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The Blonde Interpreter – Part 4

I must say that the start of my career as a freelance interpreter is a bit of a blur. I know I emailed as many of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting’s corporate members as I could, having ...

[JIF2024] The Full Client Journey (and how to speak to them at each stage)

Julia Poger Julia Poger is a business, conference and diplomatic interpreter fluent in English, Russian and French. With over 30 years of experience working with governments, NGOs, corporation...

[JIF2024] Stress Management and Expert Performance

Chris Guichot de Fortis "Chris Guichot de Fortis, (A-EN, B-FR, C-ES) M.A. (Cantab); PDLS (Bath); BACI; AIIC, has had an eclectic career. He began as a professional tennis player, then became a...

[JIF2024] Retour Self-training for Japanese>English Interpreters: Useful Strategies and Exercises

Sophie Llewellyn Smith Sophie Llewellyn Smith is a conference interpreter and trainer specialising in retour training. Her training activities include webinars, group classes for consecutive ...

[JIF2024] Machine Interpreting: Is it worth it?

Professor Robin Setton Robin Setton is a conference interpreter (AIIC 1983-2020, freelance and staff), researcher, trainer, translator and author of dual French and British nationality, workin...

The Blonde Interpreter – Part 3

Bath is a beautiful city, of which I fear I saw too little during my year on the MA Interpreting and Translation course at the University of Bath. My days began with a trek up the hill from the unive...

The Blonde Interpreter – Part 2

My second opportunity to go to Japan came in the fourth year of my undergraduate studies. Unlike the term in Japan in the first year, spending a year in Japan between the third and fourth years of th...

The Blonde Interpreter – Part 1

I’m a celebrity. At least, that is, according to my old Sunday school teacher, my drama teacher, my Dad’s financial adviser, or anyone from the village where I grew up. The reason for my sudden fame?...

[JIF2023] How Can Interpreters Respond to the Rise of the Machines?

Jonathan Downie Dr Jonathan Downie is a consultant church and conference interpreter and interpreting researcher. His second book "Interpreters vs Machines: Can interpreters survive in an AI-d...

[JITF2022] Parallels between Music and Interpretation Practice and Performance

Laura Burian Laura Burian is a Professor of Chinese/ English interpretation and Dean of the Graduate School of Translation, Interpretation, and Language Education (GSTILE) at the Middlebury In...

[JITF2022] The Balance Between Services and Remuneration for Professional Interpreters

Seth A. Reames After taking a year off from his U.S. college education at the age of 19 and learning professionally at a translation company in Japan, Seth Reames returned and obtained his und...

[JITF2022] YOU GOT THIS!

Ewandro Magalhaes Ewandro Magalhaes is a writer, former United Nations staff and a conference interpreter. He is also a TED author, a professor and a former Chief Interpreter in the UN system....

[JITF2022] How Should Interpreters Defend Their Interests When Doing RSI

Tony Rosado For over 30 years, Tony has worked as conference interpreter for many highprofile events and clients, including the U.S. Department of State as an independent contractor; major rad...

[JITF2021] Note-taking Techniques: Why do I need those?

Debra Russell Debra is a Canadian certified interpreter, educator and researcher. As the previous David Peikoff Chair of Deaf Studies, at the University of Alberta, her research interests incl...

USA Freelancing without a Parachute #6 – Exciting, Yet Hazy Future

I. Prologue It was pure white. The kind of white that seemed inconceivable for a human face. On it, there were swirls of red in every direction. As the Kabuki actor Nakamura Hashigo continued to r...

USA Freelancing without a Parachute #4 – Freefall

Jump on the count of three. One... Life is funny. Hard to predict. Just when you think you have it all figured out, something comes your way that you weren’t expecting. You see, the first week ...

USA Freelancing without a Parachute #3 – Please Fasten your Seat Belts

START YOUR ENGINES What happens when you have trained for years to be a conference interpreter, but the job that falls in your lap is all about technical translation? In a word, panic!! And wha...

USA Freelancing without a Parachute #2 – Around the world in 80+ Days

ON YOUR MARK The branches whipped into the car furiously knocking my elderly friends off their seats. The brake’s harsh squeal was matched only by the piercing horn, alerting onlookers to step asi...

USA Freelancing without a Parachute #1 – Unpredictable Beginnings

Overture It seems to me that big changes often happen in your life when you least expect it. For me, it was when I arrived at the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). I was ...

Business Aspects to Interpreting for Commerce and Industry: Learning to think like a business owner (Part 3) Offers

Not Off-the-Shelf Because interpreting is a professional service, interpreters cannot sell their offer in the same manner as a physical product. Unlike a banana or a wrench, there is nothing to pu...

Business Aspects to Interpreting for Commerce and Industry: Learning to think like a business owner (Part 2) Value and Pricing

You say: I’m just an individual interpreter who gets almost all of my assignments from a few agencies; I feel more like a hapless laborer with three part-time jobs than an independent business. And my...