They say that to get to where you want to go you need to know where you want to go. It is with that in mind and in that spirit I begin the second phase of this blog. As I graduate and develop as a professional interpreter and translator I would like to keep this blog as way to share and discuss insights and experiences related to being a language professional. This will be a way to document my own journey as well as a way to connect with other language professionals.

I will share my triumphs and lessons learned during various jobs (keeping all client information completely confidential of course) as well as anything else I think might be of help to my fellow translators and interpreters.

One of my dear hopes with this blog is that it will spark dialogue and create a sense of community among those translators and interpreters who read it so that between all of us we can continue to advance our profession to even greater heights.

#1

Let’s begin with the lesson of the day: When doing simultaneous interpreting I have been working on and struggling with decalage. As I was interpreting into English this afternoon I seem to have had a breakthrough. For months one of my classmates has been telling me just trust yourself and jump in sooner. Trust that you are going to be able to figure out what the idea is as you go. Stick with short sentences and you’ll get it. So this afternoon that was my focus. Even when I wasn’t completely sure where he was going I jumped in as soon as I felt like I could get something understandable out and low and behold I was able to get much more information in and keep up much better. There were times where i got lost but I was able to avoid those moments where I had missed the first part of an idea I would have otherwise understood perfectly because I was too far behind. So the lesson is: Trust Thyself =)

Next let’s talk about a really positive experience I had interpreting a personal story today that a professor was using to illustrate his point about immigration reform. As he was telling us the story he got really animated and started talking faster and faster and I realized that by concentrating on him and visualizing the story I was able to keep up and put the kind of emotion that was needed into my story. I found myself on the edge of my seat waiting to hear what he said next. It was a great example of how visualization really helps when interpreting.

So those are the insights for the day.

Blessings