Another very experienced member of DIN is Radha Starr, who trained with me in my translation course, works as a deaf translator & deaf relay interpreter in a variety of settings. She is currently in great demand as a deaf practitioner & has done a lot of public health videos 7/x A shout out now for @royaldeaf who have done a sterling job in providing covid19 public health using deaf practitioners & presenters: see this video for example: COVID vaccination: Why it’s important and how you can help save lives 8/x

Today I would like to highlight some deaf people who have contributed to the profession through being long-time practitioners or as strong advocates for deaf interpreters. 1/x Firstly, the late Judith Collins. She was one of the earlier deaf researchers and worked at the University of Durham. She was also an earlier DIN Chair and did much with @drcastone @chereme @PaulPEsq @corneliuedwards to bring about qualifications: bslzone.co.uk/watch/under-la… 2/x

One of the biggest internal conflicts I have faced when training came about bc of a close collaboration with an employer. The name does not matter.
Point is, we were asked to train "their" dialogue interpreters - i.e. people who worked for them on a regular basis. During the training, it became apparent that some of these interpreters had such an insufficient command of the language of training that they could not understand basic instructions.
This was their main working language as interpreters.

Yes but let's be honest: many European conference interpreters consider some "variants" no worth learning or engaging with... there is huge bias in this.

https://twitter.com/InterRausch/status/1387688421519417345

I mean the number of people who go on and on about having to read James Joyce to be a conference interpreter. Do I really? How many have read Wole Soyinka? Amadou Hampaté Bâ?
What counts as "world knowledge" is really, really biased.

It was a bit more complex. They had a right to an interpreter for things to do with their case (i.e. the reason they were in prison). But often their visa / work permit tended to expire during their sentence and there was no right to legal counsel / interpreting for this.

https://twitter.com/alkapibara/status/1387667561500844037

bc basically once imprisoned, a process of stripping ppl of their work permit / residency takes place and they are not entitled to a lawyer / interpreter to fight this and have to submit filings while inside detention to keep the deadlines.

Today I want to tweet about an interpreter training course I did a few years ago. For data protection reasons I will not disclose the names of institutions and persons involved. The point here is to give you some food for thought. #1nt
#Terps The request came through a group of academics who had made contact with a nearby prison. This prison was reserved for foreign nationals, i.e. people not holding citizenship of the country of detention. My task: teach the inmates to interpret better.

Remember before COVID when restaurants were open? Remember this situation:

(Person eating food from their country of origin): "Wow, this tastes exactly the way my mother used to make it!"

(Person eating their favorite dish): "Wow, I never manage to make it like that at home." So what? you might ask. How does this relate to interpreting. Well hang in there. Getting to it.

Remember telling someone you are an interpreter and the person going "Oh wow, interpreting is so difficult, I used to do it a bit while I was living in Tahiti for a year."

The truth is: #terps feel delegates using English as a lingua franca is a replacement for interpreting & a threat - and there is a lot of truth in that. The problem with this attitude is its hypocrisy: we use English in our own meetings (prof. associations, academic confs)! When I present an academic paper, I use English to increase my reach bc I know that things like "impact factors" matter. So I am in no position to criticize any speaker doing the same. I am tweeting in English right now for the same reason - see the irony?!

... for example, the following situation has happened to me many times:
Spanish is one of the official languages provided for at a conference but Portuguese is not. Lusophone delegations then decide to speak "Spanish" but actually speak a mix of PT and ES. You then find yourself having to "draw the line" - i.e. if you (as is my case) officially have only Spanish and not Portuguese in your language combination then you might rapidly hit a limit and develop a very subjective idea of "where Spanish ends and where Portuguese begins"

Today I want to share some resources that I really enjoy - to do with language in a more general sense. #language #linguists #translation #interpreting The first one is the @NativLang youtube channel - a must-watch for everyone passionate about languages.

youtube.com/user/NativLang

One additional aspect that I want to use this platform for is to discuss some aspects of "interpreting in conflict zones", as I believe a lot of misinformation exists on this topic, including amongst professional interpreters. For instance many #Terps have signed the UN petition to protect Translators and Interpreters in armed conflict. This petition is also supported widely by professional associations. I have not, as I believe its implicit analogy with journalism is misguided.

One of the things currently on everyone's mind is obviously how the pandemic has changed the working lives of #interpreters. In my view, many of these changes are here to stay, even beyond the pandemic... During my curation this week, I would like to discuss the Future of Interpreting, both in relation to conference and community interpreting. How has the market around you changed since you started working on it or otherwise engaging with it?

Good morning! Yesterday we looked at factors which represent professional service-providers, next to being reliable, trustworthy, and discplined (just to mention a few). It goes without saying that our clients expect a top-notch translation delivered at the agreed deadline. In a perfect world, the source files are perfectly formatted, client's TM (translation memory) is well-filled, reference files are informative & glossary is perfect.
But it's seldom this smooth ride. Being able to do proper terminology research is crucial for your success.

Good morning! Thanks a lot for your invaluable input yesterday about important steps for translation & interpreting graduates and beginners on how to become a successful #freelancer. Learning from seasoned colleagues, for example as a member in an organization, is a key factor. Today, let's focus on our professionalism. Establishing a network, attending #webinars #seminars #conferences, investing time in learning how to use a CAT tool etc. are only parts of the mosaic. In order to find and keep clients we need to act like pros.

Good morning! Yesterday we spoke about translation & interpreting graduates who often are not sufficiently prepared for a #freelance life. In your opinion, what steps are necessary to become a successful freelancer? Thanks a lot for so many good ideas! I could add the ability to act like a professional (more about that later), staying curious & always keep learning, building up a pro network, keeping a healthy life/work balance. After all, we need to recharge to stay on top.

Good morning everybody! A huge thank you to @Jeromobot and @adrechsel for giving me the steering wheel for this account this week. My name is Erik, a Swedish native speaker who has lived in Germany since back in 1991. I translate mainly technical texts from German into Swedish. Back in the early 90s in the former GDR (outside Dresden, where I live), I soon found out there was a high demand for English teachers. People who had lost their jobs, often as a result of the German reunification and the economic changes, were offered retraining courses, which..

🎧 [JSP] BINAURAL LISTENING

It seems we’ve been doing it wrong all along!

Bottom line: #interpreting with just 1 ear fully covered may be harmful not just for our hearing - but also for our brain.

Explanation and possible solutions below👇

#BinauralListening #1nt Solution? Both ears fully covered + 👉self-monitoring👈 (that is, listening both to “Floor” AND to your own voice through your headphones).

⚠️ Important: this does not mean that you should now simply fully cover the other ear and keep interpreting as usual. Please read below.

My translation of another novel opening, this one from Portuguese. This is the first short paragraph of “The Society of Reluctant Dreamers”, by José Eduardo Agualusa, which comes out later this year.
[1/23] “Acordei muito cedo. Vi através da estreita janela passarem compridas aves negras. Sonhara com elas. Era como se tivessem saltado do meu sonho para o céu, um papel de seda azul-escuro, húmido, com um bolor amargo crescendo nos cantos.” So, quick first draft?
[2/23]

I thought today I might work through a single, simple sentence – stage by stage, issue by issue. It’s the first sentence of a novel I’m just starting, by the excellent @VillalobosJPe. Here it is:

Mi primo me llamó por teléfono y dijo: Te quiero presentar a mis socios.
[1/18] Nothing too hard to understand, so here’s the first quick stab:

My cousin called me on the telephone and said, “I want to introduce you to my partners.”

Translating is so easy!
[2/18]