When they hire you to interpret a lecture on Navajo Feminism and you end up interpreting about horses
How unexpected terminology can show up anywhere, plus a short non-judicial practice exercise
by Yvette Citizen, FCCI
As you know, freelance court interpreters work in a myriad of other settings when we’re not in court. In what I would classify as one of my “cool gigs,” I was interpreting an awesome lecture on Navajo Feminism, presented by Dr. Kelsey Dayle John, a professor of Gender and Women Studies and American Indian Studies. This was part of a State Department U.S. Studies Program (SUSI), hosted by the Center for Latin American Studies, University of Arizona. The public was an amazing group of indigenous female students from various Latin American countries. My colleague and I interpreted as the professor shattered patriarchal myths of the Southwest, replacing the stereotypical image of the rugged Anglo-American horse rider along the likes of a Kevin Costner or a Jon Hamm with realistic images of brown-skinned women, not just riding and training horses, but also mending fences, herding, and slaughtering animals.
No lecture of Professor John’s would be complete without the mention of horses, and so we interpreted as she explained that horses form part of Navajo creation stories; that they are knowers and teachers and have a sort of sibling-like relationship with human beings; that horses were not brought here by the Spanish but were in the Americas already and cited research supporting this.
Below is the link to a video we had to interpret for the class. Fortunately, Dr. John is considerate of interpreters and provided us with the material ahead of time.
Your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to interpret the video into your target language. Following, is a table with vocabulary from the video with Spanish equivalents for your review. Do you have equivalents in your other language/s?
Here’s the video: InterpretingExerciseDrKelseyJohnHorses
Yvette Citizen & Dr. Kelsey Dayle John
Let us know what you think and if you’ve had similar interpreting experiences. And of course, don’t forget to check out the Free (and the not free but affordable) resources in this website.
Dr. Kelsey John has additional lectures on YouTube if you’re interested in the subject or would like to practice interpreting these types of fascinating lectures. Here’s a link to another one:
AnimalitiesLectureDrKelseyJohn
GLOSSARY WITH SPANISH EQUIVALENTS
donkeys and mules [burros/asnos y mulas]
Doctoral Dissertation [Tesis doctoral]
mustang [mustang/caballo mesteño]
gelding [caballo castrado/caballo capón]
feral horse – Generally speaking, the difference between a feral horse and a wild horse is that the feral horse escaped and became wild; the latter was born in the wild. [Caballo asilvestrado/cerrero/salvaje]
domesticate [domar/amansar]
breed of horse [raza]
untamed, untouched wild west [el viejo oeste pristino y salvaje/indómito/no domado]
a trope in the American story [un símbolo/tropo/imagen estereotipada de la historia estadounidense]
from free-range to enclosed [de campo libre a estar encerrada/encorralada]
clammed up [se cerraba/se cerró - in this context]
anthropocentrism [antropocentrismo]
Are there different words for male and female horses in your other languages, like ‘caballo’ and ‘yegua’ in Spanish? Can you think of other equine related words that you may know in one language but not the others?
As always, feel free to re-post as long as you give us credit.
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