Here's a summary of Judy's interpreting adventures during the month of June. This is meant to be taken with a grain of salt and a bit of Friday sense of humor.
Happy Friday, dear readers!
- Spanish-language interpreting assignments: 95%
- German-language interpreting assignments: 5%
- Court appearances in district/justice court: 1
- Court appearances in family court: 0
- Number of depositions: 17 (including cancelled, postponed and cannot-find-deponent depositions)
- Escort interpreting assignments: 1
- Number of times court clerk or court reporter wanted to swear me in as a court translator: 7
- Number of times an attorney fell asleep during a deposition: can't say; well, OK...5 times
- Number of objections voiced by opposing counsel to the other counsel's questions: lost track (in the hundreds)
- Amount of times an attorney wanted to state for the record that he or she found another attorney to be offensive, rude or inappropriate: 4
- Percentage of deponents who really did speak English and did not need a court interpreter: 15 (guesstimate)
- Amount of times interpreter had to ask for repetition because of mumbling speakers: too many to count
- Miles driven to and from interpreting projects: exactly 200
- Amount of extra-soft European tissues shared with anyone who needs this this month: 0 (it was a good month)
- Dictionaries and books brought to every assignment: Holly Mikkelson's The Interpreter's Companion and Dennis McKenna's Criminal Court Dictionary
- Amount of times I looked anything up in these dictionaries: 0
- Blunder of the month: could not think of the English translation of "perejil" (parsley) fast enough.
- Person who came to my rescue: an attorney
- Longest amount of time spent searching for car in the parking garage after assignment: 15 minutes
- Percentage of law firms who paid their May invoices within 30 days: 100%
Happy Friday, dear readers!