At the American Translators Association Conference in Washington, DC, I attended a session on Interpreting and Translating for Farmers and Migrant Workers presented by Michelle Pinzl. This is the target audience of some of my translations, and knowing who we translate for helps us write in a way that our text is understood. When I [...]
What can be truly measured? I believe that listing the units by which something is measured is essential. In language proficiency testing, there are many scales being used. Level 1 can mean many different things. I will use units of length as an analogy. MIT students got this right when they measured in smoots. In [...]
Bilingual employees often use the foreign language at work. The ACTFL scale gives language proficiency guidelines for different skills, and there are tests for each skill. How does each skill apply to the work duties performed at the office? The following skill descriptions are taken from the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines 2012. The levels that are [...]
Interpreting Certification Compared (Spoken Language) Spoken Language Interpreting Certification in the United States: a comparison Competency-based assessments are the foundation of credentialing in many professions, one of which is interpreting. According to the National Commission for Certifying Agencies, an assessment instrument is any one of several standardized methods for determining if candidates possess the necessary [...]
On September 8, I visited the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I spoke with a woman who works there and told her I am a Spanish interpreter. She told me she wished her husband had been able to work with an interpreter 30 years ago, before he met her. Here is her story, as she emailed [...]
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in any program or activity that receives Federal funds or other Federal financial assistance. There is information on this topic in the Health and Human Services website and, of course, in the Department of Justice website of [...]
This presentation was prepared for two school Districts in Oregon. Recently, some Oregon school districts have made the news because they have had multiple Title VI complaints. The language access principles presented here should help school districts implement policies that enable them to use their funds effectively and avoid these problems. Schools base their language [...]
When an interpreter wonders what is holding them back from making progress, it can be useful to analyze the language proficiency skills in detail. Gaucha Translations proctors tests for spoken languages on the ACTFL scale by Language Testing International so interpreters and translators can analyze their strengths and weaknesses and determine how to make progress [...]
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, writing, listening and reading) on the top. As you see the samples matched with the description for each level, you [...]
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 with friends Having fun Not stressing out too much Eating the right things (wine, but not too much!) Brain workouts [...]
