Blog
Interpreter training or skills improvement? My story…
How did I start interpreting? Years ago, I was on a ship. I was thoroughly bilingual in all four skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking. I had gone to med school for a couple of [...]
The story of an immigrant interpreter
In our January 2015 class in Woodburn, Oregon, one of the students had an unusual background. This is the story of a professional Mexican nurse who came to the United States to take care of [...]
Value of interpreting
Working with professional interpreters saves time… and money! How much time do patients spend in the Emergency Room? The following chart compares how much time they spend there with different types of language assistance. Telephonic [...]
Language Proficiency self evaluation
These tools give you a way to self-evaluate your language proficiency. This link, from the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines, has the option to click on different languages on the left, and on the different skills (speaking, [...]
Memory tricks!
For interpreters, improving our memory is important! We have to remember what we hear so we can interpret it. This blog post mentions quite a few important topics: A good night’s sleep Exercise Spending time [...]
Media interpreting for Dr. Menchú
On April 16 three OSTI interpreters interpreted for Dr. Rigoberta Menchu at Portland Public Schools. What was so cool about this? I had been in Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador back in 1987, one year [...]