Yvette Citizen has a new book!

Spanish Interpreter Guides Readers Through Meditation Exercises While Improving Their Spanish

The Confident Interpreter is very excited to announce the release of Yvette’s new book!

Throughout her career as an interpreter, Yvette Citizen has met countless people who wanted to improve their Spanish. Whether they took Spanish in high school or spoke it at home growing up, they felt as if their language skills were a little rusty. She came up with a great way to help people improve their Spanish while working on their self-improvement goals with her book, “Bilingual Meditations – Meditaciones Bilingües: Improving Yourself and Your Spanish at the Same Time.”

Written in Spanish and English, this book is a set of meditative exercises that allows people to simultaneously improve their lives and their Spanish. With these exercises, the reader will visualize goals, set intentions, and review favorite quotes and songs – all in Spanish. This way, they can practice their Spanish skills and extend their vocabulary while getting themselves into a more positive state of mind. Each exercise has instructions in English and Spanish and is followed by a glossary to help the reader remember the new vocabulary.

The book is available through BalboaPress.com, Barnes & Noble and the usual places.

Feel free to contact Yvette and don’t forget to check out our Confident Interpreter training materials and resources.

Irene Interviewed by Latinx West

Irene Radillo, dueña de The Confident Interpreter y Utter Linguistics, LLC, nos habla sobre los servicios que ofrece y la necesidad de intérpretes en los tribunales y los hospitales.

New Webinar: Mastery of Medical Terms for Interpreters and Translators

On September 24th Irene Radillo will be teaching Mastery of Medical Terms for Interpreters and Translators, hosted by the Delaware Valley Translators Association. This webinar is a guide to exploring complex medical areas and terminology that interpreters and translators often face in the course of our work. It’s an interactive webinar, so bring your questions!

In this 1.5-hour workshop, we will discuss a method for gradual acquisition of medical terminology based on identifying the best sources for studying and developing your B-language glossary.

You will also get study sheets that Irene Radillo has developed throughout her many years working as a translator and interpreter, which are an incredible resource.

This webinar is FREE for DVTA members, and $25 for non-members. The webinar will be language-neutral (all in English). The deadline to sign up for this workshop is Monday September 21, 2020 @ 11:59pm. Follow the link to register!

Learn more about about the Delaware Valley Translators Association.

If you are interested in exploring a career in interpreting…

Thinking of becoming an interpreter? As you explore your options and come up with your plan, here is some information to help you navigate the waters of interpreter certification: Interpreter Certification Resources.

And don’t forget to check out Irene’s interview on KZYX Mendocino to hear about going from bilingual to professional translator or interpreter!

Irene Radillo interview on KZYX

Hi all! Recently co-founder Irene Radillo was interviewed on WildOak Living on KZYX, where she spoke about the interpreting profession.

“When we’re bilingual it doesn’t always occur to us that that’s an actual skillset that we have that can help us earn a living and be of service.”

In this conversation Irene discusses how she and many people come to the interpreter/translator profession, different areas one can specialize in, the pros and cons of working as a freelancer or a staff interpreter, among other things.  Plus…do you know what the cardinal sins of interpreting are?

Listen for a fascinating conversation and for tips for bilinguals interested in the profession!  Please get in touch if you have any questions.

NOTE: In the interview Irene mentions a document with resources for those interested in learning more about a career in interpreting, which you can download here: Interpreter Certification Resources.

The Confident Interpreter · Irene Radillo interview - KZYX Mendocino County Public Radio

Free Glossary: Medication Delivery Methods

By popular demand, this English/Spanish downloadable document explaining most of the ways drugs are medically administered, is being offered to you for study. We hope it’s helpful as you gain further knowledge in your chosen field of work. Check back for more shared documents, or to share any of your own (respecting copyright, of course)!

NMTIA Conference, on our way….!

In Albuquerque, New Mexico
February 28 through March 1, 2020

Awesome workshops, and we’ll be there teaching 6 of them!

We hope to see you there! Make sure to look at the conference program, because it has truly interesting offerings and excellent presenters. Among the topics: digital forensics, sex trafficking, medical terminology, sight translation strategies, tour of city’s crime lab, CAT tools, ballistics, long consecutive, civil depos, interpreting for expert witnesses, ergonomics for translators and interpreters, and much more… Click below for the full schedule and all details. A great chance to learn and network!

On Language Fillers

We all use them at some point whether in conversation or while interpreting. Not that we should, but we do. And this article in The Atlantic offers an interesting explanation as to why. Do you know what your most common fillers are? My students at the University of Arizona would always finish their semesters with a clear concept of what their “greatest hits” were, so they could strive to minimize them while interpreting. “Umm…” “uuh…” “esteee…” (in Spanish)… “eeeeh…” We’d be especially interested in hearing from our colleagues who speak other languages about what their fillers are in THOSE languages. We hope you enjoy the article and drop us a line or comment!

THANKSGIVING CHALLENGE: Sight Translation of Police Report

Here’s a little sight translation to get into the spirit of Thanksgiving.  Pull out your audio recorder, phone, or tablet and record yourself sight translating the police report below into a non-English language. Remember, standard procedure is to spend two or three minutes reviewing the document before rendering it to prepare your brain for the linguistic challenge.  When you listen to your rendition, listen for content – did you get all the concepts? Does it sound identical to the original? How about your style – was it a smooth delivery?  Did you have many pauses?  Did you add “ums” or “uhs”? Did you sound confident and professional?  And how did you handle the tricky terms? Did you freeze or did you come up with an on-the-spot solution?

PRACTICE, LEARN, AND HAVE FUN!!!

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POLICE REPORT: THANKSGIVING DAY DV ALTERCATION 

On November 28, 2019, our unit responded to a call at 2245 W. Doomed Turkey Lane regarding a domestic disturbance.  Upon arrival, Officer Pavofeo and I heard loud voices coming from inside the dwelling. Before we approached the front door, a woman who appeared to be middle aged came running out.  She appeared to be agitated – she was speaking loudly and rapidly and was flinging her arms about as she ran toward us.  She was uttering things like, “Thank God you’re here!  They’re going to kill each other! They’re out of control.” The woman identified herself as Griselda Gobble.  Officer Pavofeo asked Ms. Gobble a series of questions and after ascertaining there were no firearms or other weapons in the house and getting a general idea of the situation, and how many people were in the house, we entered the dwelling.  We identified ourselves, and spoke in a calm, non-threatening manner in order to de-escalate the situation. Upon entering, we immediately observed a woman with the left side of her face and left shoulder covered with what appeared to be blood. The woman was later identified as Pamela Groundbird, 36, and the paramedics subsequently determined the red substance was in fact cranberry sauce. She was yelling at a man who had a brown thick liquid substance running down his face, later determined to be gravy. The man was later identified as Paul Poultryman. [233 word mark]

The woman screamed, “You narrow minded, ignorant jerk! It’s people like you are that are destroying this country!” The man retorted with, “You get your sorry flexitarian ass out of my house!” Officer Pavofeo and I separated the man and the woman by taking them to separate rooms. Paramedics and back-up were called. After interviewing all the people in the household, it appears the events were as follows.  Ms. Gobbler miscalculated by about three hours the length of oven time the 18.3 pound turkey needed to be fully cooked.  In the meantime, the family members proceeded to consume mixed alcoholic beverages, to wit, rum and cokes, Red Bull and vodka, strawberry wine, in addition to beer. Ms. Gobble stated that at some point in the evening, after the parties were apparently inebriated, the conversation turned into the recent political events, namely, the impeachment hearings.  It seems Ms. Groundbird and Mr. Poultryman have opposing political ideologies and, according to Ms. Gobble, most of the time it is not a problem due to a mutual pact to not discuss politics – a pact which was broken this evening. According to Ms. Gobble, Ms. Groundbird at one point in the discussion picked up a gravy boat and dumped the gravy inside it on Mr. Poultryman who retaliated by dumping a ramekin with cranberry sauce onto her.  Mr. Poultryman and Ms. Groundbird were transferred to the station in separate squad cars.  They were detained for several hours in different cells, processed, and released. They were each charged with misdemeanor offenses and a court hearing was set for December 6. (498 words)

Copyright: Yvette Citizen and Irene Radillo. November 2019. 

Keepin’ It Fresh! (by Irene Radillo, FCCI)

Talking about our native tongues, here.

Much has been said, written and discussed about this topic, and it is particularly interesting to those of us who find ourselves in the same position as the author whose article I share at the end: long-term immigrants to an English-speaking country. Think of the overall impact being surrounded by the English language has on our fluency and breadth of vocabulary, especially if everyone in your household prefers English: it becomes our default language, our go-to language for everyday things. Please read on!

Many of us acquired our computer skills and professional language here, and not in our native country, for example. So being as eloquent in that language may be less easy the longer we stay here. Please read on! I’ll share with you some ways I’ve challenged myself to “live” more Spanish. It’s been amusing but frustrating at times.

1. I always pick “press X for Spanish” whenever calling customer service. When I’ve heard the CSR struggle, I offer to switch to English and they usually sound relieved, but others have told me they MUST speak in Spanish when on the phone, so we muddle along. Sometimes their Spanish is less than ideal, sometimes it’s me being stumped on a term. Banking, in particular, is something I’ve only done here in the United States as an adult, so it’s not as smooth as it’d be in English.

2. I’ve switched my cell-phone and computer interface language to Spanish, and that has proven very challenging. For both, I eventually switch back to English. If I were to keep it in Spanish, I’m sure I’d be less frustrated, but for now I switch back and forth.

3. I choose the Spanish audio option for any show I can, and keep it that way unless I feel the dubbing has been done inartfully.

4. When watching a movie in a language I don’t speak, I choose subtitles in Spanish.

5. Whenever possible, I text in Spanish (siblings, colleagues, friends), even if they are fully bilingual. Texts from my sibs in Mexico help me keep abreast of slang and neologisms that postdate my departure from the country (ie, godinismo, godinear).

6. Spanish-language podcasts (Radio Ambulante, Algarabia, BBC and tons of others) and some radio programs (Radio Educación from Mexico).

7. Choosing opening pages on my browser from various news sources in Spanish. I make sure to read some headlines and articles before navigating away.

One last thing to consider is that there is the Spanish (or other language) spoken HERE, and then its counterpart in the country of origin. Frequently, they differ in interesting ways. You can sometimes tell when that non-English article has been written by a person who lives here in the US. So it´s good to find articles written in the foreign country itself.

There are of course other ways to stay connected with your living, ever-changing native language. Other examples that don’t work for me, for example, are telenovelas and local Spanish radio stations.

Find the article below. I hope you’ll share other ideas you’ve put into practice, and tell us of the results.

Oral Prep practice exams for the FCICE with Yvette Citizen!

Let’s Welcome Spring with Some Terminology Practice

by Irene Radillo, FCCI

Spring arrived and then decided to disappear on us in Northern California… but I have faith it’ll return soon! So… yes, Spring is here, and many of you are practicing and studying for various certification exams: so exciting! We support your commitment, so read on!

We have 2 goals today: to share some interesting phrases  which could prove challenging (heard recently in a trial), and to offer you something extra. 

Listening in at trials even when interpretation is not required is great, because there is always something to learn. So, we at The Confident Interpreter are offering you this worksheet containing a list of phrases and terms to consider.  Maybe you know them already, maybe you need to look them up. Give it a whirl. The term or phrase in question is italicized, but make sure to provide the whole phrase in your translation, because context will help you make sense of it and remember it. Did you get them all, were any of them tough? Could you think of more than one equivalent? Now, if you’ve been thinking of purchasing one of our packets for practice  and have answered ALL of these, send them back to us with your researched equivalents (must include source, even if it is YOU),, and we will write you back with a 10% discount code you can use on any of our products. All languages welcome (make sure to indicate your language, in case we might not recognize it!).

Thanks for participating, and we really look forward to your emailed submissions at: theconfidentinterpreter@gmail.com

Crime Logs Offer Great Terminology

by Irene Radillo, FCCI

Do you freak out when you read your local police log? Might as well see the bright side, and use it to get familiar with terms you may run into in court!So open you local paper (OK, online is fine too) and preview lots of useful vocabulary. Here are some examples from my local paper just today:

incident ♦ responded to ♦ dispatched to the address ♦ setting of booby-traps ♦ initiate investigation ♦ 1400 block of Cinder Road ♦ arrested pursuant to CA-PC 647f (public intoxication) ♦ disorderly conduct ♦ vandalism ♦ illegal camping ♦ missing person investigation ♦ suspicious activity ♦ responding to a disturbance ♦ suspicious person ♦ theft investigation ♦ fraud investigation ♦ arrested following high-speed pursuit ♦ starting a brushfire ♦ arson ♦ resisting an officer ♦ reports of threats ♦ report of unwanted subject ♦ loitering ♦ harassment ♦ false imprisonment ♦ illegal dumping ♦ kidnapping ♦ burglary ♦ conspiracy to commit a crime ♦ spousal battery ♦ shoplifting ♦ relieving himself in public.

Were you able to give a correct equivalent for each of these in your language? Start a list! Research! Challenge your friends! As you do these things, you’ll even start absorbing the Code Violation numbers without realizing it (Penal Code, Health and Safety Code, Vehicle Code, Family Code, etc). And as always, have fun… And feel free to share some with other readers, because we all love linguisitic challenges, right?

Yvette Featured in KGUN Story about UA Interpreter Training Program

Reported by Carlos Herrera, Yvette was included in this news story about the University of Arizona training program for skilled translators and interpreters. The piece highlights the importance of capable interpreters in the courtroom and how the industry is growing.

The Interpreter as Word Detective

Dedicated to our colleagues in Fiji

As interpreters, we must always strive to maintain our languages at equal levels. This is why we must become ‘word detectives’, investigating every term that comes our way and asking ourselves if we have equivalents in all our working languages. Here’s an exercise that will not take up too much time out of your busy life but will help you expand your vocabulary. Take on the role of a linguistic Sherlock Holmes – cap, pipe, and spyglass are optional.

EXERCISE: Go into every room in your house and see if your can name all the items you see in your working languages. If there’s an item you don’t have an equivalent for, investigate it! Look for synonyms, think of similar or related items, and fatten up your glossary. Start sleuthing! In the meantime, see how you do with the following sight translation exercises:

KITCHEN: Do you know your utensils? Spices? Appliances? Sight translate the following passages:

A search warrant of the premises revealed numerous kitchen accessories that appeared to be used for the preparation, packaging, and distribution of illicit substances. The following items have been confiscated in conjunction with this case:

• Three funnels
• Forty-two quart-size Ziploc baggies
• Thirty-seven gallon-size freezer bags with zippers
• Scoops, measuring cups, measuring spoons, tongs, spatulas, and mixing bowls, all with traces of a white powdery substance.
• A food scale.

The body was found in a prone position on the kitchen linoleum floor. It appeared the victim was in the midst of preparing a meal when he was attacked. There was a Dutch oven on the stove, as well as a non-stick pan with a pad of butter and a ladle to its side. The victim was clutching a plastic turmeric container in his right hand. It appeared the victim was attacked from behind with a wooden cutting board and a meat tenderizing mallet.

Ok. Now let’s take our sleuthing to the bedroom. Do you have equivalents for bedroom furniture? Translate the following:

• night stand

• dresser

• vanity

• twin-bed

• bunk-bed

• bedding

• window blinds

• comforter

• headboard

• futon

• dust-bunny

• ceiling fan

How about clothing, hair products, and make-up? And while we’re at it, how about descriptors for people’s appearances? Here’s a little practice for you.

III. “The assailant reportedly had a pock-marked face, a handle-bar mustache and a goatee. He was wearing a navy and turquoise blue flannel checkered shirt with a rip on the left shoulder area; stone-washed jeans, argyle socks, and moccasins.”

IV. “The witness described the female perpetrator as follows: “She had dishwater blonde hair with indigo blue and fuchsia highlights. She wore excessive rouge and fire-engine red lipstick; thick eyeliner and she had so much mascara, her eyes looked like tarantulas.” (I realize the last one was really a stretch, but I had fun writing it.) 🙂

If you do go through your house as a word detective, let us know how it went – what words stumped you? Do share!

Looking forward to seeing many of you at NAJIT. Stop by at our booth and say, “howdy!”

John Bichsel retires from National Center for Interpretation

by Yvette Citizen, FCCI

It’s been officially announced! John Bichsel, Curriculum and Testing Specialist, is retiring from The University of Arizona’s National Center for Interpretation @uofanci. John started working at NCI back in 1986 when his academic advisor, Dr. Roseann Dueñas Gonzalez, hired him while he worked on his Masters in ESL. Throughout that period he took leave a few times – once to spend a year traveling in South America and another to serve a two-year Fulbright stint in Mexico – but upon return each time he continued collaborating with Dr. Gonzalez, Victoria Vazquez, Paul Gatto, and the rest of the NCI team to champion equal access for limited- and non-English speakers by developing interpreter quality training curricula and assessment instruments, a mission he continues to be very passionate about. These are a few accomplishments during his tenure at NCI:

• He participated in the development and administration of the Federal Court Interpreter Certification Exam (FCICE) when the program resided at the University of Arizona. This included working with myriad Spanish, Navajo, and Haitian Creole consultants to certify court interpreters for the AOUSC. In addition to writing and revising materials, John was integral to the piloting and validation of these high-stakes examinations. As he will tell you, the privilege of working with Spanish, Haitian, and Navajo language experts was the best part of his job. Sadly, the Navajo and Haitian Creole interpreter certification programs were cancelled, and early plans to certify up to 55 languages were also put on hold.

• John formed part of the Expert Panel for Fundamentals of Court Interpretation: Theory, Policy, and Practice (2012), by Dr. Roseann Gonzalez, Victoria Vazquez, Esq., and Holly Mikkelson.

• From 2001 – 2016 John collaborated with the NCI team to develop several sign language interpreter certification exams for the state of Texas, including ASL/English; Trilingual (ASL/English/Spanish); Certified Deaf Interpreter; and ASL/English specialty certifications for legal and medical interpreters. https://hhs.texas.gov/doing-business-hhs/provider-portals/assistive-services-providers/board-evaluation-interpreters-certification-program/bei-testing

• John developed a wide body of curricula for the numerous workshops and trainings offered by NCI and his voice is immortalized on the audio recordings.
  He also helped develop numerous other examinations, including the Spanish and Cantonese certification examinations for the San Francisco Fire Department; the Kaiser Permanente Spanish examination for bilingual physicians; medical and state legal examinations for Navajo; and NCI’s in-house legal and medical credentialing examinations (the CICP and MICE).

John Bichsel & Yvette Citizen

John was born in Tacoma, one of seven children in a family that moved from Fargo to Montana to Minnesota while his father, a mechanical engineer on the intercontinental Northern Pacific Railway, accepted every promotion that came his way. John studied German in high school, not knowing that someday he would end up in the Southwest, work for Dr. Gonzalez, and marry into a Mexican family; in fact, John is my ‘better half’ or ‘half an orange’ as they say in Spanish (meaning that together we form a whole and beautiful orange, which we do!). We’ve been married for 23 awesome years. John has dedicated his career to professionalizing interpreting and protecting the rights of linguistic minorities. And for that, we are grateful. ¡Gracias Juanito!

Simultaneous Interpretation: A Guide for Self-Study

by Yvette Citizen, FCCI

Many of you are either aspiring interpreters in need of training, or practicing interpreters who need to hone their skills in order to pass a certification exam. To that end, The Confident Interpreter has prepared a brief guide to help you in your self-study program. Here are a few tips to a good self-guided practice:

FIND GOOD PRACTICE MATERIAL. Here I will shamelessly promote the excellent training material we offer at The Confident Interpreter. But I will add that there’s also some good stuff out there not created by us, like the material from ACEBO and the National Center for Interpretation, University of Arizona. You can also use more general but free material from the internet, like TED talks (ted.com). If possible, try to get material for which there is a written script.

EVALUATE YOUR SKILLS. Record your rendition as you interpret simultaneously. Then listen to yourself objectively—emphasis on objectively. Focus on your strengths as well as your weaknesses; oftentimes, we pay too much attention to our deficiencies and ignore our strengths. Be patient (and nice) to yourself. Below is a checklist for you to use to see how you are doing.

CHECKLIST 1: CONTENT ANALYSIS.

First and foremost, are you getting all the messages across? Remember, we don’t interpret words; we interpret concepts or units of meaning. When you listen to your recorded rendition, read the script as you listen along. Are there gaps? Are you finishing your sentences? Are you getting the correct message across or are you distorting the message somehow? Are you by chance adding information that was not provided in the original message (e.g., over explaining)?

1. Were there any gaps in my rendition?

2. Did I finish my sentences? Or did I leave the listener hanging?

3. Omissions: What kind of omissions did I have? [example: adjectives, adverbs, names, the middle parts of sentences, etc.]

4. Distortions: What types of distortions? [example: 25 kilograms became 35 kilograms; or the blue car became a red car, etc.]

5. Additions: Did I add anything that wasn’t’ said in the original? [example: explaining a concept when an explanation wasn’t provided in the original; adding synonyms; adding concepts, repeating prior information, etc.]

6. What terms or concepts gave me difficulty? [example: legal terms, “big” words – tendentious, propinquity, … slang words – sick, bling, hack… ]

7. Resourcefulness. How resourceful was I when I couldn’t come up with the precise term? Was I able to define or describe the term using other words? Or did I just go blank? [example: the original speaker said “scalpel” and you said, “a surgical instrument” or otherwise described it]

Ideally, you want to use the precise term, but it’s important to be resourceful on those occasions when you get stuck – and you willget stuck at one point or another.

CHECKLIST 2: STYLE AND DELIVERY.

Now that you’ve evaluated your rendition for content, let’s look at your delivery.

1. Were there a lot of uh, uh, um, um’s in my rendition or other type of utterances indicating hesitation?

2. Did my voice sound confident?

3. Pace: Was my delivery rendered at a nice pace or was I interpreting so fast, it was difficult to understand? Did my pace speed up then slow down dramatically?

4. Slurring: Did I enunciate properly? Or did I slur my words making it difficult for the speaker to know what I was saying? If you find that you’re slurring a lot, try practicing tongue twisters in all your working languages.

5. Monotone: Was my voice monotonous? Could I listen to my voice for a long period of time?

6. Did I remember to breathe or did I wait until I was completely out of breath and straining my vocal cords before taking a breath?

SET A COURSE OF ACTION. Now that you know where you are, you can set a course for where you want to be. Focus on one issue that you want to work on and work on it for a week or at least several days then, choose another aspect that you would like to improve on and focus on that for a few days and so on. Set little goals and practice every day even if it’s only for 10 or 15 minutes.

GLOSSARY BUILDING. This is a great time to build up your glossary. Note every word or concept that causes you to stumble; research it, find an equivalent or equivalents you like, and note them in your glossary. There are many ways to keep a glossary. If you don’t already have a system, you can use a simple word table like an Excel spreadsheet with column headings like the suggestion below.

Term in original language | Translation | Comments or context in which you heard it

Most interpreters are self-taught. Even those who had formal training continue to work on their skills on their own time. Be patient with yourself – some of you are way too hard on yourselves. Set realistic goals and truck on—you can do this!

Funding for Interpreter Services

by Irene Radillo, FCCI

Court and Medical Interpreters: Read this! The funding for the services you provide could be at risk.

As a language services provider, it’s important that you be aware of what laws support the financial coverage for the services you provide. Where the funds come from and how they are justified, because they are under fire as you read this… There are entire courses dedicated to teaching in depth about the 2 main pillars, but our goal in this blog entry is to provide you information on 3 facts: (1) the basics, (2) links to sites where you can dive in to be fully informed, and (3) an update on efforts to change the status quo, which could affect us all as interpreters and translators.

1. THE BASICS: Title VI of the US Constitution and Executive Order 13166. An excerpt from https://www.lep.gov/video/video.html

   • “Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin in programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance. National origin discrimination includes, among other things, failing to provide meaningful access to individuals who are limited English proficient (LEP). Executive Order 13166 requires federal agencies that provide federal financial assistance to develop guidance to clarify the language access obligations of recipients of such assistance.” So, we see the importance.

2. Here are direct links to useful sites explaining both Title VI and EO 13166:

   • Title VI of the U.S. Constitution: https://www.dol.gov/oasam/regs/statutes/titlevi.htm

   • Executive Order (E.O.) 13166: https://www.justice.gov/crt/executive-order-13166

3. And here’s what’s in the news recently about efforts to designate English as the one official language of the United States of America: https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/white-house-meets-with-group-urging-english-as-official-us-language/

A paragraph in the article above that should REALLY catch your eye states (and let’s ignore the use of the word “translation”…): “Guschov told the Review-Journal his group is ‘particularly urging’ aides to advise Trump to repeal an executive order signed by President Bill Clinton in 2000 that directed federal agencies to offer translation services for residents with limited English proficiency.” Can we possibly guess what a repeal of this EO would mean for court interpreters? Also for healthcare interpreters, of course (Medicaid and Medicare are both recipients of federal funding).

And by the way, did you know English is not the official language for the country, but 31 states have in various ways designated it so for themselves? Do you know what YOUR state’s stance on the matter is? Here, check it out (as of 2014): https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2014/08/12/states-where-english-is-the-official-language/?utm_term=.7a32b2bbf72d

We think it’s important that we all stay alert regarding what’s going on with this topic, and make our voices heard when we see the opportunity to do so! Our professional lives depend on it! We invite you to comment and share your thoughts and related articles. Thanks!

Yvette Makes the Evening News in Mexico

As Yvette Citizen and Sathya Honey interpreted at a binational mayors’ conference in Nogales, Sonora, reporters covering the event became fascinated by the interpretation process and produced the following segment for the Channel 7 evening news.

The conference was a joint initiative to establish a binational megaregion for international trade formed by the border states of Sonora and Arizona. City mayors and government officials from both sides of the border participated in the conference.