All T&I conferences should have a dedicated interpreter track

Dear Colleagues:

Interpreting is a profession that needs constant preparation. Changes in the world, discoveries in science, evolution of language, and development of technologies make continuing education an indispensable part of our work. Because most interpreters are freelancers, they have to look for ways to learn all the time. This is one of the main reasons professional associations are essential to our development as interpreters.

Most of the time, interpreters and translators join forces to create professional associations that organize continuing education events: seminars, workshops, webinars, and annual or bi-annual professional conferences. Here our colleagues look for the latest, get feedback on ethical issues, learn best practices in business, and network with their peers. I attend many of these events every year. Some are excellent and have proven useful to translators, and to a degree, to interpreters.

The value and need for these events are undeniable, but too often, interpreters are turned off by conference programs that cater to translators, leaving interpreters with little presentations to choose from, and sometimes, the few presentations addressing interpreting issues are scheduled simultaneously. There are excellent all-interpreter associations holding conferences for interpreters exclusively, but they are few and far between. The solution is simple: adjust professional translators and interpreters’ conferences so there is always a track exclusively dedicated to interpreter issues. Some associations have done it and it has been a resounding success.

The American Translators Association (ATA) may have refused to change its name to make its thousands of interpreter members feel included, but through its Interpreter Division it always has a dedicated track as part of its annual conference. This year will be no different and many of us are anxiously waiting for the time to attend this year’s event, and Interpreter Division presentations in Palm Springs, California.

Two other very relevant professional associations recently tried the dedicated interpreter track: For the first time, the International Association of Professional Translators and Interpreters (IAPTI) which includes its interpreter members in the associations’ name, put together an incredible program, and exclusively devoted a room to interpreter-related presentations. The interpreters attending the conference learned from their peers, voiced their concerns about the future of the profession, and reinforced ethical norms interpreters face constantly in their professional practice. I was honored to participate and share with my colleagues, and I was very fortunate to attend wonderful presentations by world-renowned interpreters such as Paolo Cappelli, Heidi-Cazes-Sevilla, Valeria Aliperta, Trinidad Clares, Elvana Moore, Sergio Viaggio, Jakub Hiterski, Javier Castillo Jr., Beatriz Abril, and Sarah Cuminetti. IAPTI will never be the same. Interpreters know there is a place for them to learn from their peers.

Two weeks ago, I was lucky to be a part of history in the making. I attended the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI) conference in Sheffield, UK. The event was spectacular: record-braking attendance, a magnificent venue in Cutlers’ Hall, top-quality presentations, and rooms full of motivated, happy interpreters and translators. There is really nothing to complain about. It was a great event, but what made it historical for many of us, was the decision by the ITI Board and the Conference Committee to try an experiment: After holding an interpreting stream in Cardiff two years earlier, it was decided to have an interpreter dedicated track, planned and organized by interpreters and for interpreters, prominently showcased during the conference. Interpreters were on equal footing with their translator colleagues, and we loved it.

The result could not be better, interpreters from all over the United Kingdom, Europe, and America came to Sheffield to be a part of this. Kirsty Heimerl-Moggan put together an ambitious program that included a wide variety of topics, all interesting, and all of them relevant to all interpreters. Our colleague Robert Lee did an excellent job at presenting “Role-Space: Understanding the interpreter’s place in interactions”; John Green addressed a crucial issue for all interpreters: “Presenting with Confidence”; Elena Davitti and Annalisa Sandrelli educated me on interlingual respeaking to where I am now reading and learning as much as I can on this new fascinating subject; Jonathan Downie made us think about our profession and where we go next as professionals, when he presented: “Can interpreters survive in an MT world?”; Sophie Llewellyn-Smith shared valuable tips and exercises we can all use to reduce our professional stress; Jan Rausch gave a crystal clear presentation on Remote Simultaneous Interpreting (RSI) from the perspective of an interpreter. This was so refreshing, useful, and definitively needed in all conference where only platform developers or sales people talk about this technology, always emphasizing technical aspects and agency advantages, not ours. Maria Cecilia Lipovsek presented a compelling case to finally accept that diplomatic interpreting is a different field, or at least sub-field. She explained diplomatic interpreting in the UK, opened the floor for an interesting discussion, and clarified that diplomatic and conference interpreting are different.  Finally, I shared my thoughts on interpreting as a profession and a quality business, showing those in attendance a way to educate your good direct clients, get rid of the agencies in your professional practice, and charge professional fees. I also talked about the court interpreter situation in the United States, underlining all achievements, and sharing the failures, including the recent federal court interpreter certification exam, hoping those in attendance will take advantage of what has been accomplished in the U.S. while avoiding all the mistakes we made.

Dear colleagues, I have been told this excellent track, dedicated to interpretation, is a permanent part of the ITI conference program. Let’s help ITI to continue to move forward with interpreters and translators working together, always having an interpreter dedicated track that advances our profession in every one of its conferences. I also encourage all of my colleagues in Europe to support this effort. Please cross the Channel and attend the next ITI conference, learn, do networking, and make the dedicated interpreter track of the ITI conference a tradition we all look forward to.

I ask all interpreters everywhere to do the same, tell your professional association that interpreters need continuing education, that many more would attend a conference where issues relevant to their careers were debated. I can think of big, relevant associations with world-class conferences that need to adopt this practice. Asetrad in Spain, OMT in Mexico immediately come to mind.

A successful professional conference must meet the needs of all its members: translators and interpreters. There will always be translation-issues presentations; both, interpreters and translators can benefit from some ethics and professional development presentations that can be attended by both groups of professionals; and the ever-growing number of interpreters joining professional associations worldwide need to find something that speaks directly to them. They need, we need, an interpreter dedicated track in all conferences that include interpreters in their membership.

I now invite you to share your experiences and comments with all of us on this essential issue: continuing education for professional interpreters.

Do many interpreters experience vicarious trauma?

Dear Colleagues:

I ask this question because I have been an interpreter for over 30 years and I have experienced no symptoms of vicarious trauma. When I started my career, nobody ever talked about vicarious trauma whether by its name or by any other name; however, in the last few years I have read many articles and attended many interpreter conferences where some of my colleagues dealt with this issue. I did my homework before writing this post. I read about the symptoms and activities that, as interpreters, put us at a higher risk because of the exposure to people or situations involving suffering, injustice, and many terrible things.  I read about empathy, compassion, internalizing your feelings, emptiness, denial, coping with big world tragedies through psychic numbing, and even sociopathy (antisocial personality disorder) and discover that none apply.

I consider myself “normal”. My friends see me as a regular guy. I am kind and considerate to those around me; I am a happy guy, and I have been told that I am a good friend, relative, and colleague. I will never be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, but I have a full life doing what I like with those I care for.

After much consideration, I concluded that my attitude towards my profession has kept me from vicarious trauma. My background is in Law. I was an attorney before I was an interpreter. During the years I practiced my former profession, I was exposed to many bad things. I got to see the dark side of human nature. Then, my interpreting career began in the courtroom. I now work as a conference interpreter, and I have never worked as a healthcare interpreter, but I spent my days in courthouses and jails for many years. Both occupations put me in the middle of murders, rapes, drug crimes, child molestation, ugly divorces, loss of parental rights, domestic violence, wrongful dead, bankruptcies, deportations, and similar situations. For years I interacted with people: defendants, plaintiffs, witnesses, and victims, providing my professional services on what had to be the worst day of their lives. People do not get up in the morning and say: “I think I would love to be arrested today”; or “today is a good day to terminate my parent-child relationship forever”. Unless they go to get married or to adopt a child, regular humans do not go to courthouses just because.

I have worked side by side with many interpreters during trials involving vicious criminals and people found not guilty by a jury. I have interpreted testimony of children graphically describing sexual crimes committed against them, and have interpreted when a mother described to the jury how the bad guys killed her son in front of her.

I have sat next to individuals charged with murder and facing the dead penalty, and with parents of young children who know they will be deported on that day. During those hundreds of cases throughout several decades, I never heard a fellow interpreter say they were feeling the symptoms of vicarious trauma. I now wonder if they, like I, experienced none of them, they did not recognize them, or they were just hiding them.

I think that I have never suffered the effects of this trauma because, even though I cry at the movies, I have always focused on the task and delivered the service, always knowing these were cases, not my personal life. I have always treated the client with respect, addressing them by their name and accommodating their professional interpreting needs regardless of the charges they were facing. To me, a murder trial is never about the gross details of the killing. It is about the theory of the defense, the prosecutorial strategy, the skill needed to get certain evidence admitted to trial. It is never about the small kid telling the judge who he rather be with: his father or mother; it is about delivering the rendition with the proper register, hearing everything that child is mumbling from the stand, staying out of the judge’s field of vision so she can better evaluate the witness’ testimony. I have never injected myself into a case or the personal life of the parties. Unlike most of my colleagues, after a rendition, I remember the legal arguments in a motions hearing much better than the testimony of an eyewitness. When I do legal interpreting without ever thinking about it, I have always seen myself as a person looking through a window, a spectator, a professional doing his job. I never identify my life or feelings with those of the parties in a case. I act professionally around those I interpret for, but I have never held a conversation with them; not even small talk beyond inquiring their place of origin so I can hear their accent and know what to expect. I never asked them if they want a glass of water. I never ask them if they have questions. Those are things for their lawyer or the Marshall to ask. When they occasionally ask me to convey a message to a relative in the courtroom, I simply tell them I cannot. It is not part of my job. Except for the names of those who I first interpreted for many years ago, unless my client was a celebrity for the right or for the wrong reasons, I never even remember their names or faces.

I never planned it; this is how it always was. This is how it always will be. Therefore, when I leave the courtroom after the convicted felon has been sentenced to life, after I interpret the deportation order, or when I hear the still doors closing behind me as I leave a prison, I go home, meet friends for happy hour, or catch a baseball game at Wrigley Field without ever thinking about the things that took place at work. I close the drapes of that window.

The question at the beginning of this post is real: Have you experienced vicarious trauma? I am sure some of you have, but I would like to know if I am in the minority or not. Please share your experience; I would love to hear from you. It is fine if you just want to tell us yes or no. The last thing I want is for you to bring back your bad memories again.