"Game On! A Discussion about Sports" was a fitting topic for the 2012 Monterey Institute of International Studies' Fall Forum, which annually offers students in the Institute's interpretation programs the opportunity to hone their craft in a professional conference setting.
Hosted each year by the Graduate School of Translation, Interpretation, and Language Education at MIIS, the Fall Forum serves a two-fold purpose, exploring relevant issues of our time while offering second-year students in the Institute's Conference Interpretation and Translation and Interpretation programs the unique opportunity to perform consecutive interpretation in a professional conference setting.
At this year's Fall Forum, three panels focused on the interrelated topics of sports and health; sports and money; and sports, culture and gender. Speakers with diverse professional and personal backgrounds shared their views in their native languages, with consecutive interpretation into English provided for attendees.
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Recent Monterey Institute graduate Julian Zhu (MACI ’12) could be considered a prime example of how social media is changing the landscape of the job search and recruiting processes for students and employers—not to mention the importance for students of building relationships with faculty members. Julian is currently working as a Terminology and Reference Intern with the International Criminal Court, Interpretation and Translation section in the Hague, the Netherlands. He found out about the opportunity by following Professor Uwe Muegge’s Twitter feed and also got helpful tips from the professor about how to get the most out of his experience. “I found that the preparatory work greatly helped my work here,” says Julian.
Later Julian found out about an opening for the position of Language Specialist at Amazon Kindle through Professor Muegge’s Twitter feed (see @uwemuegge), and again sought his advice. The two corresponded frequently throughout the application process, as Julian prepared for the interview and made a salary request. And the story has a happy ending: Julian will start his new job with Amazon in Seattle on December 17!
With great sadness, the Monterey Institute community learned this morning that Professor Carl Fehlandt has passed away following a brave fight with cancer over the past 14 months. Carl graduated from the Monterey Institute with an MA in Translation and from the University of the Americas, Mexico City with a BA in Spanish Language and Literature. He taught Spanish Translation and Interpretation at the Monterey Institute from 1974 onward, and had been an active freelance translator since 1972. Carl had a great impact on his students and remained in contact with many of them over the years.
Dean Reneé Jourdanais of the Graduate School of Translation, Interpretation and Language Education says Carl will be sorely missed. “Carl has impacted so many lives during his almost forty years at the Institute and in the community. You really have no sense as to how far a person reaches until you see the outpouring of messages and thoughts that have come in from around the world.”
Carl’s colleague and former student Professor Barry Olsen adds: “Carl was a pillar of the translation program. He was more passionate about translation and language than any person that I have ever met. He shared that passion for decades with his students and colleagues and has shaped the professional practice of translators and interpreters.” It is evident that Carl leaves behind a lasting legacy in every way at the Monterey Institute. As Barry Olsen says: “To say that he will be missed does not even begin to explain how his friends, family and students feel.”
The Monterey Institute will celebrate the life and legacy of Carl J. Fehlandt in the Irvine Auditorium on Tuesday, November 13th at 12:15 PM.
Students in the Translation and Interpretation program at the Monterey Institute embrace every opportunity to test their skills in real world settings. For aspiring interpreters live debates, unpredictable, fact-filled and fast by design, are a very challenging but rewarding training exercise. “Interpreters often perform better at an event like this than in class because of the authenticity of the experience,” says Professor Jacolyn Harmer.
Anne-Kathrin Koch (MATI ’13) agrees and says “having an opportunity to interpret such an event makes us feel less like students and more like interpreters.” The challenges are many, including the density of the speeches, which are often filled with information and numbers. Every language has its unique characteristics. Anne-Kathrin was interpreting the English into German and says that in and of itself is hard when interpreting a fast-paced event like this, as German uses a lot more words than English, “which means we interpreters have to be very precise.” Specific vocabulary and names of programs and legislation such as “Race to the Top” and “Affordable Health Care Act” provided further challenges.
“I was listening in the booths last night and thinking….Wow!” says Professor Harmer, “especially given all the features Anne listed.” She says that events like this are very exciting and they not only feel real, but are real for the students. As Anne-Kathrin explains, “a real hands-on experience like this makes you realize your strengths and weaknesses in a very effective way. It is a crucial part of our learning experience at MIIS.”
“I was aware of them implementing all kinds of coping strategies,” says Professor Harmer says with a smile. “Secretly I was glad it wasn’t me interpreting!”
“If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you—for Paris is a moveable feast.” If a single sentence could capture Pablo Chang-Castillo’s (MAT ’01/MACI ’02) life, Ernest Hemingway would be its author.
Pablo was born in a tiny village on the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua, but his family was granted political asylum in the United States when he was a child and he grew up in a bilingual family between Central America (Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Honduras) and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As a teenager he was given the opportunity to study abroad in Limoges, France and that was when a life-long love affair with the country, its culture, and language began.
As a Monterey Institute student, Pablo received a scholarship to return to France as an exchange student to Institut Supérieur d'Interprétation et de Traduction, this time to Paris, to study conference interpretation. In Paris he met his life and business partner, Julien Brasseur (MATI ’02) and together they moved their feast to Monterey to finish their graduate studies. The Monterey Institute was a catalyst in their meeting and has continued to factor greatly in their interlinked professional lives.
As Pablo explains, “The friendships I made during my time at MIIS opened many doors for me at the start of my career.” He adds that the reputation of MIIS further helped jumpstart an amazing career. Pablo’s work has led him to travel around the entire world, including interpreting assignments for world-renowned chefs, movie stars, major international sporting events, international organizations, live television broadcasts, and accompanying high level diplomats and world leaders on official visits to foreign countries.
This interpretation power couple recently moved from San Francisco back to Paris, where they work as freelance interpreters while still maintaining their U.S.-based translation and interpretation business. “Now I am the one opening doors for MIIS graduates and that gives me great joy,” Pablo says.
For more stories about MIIS and its alumni, current students, faculty and staff visit the online version of our alumni publication, the Communiqué.
Professors Kelley Calvert & Laura Burian with their classes at Hopkins Marine Station in Monterey
In education today, a great deal of dialogue focuses upon this question: “What does it mean to be educated in a biosphere that is suffering ecological degradation at a rate that is unparalleled in human history at a time when demand for ecosystem services is growing rapidly?”[1] In response to such calls, there has emerged a Middlebury-MIIS initiative to develop creative approaches to incorporating sustainability concepts and practices in the classroom.
Hyuk is holding a baleen which is a filter-feeder system inside the mouth of blue whales.
To these ends, students in Kelley Calvert’s English for Academic & Professional Purposes course, “Focus on Sustainability,” visited Stanford University’s Hopkins Marine Station on September 18th, 2012. Students toured the marine station, learning about its history as well as Monterey Bay’s transformation from industrial wasteland to marine sanctuary. Following the tour, marine biologist and writer Dr. Stephen Palumbi spoke to the class about his book Death and Life of Monterey Bay: A Story of Revival.
The class had the privilege of being joined by Chinese and Japanese interpreters from Professor Laura Burian’s translation and interpretation course. The interpreters provided simultaneous interpretation of the tour, Palumbi’s lecture, and the Q & A session following.
But enough with background information and introductions… Let’s hear what the students have to say about their experiences!
Our Experience with the Tour
Our visit to the Hopkins Marine Center was an enriching experience. Our awesome tour guide, Joe Wible, showed us around in the research center. We had the chance to see beautiful antique pieces of porcelain from the Chinese village and Esalen/Costanoan people. Also, we were given a piece of a baby whale baleen. Joe gave us useful and surprising information about how huge a blue whale can be, almost the size of three or four school buses, which is unbelievable! He also talked of how the fishermen attracted the squid to the nets with the light of the lanterns they used. This practice gave birth to the Festival of Lanterns celebrated every year in Pacific Grove. One more thing that we learned from his explanation was that the researchers in the Hopkins Marine Station can use the library for 24 hours a day!!
When we came out from the library, what was striking was the size of squid decoration hanging from the ceiling. It was interesting to learn that their life cycles changed subject to weather conditions such as el nino. Furthermore, it was startling that it could grow up to 20 meters.
Our Experience with Stephen Palumbi’s Lecture
Among the different activities of the tour at the Hopkins marine station, the most interesting one was the lecture of Mr. Palumbi. His lecture was a live narration of The Death and life of Monterey Bay : A Story of Revival, which we read in class. His lecture was exploratory and informative. It answered all of our questions and gave us a deeper understanding of the book. For example, thanks to Palumbi, we understood that Monterey Hopkins Marine Center really set up sustainable restrictions to protect marine life. Most of all, we could obtain precise insights about environmental issues that have occurred in Monterey Bay from the 18th century. We also learned the importance of human economic diversity. Finally, we took a picture in front of this beautiful point!
Our Experience with the Interpreters
We were very glad to have Chinese and Japanese T&I students joining us. We thought they skillfully interpreted between the languages; they provided technical terms and animals’ names in both Japanese and Chinese. Additionally, they interpreted our questions very accurately although we did not express them very clearly.
As a listener to the Japanese interpretation, I felt the difficulty of interpreting to one’s non-native language because it seemed challenging to interpret technical vocabulary. Then, I felt the significance of learning vocabulary as one of the greatest ways to acquire foreign language skills.
They served as a bridge between us and the lecturer,Dr. Steve Palumbi. As listeners, they paid attention as I asked my question and then translated it for the speaker. Moreover, thanks to their efforts, we understood more from the lecture.
[1] Tom Kelly. Sustainability as an Organizing Principle for Higher Education. The Sustainable Learning Community. (New Hampshire: University of New Hampshire Press, 2009), 13.
“I saw a poster for a casting call on a light pole one day walking home from school,” says Brian Gueyser (MATI ´13), explaining what prompted him to look up from his school books and seek a thespian adventure. “My daily life and schedule were pretty much dictated by my studies in the Japanese Translation and Interpretation master’s program,” Brian shares, adding that when he saw the poster, he was totally ripe for a peachy adventure.
He auditioned for seasoned members of the historic Forest Theater in Carmel for a production of the popular children’s book “James and the Giant Peach“ by Roald Dahl and was cast as the blind Earthworm. “The hardest part about my role was the movement restrictions, for as an earthworm I could not use my hands and had to wiggle,” says Brian, who on the other hand had no problem mastering the Jamaican accent and other interesting character traits of the Earthworm.
The Forest Theater is an outdoor theater founded in 1910 and a beloved institution on the Monterey Peninsula. “I met some amazing people and had a great time,” Brian says, adding that his adventures in the theater gave a new dimension to his Monterey experience and graduate studies, “it is always nice to get to use your brain in different ways.”
“I saw a poster for a casting call on a light pole one day walking home from school,” says Brian Gueyser (MATI ´13), explaining what prompted him to look up from his school books and seek a thespian adventure. “My daily life and schedule were pretty much dictated by my studies in the Japanese Translation and Interpretation master’s program,” Brian shares, adding that when he saw the poster, he was totally ripe for a peachy adventure.
He auditioned for seasoned members of the historic Forest Theater in Carmel for a production of the popular children’s book “James and the Giant Peach“ by Roald Dahl and was cast as the blind Earthworm. “The hardest part about my role was the movement restrictions, for as an earthworm I could not use my hands and had to wiggle,” says Brian, who on the other hand had no problem mastering the Jamaican accent and other interesting character traits of the Earthworm.
The Forest Theater is an outdoor theater founded in 1910 and a beloved institution on the Monterey Peninsula. “I met some amazing people and had a great time,” Brian says, adding that his adventures in the theater gave a new dimension to his Monterey experience and graduate studies, “it is always nice to get to use your brain in different ways.”
We all learn at least one language as children. But what does it take to learn six languages, or twenty, or seventy?
The Monterey Institute, one of the world’s leading centers for language training and teaching, will play host to a leading authority on language learning when Michael Erard, author of “Babel No More: The Search for the World’s Most Extraordinary Language Learners,” delivers a free public lecture in the Irvine Auditorium from 12:15 to 1:45 p.m. on May 2.
In researching Babel No More—favorably reviewed by both the New York Times (“gripping”) and The Economist (“thoughtful”)—Erard set out to answer the question, what is the upper limit of the ability to learn, speak, and remember languages? He describes a variety of enigmatic historical figures and delves into the characteristics of “polyglots” (those who claim to know at least six languages) and “hyperpolyglots” (those who claim that the number of languages they’ve grasped is in the double digits).
These remarkable individuals include nineteenth-century Italian cardinal Joseph Mezzofanti, who was said to speak seventy-two languages, and Lomb Kató, a Hungarian hyperpolyglot who taught herself Russian by reading Russian romance novels and believed that “one learns grammar from language, not language from grammar.” Erard also met with living language superlearners such as Alexander, a modern-day polyglot with dozens of languages, who showed him the tricks of the trade and gave him a glimpse into the life of obsessive language acquisition.
Erard’s research examined both the pedagogical methods these superlearners have used to train themselves, and their neurological framework, as Erard tried to divine how much of their ability is derived from training and how much may be genetic. He also reminds readers how crucial multilingualism is to everything from conducting day-to-day business in multiethnic regions of the world, to understanding the true meaning of intelligence intercepts.
Philip Rodriguez (MACI ’12), Jesse Cleary-Budge (MATI ’12) and Dorottya Székely (MACI non-degree) travelled with their professor, Bill Weber, to Los Angeles recently for a very special training opportunity at the 5th International Olympic Committee World Conference on Women and Sport. Professor Weber was the chief interpreter for the event and provided the students with this unique opportunity to work with professional interpreters in a highly demanding situation.
The students say they were “inspired” to observe the seasoned professionals at works who also provided them with valuable insights and leads for professional networking. “Being able to observe professional interpreters at a real conference and getting the chance to put my skills to the test was a thrilling experience,” says Philip Rodriguez. He adds that “some of the speeches were quite a challenge,” but the group worked hard to get them right. “At the end of the conference, we were all very exhausted but returned home with the rewarding feeling that we are definitely on the right track and not too far away from becoming professional interpreters. This inspired us to work even harder during our last semester at MIIS.”
The Olympic Committee conference is what is called a “truly international” event where people rely heavily on interpreters to participate in meetings. The students were given an insight into interpreting for internationally known people such as Jacques Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee, skater Michelle Kwan and the actress Geena Davis. “Some speakers we interpreted gave very moving and emotional speeches,” shares Philip, a challenging but rewarding experience that he and the others are grateful not to have “miis-ed.”