March 2014 Newsletter
In This Edition:
Tricky Interpretations of Family Court Phrases
Slang Terminology
Don't Get Too Comfortable
Thank you Nelly, Arturo, and Ana for coming to the Interpreters Cafe last month. It was great to see you! We talked about Family Court phrases, dealing with difficult situations while interpreting, interpreting as a "casual" medical interpreter, and we were able to catch up on work and personal experiences. I hope to see you in April. We'll meet on Wednesday the 16th. Next month is our last meeting before The Interpreter's Cafe travels to Seattle, Washington!
Tricky Interpretation of Family Court Phrases
1. Survivors Benefit- Subsidio de contencion familiar (in the U.S. payed by Social Security Administration) 2. She put the boy to bed- Ella acostó al niño/Ella lo llevo al niño a la cama 3. He didn't want to stay with the child- No quería quedarse con el niño/cuidar al niño 4. The address for her- La dirección de ella 5. The patient must be walking well before discharge- El-la paciente debe poder caminar bien antes de ser dado-dada de alta/ El-la paciente debe estar caminando mucho antes de ser dado-dada de alta 6. He wanted Josie to keep the baby- El quería que Yosi tuviera el bebe (a pregnancy issue) /El queria que Yosi se quedara con el bebe (a custody issue) 7. Parenting classes- Clases para padres/clases de crianza 8. CPR- Reanimación Cardiopulmonar 9. Empowerment Classes: 
Being comfortable with our interpreting is a great accomplishment which is obtained from hard work and many years of study and experience. But sometimes we can become too comfortable. What if suddenly we hear a phrase and we cannot interpret it immediately? This may happen because we're tired, but it can also occur because we interpret a certain phrase exclusively in one direction (always English to Spanish, for example.) This happened to me recently. Hundreds of times I've interpreted from English to Spanish "Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?" Most witnesses respond simply "Yes," or "Yes, I swear," or something similar. One late afternoon I interpreted the oath to a witness. The witness responded: "Si, lo juro ante Dios." Suddenly, I was stumped. I had actually just used those exact words in Spanish, yet for a few seconds, I was baffled. I was so used to reciting the entire oath from English to Spanish that when I actually had to interpret a phrase of the oath from Spanish to English I had to stop, think, and finally produce the closest meaning I could find: "Yes, I swear on the holy Bible." This is why we should always memorize our mostly used phrases but ALSO break them down and practice interpreting them in BOTH directions. |
SLANG
Wachateria: laundromat Teibolera: table dancer Rufero: roofer Shitroquero: dry-wall installer Tlapaleria: hardware store Cortar la yarda: to mow the lawn El seguro: social security card/number La social: the probation officer/the social worker Embolado: bored (Argentina) |