Every two years, ATA presents the Dynamo Award to “a person or entity that has worked in a particularly energetic way to benefit ATA and/or the language professions.” In 2025, the award went to Slavic Languages Division member Jamila del Mistro. Shelley Fairweather-Vega sat down virtually with Jamila to talk about her award, her work, and her plans.

Jamila, congratulations on your 2025 Dynamo Award! We’re proud that a Slavic Languages Division member has been recognized by ATA. Could you start by telling us a little about your language career so far, and what it means to you to receive the Dynamo Award?

Thank you! My language journey began early. I was born and spent the first 25 years of my life in Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan. I grew up bilingual, speaking Azerbaijani at home and Russian at school, attending Russian preschool, and completing my entire secondary education in Russian. As a result, I developed native-level fluency in both languages.

I began learning English in fourth grade and grew up surrounded by it. My mother is a high-school English teacher who tutored students at home, so I often listened to English grammar lessons in our living room. Later, I attended a private university in Baku where many courses were taught in English.

At 19, I began working at an international oil consortium where English was the primary working language. At 21, I joined a USAID-funded nonprofit operated by the American Bar Association. Four years later, I was accepted into the LL.M. program at the University of San Diego School of Law. I moved to the United States for graduate studies and chose to remain, further strengthening my linguistic foundation. Building my life here, including marrying my husband, who is a native English speaker, deepened both my sense of belonging and my fluency through daily immersion.

I encountered Turkish in my twenties through friends, and my interest in it continued after I moved to the United States, where I formed close friendships within the Turkish community. I initially developed my Turkish informally and later began formal coursework in 2022. I continue to study the language and actively refine my interpretation skills. I am fortunate to work with an excellent teacher, a graduate of the interpretation program at the prestigious Boğaziçi University, and her mentorship has been invaluable in strengthening my professional competence.

Turkish and Azerbaijani both belong to the Turkic language family and have many linguistic similarities. At the same time, they contain numerous false cognates, which require careful attention and precision—particularly in interpretation.

Each language I’ve learned has expanded my worldview and shaped my approach to cross-cultural communication.

Receiving the Dynamo Award is a tremendous honor. It affirms years of dedication to multilingual work and highlights the meaningful impact interpreters and translators have in connecting communities.

With that mix of languages, you are one of a handful of SLD members who work with languages that are not, in fact, Slavic. How do you handle switching back and forth between Russian, English, and Turkish and Azerbaijani, which are very different languages?

Growing up in Baku, a multicultural city with a longstanding tradition of peaceful coexistence among ethnicities and religions, I was constantly surrounded by linguistic diversity. That environment naturally trained me to switch between languages and cultural frameworks with ease.

Today, I continue to nurture that flexibility by maintaining friendships across cultures, traveling, and immersing myself in history, psychology, sociology, anthropology, and languages. This curiosity keeps my linguistic instincts sharp and adaptable in professional settings.

What are the biggest challenges and greatest rewards of working with a less-spoken language like Azerbaijani?

Working with Azerbaijani brings both challenges and deep rewards. Finding qualified partners for simultaneous interpretation can be difficult due to the small pool of certified Azerbaijani interpreters, and because there is limited demand, it means I need to diversify into other languages to maintain consistent work.

On the positive side, I serve as a vital bridge, helping individuals access justice, healthcare, education, and essential services. There is a profound sense of purpose in knowing that my skills fill a critical gap and that, in some situations, I may be one of very few professionals able to provide accurate interpretation.

During my work as an immigration court interpreter, I witnessed firsthand what the absence of a qualified interpreter can mean for a detained immigrant awaiting a hearing. Without an interpreter in the appropriate language pair, a person’s case may be postponed indefinitely, prolonging detention simply because language access is unavailable.

Another challenge I see as an Azerbaijani interpreter is the existence of two main dialect groups used by Azerbaijani speakers in the United States: Northern and Southern. Northern Azerbaijani is primarily spoken in Baku, Azerbaijan, while Southern Azerbaijani is widely spoken by Azerbaijanis from Tabriz and other regions of Iran. These two varieties differ in pronunciation, vocabulary, and linguistic influences—for example, Southern Azerbaijani contains more Persian loanwords, while Northern Azerbaijani has been influenced by Russian.

Sometimes LEP speakers from Baku are assigned an interpreter who was born and raised in Tabriz. In such situations, dialect differences may lead to misunderstandings or inaccurate interpretation. The LEP may report that they cannot fully understand the interpreter, which can result in the interpreter being released by the court and the hearing being postponed.

Experiences like these reinforce the gravity and responsibility of our profession. Working with a less-spoken language requires resilience, but it also brings a powerful sense of responsibility and impact.

What are your top tips for keeping your interpreting skills sharp in multiple languages and modalities?

Consistency is essential. I recommend shadowing news or podcasts to improve pronunciation, practicing sight translation, accepting translation assignments regularly, and rehearsing consecutive and simultaneous interpretation with recorded speeches. Building thematic glossaries, recording and reviewing your work, and staying immersed through daily reading and listening are also crucial.

Even 20–30 minutes per language each day can help maintain fluency and agility.

What do you like to do when you’re not interpreting or translating?

When I’m not interpreting or translating, I enjoy a full and joyful life centered around my family. I’m the mother of two wonderful, bright, and talented children, and being present in their lives is my greatest priority. I have read to them since they were three months old because instilling a love of books has always been important to me. Today, they both read above grade level, and my daughter recently became the Spelling Bee Champion of her school district.

I also volunteer at their schools and teach my daughter Russian, as she is eager to learn the language and hopes to visit Russia one day. Every Saturday morning, I hike with my husband, Guy. We enjoy family movie nights, cooking and baking together, playing with our two kittens, reading in multiple languages, playing board games, and making music.

True to my profession, I also have a playful habit of guessing languages based on accents and sometimes guessing someone’s ethnicity based on physiological features. It’s a natural extension of my curiosity about linguistics and human diversity.

What’s next for you professionally? Any big plans or goals?

I currently serve as the president of ATISDA, an ATA affiliate in San Diego, and one of my primary goals is to grow our membership to 100 and to establish a consistent yearly calendar of events. I believe strong professional communities create stronger interpreters and translators, and I am committed to building a vibrant, supportive network at the local level.

Together with my colleague Shelley Fairweather-Vega, I also plan to launch a Turkic Languages Special Interest Group. My vision is to create a space where professionals working in Turkic languages can connect, share resources, mentor one another, and elevate the visibility of our languages within the broader industry.

On a personal level, I plan to continue advancing my credentials by taking and passing the Written Exam for Court Interpreters and the abbreviated NCSC exam for Turkish. Lifelong learning and professional growth remain central to my career.

Equally important to me is mentoring the next generation of interpreters—helping them not only refine their craft, but also build sustainable, confident, and financially successful careers. I believe that when we lift others, we strengthen the profession.

Jamila Del Mistro is a licensed court interpreter in the United States working in the following language combinations: Russian–English, Azerbaijani–English, and Turkish–English, and vice versa. Jamila currently serves as the president of a local ATA affiliate in San Diego called ATISDA. You can connect with Jamila on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamila-del-mistro-b233ab12/ 

Shelley Fairweather-Vega (CT) translates from Russian and Uzbek to English, specializing in literature from Central Asia. She is a past administrator of the ATA Literary Division. Find her online at fairvega.com.