The first time I heard the term “court interpreting,” I was 15 years old. My mom wanted to help me pick out possible career options, and she briefly mentioned court interpreting. She pointed out that I was good at languages and enjoyed my language classes. I acknowledged the suggestion with a shrug and a brief nod, and we changed the subject. I had no idea what it was that a court interpreter really did or what the job entailed—in fact, I didn’t know the profession even existed before that.
I was born and raised in Puerto Rico, in an environment where almost everyone I knew was fully bilingual in English and Spanish and those who didn’t speak English most certainly spoke Spanish, the common language of the island. If you didn’t speak Spanish well, you could get by well enough with English. At the tender age of 15, surrounded by people who had no communication problems whatsoever due to language barriers, why would I have thought that anyone would need a “court interpreter,” much less that a person could make a living doing that kind of job?
When I finally decided on a major in college, interpreting and translating was not really my main interest. I briefly entertained the idea of going into journalism or possibly music—I’m a proficient guitarist and singer, and my guitar professor wanted me to get my degree at the Conservatory of Music. Instead, I picked a major called Modern Languages at the University of Puerto Rico. It required that the student pick two languages, main and secondary. I picked Italian as my main language, and, interested in something challenging and different, German as the secondary. (Not that I really had a clue what I would later do with either of them.) Fortunately, college in Puerto Rico was cheap enough that my parents tolerated my seemingly unwise career decision.
During my sophomore year, I had the honor of taking a translation class with Dr. Andrew Hurley, who taught Spanish-English Translation at the UPR. It certainly planted the seeds for what lead me to my current career choice. Following that class, I decided to take two more translation courses; this time we did work into both languages as opposed to just English. Prof. Yvette Torres not only taught us translation, she also introduced us to the world of interpreting and encouraged us to research what it takes to obtain the skills to become an interpreter. (If you don’t know the difference between translation and interpretation, stay tuned!)
But it wasn’t until I got accepted into the Rutgers University MA program in Translation and moved to New Jersey that I really understood the scope of this career. During my four years of living in NJ, I have met people who have helped shape my views on language access, translation and interpreting skills and services, and language acquisition, among other things, all of which I plan to share with you.
When I get asked what my family members do for a living, a one-word answer suffices. “Dentist.” “Engineer.” “Lawyer.” “Mechanic.” People understand exactly what that means. When I get asked what I do for a living, “interpreter” or even “translator” usually requires an explanation to follow. Thinking back to my 15-year-old self, I understand that the average person has no idea what that means, even if they’ve heard the term before. So what kind of skills does this profession require, and what kind of issues–often controversial–is an interpreter confronted with on a daily basis?
Follow this blog to learn about issues relevant to the field of language access, translation, interpretation, the training thereof (which is something I am currently partially involved in), and other related issues. And please, ask questions!
Let’s get the conversation going – what do you want to learn about interpreting/translation services? Please introduce yourself and let me know why you’re here!
