You got your degree, became certified … and now?
August 6, 2019 § 3 Comments
Dear colleagues:
Getting a college degree is no minor accomplishment, but in most countries, you need a certification, license, or patent to practice your profession. Interpreting is no different.
Unfortunately, a degree and a certification do not guarantee you anything. We live in a globalized society where only the best will reach success. Interpreters work with languages and human knowledge, both characterized by their constant, eternal change. Modernity brings changes in science and technology, and globalization makes all interpreters your competitors, regardless of their location. Continuing education is as essential to interpreters as the air they breathe.
Continuing education costs money, and interpreters need to spend time studying instead of earning a living. When faced with the need to continue our professional education to survive in a market economy, we have to be very careful as to how we spend that hard-earned money. At this point in their careers, interpreters have spent large amounts in their education: College and certifications were not cheap, and now it is time to decide how we will invest our financial resources, and our time, to further our professional development.
Continuing education is an interpreter’s need, but it is also a business. We will now look into some options out there, describe what we need, and provide a profile of fraudulent and poor-quality programs that exist.
The first question to ask ourselves is: What do we need when we seek continuing education? We need to keep a certification or license current; we need to pass an exam, we need to get certified, or we just need to learn and improve to succeed.
To achieve these goals, we need to seek education in five fields:
1. Interpreting
2. Our specialty area
3. Ethics
4. Technology
5. Business
We also need to stay up to date on current events and accumulate general knowledge.
There are several ways to get the education we need on these areas:
By entering a structured education program in a college or other higher learning institution to get a post-graduate degree; by attending summer courses for those who cannot be full-time students. There are also one- and two-week diploma/certificate programs, weekend workshops and presentations by professional associations, universities and colleges, agencies, the government, and well-known professional interpreters who teach.
There are also international, national, regional, and specialized conferences by professional associations.
Webinars by professional associations, universities, and professional interpreters are another source of education (ATA, IAPTI, eCPD, and others) and individual mentorship or internship programs with experienced interpreters as mentors.
Some colleges, professional associations, and experienced interpreters offer a virtual classroom experience, and this is where we see a higher risk to end up with a poor-quality workshop by an unknown interpreter turned instructors. Although some of these programs may offer continuing education credits, they are of little use in a professional life.
Because of the blog, many friends and colleagues contact me to let me know of workshops, seminars, and courses they regret taking. Most include at least one of these characteristics: The instructor is an unknown interpreter considered a “local hero” where he works and lives. These people have secured a local market as “instructors” because they have been around for a long time, or due to their impeccable social skills that have positioned them within a sphere of influence of judges, court administrators, school principals, and others. The classes are held at a person’s home or office, without a proper learning environment and with very few resources. Sometimes the instructor has her children at the venue, and occasionally, the workshop takes place at the same location where other activities are happening, such as a community theater, religious activities, or sporting events. At these courses enrollment is way less expensive than at legitimate programs.
Often a workshop could cost as little as an admission to the movies. Maybe these so-called “continuing education” programs are offered overseas in a resort, and they are handled as destination events or a family vacation instead of a professional event. I suggest you think long and hard before enrolling on a professional program run by a travel agency, or a workshop advertised in a brochure that describes tours, beach activities, and similar options side by side to a professional schedule. Finally, these workshops are often advertised in tacky signs, unprofessional poster boards, and online adds that are misspelled or improperly written.
Because we are in a very competitive market in a globalized economy that pushes us towards continuing education to survive and then excel, you must take care of your time and finances. Do your homework when going for a Master’s Degree or to attend a workshop to pass a certification test. Always select a program that covers the subjects you want to study, and use common sense when selecting a service provider. Trusted colleges, recognized professional associations, well-known experienced interpreters will offer programs that make sense, are useful, and unfortunately, are expensive. When a class it taught by an unknown, the instructor credentials are questionable, the course takes place in a factory cafeteria or the basement of a church, and the course is cheaper than others, look the other way and avoid the workshop, even if it offers continuing education credits.
Study every day on your own, and try to attend workshops, courses and seminars that will cover the five fields above: interpreting, your specialty area, ethics, technology, and business. Attending reputable professional conferences at least once a year may let you cross off your list two or more of them. Remember, look at the program and mistrust conferences that publish the program at the last minute.
Often a local conference may offer what you need. Sometimes you need not travel long distances to get your continuing education. I now ask you for your comments and experiences with good and not-so-good continuing education programs.
The Professional Interpreter 
1. Do research,
When I was President of an ATA Chapter I created the Vicepresidency of R&D. In my research I found that the following words should not be translated into any language:
2. Take Linguistics.
Language is dynamic. The first thing you learn.
This course gives the capabilities to provide context to a translation/interpretation.
3. Research new words, especially in technology. I wrote a presentation titled: To Translate or Not to Translate, That is the question.
4. Idiosyncracy.
5. Read about the subject because the following Latin phrase is very true:
IGNORATIS TERMINIS ARTIS, IGNORATUR ET ARS. However, I found rejection in the acceptance of my simple and humble opinion.
Every day I use vocabulary I learned from Sandro Tomasi in a workshop in Washington a few years ago. I have been to two of Christopher Dimmick’s interpreter retreats and they have both been fantastic. I agree we need to study a lot but I think we also need distractions such as hobbies and recreation.
Dear Rebecca, thank you for your comment. You are not the only one who thinks that way, that is why marketing folks think of those other activities to attract people who would not go to seminars designed for nothing but to study.