|
|
Interpreting Division
InterpNet | News/Reports | Events | Management Committee
InterpNet
InterpNet, as the name implies, is a network of interpreters, working in a variety of languages and offering different types of interpreting. InterpNet members are willing to support and cooperate with other members on the list (all members of professional associations), in terms of work and linguistic assistance.
Members of professional associations (IoL, AIIC, ITI, ATA, etc.) wishing to join InterpNet are invited to register with our moderated e-group (information below). You will be regularly provided with a data file containing details on fellow members. Any InterpNet member is able to seek collaboration with others on the list (for support or terminology backup, for example). Network members are also encouraged to organise activities, such as interpreting practice sessions, lectures, workshops or seminars, perhaps together with local education or other institutions, after consulting with the network coordinator. Provided the Interpreting Division Management is satisfied that such events are organised in a manner that meets the published criteria, financial help may be given.
The concept behind InterpNet is to facilitate self-help through cooperation. Its objective is NOT to procure additional work for its members, although cooperation may sometimes lead to this, but to facilitate closer working relationships between people operating in similar fields. It is the pro-active approach, which is most likely to lead to the benefits envisaged in the InterpNet concept. The more information InterpNet members have about each other, the easier the cooperation becomes.
InterpNet will operate as a moderated e-group. Instead of e-mailing individual group members, participants send e-mails to the InterpNet e-group address from where all postings will be delivered to all group members. Each person can choose whether to receive regular individual e-mails, daily digests or read postings on-line. To subscribe, please visit www.yahoogroups.com to register as a new Yahoogroup user or, if you already have a Yahoo ID, go straight to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/InterpNet, click on ‘join’ and follow the subscription instructions.
Shortly after you send your subscription request you will receive an application form which will ask you to provide some more information. This information is required in order to validate your membership and to complete the InterpNet register.
Once your subscription is confirmed you will be able to exchange e-mails with all other network members.
If you have further queries about InterpNet, please contact:
News/Reports
Chairman’s Report
Annual General Meeting, 5th June 2010
As is usual in planning our annual CPD events, the programme for 2009/10 came about as a direct result of suggestions and requests received from participants in our workshops and seminars.
The first event of the 2009/10 CPD programme, entitled “How to Manage Interpreting Assignments (briefing, preparation, research & IT skills) took place on the 5th December. The first session was lead by Udo Jorg of London Metropolitan University, where he teaches interpreting theory and research for interpreters. His own considerable experience in the conference interpreting sector allowed him to give a detailed insight into assignment management.
The second session, entitled “IT Skills for Interpreters” was lead by Rocio Baños Piñero, who has worked as an in-house translator in one of the world’s leading translation and localisation companies and is currently a part-time lecturer, also at London Metropolitan University. Rocio looked at information and terminology management as well as other tools, which could be incorporated to improve the interpreting process.
Our second event of the programme was the New Year Centenary Celebration hosted jointly with the Translating Division, with whom we continue to maintain close links. It was held on 12th February 2010 at the RAF Club in Piccadilly and this year with an Edwardian flavour to reflect the era in which the Institute was founded. Quite a few guests arrived in dress with the same flavour of the Edwardian. This is a ‘social’ event on our calendar, which is popular with members and actually leads to much exchange of work-related ideas, tips and information in a more relaxed environment. It is also always nice to put a face to a voice or the person on the end of an email.
Our third event, originally planned for April of this year, “Quality in Interpreting – from the ‘ideal to the ‘real’” proved to be quite challenging, not least as it had to be postponed due to volcanic ash arriving over Spain & the UK from Iceland. However, nearly all the members who had registered in April and some originally not able to come because of the timing, were able to attend the Novotel London City South on the revised date of 22nd May. It was also challenging in terms of the outcomes of the research undertaken and presented by our speaker, Emilia Iglesias Fernandez. This showed that, depending on the circumstances, interpretation does not necessarily suffer from significant omissions or additions) and truly tested preconceptions of the audience in respect of the interpreting outcomes in one of the most stress-inducing professions, where working conditions are often far from ideal. Her second session, entitled “Real live interpreting experiences – a reflection on examples” involved listening to audio clips of genuine instances of speakers’ speeches and the corresponding audio files of the interpretation, which were then compared, analysed and discussed with the audience. A very lively debate followed in terms of the very different requirements of public service interpreting and those of simultaneous interpreting in the commercial or political sector. But as our speaker emphasised throughout her presentations, she only undertakes the research and the results of that often show a significant difference between what the practitioner considers ‘ideal’ and the ‘real’ that actually happens in practice – whether by design or due to circumstances or environment.
Our fourth and final event of the year, introduced Doug Lawrence, who spoke at our pre-AGM session on the 5th June 2010 on the much debated topic of “Do Interpreters Need a Website?” His talk looked at the benefits that freelance interpreters could gain from an improved knowledge of websites and search engine optimisation (SEO) to promote the services they offer their clients via their own website, web-related services and an on-line presence. Members often have appropriate qualifications outside their main sector, which through a broader portfolio can be particularly useful when times are lean – regardless of the sector of interpreting in which they work.
Our email list, created in consultation with members, continues to be a very successful tool in notifying members about our events and will need to be developed further in the near future. In response to some members not always being able to read files attached to emails, our committee colleague, Jana Kohl, who runs the list on behalf of the Division, now enters a direct link to the ID events section of the CIoL website, so that members can see the event flier and download application forms. We do, of course, still advertise in The Linguist and students at training establishments are also routinely informed about our events through the email list and their tutors.
InterpNet, our moderated e-group interpreter’s network is growing – some 150 members and some new members pending. There is a healthy flow of messages, much supported by input from our InterpNet coordinator, Gabriele Bocanete. For those not familiar with InterpNet, it is a forum for mutual support, exchange of interpreting-related ideas, the posting of questions about anything from IT, to how to draw up a contract, negotiate with a customer, or where to find a PowerPoint presentation from one of our seminars that you may have missed, or even where to find a CPD event or course - and the AGM and its seminar definitely qualify as one such event.
CIoL Consultation matters
From time to time the Institute’s divisional management committees are asked to consult on various matters and this year was no exception. ID took part in the re-development of the Find-a-Linguist website (completed in 2009). It was scheduled to be launched early in 2010, but due to delays with the installation and migration of the new main membership database, its implementation has been held up. Rest assured, we continue to press on this one. A rates survey is planned for autumn 2010 and ID is represented on the working group organising this on behalf of the CIoL Council. You should be seeing an announcement about this in the near future.
Exchange of information between the Interpreting Division and other divisions and organs of the CIoL – in particular the Translating Division and Council continues to take place on a regular basis.
Programme of events
Your committee should very much like to thank all our members and visitors for supporting the events and for giving us important and objective feedback over the year. We can assure you that we do listen and where possible act upon it.
And last, but not least, I wish in particular to thank my committee of volunteers (yes they are volunteers – not paid members of CIoL staff) and the Institute staff at Saxon House, who have continued to give the Division extremely valued support this year – sometimes under difficult circumstances and often way beyond the call of duty!
Christine Pocock, FCIL, DipTrans
Chair Interpreting Division
Report on Interpreting & Translating Divisions’ New Year Centenary Celebration, 12th February 2010
The first of many Centenary celebrations planned for 2010, entitled ‘The Institute through the Ages’ was hosted jointly by the Interpreting & Translating Divisions at the RAF Club in London on the evening of Friday, 12th February.
This year, the regular New Year event had an Edwardian theme and those more sartorially inclined had the perfect opportunity to appear as an Edwardian version of their usual 21st century selves. This event always offers a very good opportunity to network and exchange ideas with colleagues, but this year particular emphasis was placed on the role that the divisions and societies have played in the history of the Institute – especially since they have traditionally been managed solely by volunteer members.
In addition to members of the divisions and societies, the celebration was also attended by a number of officers of the Institute, including Tony Bell, Chair of Council, John Hammond, CEO, Alan Peacock, Director of Membership and Stephen Eden, Membership Services Manager. After the pre-dinner welcome, Christine Pocock, Chair of the Interpreting Division, handed over to Ann Corsellis, its very first Chair, who gave a brief outline of the division’s journey from its modest beginnings in 1986 to where it is today, seeking to offer a true community of practice, CPD events, seminars and networks, all ably supported by staff at Saxon House. She praised the Institute’s move to Chartered Status and charged those present to consider further possible long-term developments, such as statutory protection of title, liaison with other bodies at both domestic and international level, and much more - all of which she trusts will be developed in an ethos of professional generosity, combined with an ability to negotiate amicably towards consensus.
Tony Bell, who was actually the General Secretary of the Institute from 1982-87, then gave an overview of the foundation of the divisions and quoted from a piece he wrote in The Incorporated Linguist, during the Summer of 1986, entitled “Development Plans for the Institute”:
“From September 1986 all members of the Institute, in whatever class of membership, will belong to a Division (or more than one, if they wish). …. The Divisions are intended to provide opportunities for cooperation, professional development and exchange of information. They will each have their own structure. They will organise events ……. […] The Divisions will be run by their own members, as far as practicable by Fellows. To that end, Fellowship examinations are going to be set up,… A special sub-committee is being set up to organise and coordinate steering groups for each Division…”
Much of the above has come to fruition over the years and Tony concluded by emphasising the significance of the Divisions as the professional manifestation of the Institute today.
Michael Cunningham, representing the Translating Division looked at the present in terms of the importance of the highly professional work of the Interpreting and Translating Divisions and the warm welcome Members give it. Michael, who is a Director of the Institute of Linguists Educational Trust (IoLET) was also keen to highlight the role of the Institute in both identifying good and acceptable standards of language use generally, and in establishing such standards through the Institute’s examinations.
John Hammond encouraged members to look out for the various forthcoming Centenary Events, listed on the Institute’s website and on the regular Centenary page of The Linguist, in particular a bigger and better Members’ Day, on 25 September 2010 and a history of the Institute, written by various members, which will be published later in the year. For further information, please click here.
This brief more formal interlude preceded an Edwardian style dinner buffet and the positive buzz of networking and exchange of ideas between the guests made it a very enjoyable and stimulating evening indeed.
Events
“Do Interpreters Need a Website?”
followed by
Annual General Meeting
on Saturday, 5th June 2010, at 10.30 for 11.00 a.m.
at the Novotel London City South, 52-61 Southwark Bridge Road,
London SE1 9HH, Tel: 020 7089 0400
(Nearest tube: London Bridge – use Borough High St. exit)
10.30-11.00 Coffee and welcome
11.00-12.30 “Do Interpreters Need a Website?” with Doug Lawrence
Doug will show freelancer interpreters how they can benefit from an improved knowledge of websites and search engine optimisation (SEO) to promote their own services via their website and on-line presence.
He will also draw upon his experience gained in advising end clients as a UK Trade and Investment consultant to provide ‘real world’ client-focused examples of how interpreters can offer additional ‘web related’ services to their clients.
12.30-13.30 Lunch and networking with colleagues
13.30-14.30 AGM
Please apply on the booking form available here to Julie Hobbs, Chartered Institute of Linguists, Saxon House, 48 Southwark St, London SE1 1UN.
Please click here to download a nomination form for the election of the Management Committee
Applications, if possible, by Monday, 24th May 2010
Quality in Interpreting. From the 'ideal' to the 'real'.
*Rescheduled* Saturday 22nd May 2010 at 10.30 for 11.00 a.m.
at Novotel London City South, 53-61 Southwark Bridge Road, London SE1 9HH Tel: 020 70890400
(Nearest tube: London Bridge – use Borough High St. exit)
10.30-11.00 Coffee and welcome
11.00-12.30 Quality in the interpreting output: from the ‘ideal’ to the ‘real’ by Emilia Iglesias Fernández
Emilia has a degree in English and in Translation and Interpreting, and a PhD in Translation from the Universidad de Granada (Spain) where she currently lectures Interpreting at Bachelor and Master levels. She is involved in various research initiatives and she has published papers on the didactics of conference interpreting and on self-learning for liaison interpreting.
Emilia will make a presentation on the findings of her latest research (the interpretation not suffering from significant omissions or additions) and will test our preconceptions regarding the interpreting outcome in one of the most stress-inducing professions, where working conditions are far from ideal.
12.30-13.30 Lunch and networking with colleagues
13.30-14.30 Real live interpreting experiences – a reflection on examples
Video clips of genuine instances of speakers’ speeches and the corresponding audio files of the interpretation will be compared, analysed and discussed.
Please click here to download a booking form and return the tear-off slip to Julie Hobbs, Chartered Institute of Linguists, Saxon House, 48 Southwark St, London SE1 1UN. Tel: 0207 940 3144.
Interpreting Division AGM, 6th June 2009
“EU urgently seeking Conference Interpreters”
The AGM of the Interpreting Division, attended by some 80 plus participants, was held at the Novotel London City South on 6th June 2009 and after the opening welcome by the Chair, new Chair of Council, Tony Bell, outlined his vision and hopes for the future of the Chartered Institute and reported on progress in relation to the NRPSI Review, inviting public service members of the audience to visit the NRPSI website to see the latest report.
Our keynote seminar, entitled “EU urgently seeking Conference Interpreters” was lead by Helen Campbell, Head of Section, Directorate General for Interpretation at the European Commission. Helen, an Honorary Fellow of the Institute, is a welcome return visitor to the Interpreting Division and on this occasion she gave the meeting a detailed insight into the current difficulties her department is experiencing in recruiting, in particular, English mother tongue interpreters to cover the wealth of EU and UN meetings. All meetings must have an English booth and are cancelled if the supply of appropriately qualified interpreters is inadequate. She outlined how her department manages the continual struggle to recruit the best talent and cater for current gaps in provision.
This year she has already visited some twelve plus universities looking to encourage high level training of new conference interpreters – not only for the English booth; it is also difficult to recruit suitably qualified interpreters from the new member states. Whilst the EU no longer undertakes mainstay in-house training, and looks to the universities to offer this, it does offer support to the training institutions and can send in trainers to assist with appropriate courses and/or pass on their training skills. It also currently offers or signposts various language enhancement initiatives, intensive 3 week courses for people who have narrowly failed the entrance test (which has achieved good results), group study visits to Brussels, dummy booth practice and so on.
A very important UN initiative, looking to improve the training and hence recruitment of high level conference interpreters, and which Helen’s department became closely involved with in 2001, is IAMLADP (The International Annual Meeting on Language Arrangements, Documentation and Publications). This is a forum and network of managers of international organisations employing conference and language services providers – mainly translators and interpreters. Its membership includes not only organisations in the UN system, but also European Union institutions, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Economic Community of West African States and many other prominent international bodies. It is very much involved in the setting up of training seminars, encouraging universities to run seminars and offer appropriate courses. Helen’s work has led to the setting up of a university contact group (see www.iamladp.org/ucg), which acts as a liaison point for the further development of relations and co-operation between International Organizations and training providers/universities. Organisations can thus inform universities of their requirements, shortages, etc. and universities can contribute to the professions. It has been generally agreed that more intensive and systematic contacts between the two constituencies would be mutually beneficial and that exchange of information should be increased. This group looks at all languages and is currently looking, in particular, at the languages of Latin America and the Caribbean and at Arabic, where there is a tremendous shortage in provision. Other areas where a gap in provision for languages and combination of languages has been identified are also being considered.
Helen also went on to dispel a few myths about recruitment for the EU, e.g. being ‘bilingual’ is adequate qualificaton to work for EU, you need 5 languages at high level to be considered, the Diploma in Public Service Interpreting is an adequate qualification to apply to take the EU test. She confirmed that only interpreters with a recognised post-graduate conference interpreting qualification will be considered, be it as a freelancer or in-house interpreter.
Helen’s full presentation will be posted to InterpNet and can be viewed here.
The formal part of the AGM took place after lunch, with the existing committee being re-elected. Two further members were also co-opted under the rules at the first committee meeting after the AGM. The Chairman’s annual report will be posted in due course on the ID page of the CIOL website.
Interpreting Division Meeting, 9th May 2009
“Public Service Interpreting in Focus”
Some seventy plus people attended the Interpreting Division’s “Public Service Interpreting in Focus” event on Saturday, 9th May 2009 at the Novotel London City South, close to Saxon House.
The day was split into two sessions around a networking lunch, the first of which, entitled “Ethical Dilemmas in Public Service Interpreting”, was lead by ID committee member, Maria-Teresa Grau, a conference and public service interpreter, and a senior lecturer in interpreting at London Metropolitan University.
After speaking in some detail on the ethical aspects that interpreters face when working for the courts, police and other areas in the public service arena, participants were split into small groups and each group was provided with a particular ethical dilemma to discuss and consider (all genuine examples) in a relatively short timescale (as would happen ‘on the job’). The groups were asked to propose a means of resolving their particular dilemmas in the best possible way, whilst bearing in mind the requirements of the Institute’s Professional Code of Conduct. Outcomes from the various breakout groups were reported to the one hour plenary at the end of the session. Feedback from each group during the very lively and good humoured plenary debate confirmed that in the public service arena, there is often a need to manage very difficult situations fairly rapidly and with professional confidence. A significant number of members recognised a need to become more familiar with the Professional Code of Conduct. Throughout the session, particular emphasis was placed on the need to maintain a positive and professional approach at all times, regardless of how difficult the situation. It was also stressed that PSIs need to be constantly aware of difficulties and misunderstandings that can occur as a result of cultural differences and to develop a strategy for conveying such issues appropriately to the work provider.
As requested at the meeting, a full set of the dilemmas discussed, together with feedback and outcomes from the breakout groups, has been posted on our InterpNet E-group.
After our regular networking lunch, the second session, entitled “Building Rapport in the Public Service Environment” was lead by a long-standing supporter of the Interpreting Division, Kirsty Heimerl-Moggan. Kirsty is a Fellow of the Institute and has recently been awarded Chartered Linguist status. She works as both a conference and public service interpreter and is a senior lecturer at the Central Lancashire University in Preston and a director of a training agency for interpreters in the Northwest - all of which enables Kirsty to bring a wealth of experience to our meetings. For this seminar, she was accompanied by Richard Monkhouse, a magistrate and former Chair of the Trafford Bench, who has for some time been working voluntarily with Kirsty, doing presentations to present and future interpreters with a view to gaining a better understanding of the needs of both parties. Kirsty outlined the courses and other projects she is currently involved with and Richard talked about his work as a magistrate and the skills which he is looking for when working with interpreters in the Magistrates' Court.
The following general and very busy discussion session raised many issues, some relevant to magistrates, others relating to other public service sectors. In response to some of the issues raised, Richard emphasised, that it is essential for interpreters to feed back to the appropriate client representative concerns they may have during the legal proceedings. Interpreters should be aware that it is currently unlikely in the legal sector - with magistrates for example - that they will have received any training in working with interpreters and that they may be quite unaware of their requirements, which is something he would like to see improve. He encouraged interpreters working in the same geographical area, for instance, to get together and offer assistance to work providers in how best to build rapport between interpreter and client. He is strongly of the opinion that the pro-active approach to this area on the part of both client and interpreter was the way ahead in optimising the use of interpreters in the public service sector.
View the Interpreting Division's Ethical Dilemma scenarios.
Management Committee
Please note that our committee members can now all be reached via a central Interpreting Division email address: IoL.Interpreting.Division@googlemail.com
Emails to individual members of the committee will be automatically forwarded.
| Christine Pocock, FCIL |
Chair |
| Jan Kern, MCIL |
Treasurer |
| Maria-Teresa Grau, MCIL |
Hon. Sec (TBC) / Events |
| Gabriela Bocanete, MCIL |
InterpNet Co-ordinator |
| Ralph Innes, FCIL |
Reports |
| Ali Reza Karamyar, MCIL |
Membership Feedback |
| Jana Kohl, MCIL |
E-mail list/Publicity |
| Galyna Bland, MCIL |
Co-opted |
| Bibiana Jordan-Horathova, MCIL |
Co-opted |
Back to top
|
|
