Subject to Interpretation

Aquillia Alownle on Telephonic Interpretation [EP 41]

December 04, 2020 DE LA MORA Institute Season 2 Episode 41
Subject to Interpretation
Aquillia Alownle on Telephonic Interpretation [EP 41]
Show Notes Transcript

'Subject To Interpretation' is a weekly podcast that deep dives into the topics that matter to interpreters. 

In this episode, Aquillia talks about the importance of education, confidence vs competence and her positive experience with telephonic interpretation. Hosted by Maria Ceballos-Wallis. 

Aquillia Alowonle, a New York State certified court interpreter graduate of The University of Minnesota’s program in Translation and Interpreting. Aquillia has experience working as a hospital staff interpreter at The University of Minnesota Fairview Hospital, as a freelance interpreter at various hospitals, as a telephonic interpreter for several agencies, and as a court interpreter in New York State. Aquillia is the owner of ANA Professional Language Services, LLC, and she is a licensed trainer of The Community Interpreter. Aquillia is also an Author for DE LA MORA Institute and you can find her course 'Note-Taking 101' here: https://bit.ly/2JMrjOU

Speaker 1:

Welcome to subject to interpretation, a podcast, which takes us deep into the topics that matter to professional interpreters. I'm your host, Maria Sabi Wallace. This program is recorded via zoom in both video and audio format. Today, we're going to talk about the challenges of becoming a qualified interpreter when one is not yet fully proficient in the language other than English, and one of the paths that you can take to become one, we will also discover why some interpreters prefer telephone interpreting over in person or remote. Interpreting our guest today is Aquila Wanli in New York certified interpreter with a certificate of medical interpreting from the university of Minnesota's translation and interpretation program. Aquila is not only a certified teacher of the cross-cultural communications community interpreter teacher training program, but she's also a contributor to the de LAMODA Institute of interpretations authorship program. Welcome Aquila.

Speaker 2:

Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here.

Speaker 1:

So let's start with the basics. Your language pair is English and Spanish, but you are neither a native nor a heritage speaker of Spanish. Tell me about that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so, um, the trajectory started when I was young. My mother did speak Spanish, also not native or heritage. It's just, she was from Arizona and that was her, her friend base. Um, and she really wanted my brother and I to be bilingual. So she placed us in bilingual education. So I was in bilingual kindergarten and that's kind of how I got the, my start into speaking Spanish. And, um, I basically continued from there. I continued to learn, speak Spanish. And of course I actually got, I got educated as well.

Speaker 1:

Excellent. So how many years of Spanish instruction have you had overall, would you say

Speaker 2:

Instruction, instruction, maybe five years instruction? I could say.

Speaker 1:

Okay. Very good. So what happened, how did you end up deciding to want to become an interpreter?

Speaker 2:

You know, when I started interpreting, I didn't know about it. I didn't even know about the world of interpreting. I had a, um, I was teaching Spanish right out of high school, got a job teaching Spanish to kids, really loved Spanish. I had a friend who was working in hospitals and she was an interpreter and she told me about it and I just thought, well, I, I, I didn't really know what it was, but I wanted to investigate more of it when I kind of found out what it was. I thought it, I, what an awesome job you can<laugh> I can speak Spanish, um, and, and actually be a be, uh, of genuine help to people. Um, but I definitely didn't wanna just jump into it. I wanted to understand what it was to be an interpreter and I really wanted to do a good job. Um, and so that's kind of how I, I started to investigate and I was fortunate to live in a state that actually had a program that taught interpreters. Cause I know a lot of individuals just don't have that. Now it's a little bit more common, but this was circa 14, 16 years ago. Wow. So it really was not easy to even find that. And um, like 10 minutes from my house at the university of Minnesota, they actually had a program in interpreting and translation and I was, I was on it. So I, I, as soon as I possibly could, it took me a few to pass all the tests<laugh>. Um, but as soon as I was able to, I definitely got into that course to start my trajectory into the career that I, I, I now have.

Speaker 1:

Now, when we spoke earlier, you were telling me about how you were very confident that you were gonna get into this program the first time around<laugh>. And so what happened to verse your bubble?

Speaker 2:

You know what I've learned? Maria comp confidence is not competence and I'll talk a lot more as we talk. I've told my students that a lot of, I love confidence. I think it's very important to have that as well. Cuz interpreting is essentially public speaking. So you do need to have confidence, but if you don't have competence, you know, you have to have a good balance of both. And I just thought, well, I speak Spanish. I've been speaking it since I was a child. So I write and I read and I, I, I, I do a lot of my life in Spanish, so I just thought it was gonna be easy. And I, they took, I took the college course and I passed of course, English with flying colors and then it came to Spanish and I didn't pass it. And I was almost offended.<laugh> how could I not pass this? And I told myself, you know, what, just do better. So I, I kind of went on a journey for about a year of just really improving my Spanish, not just being able to speak it, but being able to improve my grammar, um, to upscale level up on my vocabulary, um, to do more just to more than just speaking with friends, but actually get into deep novels, college level books in Spanish. And, um, that was really helped me as well.

Speaker 1:

So did you take courses at that time at the university of Minnesota? I did. I took what kinda Spanish courses did you take?

Speaker 2:

Just like it was just, um, higher level Spanish courses that were offered through the university. Anyone that I could basically get into, cuz I, I had gotten scholarships previously cuz I was hoping to start and I used a lot of those to, um, take any courses that I could take just to improve my Spanish. So Spanish, Spanish, like five or you know, Spanish, four Spanish, um, advanced Spanish classes is what I, I took.

Speaker 1:

Excellent. And what about what out Minnesota makes it special so that, um, you, you mentioned that it was 14, 16 years ago and, and that is absolutely true that there were it's there were very few and far between, you know, the, the availability of these programs was few and far between so why Minnesota, you think?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's an interesting concept because I I'm from Minnesota. That's where I was raised. That's where I started my whole language trajectory. If you think about it, that means, you know, 30 something years ago, they already had, they already had bilingual classes. So that, that, that tells you a lot, even with that, um, it's a refu G state. So we do have a lot of Somalis, Russians among Vietnamese, um, which it, which adds to the beauty of, of especially Minneapolis St. Paul area, where I'm from. But, um, because of that, they do have a lot of programs in place to make sure that the immigrants have equal access. And so they do really emphasize, um, education when it comes to interpreting. And that's, I think why a big reason why even at that time, they already had a course in interpreting and translation.

Speaker 1:

Excellent. So you obtained a certificate in medical

Speaker 2:

Interpreting. I did medical. My plan was to do medical and legal. Um, I wanted kind of knock it all out, but like I, I was talking to you earlier. They, it kind of went every other year and I wanted to start working. I didn't wanna have to take a whole another year, um, to be able to do legal. So I just went ahead with the Spanish track and literally, probably within five months of graduating, I started working at the hospital.

Speaker 1:

So do you think that would've happened? Had you not taken the search and gone through the formal education?

Speaker 2:

I do not. And it's funny because when I was hired, that's what my manager told me. He said, you are the only person here who has a certificate. Wow. Don't now, now I, I am not going to say that I did not have to still go and, and pass the test and prove myself to be able to get the job because that it was a, that was very important, but I did have credentials and, and this is just life credentials means something. Um, it means that you are more than just an individual who has the, the knowledge, right? That's the, that's the competence. That's, that's, that's the confidence, the competence, and that's where, and the integrity, because you have something more than just, I know what I'm doing. You can prove it I've been taught what I'm supposed to do. Right. So, and I always wanted that. I never thought I would just get into interpreting cuz I was bilingual. And can you imagine my, obviously my Spanish wasn't good enough to get in it, but I probably could have passed a lot of agency tests and I probably could have still been interpreting. I mean, I, I mean, honestly I could have, so I was happy. I got that shock to my sister, them to tell me you're out, you're not bad obviously. And you want this, you can learn. It just gets get, you know, level up. You have to, you have, you're gonna have to improve. And honestly, in the trajectory of my life interpreting, I've always, I've, I've had to learn that a million times. This is not a, this is not a career for the faint of heart. You have to be humble. You're humbled all the time and have to take it and improve.

Speaker 1:

So given that you've taken, um, university level courses for, for the certificate and I'm certain that as a matter of course, you've taken seminars and workshops throughout the years and even taught them. How do you contrast the education that you received, um, over, you know, perhaps 15 weeks, three hours, you know, a class depending, you know, if there was a three hour credit class or mm-hmm<affirmative> depending how, how it was set up, how do you contrast one type of instruction versus another

Speaker 2:

Maria? I, I like it all. I'm gonna tell you I've gone to some seminars and like had my mind blown by certain amazing interpreters. Um, I, I'm not gonna, I think those are, are precious and they're, and they're very valuable to interpreters. The good thing about a formal education though, is it's a building block. So it's like, we're starting here level one and we're gonna get you here. Okay. Then you got this. Now we're gonna move you here. And that's what education is, why you start in first grade and you go to college, right? You start with the basics. And that, that basic foundation is important. Cuz like I said, you think, you know, a lot, another example is with the translation piece I did and translation. And once again, I didn't think I was going to. And I remember I got my first paper back with all those marks and I'm the, I'm a person who likes to be a good student. I pride myself on being a good student. And when you see your paper is just full of red when to my teacher and I just asked her, what, what did I do wrong? And my professor was just fabulous. And she sat with me and she took me through what I had to improve and I did it. Um, so like I said, this is a humbling career. Um, but it, it is that, that, that step, those steps that you have, and it's different when you're at a seminar, once again, they are still fabulous, but they, they infuse you more. They infuse a lot of what you already have. They give words to concepts that you might have already to a degree understood. But you, I, I do believe that that basic foundation is, is important. It was to me in my trajectory. Yes.

Speaker 1:

Now, after working in medical interpreting, you also began working well, we'll talk about court in a minute, but you also on for language line and other telephone interpreting agencies and you've expressed your passion for telephonic interpreting. Yes. Tell me, tell me why this is. This is so in interesting to you or enticing.

Speaker 2:

You know, I, I didn't like it at all. When I was a in-person interpreter, I worked at the university of Minnesota. I was a staff interpreter. I felt like super interpreter. When I came into the room, they would sometimes have a, you know, a telephonic interpreter there until we could get to the room. And it was kind of like, I'm here, hang up the phone. You know, the super interpreter has come into the building. You can go ahead and let that person go. That's kind of how I felt thinking that an in-person interpreter is superior, which is a lot to this day. And I we've talked to you about this before of what my colleagues may feel. And they're entitled to that. I'll just tell you why. I feel like I, my feelings have changed, um, because of a lot of volunteer work that I do. I, I move and I move to Kansas and I could not get a job doing in person interpreting. It just was not like Minnesota and Minnesota. It was like, I told you total different ballgame. And so I applied for language line and thinking it was a demotion, honestly, I thought, oh, now I'm gonna be working on a phone. Pay is definitely not the same. Um, but the training, I just cannot tell you the amount of growth that you can make as a telephonic interpreter. Because when you're interpreting in person, you work in isolation, you know, you have no one critiquing you, you have no one helping you improve and I'll get interpreters who, um, wanna take my course and they'll say, do I really need this? I had that actually a month ago, a young gentleman, very sincere. He's like, I've been interpreting for 10 years. And I said, you can do the wrong thing for 10 years. I, I it doesn't mean, but you've been, and I'm not, I'm not putting anyone down. I'm just saying that was my experience. When I started to telephonic interpreting, I was being watched, Right. I had to improve. Um, I would, I talk very fast naturally. And you know, my SLS, the person who was in charge, she would tell me, you gotta slow down. You're not, people don't understand. You. You have to improve your grammar. You have to be, you know, you have to improve your vocabulary. Everything was like stabs to your heart. If you let it. And after a while at first, whenever she would call me, cuz they call you, I would just have like a heart attack. And after a while she would call me and I couldn't wait. You know, because after a while She was complimenting me and I was getting raises for, for my, for my performance because they do pay you based off of that. If you get all like these's expectations on all of your markers and that's what it became and I'm not bragging, I'm just saying it, it went from me being upset, thinking I knew what I was doing and I was good because no one was telling me otherwise, I, I wasn't a bad interpreter before, but you do get to grow when you're being watched and the of vocabulary and the plethora of calls you get, you know, I can get a judge that call hangs up. I get a doctor I'm in labor. That call hangs up by getting an insurance company. You learn every part of the car. You learn every disease you've never heard of. Um, you learn, you know, you just learn so much and it just becomes normal. And how do

Speaker 1:

You, but what, sorry, sorry to interrupt. But I wanted to, this is a, this is a question I think a lot of people have. Mm-hmm<affirmative> how do you account when you're doing telephonic, interpreting for not seeing the visual cues, uh, also including the pauses that people are making so that if you're interpreting the consecutive mode, which is mostly what you do in telephonic, it, you are, you know, you're right in there maintaining the pace of the conversation and not dragging it back.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Um, that's the power of a, of an efficient introduction.

Speaker 1:

Okay.

Speaker 2:

Um, I do believe in introductions, I believe in scripts. Um, I believe in letting people know, because you don't have those visual cues, I take advantage of pauses as well. Um, all of those things you, you know, in my introduction, I have already told you, you know, please speak slowly and please remember to pause for the interpreter, say short phrases with the pause so that when I have to interrupt, which honestly, with a good introduction, it's a lot less than if you did not have, if you would not have done that, you can say, you know, one moment, please remember to pause for the interpreter. So now you're not telling them a new concept. Oh yeah. I should be pausing. No, you're reminding them. Remember I told you in the beginning, you have to pause for me. Um, and go ahead.

Speaker 1:

No, I wanted to ask you, um, some agencies may require introductions and some may not, and some may allow it in the protocol or not. Um, how, how, um, how do you go about, um, making sure that you are the person who sets up the encounter for interpreting success?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I do an introduction, no matter what, um, most of them will tell you an introduction. Some will tell you, especially if you're a hired a staff interpreter for them. I work, especially now, cuz legals changed with COVID. Um, I do almost exclusively telephonic interpreting. Now I do have a lot of my own clients, but I do work for age and they do give me that leverage to give an introduction. And so I do, I do give that introduction and make it quick. You know, you don't have to give a, you know, minute introduction. Now the minute's a long time when people wanna get to start to talking. And also because when you're given that introduction, one party doesn't know what you're saying. So you do need to make that quick, but once again, get a nice script, write down your introduction. If you can memorize it, memorize it. If not, that's the Beauty of working on the phone, have it right next to you. You know, if you could see behind me, I have a full board of scripts. I have a full VO board of vocabulary. And that's another reason why I love telephonic interpreting you have that ability to your reach for those. Um, so yeah, I, I do believe that a a, a good script and a good introduction really can help you when it comes to, um, the issue that you can find when you don't have those visual cues.

Speaker 1:

It's interesting to me because, um, whenever I, I work as a staff interpreter, and so sometimes I don't have the opportunity to do that introduction. And then you can see all the roadblocks that come because you didn't do it. So when you do have the opportunity to do an introduction, however brief, then you are really setting the tone and the pace of the encounter so that everybody already knows how it's gonna work. Nobody has to guess. You can just step back and be the voice. And

Speaker 2:

It flows, you know, as I do community interpreting as parent teacher conferences, whenever I hear I'm at a, you know, they'll, you can't see'em so you don't know who's in the room and they'll start telling you what to do. This is so and so, and I'm, I'm like, oh, pause, this is the interpreter. So I see there's multiple people in the room. I'm gonna have to just set some guidelines here. One person speak at a time. Even if you speak to each other, you have to pause for the interpreter before you answer. And I say, that can be challenging, but please remember everything needs to, to be interpreted. But imagine if I don't give that introduction, they're having a million conversations and they'll be waiting for you. Go ahead.

Speaker 1:

<laugh> And of course the most frustrating part of it is including video. Remote interpreting is when people are actually talking either right on top of each other or immediately after each other. And then the interpreter has to figure out how to distinguish the questions and the answers and the comments among the various participants.

Speaker 2:

Right? And so that's, and that's once again a good introduction. And so when that starts, I'm one of those interpreters. I'm gonna pause you right away. Once, once you've, once one person stops and I hear a next person stopping, please pause for the interpreter. And once again, now I'm just reminding you this isn't new. You knew this, right. I told both par all parties and all languages, how this was gonna go and you know, they'll quickly, oh, sorry. Like, oh yeah, I remember now. And I, and as human nature, when you understand, someone's asked you a question that your, your tendency is just to their back. I knew, I know what you said, interpreter, having to interpret that is, is not, it doesn't, it's not second nature, but then you gotta remind them. And once again, that introduction helped that to happen.

Speaker 1:

Excellent. So you have definitely come full circle. Not only did you accomplish your goal of becoming an interpreter, but you've also become state certified in, in New York and he also became a trainer.

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Speaker 1:

Why, why did you want to, you know, close that loop?

Speaker 2:

Because I know the trajectory and I've coached, um, at least one of my, my closest friends, she's a, she's now a trainer, she's a trainer for language line. And, um, and I, and I just, every, it was cool to work with, with her every step of the way she would say things to me and I, and I told her, I know exactly how you feel.

Speaker 1:

<laugh>

Speaker 2:

I remember being in that place. I remember the frustration. And, um, when I heard about that, the training for the community interpreting, I, I, I like the concept of it. I like the thought of, yeah, everyone should get trained, fortunately, because of the pay of community interpreting, everyone's not gonna go to college, everyone's not gonna go get a D and I understand it, but have something, you know, 40 hours is not that much time. The, the, the amount is not that much, believe me compared to what people would pay for other careers that may even pay similar, but don't go in there with just your confidence,

Speaker 1:

You know, but you became a trainer for a CCC with their community interpreter, um, training.

Speaker 2:

Yes, for that reason to be able to, to be able to impart that knowledge to people and the training is just amazing. It comes fully with scripts. It takes you through almost every aspect of community interpreting it and it, and it, and it really, really emphasizes ethics. You know, the code of ethics that interpreters should follow, which I did a little survey on interpreting and not all interpreters know that they don't know the, the, it, that there's a code of ethics as they should follow. They, they have ethical, moral, personal principles that they're following, but they may not understand that. No, there's, there's a code of ethics that you should be following whenever you're in an interpreting scenario. And so that's what that program focuses on. I really, I really want to be able to teach that and, and impart that to other individuals who are going to be gain into the field because don't forget every great interpreter elevates the profession that we're all in, right. And every not so great profess interpreter didn't embrace the profession. And the sad part is they're not bad people when they're bad, I've done bad things is that I've done things that weren't professional. And I, you know, you, I didn't always know, but if you're not taught you don't, you didn't even know that, you know, you, you're kind of interpreting with your heart only, and, and your emotions. And sometimes emotions can be a, a fabulous slave, but a horrible master, especially in the field of interpreting, and you're getting your heart involved. But when you have that code of ethics, it's just that beautiful ruler that kind of delineates lets you know, which where you should be at.

Speaker 1:

So for those, um, listeners who are not familiar with the concept of community interpreter, I think it's probably easier to imagine what medical interpreting is, what court interpreting is. And of course, court interpreting being part of the legal interpreting profession. Um, tell us a little bit more about what, what encompasses, um, community interpreting

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Community interpreting is giving is any form of interpreting that gives an individual or people access to community services. So that's going to include schools, right? Um, it's going to be medical because medical interpreting is a part of community interpreting. So that is a, is a, a huge part of community interpreting, um, and social services. So it's medical education, social service interpreting.

Speaker 1:

What would you say the biggest difference? Um, in addition to the emphasis on the code of ethics mm-hmm<affirmative> is there, is there any other, is there any other difference that you would highlight that somebody who is, has been doing, let's say court interpreting might be called out to do a social services, um, call and, and they would need to just kind of regroup yeah. And, and, and find a new center.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. If you were, if you, I would say the big difference between community interpreting and legal interpreting is that there is an aspect, there is a, it is in the code of, of, um, ethics for medical interpreting. That's what we follow as community interpreters, interpreters, the advocacy. So you can, you know, if, if, if human dignity life or if there's a serious danger, you can be more of an advocate. Well, as you know, as a legal interpreter, they have lawyers who are their advocates. You strictly interpret. Um, let's say in some cultures, um, this may me know as a community interpreter, I can, I can then, you know, interject and give that cultural aspect because it's very important as a legal interpreter, I'm gonna have to let the court figure that out. I, I cannot come in and advocate at all in legal, you are strictly sticking to your interpreting.

Speaker 1:

And the important part of all of this is that you actually have to practice all of this. It's not, you went to a class, you read it or you learned it that one day really have to put it to practice on a regular basis. Otherwise, when you're in a situation which calls for, um, the clarification or the linguistic intervention or linguistic mediation, mm-hmm,<affirmative>, um, you really have no skills. You have no scripts with which to actually address that situation. And then by the, you know, the reverse is if you are in that same situation in a court setting, then you have to remind yourself that you have to reset your, you know, reset your parameters so that you don't, you know, go be, so you're not tempted, right. To engage in that kind of activity. Right. Yeah. That's very true. So you are one of the things that I love about you, you know, I love your confidence and your competence, but as far as your confidence is concerned, you are not apologetic about loving the freedom that interpreting as a profession gives you

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Speaker 1:

To what do you attribute your success? And, and when I say success, um, I'm defining it. Um, I'm not defining it in dollars and cents because that's not that's that that's not what, um, what success means to me, I'm defining in this, in the sense that you've been able to accomplish your goals one by one, and you have been able to add a new, um, aspect to your, um, career and to your toolbox. Mm-hmm<affirmative> that allows you to essentially shape the future that you want for yourself.

Speaker 2:

So, um, the question is what, what attributed to my success. Okay. Yeah. Um, I, I can say I got into interpreting and I honestly, and truly did not do it for money. I, I volunteer. I was truly doing it with my heart and I wanted to learn the language well. So I, I, I do believe that the, the basis was, I just wanted to do a good job and, um, you know, the worker worth his, his, or her wage. And I, when you truly are not just some interpreters will come, just wanna get money.<laugh> how can I, how can I work and get paid quick? And if you know, I have a lot of students that's goal number one, well, that doesn't pay enough. How do I get paid more, be great, Improve. That's how you get paid more. All my clients that I have. And I, I said, Maria, I'm not bragging. This has been work. And I, every day practice, new words. And I, every day am still constantly. If I hear about a, a conference or a speaker, I pay that money. I invest, I've always invested in, sometimes interpreters can be resistant to investing. And I think that was a big part of my push too, is I've always thought, okay, this is where I'm not good in. I have to get better. And those clients who think I'm a good interpreter, they tell their friends and their lawyers. And then I have a big client base based off of the skills that I've acquired by investing in my career and investing in myself. And I, and I do believe that that's just a consistent, an ongoing thing with most, uh, with most professions, but definitely with interpreting. So I, I do, uh, attribute it to wanting to sincerely do a good job for the provider and for the user and for the profession and continuously growing and, um, continuing out with continued education,

Speaker 1:

A lot of interpreters, uh there's, there's this idea that because both you and I are Spanish language interpreters, and there is more, perhaps there is, there's more work for us in mm-hmm<affirmative> in, in many realms, they, they, the interpreters of languages other than Spanish sometimes feel like they can't build a success, us full interpreting practice. What do you say to them?

Speaker 2:

I can point back to my, my, one of my closest friends. She's a French interpreter, you know, and, and she was that language line. I now, I don't wanna say the timing wrong, but I think it was between two and three years, and they've already made her a trainer. But once again, she had that. And, and I didn't mention this, but I do think I don't wanna call myself humble. So I can't say that, but I can say humility is important when it comes to this profession too, and that's how you're gonna grow. And she was extremely humble. And when she got that first call from her SLS, which I told her, she was, I remember she told me, I told her, I've been waiting to hear from you.

Speaker 1:

And that's what SLS,

Speaker 2:

Um, that means the senior language consultant. But basically this is the person who's guiding you in your journey. And at, uh, at the telephonic companies mm-hmm<affirmative>. And she said to her, the woman said to her, you're the first person who's ever said that to me. So a lot of times people are, are resistant to getting correction. And, um, no, but look at where my friend's at within three years, she's training, I mean, regularly. So, so it was that humble spirit, that desire to really be good, to improve, to not, to not be resistant to critique, to not be resistant, to improving, to not thinking I already got this, I know the language I don't need. I don't need help. No, we all do. We all need to improve and the language is ever evolving anyway. You're never gonna have it completely. So, um, you know, regardless of what language you have, when you, when you, you stand out on your own by being great by doing a good job and by improving.

Speaker 1:

And regardless of, um, like you said, regardless of what language you speak, the more tools that you have in your toolbox. Yes. The better it is for you to be able to reach out. And especially in this online world where now, you know, telephonic interpreting has been around for a long time, but right now we're probably using it more than we, um, we're using it earlier because of the, on in person as well as video remote interpreting. So those are, those are all good opportunities for folks to, um, go out and, and continue figuring out what it is that they need to add to their toolbox. Right. Mm-hmm<affirmative>

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Speaker 1:

What final words of encouragement do you have, um, or your colleagues during this, um, difficult time that we are living with with regards to COVID closures?

Speaker 2:

You know, I could say don't get discouraged and take, take advantage of the time because, um, it is different. It's a different, it's a different beast. It's a different world, but the great thing is interpreters continue to be needed. And at first, when everything started switching over, there's a good two weeks where I'm like, I wasn't getting any calls. I didn't have any work. And now it's ridiculously abundant. So don't use the time to improve your skills. Don't just sit back. If you can't find work in, improve your skills and look for other avenues of work as well, because there's a lot out there. I have my own clients now because I had to kind of make more inroads and, and diversify. Don't just stick to one thing. If you get into community, interpreting, prove your skills, maybe you can move on to legal, interpreting legal interpreting place substantially more. Maybe you can move on to conference interpreting. That's a beautiful thing about interpreting. Keep building your skills, keep improving. Don't get discouraged. There is work and there will continue to be work for you

Speaker 1:

Aquila Wanli thank you very much for joining us here today on subject to interpretation, we wish you a lot of success in your career.

Speaker 2:

Thank you, Maria. It's been my pleasure.

Speaker 1:

Don't forget to join us. Next week. When we interview attorney and certified ASL interpreter, Paul Penski, we will discuss his work as a language access advocate, and also explore the similarities and differences between the practice of interpreting and spoken languages and ASL. Did you know that the LA Institute has a catalog of over 60 self-paced courses for both legal and medical interpreters? This means that you have complete flexibility and freedom to start pause and finish at your own pace. And don't worry. Our student platform remembers exactly where you left off the course vary in length from one and a half hours, all the way up to 40 hours of interpreter training. And the majority of courses and webinars are eligible for continuing education credits in most states, making it very easy to collect that last missing CE. And don't forget that the de Lata team is here to help you bundle your courses for special discounted prices. Ask us how to enroll today. Email us@infodelamodainstitute.com or messages on Facebook. You can also find our courses on our website at de LAMODA Institute slash catalog. We hope that this podcast has enrich your journey along this fascinating field of interpretation. Maybe you learn something new, remembered, something you're forgotten, or are now encouraged to try something different. If you're watching this on YouTube, please share your comments with us below. And if you're listening to us, don't forget to subscribe. So you don't miss our weekly episodes. Remember if at first you don't succeed, learn, practice, and try again, take care.