By Andrew Dafoe CHI™ If I had to pick a defining word for the year 2020, at the top of my list would be crisis. It really became what felt like a never ceasing stream of natural disasters, global pandemics, the resulting economic downturns, political divisiveness, and racial injustices. Collectively, we’ve experienced and continue to experience more crises than could be listed … [Read more...]
New challenges–and opportunities–for educational interpreters during a pandemic
The good, the bad, and the not-so-tech-savvy By Alina Avelar Roque On the morning of March 13, 2020, Anaheim Elementary School District, where I've been working for over five years as an interpreter/translator, held an emergency board meeting to vote on suspending in-person learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That same day, all students were sent home with … [Read more...]
Interpreting in the face of a pandemic
By Carol Shaw On January 21, 2020, the state of Washington reported the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the United States; on February 29, it announced the country’s first COVID-19-related death. The virus has since spread across the country, just as it has around the globe. And as the world hunkers down against COVID-19, those of us who work in language access services … [Read more...]
Interpreting in WA public schools
Do you have experience lobbying for meaningful language access? How about dealing with government entities? Here is your chance to help the State of Washington’s public schools develop a program geared towards providing interpreters in K-12 settings. Find out more about what you can do to advocate for our profession: It appears that Washington State is finally going to … [Read more...]
A Bad Interpretation Can Ruin —Even End a Life
By Monica P. Almada Are you bilingual? Can you carry on a conversation in another language? If so, how deep can your conversation be? How detailed? Can you talk about a variety of subjects: medicine, law, psychology, history, geography, construction, etc.? How about hearing an expert in any of these areas provide testimony in one language that you would … [Read more...]