NAJIT Guest Blog: The Urgent Need for Best Practices in the Interpreting Profession

Be sure to check out Katharine Allen's latest contribution to the NAJIT Blog: "The Urgent Need for Best Practices in the Interpreting Profession." Digital and mobile platforms are here to stay and changing everything we do. As Katharine puts it: "In the face of such rapid and comprehensive change, our profession needs to step up the pace in response. We need best practice guidelines, recommendations for everything from how to move into the digital age by adopting the use of some of these platforms to solid client education resources to protect our working conditions."

Do you agree? Read her post and share it with your colleagues. Start a conversation. Learn about these new technologies. And don't be surprised when you are asked to use them while interpreting. Most importantly, join us at InterpretAmerica 4 on June 14-15, 2013 in Reston, Virginia, just outside of Washington, DC. Interpreting industry leaders will be there along with many of the digital innovators who are seeking to disrupt the interpreting space. Engage, connect, and influence the future of the profession. 

Early bird registration ends on May 12, 2013! Register now at www.interpretamerica.net/register.  

InterpretAmerica Co-Presidents Make the News!

InterpretAmerica Co-Presidents Barry S. Olsen and Katharine Allen have been busy. In addition to pulling together the myriad of details for the 4th InterpretAmerica Summit, both have recently made the news with individual projects they are working on which they are excited to share with the field.

ZipDX Brings Together Simultaneous Interpreting and Teleconferencing:

This week, Common Sense Advisory's Global Watchtower blog post by Vijayalaxmi Hedge highlights ZipDX's groundbreaking remote simultaneous interpreting technology for conference settings. InterpretAmerica Co-President Barry Olsen serves as General Manager of Multilingual Operations for ZipDX. He doesn't just speak about technology in the interpreting profession, he is actively engaged in pioneering promising new applications for our field.

ZipDX’s introduction of simultaneous interpreting to teleconferencing is one of those things in life that you had no idea you needed so badly until you were actually introduced to it. It offers a cloud-based meeting platform in which interpreters listen to the speaker and interpret simultaneously for other people logged into the call. 

David Frankel, founder and CEO, and Barry Slaughter Olsen, the General Manager of Multilingual Operations, talked to Common Sense Advisory last week about ZipDX Multilingual. Some features of the product caught our attention: 

• Multilingual capability: In a ZipDX call, speakers of different languages can choose their desired language channel via their telephone keypad. As the interpretation happens real-time, speakers don’t need to pause but can carry on the conversation like they normally would. The system offers adjustable “audio cues” so that the speaker can hear the interpreter working faintly in the background and those listening to the interpreter can hear the speaker faintly as well. The speaker can also hear others if they want to interrupt, even if they are in another language channel. In addition to supporting back-and-forth multilingual conversations among small groups, the system can also enable large lecture-type virtual meetings leveraging simultaneous interpreter(s). Users can currently conduct a conference in eight languages, but Frankel said the number of languages could be increased significantly, if required. 

Click here to continue reading the blog post. Congrats to Barry Olsen for his innovative endeavors to adapt new technologies for effective use in the interpreting field.
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Take Note!

In a more traditional vein, InterpretAmerica Co-President Katharine Allen has been commissioned to write a book! 

The following is an excerpt from Cross Cultural Communications weekly newsletter. You can sign up for Intersect here.

Take Note: Strategies for Successful Note-taking in Interpreting

by Katharine Allen, MA Let's face it: most community interpreters are not effective note-takers. Yet the need to master note-taking is huge, and far too long ignored. Most conference interpreters are well trained in note-taking. Not so community, court and business interpreters. Your time is coming. In November 2013, an extraordinary book by the Co-President of InterpretAmerica and a national leader in our field will [be published]. Note-taking is a vital skill. This book fills a huge gap and will provide practical guidance and field-tested techniques to help working interpreters improve their note-taking skills. 

For more information, or to order CCC publications, click here.

Diasporas, Smart Mobs, and the Creation of a Digital Interpreting Commons

“When we change the way we communicate, we change society.” –Clay Shirky

I have spent the last few years observing macro trends in technology, communication, and social interaction wondering when and how these larger trends would eventually affect the world of interpreting. Last week at the annual SCIC Universities Conference held in Brussels, I no longer had to wonder. 

A new initiative called SpeechPool.net is poised to help student interpreters and their trainers alleviate one of the vexing problems of interpreter training efforts around the world—a lack of quality, level-appropriate speeches for beginning and intermediate interpreting students to practice with.

The idea is strikingly simple, as most revolutionary ideas are—provide a simple, easy, universally accessible platform where students and trainers from around the globe can upload audio and video recordings of speeches being given in classes and practice groups in a myriad of languages at training institutions the world over so they can be used by students and trainers everywhere. The initiative is the brainchild of conference interpreter and trainer Sophie Llewellyn Smith. You can watch her introduction of the platform here or read a recent interview about it on The Interpreter Diaries. 

Speech banks have been around for years at individual schools and institutions. But due to the rapid advance of technology and the time-sensitive nature of much of the speech content, these platforms were quick to obsolesce and the speeches grew stale. So what’s so groundbreaking about this initiative? Put simply, it has the potential to harness the collective creative power of the diaspora of thousands of interpreting students and trainers around the globe to the benefit of all, thereby encouraging mutual improvement and success while allowing competition at a higher level of competency.[1] It is a clear example of win-win thinking, which is the basis of the emerging sharing economy. This is not one group offering content to others out of the goodness of its heart. It is not altruism. It is a platform for a dynamic exchange of value between equally interested parties, and that makes all the difference because SpeechPool.net will only succeed if there is sustained value generated by all who contribute to and benefit from the platform.

Of course, there are many unknowns in this budding effort. But that is not the point. The days of certainty and a near perfect product before going to market are over. This platform can adapt and change as new needs and ideas emerge. Serial iteration in the new hyper-connected digital world where everything is software based and resides in the cloud makes it easier than ever to adapt and evolve. 

To my knowledge, this is the first bona fide example of intelligent crowdsourcing that has the potential to improve the quality of interpreting services around the world, not to dumb down or cheapen the profession. That is powerful.

 The key to the success of this endeavor is participation and meaningful contribution, so dust off those old video and audio files that are languishing on your hard drives, digital recorders and smartphones and contribute them to the greater good of a growing profession, and while you are at it, practice some consecutive with notes. Oh, and fasten your seatbelts, this is just the beginning of a coming wave of innovation that is already affecting our noble profession.

Barry Slaughter Olsen

Interested in learning about how today’s technologies are changing how interpreters work and promote their careers? Then join us at InterpretAmerica 4 on June 14-15, 2013, in Reston, Virginia, just outside of Washington, D.C. Register today! Early-bird registration ends May 12, 2013.

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[1] See Leaders Make the Future by Bob Johansen, p. 165.

Wild Wild West Conditions Persist in Medical Interpreting

This week, InterpretAmerica Co-President Katharine Allen, along with interpreting student Kaitlin Heximer, is the guest blogger for the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters' (NAJIT) weekly blog.

The topic? Lamentable work and language access conditions that still persist in too many healthcare settings. Raising the profile of the interpreting profession is a major focus for InterpretAmerica. The theme for this year’s 4th InterpretAmerica Summit is On The Cutting Edge: Bringing Interpreting To The Forefront. A major goal of the Summit is to impart the knowledge and skills we all need to create a highly visible platform for our field. 

Our keynote speaker, Michael Hyatt, author of Platform: Get Noticed in a Busy World, will apply the depth of his expertise to creating such a platform not just for individuals, but for an entire profession. His talk will be followed by a panel of three of the most effective social media users in the interpreting industry - Ian Andersen of the European Uniion, Nataly Kelly, co-author of Lost in Translation, Brandon Arthur of StreetLeverage.com.

The blogpost, Wild Wild West Conditions Persist in Medical Interpreting, highlights the story of Masters candidate Kaitlin Heximer, whose initial interpreting work in the community interpreting sectors was anything but smooth, due to the lack of even basic training she had received in interpreting ethics, standards, and protocols.

“When I think back to the first time I ever interpreted in a formal setting, I would have done things differently if I knew then what I know now about interpreter ethics and best practices. A “simple” medical appointment turned into an epic 11-hour saga at the hospital emergency room with a patient whose sinus problems were quickly overshadowed by his mentally unstable condition.” **

Kaitlin is currently a student in the newly-minted and highly-innovative Masters in Conference Interpreting program, offered through the Glendon College School of Translation at York University. She already has a Masters in translation, and is no stranger to the healthcare system herself. She started interpreting just a year ago, as a volunteer interpreter for a refugee resettlement agency.

Her story is worth hearing. It is a stark reminder that despite so much rapid change transforming the healthcare interpreting profession, the “bad ‘ol days” of pressing untrained bilingual staff or volunteers into service are not yet a thing of the past. Hospitals may be jumping on the technology bandwagon in droves, doctors now access video medical interpreters through their smart phones and there are not one but two validated national medical interpreter certifications in the US[1]. However, patients and bilingual individuals trying to help them are still put in high-risk situations with depressing frequency.

To read the rest of her story, visit the NAJIT Blog.

Then register for the 4th InterpetAmerica Summit, to be held June 14-15, 2013 in Reston, Virginia! Add your voice to the discussion!

Best-selling Author and Pashto Interpreter Saima Wahab Coming to InterpretAmerica!

Interpreting in conflict zones has garnered significant attention in the mainstream media in recent years, in large measure due to the plight of interpreters left behind after military forces withdraw. At InterpretAmerica, we have sought to shine a light on interpreters working in conflict zones, as have others in the field.

A recent post by Nataly Kelly on the New York Times blog “At War” vividly illustrates just how serious their plight is.  The non-profit organization Red T and its dedicated group of volunteers are doing great work to protect translators and interpreters in conflict zones, while international organizations like the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have been cooperating with the Interpreting Department of the University of Geneva to train interpreters in conflict zones through the innovative InZone program.

The work of these programs is invaluable, yet despite how compelling their stories are, we seldom get the chance to hear directly from the interpreters themselves. This year's InterpretAmerica Summit will change that.

We are proud to announce that the closing keynote speaker for the 4th InterpretAmericaSummit in Reston, Virginia, on June 14-15, 2013, will be conflict zone interpreter and author of the New York Times bestseller In My Father’s Country Saima Wahab. A naturalized US citizen, Saima spent six years as a Pashto-English interpreter in Afghanistan, her native country, becoming one of only a handful of female Pashtun interpreters in the world. During her time in Afghanistan, she interpreted in hospitals for injured civilians, in high-level political and diplomatic meetings, and on patrol with coalition forces in some of the most hostile territory in the country. Saima will share her experiences as an interpreter in Afghanistan.

Register today for the 4^th InterpretAmerica Summit!

Can’t wait until June? You can hear an interview with Saima by NPR’s Rachel Martin here or watch Saima on The Daily Show with John Stewart here.  

See you at the Summit!

The (Potentially Positive) Power of Disruption

dis.rup.tion

noun: a disturbance or problems that interrupt an event, activity, or process

New Oxford American Dictionary

For the average person, the term disruption automatically brings to mind a negative process. An unexpected power shortage disrupted the Super Bowl. Hurricane Sandy disrupted life on the East Coast. Crispy Creme was out of chocolate creme donuts, disrupting my breakfast.

But sometimes disruption refers to concepts that we usually view in a more positive light: innovation, cutting edge technology, the growth in human interconnectedness. Indeed, the rapid change we are all experiencing encompassing just about every aspect of human interaction so frequently combines innovation with a profoundly disruptive effective, that we now speak of disruptive technology and disruptive innovation. 

In general, a disruptive technology is a "new technology that has a serious impact on the status quo and changes the way people have been dealing with something, perhaps for decades." (http://www.answers.com/topic/disruptive-technology)

Few industries are more impacted by disruptive technology than the interpreting profession. From the introduction of new video conferencing technologies, to the growth of social media and increasing global interconnectedness upending traditional practices for hiring interpreters, to instant translation and interpretation apps and the proliferation of digital terminology resources, technology is penetrating all levels of our profession.

But perhaps no innovation will change the face of our profession more profoundly than the rapid world-wide adoption of the smart phone. The first iPhone was introduced in June, 2007, the iPad tablet in April 2010. Barely more than half a decade has passed since these mobile devices hit the market, yet smart phones and tablets with internet access, together with traditional PCs, are now in the hands of more than 5 billion people around the world. 

Journalist Christoper Mims of The Atlantic posted a year-end article last December titled: The 5 Most Disruptive Technologies of 2012. Number 5 on the list? "Ultra-cheap Web Devices: Five Billion People with Internet Access." 

In this article, Mims asks the reader to consider:

"What does it mean that another one or two billion people are encountering the internet for the first time? If the value of the network is proportional to its size, what happens when most of Earth's inhabitants can tap into a common pool of information and contacts?"

For our profession, some are answering these questions by racing to develop apps and other technologies to take advantage of these hand-held computers. As a result, almost every aspect of the traditional model for delivering interpreting services is being challenged. Everything from training and hiring practices, to marketing and service delivery are now possible through a mobile platform, upending a profession that has for more than half a century functioned primarily with a face-to-face model.

Google Translate, real-time machine interpretation, real-time video delivery of live interpreting services over smartphone and tablets, the ability to interpret for any client anywhere in the world from the comfort of your home, are examples of just a few new technologies available to the interpreting profession. 

The downside, or disruption, can include lowered wages, a decrease in face-to-face assignments, difficult sound, visual and voice conditions with imperfect new technologies, and the loss of hard-earned labor/management employment models, among others.

The potential upside can include a hugely increased market, more full-time work for languages of lesser diffusion and interpreters who work outside of urban centers, greater awareness and visibility for individual interpreters and the profession as a whole, and the ability to provide previous hard-to-come-by training to a greatly increased geographic area, to name a few.

For the interpreting profession, the key question remains not whether we respond, but how. In a nutshell, we can reactive or be proactive.

We are excited to be highlighting this issue at the upcoming 4th InterpretAmerica Summit taking place in June with the interactive panel, The Coming Wave: Technologies That May Disrupt Interpreting. Representatives from Babelverse are among those presenting. Their services provides an excellent example of a proactive response to disruptive technology.

We encourage you check out our program and speaking and presenting opportunities, and register for the Summit today!

Proposed Best Practices for Simultaneous Interpreting in Non-Conference Settings

Many in the industry have been following recent developments in the Federal Immigration Courts. The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) has decided to start using simultaneous interpreting during immigration court hearings. While this decision is certainly a step forward in increasing language access for the non and limited English-speaking persons involved in immigration proceedings, the move highlights a conundrum that many in our profession face: how to ensure proper working conditions for the interpreter when simultaneous is the required mode.

In response to concern that this innovation would not be accompanied by necessary changes in work policies and conditions in immigration courts, the interpreting profession has recently made a concerted and unprecedented unified effort to reach agreement on what does constitute "best practices" for simultaneous interpreting in non-conference settings.

Earlier this week, the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters (NAJIT), in collaboration with eight national and international interpreter professional associations representing conference, legal, medical, and sign language interpreters, published a joint statement promoting best practices and proper work conditions for interpreters providing simultaneous interpretation in the immigration court system. You can see the full statement here: http://www.najit.org/Lionbridge%20letter%20pdf.pdf

Today, InterpretAmerica follows suit with our own statement on Best Practices for Simultaneous Interpreting in Non-Conference Settings. InterpretAmerica worked in tandem with NAJIT and the professional association collaborative, to ensure that our position is in full support of the consensus rapidly forming industry-wide.

In what we plan to be periodic statements on best practices on issues relevant to our profession, we share our Best Practices on Simultaneous Interpreting document with the field. It is our hope that this document, along with the effort of other key stakeholders in the field, will go a long way towards defining proper working conditions for interpreters in sectors where these guidelines are lacking or non-existent.

The Best Practices statement can be viewed here:

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B7OAPyAQ9PNwVUVmLTgzdEt1b2c


We look forward to your feedback!