In 2021, my husband and I bought a house with our daughter. My popular writing and translation classes are open for registration for 2022. Work in translation and interpreting, as well as volunteering, picked up and is going well. Looking forward, I have made some changes so I can continue to provide the high quality services my clients expect.

Moving

My husband retired in January of 2021. This cleared a path to move from the Portland area to the Seattle area in early September. We have been visitors to Washington State many times, and now we are getting to know the Evergreen State as residents.

We now live with our daughter and her family. It is wonderful to share our home with our grandkids!

I have registered with the required Washington organizations to continue to provide services seamlessly. Intepreters United was instrumental in making my move smooth by providing the information I needed to get set up as a local provider right away. I look forward to supporting my colleagues in solidarity.

I am starting to know what to expect of the local traffic when I go to interpreting appointments in person. I much prefer interpreting on site, since there are significantly fewer technical glitches involved!

2022 Classes

After this transition, Daniela Guanipa and I scheduled our writing and translation classes for January through May of 2022.

The Spanish writing course will be taught on Wednesdays from January 12 to February 9.

The Advanced English <> Spanish Translation Skills course will be on Wednesdays from March 9 to May 11. Those who want to focus on translations into English will have a special track on Thursdays from April 14 to May 12.

I added a third course, MS Excel and Word for Translators, on Wednesdays February 16 and 23. This content was part of the Translation course for the last few years, and I am making it available to a broader audience.

Work Goes On

Working with a colleague, we started to provide remote simultaneous interpreting services as a team. We work from the same location, creating our personal remote booth. Please check the ATA Position Paper on remote interpreting! There is more information on interpreting best practices on my Interpreting Services page.

Translation business has been booming! My Translation Services page has been updated to include a job description for written language translators.

I was privileged to volunteer at vaccination clinics in Hillsboro through the Washington County Medical Reserve Corps, where I provided interpreting services to my community. It was a source of joy to support the ¡Vacúnate ya! campaign.

Working with a virtual assistant has helped me provide more services. Having someone else deal with the pesky tasks of doing business helps me focus on the work I love.

Business Changes in the New Year

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there is higher inflation than usual. Between October of 2019 and October of 2021, the cost of living increased 8%. Additionally, working remotely involves a different set of expenses than working on site. To avoid raising my rates by a larger amount in the future, I am raising my rates by 8% as of January 1, 2022.

I have purchased backup batteries for my router and my computer so I am not as susceptible to work interruptions due to outages during winter storms.

I look forward to a great 2022!