeks, according to the FCICE website, up to six months according to colleagues who did not get their results until mid-December in 2011. The oral examination is offered every two years. The written examination is offered in even years.

• Exam location. This varies between cities, but as far as I know, the exams are usually held at a local hotel, and in Denver, it was at the Embassy Suites in Aurora, so I chose to spend the night right there to minimize any possible adverse factors. I flew in from Vegas (direct flight) the previous day and rented a car so I could get around. I really like Embassy Suites in general, and this location only had one exam room, which was easy to find. It wasn't a large or intimidating conference room at all. rather, the suite looked just like the one I stayed in, except that it had a conference table that sat six people instead of a coffee table, sofa, and TV. The ambiance was nice and relaxing and did not feel stressful at all. There will just be one proctor in the room with you. Her or his job is to press the buttons so you can hear the recorded exams and to record your rendition. My proctor was very nice, and didn't even speak Spanish -- they have nothing to do with the grading of the exam. Right before I went into an exam, a volunteer from the National Center for State Courts politely asked to be an observer during my exam. I politely declined, as I had not been prepared for more than one person in the room. I hesitated a bit, as he looked disappointed, but I managed to put my needs ahead of his. If I had known this ahead of time, I would have considered it. The proctor escorted me to the second floor from the first floor, where the registration desk was located. It was all quite low-key and relaxed.
• Pre-exam. I was lucky to get a randomly assigned time that worked for me, as I am not too much of an early morning person. Plus, it's our mom's birthday, so I chose to take that as a good sign. I got a good night's sleep after a lovely dinner with friends, got up at 8 am, had a hearty breakfast of fruit, oatmeal and some mint tea for my voice, and reviewed a few notes. I did 220 sit-ups, one for each scoring units, and a few powerful yoga poses that I can actually do without hurting myself or my ego (Warrior, Tree, etc.)  I also warmed up my voice and did 15 minutes of interpreting using my Android. I dressed in layers, including a very soft cotton scarf in one of my favorite colors (yellow) that was a present from my hubby. And yes, I had brought several good luck charms, but I did not take them into the exam room (I wasn't allowed to). 

  

  Silly self-portrait before the exam.

• Pens, paper, and other stuff. I had heard from previous test-takers that it's probably not a good idea to get too attached to your favorite note-taking pen, as you won't be allowed to bring it into the room. This is quite a bummer, as I actually do have a favorite gel-based pen, which I buy by the dozens at Costco. It is completely true that you can't bring anything in but your ID, your admission letter, and perhaps a few other small items (I also had my room key). You can't bring in a water bottle, but they have water for you, in a nice traditional glass, in my case (my hand shook slightly as I poured it). During my exam, the proctor gave me both a legal pad and a smaller notepad to use (my choice). There were at least four pens and five pencils, and while they were certainly not high-end, they did the trick (think hotel pens and basic pencils). The headphones are only used during the two simultaneous portions, and while the equipment was certainly not Bang & Olufsen, they worked fine and did not hurt my ears at all.
• Instructions. If you have prepared a bit and have read the examinee handbook, then the instructions you will be read will be very straightforward, and I wasn't too focused when the proctor read them to me, as I was going my yoga breathing exercises. I wasn't too terribly nervous, but I figured the breathing exercises wouldn't hurt. The sequence of the exam was: sight translation into Spanish, sight translation into English, simultaneous (monologue), consecutive, simultaneous (expert witness). I finished in roughly 35 minutes, and I did take advantage of my two repetitions during the consecutive portion. While I certainly made plenty of unforced and silly errors, I felt that the exam was quite fair and there were certainly no trick passages. Exam conditions are ideal, too: the room is quite, no one interrupts you, and people don't talk at the same time. Quite nice if you think about it, actually.
• Anti-climactic. Many colleagues have asked me how I felt during and after the exam, and as a former competitive tennis player, I do think it's true that the pre-match, err, pre-exam anxiety and preparation tend to be worse than the actual event/exam. It did feel a bit anti-climactic, and I'd say that the texts that I had to do might have been a bit easier than those I'd done in practice. That said, this was, without doubt, one of the most challenging exams I've taken. I think I may have a shot at passing it, but this was my first try, so it certainly is a long shot.

  

  Relaxing in a park. 

• Post-exam. I made a few phone calls to my hubby, my twin, and my parents to tell them that I survived and then coordinated with my good translator friends, who insisted on treating me to lunch at a fantastic downtown Denver restaurant, Le Central, where I toasted to the fact that I'd made it to the other side of this interpreting exam. I then took a nap in a gorgeous park before meeting another friend for dinner in a suburb. I drove myself to the airport, caught a 9 p.m. flight to Vegas, and was at home by midnight.

And just like that -- it's done and over with. I can't wait to get the results! It will be a long few months for sure. If you also took the exam, please do share your experiences!

The Perfect Client

A few weeks ago, Judy had the pleasure of working with a brand-new client, who turned out to be the perfect client to contract interpreting services. Read on for Judy's take and for details about this fantastic client and learn why everything worked out so wonderfully.

Vegas wedding chapel. Picture by Judy.

Clearly defined project. The client, the owner of a travel agency, called to say that she needed a consecutive interpreter (she used the correct term!) for a Vegas-style wedding at a local chapel. Let's call the client Angela (not her real name), and Angela said that the couple was Swiss, but that she was not looking for a Swiss German interpreter. I laughed and said I was happy to hear that, as I don't speak Swiss German. I was quite surprised that she knew the difference and immediately knew that I was dealing with a very sophisticated client, and I also liked her immediately (turns out the feeling was mutual). Angela told me exactly what I would need to do, and had precise date and times. I asked her a few more questions, such as whether I would interpret for the couple or the guests or both, whether the couple already had a wedding license, and a few other things. Angela was impressed by my attention to detail, and she could tell that I've interpreted at weddings before and knew which questions to ask. Angela also mentioned that two people had recommended me, which felt great. She emphasized that she wanted consecutive, and not simultaneous, interpreting services, and I was quite stunned that she knew this much about our profession.

Voluntary pre-payment. Before I even had the chance to send her a quote, Angela asked me how much I'd like to get paid. I quoted my regular two-hour minimum interpreting fee, to which she agreed immediately. She offered to pre-pay right away, and I received the funds via PayPal within five minutes (really). I hence waived the issuance of an official quote, as I'd already received the money, and Angela sent me an official work order.

Lots of details. The client's work order was more than four pages long, and it was full of important details. I was quite impressed by the level of thoroughness  and vowed to follow the instructions as given. There was even a section on permissible dress, which included the maximum length of earrings and length of the skirt. This might seem a bit overkill to some, but I figure it can't hurt to have precise details and to know what to expect. I usually wear a black business suit to everything, and that is naturally acceptable. What was surprising is that the company expects contractors to wear nylons unless it's hotter than 90 degrees (the forecast was 101 degrees). This work order took the guesswork out of the project, and Angela even sent the links to previously recorded ceremonies at the chapel in question so I could get an idea of how the pastors (there are two) hold their weddings. I watched five videos of each pastor and did transcriptions of all the sermons. I used the transcriptions to look up terminology and complied some lists of terms that I took to the wedding in a discreet leather-bound notebook (which I never looked at).

Quick to answer questions. After I reviewed all the documents, I still had a few questions, and Angela answered them within a few minutes.

Helpful staff. Once I got to the wedding venue, I immediately contacted the wedding coordinator (whose name was included on the work order) and introduced myself to the pastor. They were both quite happy to see me, and since it was my first wedding at this chapel, they took the time to explain exactly how everything was going to happen. Weddings are well-orchestrated events, and this chapel has it down to a science. The pastor had worked with dozens of interpreters before, and he told me that he would pause after each sentence so I could interpret. I was in interpreting heaven! The bride and groom, who arrived separately, were also very glad to see me, and I interpreted for the bride when she filled out some paperwork. We also spent some time talking to the maid of honor, as she was unsure of where to walk into the chapel. I'd like to think that I put them at ease because I spoke their language. Naturally, assignments of this nature are very different from court interpreting -- here, the interpreter can very much be an advocate in addition to a language conduit. I told the maid of honor not to worry, that I would tell her exactly where to stand and when to start walking. There were some tears of joy.

Ideal working conditions. The conditions could not have been better. I found out the day of the ceremony that the entire event would be shown online live for friends and family back home, which I thought was a fantastic idea. I stood right next to the pastor, so I could hear him very well -- no audio problems at all. It's a small chapel, so I did not need a microphone, and the audio was very clear on the video as well (which I watched online after the ceremony). The friendly pastor did indeed pause after each individual sentence, so I did not take notes (which is difficult when you are standing). 

Great working relationship. From the very first contact with Angela, I felt like we made a great connection, and our positive working relationship continued throughout the project. I made sure to e-mail Angela when I arrived at the venue (even though she had not requested this) so she would know that I was there. I checked in once again when I left and gave her a brief report. Turns out that the pastor then told the client that he was very happy with my services.

Overall, this project was so wonderful and went so smoothly that it's almost too good to be true. I wonder if I'll have another project that's this fantastic. What about you, dear colleagues? Do you have a perfect client or project? We'd love to read about it. 

The European Summer/Fall Tour

On this side of the pond: ATA in San Diego.

Since most of the details for Judy's European workshop tour have been finalized, we wanted to announce them here. We've been getting a lot of e-mail and Twitter messages asking us about the details, and we figured we'd post them here so you have have a look. We will be traveling together for all these workshops, and we'd love to meet new colleagues and share a meal, drink, or coffee! 

Here are the details:

September 27: ITI London Regional Group and Chartered Institute of Linguists, No Pain, No Gain: Active Marketing to Direct Clients, in London (only 8 spots left as of today, July 10, 2013)

September 28: Yorkshire Translators and Interpreters, No Pain, No Gain: Active Marketing to Direct Clients, in York (waiting list only)

October 5: Society of English-Native-Speaking Editors, Lessons from Business School: The Entrepreneurial Linguist, Utrecht, Netherlands

In addition, we will at least one joint presentation in Vienna, Austria. Details will be announced soon!

Here's a link to all of Judy's workshops for 2013. See you in Europe? 

Free Webinar: Conflict and Resolution

Arguing penguins. Photo by Judy.

Once again, Judy is delighted to present a free webinar for software giant SDL/Trados. Her previous webinar, titled "5 habits of highly successful translators: Customer service" attracted more than 500 colleagues and friends from around the world, and you may still listen to it (also free, no strings attached).

Judy's next webinar for SDL/Trados will be on a topic that's very familiar to anyone who runs a business and anyone who has clients: conflict. Conflict is part of a normal business life, and learning how to deal with it might just be one of the greatest skills one can have. We don't know about you, but we very certainly occasionally have challenging situations and yes, even some unreasonable customers, so we've learned a thing or two along the way.

Join Judy for this 60-minute webinar titled "Conflict and resolution for freelance translators: Tricky situations and unreasonable customers" on July 25. It is at 9 am Pacific Time, which is 5 pm. European summer time (London). Click here for more information and to register. We hope to "see you" there! Judy will also reserve about 10-15 for questions, and a moderator will kindly help her sort through the questions as they come in. 

Getting Paid Twice

Today we'd like to discuss an issue that has to do with ethics. This might have happened to you before as well: a client sends the payment, you thank him or her for it, and then, for some reason, your receive the payment a second time. This can happen because of some error in bank transfer or because of a duplicate check, which is the 20th-century relic that American companies still prefer for payment. Either way, we are usually quite happy to receive the payment, but want to be paid only once. Now, if the customer pays twice, what should you do? The short answer: you should let the client know and give the money back.

This initially happened to us very early in our career, and getting twice the amount would have meant a worry-free month. This is a very big company with thousands of employees and complex accounting structures. It's quite likely that they would never have noticed this small error (a negligible amount by their standards). We hesitated for a fracture of a fracture of a second, but then immediately told the client they had paid us twice. The client was very impressed and told us that he would reward us for our honesty -- and he has, as he's been a client for almost 10 years. He did mention that there's no way he would have ever noticed the mistake, and the accounting department was unaware as well. We wired the second payment back to him and everyone was happy. 

The second time it happened was a few weeks ago. A small, rural court paid Judy for her court interpreting services, and as Judy was logging the payment in our accounting software, she noticed that the amount was twice as high as it should have been. She promptly e-mailed the accounting folks, and they were quite happy to hear from her. She sent the check back (very low tech, we know) and they issued a new check within a few days.

Our advice: as tempting as it might be to keep the incorrect amount, it's essential to do the right thing and let the client know about the error. It might just result in a more loyal client, and you will definitely get karma points. It's also, without doubt, the ethically and morally correct thing to do. If this has ever happened to you, dear colleagues: how did you handle it? Please share your experiences!

Open Letter to the EU

Today's blog post is by Dagy, and it's all about interpreting at the European Union.

Dear EU,

You know how much I care about you, but since this seems to be a very one-sided affair, I feel the need to take our relationship to the next level by making it public. We might need some couples therapy.

Our story goes back a few years, when the EU’s recruiting efforts for freelance interpreters, especially for the German and English booth, kicked into full gear. Given the major advertising campaign that included videos, websites, speeches at universities, organized study visits to Brussels and much more, it was safe to assume that you, the EU, desperately needed people to work for you. I immediately fell for you because you seemed very attractive. In hindsight, I feel that all of your efforts were quite misleading.

Back then, there was no reason for any of us to question the EU’s sincerity. As the Secretary General of the Austrian interpreters’ and translators’ association UNIVERSITAS Austria, I went to great lengths to encourage my fellow interpreters to apply. We even dedicated an issue of our member magazine to working at the EU. Looking back, I feel bad for raising false hopes. I guess I was still under your spell then.

After thorough preparation, I took the accreditation exam for the German booth for my working languages English, Spanish, and French more than six months ago. I passed them all on my first try and I couldn’t wait to tell the rest of the world about it (read my enthusiastic article here). While the representative of the European Commission’s interpreting service told me right after I passed that there would be no work for me unless I moved to Brussels (I live in Vienna), the representative of the European Parliament’s interpreting service said nothing along these lines. Since I had heard from several EU interpreters that chances for actually working at the Parliament once in a while weren’t bad, I started daydreaming about flying from Vienna to Brussels and working among high-profile colleagues. Not every other day, mind you, but once in a while. Here’s how many days of work I’ve gotten from the EU since I passed the accreditation test: zero. That’s right: not even one. After I went to all this trouble, got my hopes up high about starting a mutually beneficial relationship with you, dear EU, you have yet to call me once. (Since the EU is high-tech, the call would actually be a note on the online calendar where I always provide plenty of availability, just for the record.)

As months went by without hearing from you, I grew increasingly frustrated. But I was willing to make another sacrifice for the sake of our relationship: since I believe Brussels is a very livable city, I was actually considering moving there a year or two down the road. I was getting really excited about this option, until I read a forum discussion on SCICnet, which is the official platform for accredited EU interpreters. I read about freelance colleagues from the English booth who actually moved to Brussels expecting to get work, which sounds reasonable to me, since everybody insists that living somewhere else isn’t doing the trick. But guess what? They were still not getting enough work to make a living or even pay their rent. How is that possible?

Dear EU, what’s wrong with you? Why do you woo so many of us if you don’t actually want or need us? What happened? Didn’t you determine how many people you would actually need before you started your huge marketing campaign? Why bother going to all this trouble? I certainly didn't expect to have an exclusive, long-term relationship with you right after I passed the exam, but no dates in six months? 

I recently sent you (i.e. an executive at the European Parliament’s interpreting service) an e-mail to inquire about our future and got the following response: “Passing an accreditation test doesn’t necessarily translate into getting work.” Why not? Why bother? Since when is an accreditation a purpose in itself? Why are you still encouraging people to apply if you aren’t willing to let the few who have already passed get behind the microphone?

Please take the time to respond publicly. While this is not about me personally (I have plenty of work here in Vienna), I believe that aspiring interpreters have a right to know what to expect from you.  It’s time to put your cards on the table, even if you end up telling us that you are in way over your head. I’m a big girl, I can take the truth!

Lovingly yours,

Dagmar Jenner

The Art of Small Talk

Ah, small talk. One of us doesn't care for it (Dagy), and one really enjoys it (Judy). Regardless of one's preference, the art of making small talk is an essential business skill, and interpreters and translators are well advised to figure out how to talk to (almost) anyone. Here are some thoughts and tips about small talk:

• Think positive. Many translators are quite introverted, but interpreters not so much! It can be scary to leave the comfort of your home office and go out into the world to, say, a networking event, which will require small talk. However, small talk isn't limited to networking events: you might have to chat with a client while waiting for the interpreting session to start or talk to a potential client who has requested a lunch meeting. In general, think positive. What's the worst that can happen? Nothing bad can really come out of this (other than that you might just not establish a connection, which is OK), so take a deep breath. Talking is easy, right? You can do it. And you are not the only person who feels awkward when doing this -- trust us, you are not alone. How's that for a pep talk?
• Ask questions. Most people feel quite comfortable talking about themselves, so the way to get a conversation started is to ask some interested questions. Of course, it's a fine line between being interested and being nosy, so be sure not to cross the line. There are some topics that work well for most situations, especially in the US: where are you from; tell me about your business; I have heard about your company, and would like to know more; what's your alma mater; do you have any vacation plans, etc. Most of the time, conversation will develop quite naturally. In case it doesn't, that's fine, too. You must kiss some frogs.
• Give a compliment. This works best if you are a woman and you are complimenting another woman, but can occasionally work in other constellations as well. Make sure you are genuine, so don't say it if you don't mean it. These compliments are much more acceptable and comments in some countries, say the US, than in places like Austria and Germany, but it's worth a try. It can be something as simple as: "I love you scarf! I had one of those, but I lost it on a business trip to Portland. May I ask where you purchased it?"
• Don't do any hard selling. Many small talk situations will arise during networking events, so we recommend staying away from any me-me-me talk and hard selling. Everyone knows that you are there to sell your services, as is everyone else, so there's no need to be pushy. Talk about your business if it comes up, if you are asked, or if it seems like a natural transition. Don't immediately insist on presenting your business card. Don't rush.
• Buy drinks. For better or for worst, things do seem to be easier with a glass of wine in hand (or cup of coffee, or dessert, or whatever). Be prepared to take out your wallet and ask people if you can buy them _________. This is a small investment (unless you are at an expensive Vegas hotel, of course), and might yield great results (or it might not). We've never really had anyone say no to this offer.
• Be prepared. Even if you don't like football but the Super Bowl is that week, well, you better be able to talk about this in general terms. It's also important to be informed about what's happening in your community, your country and the world. This essential because these are all great, easy and non-controversial conversation topics. Being informed will make you look intelligent, engaged and connected to your world.
• Have fun. Have you seen the groups standing around, talking, laughing and having a jolly good time? It sure sounds like they have fun, and everyone wants to be part of that group. Be part of the group yourself by relaxing, telling yourself that nothing bad is going to happen, being open to meeting new people and make small talk, even if it bores you. And then just have fun! This is, after all, work, and it would be worse. Much worse than hanging out at a nice event with interesting people. 

This is, of course, only a short list of ideas. We'd really enjoy hearing what our dear colleagues have to add. Feel free to share any experience you've had as well! Happy small talking. 

Nice Interpreter!

Today's post is about the importance of being, well, nice. It's essential to be a great interpreter -- that goes without saying -- but there's also much to be said about the importance of soft skills. In the interpreting world, these skills are especially relevant in conference interpreting settings, where you will interact with the client who hired you and the people for whom you will interpret. We've heard from many clients that if they have two interpreters who are equally qualified, but one is nicer and more approachable than the other, they would undoubtedly choose the former. It's only natural that clients gravitate towards professionals who do what they promise to do, show up on time, well-dressed and well-prepared, make the client look good, and are pleasant to work with. So what makes a "nice" interpreter? There are many different definitions and schools of thought on this, and ours is only one of them, but here are some thoughts. Be prepared for something we rarely dispense: tough love.  

• Clients are queens and kings. Of course, this does not mean that you should blindly accepts your client's terms, but it does mean that you should treat your client with the utmost respect at all times. After all, without clients, you don't have a business and can't make a living, so you would be well advised to make yourself popular with them. However, we can't even tell you how many colleagues we've heard badmouth the client, even at the actual interpreting event. If there is a problem that the client can't solve, refrain from commenting on it. As a matter of fact, refrain from saying anything negative at all. You are there as a professional to do a job, so do it without complaining (unless you the problems are preventing you from doing your job, of course).
• Don't hide insecurities behind a mask of studied arrogance. It's not attractive, and no one expects you to know everything. In fact, some of the best interpreters and most well-known university instructors and interpreter trainers, think Holly Mikkelson and Esther Navarro-Hall, are the first to say that they don't know and that they will have to do the research. Develop the self-confidence to say that you don't know but that you will find the answer.
• Don't show off. Your client has hired you to do a job, so do it, and do it well. This is not the time for you to pontificate about your knowledge of ancient Greek, obscure grammatical tidbits or general irrelevant stuff. We've seen this quite a lot: many interpreters aren't very good at making small talk with clients (a blog post on small talk will be forthcoming), and since they don't know what to talk about, some opt to boast about their achievements or talk about themselves. Rather, ask the client what you can do for him/her: is everything set for the event? Do they need a restaurant recommendation, as they are probably in your city, which they don't know well? Do they need anything from you? It's essential to think a bit about the client's needs. Go above and beyond what's required and you might just make yourself popular with the client.
• Be honest. At a recent interpreting event, one of the attendees, who was listening to Judy's interpreting, came up to her and thanked her for a great job. He also pointed out that he wanted to be sure to have all the jokes interpreted as well. This was a difficult thing to do, as all the jokes were almost exclusively US-centric, thus making it difficult to get the humor if you haven't lived in the US (think Gilligan's Island, The Apprentice, Joan Rivers, etc.) Judy had indeed been struggling with trying to interpret these jokes in a way that made some sense, but the jokes were essentially lost in interpretation.  Judy thanked the attendee for his input, explained the challenges and admitted that some of the jokes might not indeed be funny in Spanish and told the client why that was the case. Of course, he'd never heard of Joan Rivers or The Apprentice, so he's lacking the cultural knowledge for the joke to be funny. He fully understood and thanked Judy for her honesty.
• Extreme examples. We recently overheard a conference interpreter ask the project manager for an illegal drug (really). In general, as a profession, we oftentimes complain that clients don't take us seriously as professionals, but it goes both ways, and we still have a long way to go. In addition, we heard about a court interpreter who decided to change her shirt inside the booth and sat around in her bra while she located the shirt in her bag, treating the attendees to quite a show. 

This is a slightly controversial topic, and we'd love to see some constructive discussion about this. Any thoughts, dear colleagues? Let's get the conversation started. 

A Week at the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS)

At the end of May, Judy attended a five-day course titled "Advanced Techniques for Court Interpreters" at the venerable Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS). Read on for her report on what she learned, what she didn't learn, and all the fun she had.

Graduation day with Prof. Mikkelson and Prof. Navarro-Hall.

One of my goals for this year was to attend a training course by a premier interpreting institution, namely Germersheim in Germany, which offers cutting-edge online interpreting classes. However, I decided to do something even better and chose to attend an in-person course at perhaps the best translation and interpreting university in the United States: MIIS.

Sightseeing with Patty (center) and Vero.

The idea behind attending “Advanced Techniques for Court Interpreters” was to learn from two true court interpreting legends: Prof. Holly Mikkelson and Prof. Esther Navarro-Hall. I really enjoy both of their teaching styles and knew I had a lot to learn about simultaneous interpreting. Plus, even though I really enjoy talking and writing about studying, the reality is that I don’t study much on my own, which, as my twin correctly points out, is a bit out of character. I have been known to interpret TED talks that I really enjoy or work with Speechpool recordings, but none of these are court-specific nor are they recorded at 160 words per minute, which is what I need to practice to prepare to take the federal court interpreting exam. I decided that this course would be a worthwhile investment, but since I believe in reasonable priced educational opportunities that are accessible to all colleagues, I balked at the $1,200 price tag (for 30 hours). Nonetheless, I sent in my payment, booked a hotel, looked for some warmer clothes and cleared my calendar.

Vero, Patty and I with the fabulous Esther Navarro-Hall (center).

Overall, I had a fantastic time in Monterey and at MIIS at the end of May and would gladly repeat the experience. It was an honor to spend five full days with Holly and Esther, and my group of 12 was fantastic. I really appreciate Holly and Esther’s laid-back and approachable style. They are not purists, but yet deeply knowledgeable about court interpreting in general and the exam in particular. I particularly treasured the actual time in the interpreting booth with recordings for simultaneous exercises – that’s exactly what I needed. Esther gave me some much-needed feedback on my shortcomings. I did confirm that the consecutive mode is my strength, and would have loved to share my strategies with fellow students, except I sadly have none: I just have good memory and take limited notes that I usually can’t read. I also slowly overcame my fear of sight translation into English. I have not really practiced sight translation, and I was surprised that I did better than I had feared. We took a mock exam on the last day, which was a great opportunity to experience an (almost real) exam.

Picture by my colleague Francisco Montes.

However, as with every class, there is always some room for improvement – albeit very little. In general, I was surprised that the MIIS facilities were quite basic – I’ve seen nicer buildings, booths and better equipped rooms at much humbler universities. The room with the booths had a center table at which we spent hours a day, but it didn’t have seating for the 12 people in our group. Even though there was some skill disparity between students, the instructors did a fine job at selecting a group of strong students who are already state court-certified so we could learn from each other. I do think we could have benefited from a smaller group and from more time in the booth, as we did consecutive in person by reading the texts out loud and going around the table (scary!) rather than in the individual booths, which would have greatly increased the practice time.

That's Vero in the middle and Patty on the right.

Monterey is a gorgeous little town, and we had several group dinners and lunches. In addition to the fantastic learning and the opportunity to get feedback from such legendary instructors, I was delighted by the collegial atmosphere and by the opportunity to spend time with my Nevada group: Patty Sánchez-Gastelum (who is single, BTW, in case you were wondering), Verónica Ramírez Santana and I went to MIIS as colleagues, as I had not had the chance to spend much time with them, and came back as great friends. We are now practicing together and serving as each other’s cheerleading team for the exam. Since coming back from Monterey, we've already done two intense study sessions at my house, which I've found to be tremendously beneficial.

After the workshop, I volunteered to give MIIS a testimonial about the course. No word about whether I will get a discount on a future workshop, though! And finally, after two months of waiting, I received my exam date: July 16 in Denver, Colorado. That's my mom's birthday, so perhaps that's a good sign. Wish me luck -- I bet I will need it.

Introduction to Translation at UC-San Diego Extension Starts 6/25

Once again, Judy is delighted to teach her "Introduction to Translation" class online at University of San Diego-Extension. This five-week class is taught via a sophisticated online learning software (Blackboard) that is easy to learn. It's been a wonderful experience to teach beginning -- and many advanced -- students from around the world who want to know more about the industry. This class is part of an online certificate in Spanish/English translation studies, but this introductory class is open to everyone.

It's an asynchronous class, which means that students access the pre-recorded audio PowerPoint lessons at their leisure and then submit their work, all online. Students have included a full university professor, a nurse, an attorney, a student on a religious mission in South America, and students logging in all the way from Spain. A student has labeled this class a "reality check," which is quite accurate, as Judy wants to give everyone an honest look into our industry, including its joys as well as trials and tribulations. Students will learn exactly what it takes to be a translator. The feedback has been fantastic thus far, and Judy has now accepted to teach another class (Introduction to Interpretation), which starts in the fall.

The class costs $225 and starts 6/25. You can sign up here.