December 22, 2023 • 70 mins
As we approach the final stretch of Brand the Interpreter's sixth season, I am thrilled to share an answer episode to a question submitted by listener Laura González in Pennsylvania, a query that mirrors many of your own curiosities and experiences. This exchange symbolizes the interactive and dynamic nature of the podcast, where listener engagement has continually shaped the conversation. I hope you find this episode relevant and useful in understanding the world of associations and certifying bodies.
I also encourage you to submit your question to the Brand the Interpreter Podcast for an opportunity to get featured in an upcoming episode.
Thank you for joining me today. I'll see you back next episode!
Only on the podcast that shares your stories about our profession!
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Certifying Entities:
NBCMI
CCHI
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Associations:
NAETISL
AAITE
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Thanks for tuning in, till next time! 👋
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome back to another episode of the Brandy
interpreter podcast.
This is Mireya, your host.
If you're new here, if you're areturning listener, welcome
back as always.
And welcome to the second tothe last episode of season six.
It's taken me a couple of yearsto really figure out how long
seasons should last here on thepodcast.
(00:27):
So while we're at the end ofseason six, technically we're
rounding the corner of year fourof the podcast I know pretty
wild right and while next yearI'll be introducing an entirely
new format to the podcast, muchof the rest of the podcast will
remain the same, includingquestions from you, the audience
(00:51):
.
Today's question was submittedby Laura all the way out from
Pennsylvania.
Hi, laura, take a listen.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Hola, mireya, my name is Laura, I'm from Bethlehem,
pennsylvania, and I wanted tothank you so much for your
podcast, brandy interpreter.
It's really been an anchor forme as I navigate my new career
in the wonderful world ofmedical and educational
interpreting.
My question for you is how cana new interpreter make sense of
(01:25):
all of the differentassociations and councils that
are available for medical,educational and legal
interpreters, in addition to theCCHI or the NBCMI, which offer
national certification formedical interpreters?
There are many, many moredozens in fact, if you include
all of the different state-basedassociations, and I'm hoping
(01:49):
that someone like you or anotherveteran interpreter can help
guide us newbies intounderstanding what distinguishes
these associations from oneanother and cómo podemos sacar
el jugo, so to speak, which,minimally, should we become
(02:10):
members of and invest in?
It seems like a lot of themhave missions that overlap one
another and progressing forwardand professionalizing the field
of interpreting, and so it'shard for me to decide which ones
to actually join.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Ah, yes, laura the good old, but which association
should I join?
Question, the question thattypically comes up around the
beginning of our professionalinterpreting careers.
I have my own recommendationsfor you after over a decade of
being in the profession.
However, my approach for thesequestions are to also allow you
(02:49):
the opportunity to hear directlyfrom individuals that are out
there in the industry and havingnavigated some of these very
same questions at the beginningof their careers.
And because you happen tomention NBCMI, cchi, a-a-i-t-e
and ATISL, these are thespecific guests that I invited
(03:12):
here today, so let's take alisten to what our guests would
like to share with us today,shall we?
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Hello, my name is Gustavo Negrete and I'm the
chair of the National Board ofCertification for Medical
Interpreters, as commonlyreferred to as the NBCMI, and
this is our response to some ofthe questions for the brand
interpreter listeners.
So one of the questions that weusually get is you know, what
type of benefits do we offermembers?
(03:41):
Now, the thing is that we haveto remember that the National
Board isn't like a traditionalassociation.
You don't pay a fee and thenautomatically you're brought
into the association.
They're actually acredentialing and certifying
organization.
In other words, we provide aprocess for those persons,
(04:03):
candidates, who are wanting tobecome certified medical
interpreters, to become saidcertified medical interpreters.
We actually have two pathways.
We have the language specificpathway, which are the certified
medical interpretercertifications, which we offer
six languages for that, and thenwe also have another pathway,
(04:26):
which is called the HUBCMI, andthose are for all those
languages that are not part ofthose original, those course six
that we offer fullcertification, in which, if in
case you're wondering, those areSpanish, mandarin, cantonese,
vietnamese, russian and Korean.
(04:47):
Now, as far as the benefits areconcerned, well, the benefits
of being a CMI are, of course,those things, those types of
benefits that you get on a veryprofessional level, like I
myself am a CMI Spanish and Ican tell you, if it wasn't for
certification, I probably wouldnot have landed my first, second
(05:08):
or third direct client.
And so, really, if you'relooking at the benefit of
becoming certified, and that'sreally it, you become marketable
, you become more desirable, forsure, when it comes to
employment, and, of course, youhave a certification that
(05:29):
supports that.
Now, how do we contribute toprofessional development?
Well, the National Boarddoesn't offer continuing
education, at least not directly.
But we have a what you wouldconsider a parent organization,
which is the InternationalMedical Interpreters Association
, that actually has a webinarseries called Lifelong Learning
(05:50):
Webinars and they offer that forfree to members and, of course,
the National Board is acontributor to those lifelong
webinars.
You can go back this year andyou can see that the National
Board has participated in a fewof those webinars for the
Lifelong Webinar Series.
(06:11):
So, coming back to theconversation of professional
development, so what theNational Board does is support
conference organizations,conference organizers and, of
course, non-conferenceorganizations as well, by
providing continuing educationat said conferences, for example
(06:33):
, where big contributors to someof the biggest conferences,
like the CHIA conference, whichis actually going to be in May
of next year, plug in for them.
We also support otherorganizations like the ATA, cate
, umcha and other organizationsthat put on these educational
(07:00):
conferences for interpreters.
In addition to participating aspresenters, we also are
oftentimes sponsors of a lot ofthese organizations, like, for
example, one of the most recentconferences, which was the LEO
conference.
We were actually gold sponsorsof that two-day conference, and
(07:22):
so we're always looking to workwith and collaborate with
organizations who offer trainingand, of course, support to
interpreters.
Now you may be wonderingspecifically well, how does this
lead or what's the link betweenthat and professional
development?
Is that all of theseconferences, these workshops,
(07:44):
actually do go towardsprofessional development for our
hub CMI's and CMI's?
Of course, as a matter of fact,this is one of those
requirements that we have forcontinuing to have the CMI
certification or the hub CMI.
(08:05):
The NBCMI has been workingreally hard behind the scenes
actually this year with a lot ofdifferent organizations that
not only advocate for theprofession meaning interpreting
as a whole but, of course, are alittle more narrowly focused
(08:25):
specifically on healthcare andor medical interpretation.
Now, because I can't reallydiscuss the scope of work that
we've participated in, I canmention for sure that there were
some, that we were invited toparticipate in several
conversations with the Officefor Civil Rights, for example,
(08:45):
and the Office of MinorityHealth.
And then, of course, we hadparticipated in the call for
expert input when Health andHuman Services was re-evaluating
some of their policies.
For example, one of such thingwas, of course, the revision of
qualified interpreter and then,of course, some of the changes
(09:05):
to ACA section 1557.
We participated in thoseconversations as well.
And then, of course, there's onthe local level.
We send in papers forparticipating in amicus briefs
whenever there's questions aboutlanguage access or perhaps
there's consideration bylegislators to either dissolve,
(09:28):
reduce or in some way inhibit orprohibit or at least restrict
in some fashion, language access.
So those are some of the thingsthat we do on the NBCMI, but I
would say that some of the moresignificant accomplishments that
the NBCMI has accomplished wasactually being the first
organization to offer a pathwayfor certification for medical
(09:51):
interpreters and, of course, inas many languages as we offer.
I would say that's a verysignificant accomplishment.
There we also added last yearthe HUBCMI, which was also quite
a feat because, as you canimagine, we have to go through
the verification process andthat actually takes a quite an
(10:12):
extensive amount of time,believe it or not.
As much as I wish we couldquickly add on additional
languages, it actually does takequite a bit of time to actually
get everything done in thatsense, but I would say that some
of the how this ties into someof our initiatives is that we
are always looking to expand and, of course, add other languages
(10:35):
to our list of languages thatwe offer full certification in.
We're also looking toparticipate more openly, of
course, with organizations andother associations that support
medical interpreters as well.
Some of the things that arecoming down the pipe, of course,
(10:56):
is, without divulging too muchis that we have plans in the set
for the immediate future to beable to support the interpreting
community by forming strategicpartnerships, to be able to
provide more training, to beable to provide more
(11:17):
scholarships and then also to,of course, promote certification
.
How does the MVCMI keep currenton all of that is happening?
Well, we keep current by many ameans.
To be quite honest with you, wekeep track of things that are
going around on the NIH side,for example, the National
Institute of Health and HumanServices.
(11:40):
We also keep up with trends ofthings that are happening with
CMS, for example.
Well, some of it is, of course,being subscribers and, of
course, in and engaging aconversation with the you know,
thinking macro level, of course,the big organizations, the ones
(12:01):
that are the powers that be perse when it comes to these types
of health related topics and,of course, health related
anything really.
We also keep a rest of things by, of course, engaging the CMI's
on social media through emailinquiry.
Of course, we also keep abreastby participating in conferences,
(12:27):
mike, for example, one of themore recent, the most recent
conference that we participatedin, leo, had a lot of
information about artificialintelligence.
We also participate in surveysand inquiries about, you know,
those types of situations likethe one that's circulating now
(12:50):
is the survey from the AI taskforce, which is, honestly, it's
super important to supportorganizations in general.
So, even if it's not the MCMI,please be sure to support other
organizations that are always onthe front lines for
interpreters.
And, of course, we have ourchannels, social media Facebook,
(13:11):
linkedin primarily soon to comeInstagram and all sorts of
other fun stuff, and those areother ways that we actually
disseminate a lot of theinformation that even we come
across and another way that wekeep in abreast of things is by
listening to Brandy interpreterand all of her guests, which
(13:34):
highlight very specific aspectsof interpreting and different
fields in different areas andhow those fields are being
impacted by any number ofsituations.
To find out more about the MCMI, please visit our website
certifiedmedicalinterpretersorg.
You can follow us on Facebook.
(13:55):
You could locate us under thesame heading, certified medical
interpreters, and we're also onLinkedIn as the National Board
of Certification of MedicalInterpreters, which you could
find us under NBCMI.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Just to be clear and full transparency, I did not
request a shout out from NBCMI,but I sincerely appreciate it.
Next on the list we have CCHI.
Speaker 4 (14:18):
Hi, my name is Johanna Parker, I am the vice
chair of the CertificationCommission for Healthcare
Interpreters and I'm here toanswer questions posed by Brandy
interpreter listeners.
So I think what's important tounderstand is that CCHI, or the
Certification Commission forHealthcare Interpreters, is not
a membership association.
(14:38):
We're a certifying entity.
We don't have annual dues.
Our goal is to elevate thestatus of interpreters among
healthcare professionals and thestatus of medical interpreters
among other interpreters andlanguage professionals.
So, as a certifying body, eventhough we don't have members, we
(15:00):
interact with our candidatesand our certificates regularly
through surveys, events, e-news,social media, et cetera, and we
continuously seek their inputon our policies and involve them
in test development.
Also, it's interesting to notethat the content of all of our
(15:21):
exams is created solely by ourcertificates.
So, because CCHI is not anassociation, any opportunity for
continuing education orprofessional development that we
offer is available to all ofour certificates and the public
in general.
So we offer free and low-costtraining opportunities with CEUs
(15:45):
for our certificates.
These include webinars, onlinemodules, and that includes
performance-based modules.
This is a requirement for allof our certificates that some of
their continuing education beactually working on interpreting
skills, so we make sure tooffer some of those
opportunities.
The only opportunity that weoffer for certificates is
(16:10):
participation in testdevelopment projects, and we
actually award them continuingeducation units for that, and
that's really a fantasticopportunity to learn about exam
creation and think about howtests are formed, and I did it
before I was a commissioner andI found it really fascinating.
We held a virtual conference onNovember 18th that offered CEUs
(16:37):
, and in April we're going to beholding a conference live in
person in Houston.
That will be a place for us to,number one, offer
skill-building webinars, butalso to really talk about the
future of our profession andwhere we're going.
It's our 15th anniversary andso we're looking back 15 years,
(17:03):
but we're also going to startlooking forward for the next 15.
And as CCHI doesn't have members, we advocate for the profession
, and we saw this during thepandemic.
For example, cchi was the firstorganization to issue a
statement about the safety ofinterpreters in healthcare and
the need for PPE for them.
(17:23):
We also invite experts toparticipate in our community
conversations, youtube series,which is where we bring together
important figures in our fieldabout topics like the
measurement of interpreterproductivity and fatigue, the
use of simultaneous interpretingin the field, challenges of
(17:46):
interpreting for the deaf andhard of hearing communities,
immigration, ai and interpretingall of these topics that affect
really everyone in ourprofession and, of course, most
importantly, the people that weserve.
Cchi has also participated, orrepresentatives of CCHI have
participated, in statelegislative projects on
(18:08):
interpreter certification.
We've done that in Colorado,oregon and Washington and really
I think that the main way thatwe advocate for the interest and
rights of the profession ofhealthcare interpreting is just
through certification.
With our accreditedcertification, we are committed
(18:30):
to raising the standard and thestatus of medical interpreters
and therefore improve theservices provided to speakers
with limited English proficiencyand help level the playing
field and get them access to thecare they need.
Cchi's biggest achievement isthe creation and rollout of a
(18:55):
novel language neutralperformance exam for
interpreting, which is usedalong with high language
proficiency standards as part ofour core CHIP or core CHI
performance exam.
So I'll explain what I mean bynon-language specific
(19:20):
performance-based.
So across the board, in courtinterpreting and healthcare
interpreting, up until now,there are certification exams
for specific languages that areperformance-based.
So CCHI has an oral exam forSpanish, arabic and Mandarin
(19:41):
interpreters.
What about all of the otherlanguages?
So of course, we would love toand, in the future, hope to
develop more language-specificinterpreting exams to use in our
certification processes.
But there's always going to bethat next language that doesn't
(20:01):
yet have an exam and, frankly,there are some languages that
just never will.
And so, historically, the onlyway to start to assess the
credentials of thoseinterpreters or the skills of
those interpreters is through aknowledge-based exam or written
exam.
And so that is that those examshave existed for a long time
(20:24):
for healthcare and medicalinterpreters, for court
interpreters, et cetera, andthey're important because they
show that the interpreter knowsabout the ethics of interpreting
, they have some of thevocabulary needed for
interpreting, but it doesn'tactually show that the person
(20:45):
has the ability to interpret.
It shows that they know aboutinterpreting.
So CCHI did a research studyand the results have been
validated that we are able totest in an English-only format
the sub-skills of interpreting,the cognitive processes that are
(21:06):
required and combined, thatmake up the interpreting process
essentially.
So with that we developed anexam that is part of our CCHIP
credential and that means thatfor languages for which there
isn't an oral certification exam, they are still being tested on
skills that are indicators oftheir ability to actually
(21:28):
interpret, which means they'regoing to be providing better
services.
So that is our biggestaccomplishment to date.
We've just rolled it out thisyear and we're working on
awareness raising amonginterpreters, administrators,
major TNI associations aroundthe value and importance of this
CCHIP certification andcertification in general.
(21:50):
Also worth noting we're goingto be sunsetting our core CCHI
credential, which is thewritten-only credential, in the
future Not immediately, no needto panic if that's the one you
have, but we will be sunsettingit.
So we encourage all core CCHIinterpreters to get their core
CCHIP certification and that wayin the future all certified
(22:14):
healthcare interpreters willhave been tested on their actual
skills.
And then we're also thinkingabout where we go next in the
medium term.
So developing new exams arevery expensive, but we're
committed to growingcertification and especially our
accredited certifications.
We aren't sure what path we'regoing to take, but maybe we'll
(22:40):
work on creatinglanguage-specific certification
in more languages.
Maybe we'll look atcertification in different
specialties, maybe a master'slevel certification to
demonstrate an even higher levelof skill.
Maybe some certification forinterpreter services
administrators to show that theyunderstand and have a really
(23:02):
strong understanding of what ittakes to organize and administer
a strong language accessprogram in a hospital, for
example.
Who knows.
None of this is on the books.
None of this is official.
This is just brainstorming tothink about where we're going to
go next.
To maintain our accreditation,cchi is required to do a
(23:24):
national job task analysissurvey every six to seven years
and build our exams based on theresults.
So that means that we actuallysend out surveys to working
healthcare interpreters.
They don't have to be certified, they can be certified.
They don't have to be justworking interpreters to find out
(23:45):
what they're doing in theirday-to-day work and based on
that, we create our exams,because we need a certification
exam to reflect the work beingdone in the field.
So we did our third job taskanalysis survey in 2022.
And this year we updated ourexams.
Furthermore, our commissionersand managing director are active
(24:08):
leaders in the field.
This means that we regularlyparticipate in various
collaborative projects like theassociation advocacy group
hosted by ALC, where CCHIparticipated along with other
associations, or participatesalong with other associations
like ATA, aaite, theinterpreting safe AI task force,
(24:31):
etc.
We've also participated inlistening sessions by the Office
of Minority Health and others.
And, of course, ourcommissioners are very active
attending and presenting atindustry conferences like ATA
and CIHC California Health CareInterpreting Association, the
Texas Association of HealthcareInterpreters and Translators,
(24:54):
and on and on.
I could give you an entire listof acronyms, but I won't.
We also hold quarterly Zoomhuddles or informal meetings
with language access managers.
This is called our NationalLanguage Access Leaders Huddle.
And we have another huddle withinterpreter trainers.
(25:15):
And so there we learn about thechallenges, successes and
innovations that thesestakeholders are facing and
observing and achieving, and wealso are able to share with them
CCHI's new initiatives.
And we don't only stay currentwith the trends, but we also
(25:36):
seek to set standards for theindustry and envision the future
and how we can advance.
So I'll plug it again Oursecond National Certification
Summit will be on April 6th ofnext year and we'll focus on
setting the course for theprofession for the next 15 years
(25:58):
.
So for interpreters who arelooking to develop
professionally, to interact withtheir peers, to contribute to
the growth of our profession, Ithink it's really important to
join professional associations.
It's not an either, or it's notget certified by CCHI or join
(26:21):
the ATA.
No, it's both.
And in terms of whichassociations to join, of course,
it really depends on where youlive, your specific interests,
et cetera, and here I'm speakingcompletely as an individual.
Cchi is completely neutral, hasno recommendations for which
(26:44):
associations you should join,because we are a certifying body
.
But if there is a regionalinterpreting association
translating an interpretingassociation where you live
that's active, it's a good ideato join that to know what's
happening in your region, aswell as paying attention to the
national organizations.
(27:04):
In particular, the ATA is thebiggest national organization
and what I love about the ATA isthat it brings together
everyone, and so you can learn alot about what's happening in
other parts of our profession.
In healthcare, I think theNational Council on Interpreting
in Healthcare is a reallyimportant one that sets some
(27:30):
good standards.
But again, these are just mypersonal thoughts.
This is not an official CCHIposition and really it's also
just a matter of what you see.
You don't have to join anassociation site unseen.
Check out their website, seewhat their social media presence
(27:51):
is like, how they'reinteracting online, and if it
speaks to you, if it seemsinteresting to you, then
absolutely, by all means, join.
To learn more about CCHI, aboutthe certification process,
about continuing educationopportunities and about our
huddles for leaders or trainers,please look at our website
(28:16):
cchicertificationorg.
We also have social mediapresence.
You can search for CCHIcertification on Facebook.
Our Instagram account is CCHIcertified.
You can also search for us onYouTube, which is where we have
(28:36):
our community conversations andalso where we share videos from
some of our online events.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
That was very informative.
Would you agree, now that we'vetaken the time to listen to the
two certifying bodies formedical interpreters, let's
pivot into the educational field, a brand new specialization
that, while not necessarily newin its existence, it is new in
the development ofstandardization and
(29:05):
professionalization.
So let's begin with Nattissel.
Speaker 5 (29:09):
My name is Anna Soler .
I am the chairperson ofNattissel, the National
Association of EducationalTranslators and Interpreters of
Spoken Languages and this is ananswer to a question posted by
Brandy Interpreter.
So membership benefitscollectively contribute to the
professional growth of ourNattissel members by enhancing
(29:30):
their knowledge, their skills inprofessional standing within
the educational translation andinterpretation community.
And I'd like to share a fewexamples.
Our Nattissel members, forexample, are involved as subject
matter experts in the NationalCertification Pilot Test for
Spoken Language Interpreters andthey're actually helping us to
(29:52):
develop our written testquestions and scripts for our
oral test.
Our members have alsoparticipated in our job task
analysis, which helped to definethe skills, the knowledge and
abilities that characterize aprofessional spoken language
interpreter and education, andalso helped us with the process
(30:12):
of validating our code of ethicstwo years ago by participating
in focus groups, analyzingsurvey results and review and
interpreter job descriptions.
So they're definitely hands on.
We also offer monthlyprofessional opportunities for
interpreters and translators andeducation We've been doing that
for the past three years, aswell as three virtual
(30:34):
conferences with national andinternational guest speakers,
and one thing that we really areproud of is that when we go
through the guest speakerselection process.
Our priority is our member pooland overall we were looking at
our statistics just now about95% of those who have presented
in our monthly webinars andconferences are Nattissel
(30:56):
members who are willing to sharetheir knowledge and skills, and
we really love the fact thatwe've been able to mentor them
throughout the process.
Likewise, all of our courseinstructors are Nattissel
members, who have receivedmentoring and coaching to really
launch their careers as coursefacilitators, not only with us,
(31:16):
but with other organizations aswell.
And, of course, our membersbenefit from discounts on all of
these professionalopportunities and, of course,
receive scholarships whenfunding is available, to be able
to not only participate in ourprofessional development
activities but also thoseoffered by other organizations.
(31:36):
We have a member portal, whichis a great opportunity for our
members to engage with eachother in small groups and also
access specific resources thathave been created for their
purpose, their skill.
We have different committeesthat are working on specific
resources that members haveasked us for, and so we house
(31:58):
them in this particular portal.
And so we also are members ofdifferent organizations, and one
example is the joint nationalcommittee for languages and the
National Council for Languagesand International Studies, and
this commitment and thisengagement with different
organizations has helped toengage and actually create a
(32:21):
wider network where our memberscan participate.
So those are some of the manybenefits that we offer we're
actually going to be offering in2024, we have quite a bit of
surprises that I'm not able toshare quite yet but one of the
professional developmentopportunities that we will offer
in 2024 is a series of languagespecific practice sessions,
(32:46):
because our interpreters andactually our members have
provided feedback on the factthat we need a little bit more
practice.
We're grateful for the lecture,for the theory, but we really
want to have that hands onpractice.
So we'll be offering languagespecific sessions where
interpreters can practiceconsecutive simultaneous note
(33:08):
taking and also translation andeducation with language bearers.
So we have Arabic, spanish andwe're about to announce a couple
more languages with the purposeof expanding glossaries and
expanding networks, really withour interpreters.
Of course, we also apply andobtain CEUs from different
(33:31):
organizations such as CCHI andATA, with the purpose of
engaging interpreters not onlywho work in the educational
setting, but we understand thatinterpreters in education touch
many different settings, such aslegal and medical, and so
through the CEU process, we wantto engage all of those other
professionals who are alsoworking in schools, who may have
(33:52):
experience in other areas ofexpertise.
One thing that I did want tomention in terms of our
professional development is thatour opportunities are not
exclusive to interpreters ineducation, and that's what
really makes us different.
We have very much in mind ourstakeholders, who are
(34:12):
linguistically diverse, families, educators, and also
interpreters and translators.
So, for example, we received agrant from the Missouri
Developmental DisabilitiesCouncil to launch a series of
professional developmentsessions for school leaders and
educators on how to work withinterpreters, because we really
(34:33):
feel that the training and thecollaboration when it comes to
interpretation and translationin K-12 and also early childhood
really has to come from manydifferent angles.
So we involve the schoolleaders, educators and
everything that we do regardingprofessional development.
We have also partnered with acouple of organizations to
(34:54):
provide training forlinguistically diverse families,
and this is something thatwe're very passionate about,
because we're really given thema lot of information about their
rights and responsibilitieswhen it comes to language access
, so they can self-advocate,because really, as we know, as
interpreters we cannot do thatpart, but we can share
information with families to beable to do that on their own.
(35:18):
The TISL members, as I mentionedinclude linguistically diverse
families, interpreters,translators, and school leaders
and educators and as such, wereally remain in touch with our
diverse audiences to hear theirconcerns, their challenges, but
also their opportunities to worktowards the same goals that we
have.
And so we engage all of our keystakeholders in conversations
(35:42):
about language access and reallyconnect families to work
collectively to improve thatcommunication in school settings
, as well as, of course,contributing to setting the
standards for professionalinterpreters and translators in
schools.
So we work with partnerorganizations, for example, to
train families, like I mentioned, on language access rights and
(36:04):
responsibilities.
We have developedself-empowerment tools to help
raise the voice of our familiesand raise their concerns about
language access in their schoolcommunities and really
understand the implications ofcollaborating with untrained
interpreters.
So we advocate for theinterests of school leaders and
educators by supporting themwith research-based information
(36:27):
on creating language accessplans, for example, best
practices to hire, to qualifyand train interpreters and
translators, and education andsharing topics about how to
remain involved in aconversation with a family when
an interpreter is present tosupport communication.
So, again, the training, theprofessional development, really
(36:49):
corresponds or connects withthe same stakeholders and what
they tell us is important tothem.
So, of course, these issues areimportant to our school leaders
, our educators, not justbecause language access is a
civil right, but also becauseaccurate and complete
communication supports thatfamily engagement and student
(37:12):
achievement.
And so, lastly, of course, weadvocate for the interests and
rights of our interpreters andtranslators by getting their
input on the development ofresources to support their work.
For example, we have a seriesof best practices, fact sheets
available on our website, andthese are tips that all of our
members have gathered and theseare members who live and breathe
(37:34):
this work every day and knowexactly what it's like and will
be publishing additionaltraining tools and tip sheets
for interpreters and translatorsto really help with their work
and self-advocate in theirsettings as well.
So we can proudly say that wecannot name only one significant
accomplishment.
To start, we validated our codeof ethics two years ago as a
(37:58):
first step to initiate thisdevelopment of a pilot
certification test for spokenlanguage interpreters.
We based our work on alreadyexisting code of ethics and
standards of practice formedical sign language and legal
interpreters, and also on thework already accomplished by the
Minnesota Department ofEducation and then the
(38:19):
University of Minnesota yearsago.
So we were not the first, andwe wanted to make sure that we
expanded on what was alreadypresent by conducting different
focus groups and surveys withour stakeholders, again to give
us this initial overview of theconcerns, the challenges and the
opportunities in this field ofinterpreting and translation in
early childhood and also K to 12.
(38:40):
So this really gave us a goodorganization, direction and
vision.
Of course, the completion of ourjob task analysis.
I think it's another greatexample of the teamwork that we
have displayed over the years.
Our stakeholders weredefinitely involved and, most
importantly, our linguisticallydiverse families had the
(39:00):
opportunity to reallyparticipate in this whole
process of defining the skills,the knowledge and abilities of
interpreters and translators ineducation.
And you know we have beenselected.
This is something that we'revery proud of.
We have been selected as aprimary course developer and
evaluator for an entire state inthe state of Massachusetts, and
(39:22):
really we're consulting withother state departments of
education on the training andqualification of school-based
interpreters and also freelanceinterpreters who work in schools
.
And so we're really, you know,proud of the work that we have
done, the proud, proud of thework that shows that we have
been able to manage large grantsand a great you know teamwork,
(39:45):
definitely in everything that wehave done so far.
So we are members of variousorganizations, not only for
school leaders, educators, butalso parent advocacy
organizations, and they, ofcourse, represent our
stakeholders and really give usthe voice to determine what
(40:05):
other resources we need todevelop or what other visions we
need to follow.
And so we're very attentive andwe get to hear directly from
our audiences directly on thosechallenges and opportunities and
concerns, sometimes aboutlanguage access.
In our setting Our NACISLambassadors or members we now
(40:30):
represent 31 states and sevencountries, and so they bring
information to us to help usshape and prioritize the
resources and information thatwe develop or help to
disseminate Our resources, andthis is really important,
something that we're also veryproud of.
Our resources and materials arenot created because our
(40:50):
leadership team determines thatthey're important.
Our resources and the formatthat we utilize to share them in
our evaluation processes todetermine their value come from
the ground up, meaning that theyoriginate from the same
communities that we serve, andso, as a result, we have what we
have available on our website,for example, and what we offer
(41:11):
to our members, and ourresources that are practical,
that are applicable to the workof the interpreter and the
translator on the field, whetherthey're school-based or
freelance professionals, andreally to the families and
educators that we serve, becausereally that's the bottom line
to make sure that our familiesand educators have the best
interpreters that they can have.
So we are thrilled to welcomeyou as a member, but a lot of
(41:36):
our information is housed on ourwebsite.
It's wwwnacislorg.
We have lots of resources.
We have been told that we arevery generous with our resources
.
We have lots of free glossariesand information for
interpreters and translators andeducation, but also for
educators and also our families.
(41:58):
I'm happy to welcome you as amember, but if you're not a
member, you still have a wealthof information that you can find
on our website and happy toanswer any questions that you
may have about our organizationand more.
I absolutely thank you, mirage,for the opportunity to share
this information.
Like I said, there's a wealthof information on our website,
(42:20):
but we often do not have theopportunity to really share
what's going on behind thecurtain sometimes and really all
of the initiatives that we havebeen going on.
We have a lot of things that Iwish I could share more, but we
have a lot of resources thatwe're currently developing that
(42:41):
we're hoping to launch in 2024,so we're really excited about
what's coming for us and, ofcourse, our pilot certification
test needs to be done by 2024,so we're hoping that all of you
who are interpreters ineducation are there volunteer to
take the test to make sure thatit is as valid and as fair as
(43:02):
we can possibly make it and giveus your feedback as we go
through the process.
So thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (43:08):
Lots of exciting stuff.
That was Natissal.
Now we'll move into AAITE.
Let's take a listen.
Speaker 6 (43:16):
Hi, I am Giovanna Carriero-Contreras and I have
the honor to be the chair of theAmerican Association of
Interpreters and Translators inEducation, and I have the
pleasure to be here and speak tothe brand interpreters'
listeners that are interested tolearn more about our
association.
(43:36):
Let me delve first of all inwhat are the benefits that
associations can share withtheir members and, before
talking specifically for AAITE,I would like to really bring up
the point that members are abenefit to the association as a
whole, as the value of theassociation brings benefits to
(44:00):
the members.
I look at these equationsalways as a key intake, because
the associations that work thebest are the ones that put
themselves at the service of themembers that they address.
So in our case, at AAITE, weaddress primarily interpreters
(44:23):
and translators in education,but we also consider, in
everything that we do, programadministrators, school
administrators, language accesscoordinators, interpreting and
translation coordinators,managers in the districts and in
the schools.
So among the benefits that ourmemberships offer, we can count
(44:48):
first of all the frequent meetsor meetups that we have.
The one that I think is the mostvaluable, equally at the level
of the association and themembers, are our edu-talks.
We actually promote aconversation regarding a certain
topic of interest, and theseideas always come from our
(45:12):
members, and the conversationfor us is really to learn about
what interpreters andtranslators do around the
country.
Let's remember that we still donot have an organic approach or
a consistent approach to ourprofessions, and we're really
still fighting against the meetsor the stereotypes of what a
(45:35):
translator or an interpreter cando or a bilingual staff can do
with the addition ofinterpreting and translation
duties.
So the edu-talks are once amonth and they are nine across
the year, and that's where wereally get feedback.
(45:56):
The other benefits that weprovide are the discounted fees
for other learning opportunities.
So we run two majoredu-workshops during the year
and these are addressing bothinterpreters and translators in
separate sessions, and therecordings of all our
(46:19):
opportunities are available tomembers.
A lot of our members are takingadvantage of the recording.
However, please remember thatthe association thrives on the
active collaboration with theirmembers.
Lastly, the most importantthing that we have started doing
(46:43):
last year is to organize theedu-conference, and we started
our first edu-con 2023 in Denver, colorado.
That exceeded our expectations.
Why?
Because that was really themoment where I think it was
(47:06):
tangibly received, as this issomething for us, the
edu-conference 2023 had aspecial significance because it
was really the effort of all themembers and the leadership the
chairs of the committees thathad worked together.
(47:26):
This is something that we'rerepeating every year and in a
second I'm going to tell youmore about that.
If you look at our memberships,we also have several types of a
membership.
We hope that you can involveyour districts and your schools,
because we firmly believe thechanges can only be made from
(47:50):
bottom up and top down.
In a nutshell, I can tell youthat our membership menu items
include you have a seat at thetable.
You can talk about what's goingon in your district, in your
state, by sharing with us theedu-talks.
(48:10):
You have voice at the nationallevel, because AAIT is well
connected with a number of otherorganizations and therefore we
voice your opinions, yoursuggestions, your work at the
very national level and it doesnot go unseen.
You have a knock-off access toedu-talks, so they're free for
(48:35):
you and you can also re-listento the introduction part of the
topic before we break intobreakout rooms.
You have discounts on ourprofessional development
opportunities and with this, wehave the edu-workshops, we have
the edu-conference, but we alsohave special events like the one
(48:59):
that we run on language access.
You have access to listservthat is only limited to our
members, and we have had a veryimportant exchange, exchanges or
conversations around cut-tools,around best practices, around
(49:20):
resources.
We also have a public directorythat is for the community at
large, so not only our members,but also those that are
interested in understanding whatAAIT does and to be preview of
our communications.
And, lastly, we also have amember recognition space where
(49:45):
you can download your memberbadge to show that you made your
commitment to the greaterpurpose of these professions, on
LinkedIn, on your social media,etc.
I myself am a member of a numberof different organizations and
every year when I startrethinking of renewing my
(50:06):
memberships, I always thinkwhat's in it for me?
What is that this associationreally does for me?
And there are a couple ofpoints that I always try to
evaluate.
The number one how do Iparticipate in this association
as a person and as aprofessional?
I profoundly believe that if Ido not take advantage of my seat
(50:30):
at the table, then I need toget whatever comes to me, but if
I instead am proactive andproactive does not mean that you
have to work on this, you know100 hours a year.
Think that if any member did alittle bit, then we push and
(50:51):
advance a little bit farther anda little bit faster together.
So let's go back to what Ievaluate.
So does the mission and thevision of the association aligns
with my purposes?
Do they propose or makepropositions about what needs to
be accomplished for me tobecome a more and more valuable
(51:15):
professional in a way that I cansell my services better, but
also in a competent way?
Do I learn from them how tobetter value myself in the eye
of my stakeholders?
Because each one of us hasstakeholders.
I work in a school and theteachers that I work with, the
families that I work with, theadministrators that I work with
(51:38):
those are all stakeholders ofthe services that I provide.
How do I interact with them?
What am I learning from theseassociations that teach me or
educate me or improve my skillsin doing that as well?
So, as you can hear, I'm makinga difference between me
developing as a professionalmeaning in my day-to-day
(51:58):
services, but me also developingthe soft skills, and that's
where I think AAIT does a verygood job.
What we want to foster with ourmembers is really to develop the
awareness for the value that webring to the table and how to
speak about this.
(52:18):
So, if you pay attention to allthe venues where AAIT members
have participated, we alwaystalk about how we should be and
should be talking asprofessionals.
In other words, advocacy for usis a very important part of our
(52:39):
mission.
Advocacy is not something thatjust gets dumped on our lap.
Advocacy comes from the abilityto speak not only on behalf of
each of us personally, but alsoin a way that integrates with
(53:01):
the overall purpose of theprofessions, both on the
translation or the interpretingside.
Let me be a little bit morefactual so that people can
relate to what I'm saying and Imyself can relate to my own
words and give you a practicalexample.
We are organizing a Up on theHill Advocacy Day for May the
(53:24):
2nd, which is the day before welaunched our EDUCon 2024.
Going up to the hill will giveus really the opportunity to be
vocal, to be heard about whylanguage services are important,
why funding for schools anddistricts is important.
But we're going to lead up tothat teaching, sharing,
(53:49):
educating our members on reallyhow to talk about these advocacy
initiatives so that you can dowhatever can be done in your
daily life.
Another big initiative that weare part of is with SAFE AI Task
Force.
(54:09):
For those that do not know whatthe task force is about, please
go to SAFE-A-I-T-Forg and thatstands for SAFE Artificial
Intelligence Task Force.
You will see that the taskforce is at the moment running a
(54:31):
survey that is collecting dataaround how interpreting services
are used and why they'rebeneficial and why AI can impact
negatively the delivery ofthese services.
If guidelines are now set anddefined pretty quickly.
If you look at that website,there is so much importance on
(54:54):
reaching out to diversecommunities, and that's because
people like us know how toadvocate, to bring those issues
up.
So this is the type of advocacythat the AAIT wants to foster
with their members, because we,as a profession, cannot wait for
(55:15):
others to do it on our behalf.
We, in our circles, cannot waitthat the laws and regulations
come down to us and expect thatwe can deliver our services with
our ethics, with our protocols,with our boundaries, in limits
that are created by those thatknow nothing about our services.
(55:37):
This is because, again,advocacy is another of those
situations where you havebi-directionality, is give and
take.
We educate and get educated,informed every single day, and
this is really what AAIT isabout Not only leading the way
(55:58):
to professionalize theprofessions, but create
professionals that can advocateand can be the agent of changes
in their own realities.
Aait, just as a name, will nevermake any change, the same way
as no other association can.
The strength of everyassociation is the membership
(56:22):
and the members that step up tobe leaders in committees, at the
board, spoke person, advisoryboard groups, etc.
So there is a place foreverybody.
In other words, regardless ofthe time that we have to devote.
This same passion is what hasreally motivated and inspired
(56:45):
the work that we do at AAIT.
Aait is not the result of thework of one, and from day one we
have always worked towardsnational consensus or national
collaboration, and I personallylike to preach we walk the walk
(57:05):
and talk the talk together,whether we agree or disagree.
Sometimes agreements come outof a lot of disagreements.
We have accomplished quite a bitthis year and the two main
accomplishments that I wouldlike everybody to go to the
website and download and use,abuse, reuse with anyone you
(57:27):
know in your districts Are thereport on the job task analysis.
Everybody should read thatreport because you can
understand what is the statusquo of our professions and what
came out of that survey.
A second survey was also run,because the data of that job
(57:48):
task analysis kind of createdother questions and now the job
task analysis committee isevaluating those results.
The other one is what we haverecently announced so I am going
to say this with the mostcheerful voice on behalf of the
AAIT ethics and standardscommittee is really the
(58:11):
publication of the firstnational code of ethics and
standards of practice forinterpreters and a national code
of ethics and standards ofpractice for trans-ethics.
The practice is very long.
However, it is very informative.
Every single piece, everysingle paragraph of these
(58:38):
prefaces is important for you tounderstand where we stand as
professionals in our schooldistricts.
Other initiatives that we aregoing to run for next year are
an entire set of resources thatare going to revolve around the
(58:58):
codes of ethics, because theycan now stand only as isolated
documents.
We need to live them.
We need to really understand,adjust their reading and say, oh
, be accurate or be confidential.
Nothing in a code of ethics orstandards of practice leaves
isolated from other components,and so the prefaces give you an
(59:24):
example, but we are going tobuild other resources going into
the new year.
We are also going to publishsoon best practices that our
committees have worked on for along time, and obviously we are
preparing for the eduCon 2024,not only the conference, the
advocacy on the Hill.
(59:44):
We are going to start a seriesof advocacy workshops that
really tend to train, educate,inform our members, to develop
this advocacy aptitude that weneed, because it has to permeate
the way we talk about it.
(01:00:04):
I sometimes start talking aboutus and what we do with Congress
representative, representativeof the House and I need to make
an adjustment on the way we talk.
Some understand my passion withsome they're more quiet and I
have to understand what othertype of words I use, and so this
is also important in order tosend your message across what is
(01:00:29):
in the future for members interms of state, current industry
trends.
We do not live in silos.
We are not islands.
Our communities needs theexpertise that come from
learning what happens out there.
The fact that I work in Aurora,colorado, for Collins, colorado
(01:00:54):
, or wherever you are, does notmean that what we go through
happens only to us, and this hasbeen the time, for a long time
now, where we need to reallylearn.
That, I think can no longer beapplied to us as professionals,
(01:01:14):
because there is a professionout there.
This is what AAIT has beenpreaching for years.
We are such a profession thatwe need it to be visible and
that's why we brought it upyears ago and AAIT was born.
I also want to underscore thefact that AAIT keeps abreast of
(01:01:36):
what's current in the industryby participating in different
national efforts with differentorganizations.
So, for example, as you can seefrom the acknowledgments of our
codes of ethics, we haveactually interacted with other
associations, and the fact thatyou don't see the names of all
the associations on thatacknowledgment does not mean
(01:01:59):
that we have not hadconversations, but it just meant
that it was not the right placeor the right competence for
them to participate in thateffort.
But we regularly meet withleadership at AAIT, at the
Association of LanguageCompanies, at ALC, with MAJIT,
(01:02:23):
the National Association ofJudiciary Interpreters and Trans
Leaders, and with the twomedical certifications
organizations, cchi and NBCMI.
I know that the big elephant inthe room remains training and
certification.
Aait is on the path tocertification but, as everything
(01:02:47):
else, we do require prior steps.
So that will be the otherbenefit that you're looking at
down the road and it's coming,it's coming.
We are just checking all theboxes to get there and, by the
way, if you worked with us, wecould get to that checkbox much,
(01:03:09):
much faster, so I hope that younow have a better idea.
I would love to go into muchbigger detail for every of the
points that I have touched on.
However, time is of essence andyour time is precious, and I do
thank you for listening to meand to the voice of AAIT.
(01:03:31):
Our email is info at AAITorg,my email is chair at AAITorg,
and our website is there tosupport you, to give you
information, and in the meantime, it's also being redone, so
that's the other thing coming up.
(01:03:51):
Thank you for listening andthank you, brandy interpreter,
for giving us this opportunity.
Speaker 1 (01:03:57):
Happy holidays, well there you have it, folks, the
voices behind some of theassociations and organizations
that are out there forinterpreters, and perhaps you're
even thinking.
Well, I'm still undecided,because they all now sound great
, and you're right, theycompletely do.
I'd like to chime in and giveyou some of my personal
(01:04:18):
recommendations when making suchhard decisions.
A lot of the things that I'llmention right now actually were
mentioned during today's episode, so it'll be a recap.
The very first thing thatperhaps you will want to
consider is the overarchingtheme, or rather, in this case,
what is the mission or vision ofthese associations or
(01:04:43):
organizations that you alsoalign to?
As you begin your journey inthe field, you'll want to
consider your own interests andvalues and then try to find
associations that align withthem.
Oftentimes, knowing thesethings makes it clear for you to
know what you don't want toalign yourself with, and, while
(01:05:03):
mission and vision statementsmay sound similar, really look
into what their overall oroverarching theme is that the
association is focusing on.
Once you have identified anassociation that has similar
interests or a mission similarto your values, look for them.
(01:05:24):
On social media, when utilizedstrategically and in order to
communicate information to themasses, social media is actually
a very powerful tool.
Look for what the associationsor organizations are sharing so
what is the content that theyshare with their followers and
(01:05:45):
then also look for how they'reengaging with their following.
This particular element may notnecessarily be as important to
everyone.
It just happened to be animportant element for me to
identify how they engaged withnot just an in-person audience,
but also an online audience.
(01:06:05):
We receive communication in somany different ways and a lot of
people engage in communicatingin a variety of different ways,
and social media should notnecessarily be something that is
overlooked.
Many people do receive theirinformation from social media,
ask questions based on thecommunication or the information
(01:06:26):
that is being posted, so thisparticular element just happened
to be something important forme.
When I was trying to follow orjust to try to see what type of
information was being shared, Iwas always looking for these
details.
Of course, if you have specificquestions, there's always the
email address.
You can always send out anemail with your specific
(01:06:47):
question and see what responsesyou get back.
Browsing through their websiteis always helpful just to
identify the type of informationthat is being shared, upcoming
events or even conferences thatthey may be holding, and
speaking of conferences.
Consider attending conferenceseven before you are a member.
(01:07:07):
Don't feel that you must becomea member in order to be able to
attend the conferences.
Granted, you don't get themember discount, so it could be
a little bit more expensive, butat least you get a feel for the
type of conference that is puttogether and the type of people
that attend these conferences.
I personally do practice thisapproach before determining
(01:07:31):
whether or not I'd like to be amember of the association.
So consider this as a strategybefore making your decision.
And, of course, lastly, thelocation might be something
that's important to you.
So if you want to findsomething that is local, that
maybe continuously puts togetherevents that are close to you
and proximity, then maybe thisis also another determining
(01:07:54):
factor.
But again, consider that justbecause you make a decision now
doesn't mean that you can'tchange your mind later, and that
, my dear Laura, is the responsein a one hour nutshell.
While my intention is not togive you the answer, I do,
however, intend to be able togive you as much information as
possible for you to consider inorder to make an educated
(01:08:16):
decision.
Thank you for submitting yourquestion because, as always,
your question could be someoneelse's question and now you've
helped me be able to provide thespace for a response to those
particular inquiries that wehave, especially at the
beginning of our interpretingprofession.
I'd like to take theopportunity to thank the guests
(01:08:39):
that were on the show today.
Thank you, nbcmi, cchi,natissel and AAITE for accepting
my invitation to come on theshow and be able to offer a
little bit more informationabout their respective
associations or organizations.
I want to thank you once againfor joining me today on this
(01:09:01):
second to the last episode ofthe year, and I hope you come
back again next week for thevery last episode of Season 6 of
the Brandy Interpreter podcast.
In the meantime, I hope youhave a very merry Christmas and
if Christmas isn't your thing, Ihope you enjoy your holidays
Until next time.
Welcome back to another episode of the Brandy
interpreter podcast.
This is Mireya, your host.
If you're new here, if you're areturning listener, welcome
back as always.
And welcome to the second tothe last episode of season six.
It's taken me a couple of yearsto really figure out how long
seasons should last here on thepodcast.
(00:27):
So while we're at the end ofseason six, technically we're
rounding the corner of year fourof the podcast I know pretty
wild right and while next yearI'll be introducing an entirely
new format to the podcast, muchof the rest of the podcast will
remain the same, includingquestions from you, the audience
(00:51):
.
Today's question was submittedby Laura all the way out from
Pennsylvania.
Hi, laura, take a listen.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Hola, mireya, my name is Laura, I'm from Bethlehem,
pennsylvania, and I wanted tothank you so much for your
podcast, brandy interpreter.
It's really been an anchor forme as I navigate my new career
in the wonderful world ofmedical and educational
interpreting.
My question for you is how cana new interpreter make sense of
(01:25):
all of the differentassociations and councils that
are available for medical,educational and legal
interpreters, in addition to theCCHI or the NBCMI, which offer
national certification formedical interpreters?
There are many, many moredozens in fact, if you include
all of the different state-basedassociations, and I'm hoping
(01:49):
that someone like you or anotherveteran interpreter can help
guide us newbies intounderstanding what distinguishes
these associations from oneanother and cómo podemos sacar
el jugo, so to speak, which,minimally, should we become
(02:10):
members of and invest in?
It seems like a lot of themhave missions that overlap one
another and progressing forwardand professionalizing the field
of interpreting, and so it'shard for me to decide which ones
to actually join.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Ah, yes, laura the good old, but which association
should I join?
Question, the question thattypically comes up around the
beginning of our professionalinterpreting careers.
I have my own recommendationsfor you after over a decade of
being in the profession.
However, my approach for thesequestions are to also allow you
(02:49):
the opportunity to hear directlyfrom individuals that are out
there in the industry and havingnavigated some of these very
same questions at the beginningof their careers.
And because you happen tomention NBCMI, cchi, a-a-i-t-e
and ATISL, these are thespecific guests that I invited
(03:12):
here today, so let's take alisten to what our guests would
like to share with us today,shall we?
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Hello, my name is Gustavo Negrete and I'm the
chair of the National Board ofCertification for Medical
Interpreters, as commonlyreferred to as the NBCMI, and
this is our response to some ofthe questions for the brand
interpreter listeners.
So one of the questions that weusually get is you know, what
type of benefits do we offermembers?
(03:41):
Now, the thing is that we haveto remember that the National
Board isn't like a traditionalassociation.
You don't pay a fee and thenautomatically you're brought
into the association.
They're actually acredentialing and certifying
organization.
In other words, we provide aprocess for those persons,
(04:03):
candidates, who are wanting tobecome certified medical
interpreters, to become saidcertified medical interpreters.
We actually have two pathways.
We have the language specificpathway, which are the certified
medical interpretercertifications, which we offer
six languages for that, and thenwe also have another pathway,
(04:26):
which is called the HUBCMI, andthose are for all those
languages that are not part ofthose original, those course six
that we offer fullcertification, in which, if in
case you're wondering, those areSpanish, mandarin, cantonese,
vietnamese, russian and Korean.
(04:47):
Now, as far as the benefits areconcerned, well, the benefits
of being a CMI are, of course,those things, those types of
benefits that you get on a veryprofessional level, like I
myself am a CMI Spanish and Ican tell you, if it wasn't for
certification, I probably wouldnot have landed my first, second
(05:08):
or third direct client.
And so, really, if you'relooking at the benefit of
becoming certified, and that'sreally it, you become marketable
, you become more desirable, forsure, when it comes to
employment, and, of course, youhave a certification that
(05:29):
supports that.
Now, how do we contribute toprofessional development?
Well, the National Boarddoesn't offer continuing
education, at least not directly.
But we have a what you wouldconsider a parent organization,
which is the InternationalMedical Interpreters Association
, that actually has a webinarseries called Lifelong Learning
(05:50):
Webinars and they offer that forfree to members and, of course,
the National Board is acontributor to those lifelong
webinars.
You can go back this year andyou can see that the National
Board has participated in a fewof those webinars for the
Lifelong Webinar Series.
(06:11):
So, coming back to theconversation of professional
development, so what theNational Board does is support
conference organizations,conference organizers and, of
course, non-conferenceorganizations as well, by
providing continuing educationat said conferences, for example
(06:33):
, where big contributors to someof the biggest conferences,
like the CHIA conference, whichis actually going to be in May
of next year, plug in for them.
We also support otherorganizations like the ATA, cate
, umcha and other organizationsthat put on these educational
(07:00):
conferences for interpreters.
In addition to participating aspresenters, we also are
oftentimes sponsors of a lot ofthese organizations, like, for
example, one of the most recentconferences, which was the LEO
conference.
We were actually gold sponsorsof that two-day conference, and
(07:22):
so we're always looking to workwith and collaborate with
organizations who offer trainingand, of course, support to
interpreters.
Now you may be wonderingspecifically well, how does this
lead or what's the link betweenthat and professional
development?
Is that all of theseconferences, these workshops,
(07:44):
actually do go towardsprofessional development for our
hub CMI's and CMI's?
Of course, as a matter of fact,this is one of those
requirements that we have forcontinuing to have the CMI
certification or the hub CMI.
(08:05):
The NBCMI has been workingreally hard behind the scenes
actually this year with a lot ofdifferent organizations that
not only advocate for theprofession meaning interpreting
as a whole but, of course, are alittle more narrowly focused
(08:25):
specifically on healthcare andor medical interpretation.
Now, because I can't reallydiscuss the scope of work that
we've participated in, I canmention for sure that there were
some, that we were invited toparticipate in several
conversations with the Officefor Civil Rights, for example,
(08:45):
and the Office of MinorityHealth.
And then, of course, we hadparticipated in the call for
expert input when Health andHuman Services was re-evaluating
some of their policies.
For example, one of such thingwas, of course, the revision of
qualified interpreter and then,of course, some of the changes
(09:05):
to ACA section 1557.
We participated in thoseconversations as well.
And then, of course, there's onthe local level.
We send in papers forparticipating in amicus briefs
whenever there's questions aboutlanguage access or perhaps
there's consideration bylegislators to either dissolve,
(09:28):
reduce or in some way inhibit orprohibit or at least restrict
in some fashion, language access.
So those are some of the thingsthat we do on the NBCMI, but I
would say that some of the moresignificant accomplishments that
the NBCMI has accomplished wasactually being the first
organization to offer a pathwayfor certification for medical
(09:51):
interpreters and, of course, inas many languages as we offer.
I would say that's a verysignificant accomplishment.
There we also added last yearthe HUBCMI, which was also quite
a feat because, as you canimagine, we have to go through
the verification process andthat actually takes a quite an
(10:12):
extensive amount of time,believe it or not.
As much as I wish we couldquickly add on additional
languages, it actually does takequite a bit of time to actually
get everything done in thatsense, but I would say that some
of the how this ties into someof our initiatives is that we
are always looking to expand and, of course, add other languages
(10:35):
to our list of languages thatwe offer full certification in.
We're also looking toparticipate more openly, of
course, with organizations andother associations that support
medical interpreters as well.
Some of the things that arecoming down the pipe, of course,
(10:56):
is, without divulging too muchis that we have plans in the set
for the immediate future to beable to support the interpreting
community by forming strategicpartnerships, to be able to
provide more training, to beable to provide more
(11:17):
scholarships and then also to,of course, promote certification
.
How does the MVCMI keep currenton all of that is happening?
Well, we keep current by many ameans.
To be quite honest with you, wekeep track of things that are
going around on the NIH side,for example, the National
Institute of Health and HumanServices.
(11:40):
We also keep up with trends ofthings that are happening with
CMS, for example.
Well, some of it is, of course,being subscribers and, of
course, in and engaging aconversation with the you know,
thinking macro level, of course,the big organizations, the ones
(12:01):
that are the powers that be perse when it comes to these types
of health related topics and,of course, health related
anything really.
We also keep a rest of things by, of course, engaging the CMI's
on social media through emailinquiry.
Of course, we also keep abreastby participating in conferences,
(12:27):
mike, for example, one of themore recent, the most recent
conference that we participatedin, leo, had a lot of
information about artificialintelligence.
We also participate in surveysand inquiries about, you know,
those types of situations likethe one that's circulating now
(12:50):
is the survey from the AI taskforce, which is, honestly, it's
super important to supportorganizations in general.
So, even if it's not the MCMI,please be sure to support other
organizations that are always onthe front lines for
interpreters.
And, of course, we have ourchannels, social media Facebook,
(13:11):
linkedin primarily soon to comeInstagram and all sorts of
other fun stuff, and those areother ways that we actually
disseminate a lot of theinformation that even we come
across and another way that wekeep in abreast of things is by
listening to Brandy interpreterand all of her guests, which
(13:34):
highlight very specific aspectsof interpreting and different
fields in different areas andhow those fields are being
impacted by any number ofsituations.
To find out more about the MCMI, please visit our website
certifiedmedicalinterpretersorg.
You can follow us on Facebook.
(13:55):
You could locate us under thesame heading, certified medical
interpreters, and we're also onLinkedIn as the National Board
of Certification of MedicalInterpreters, which you could
find us under NBCMI.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Just to be clear and full transparency, I did not
request a shout out from NBCMI,but I sincerely appreciate it.
Next on the list we have CCHI.
Speaker 4 (14:18):
Hi, my name is Johanna Parker, I am the vice
chair of the CertificationCommission for Healthcare
Interpreters and I'm here toanswer questions posed by Brandy
interpreter listeners.
So I think what's important tounderstand is that CCHI, or the
Certification Commission forHealthcare Interpreters, is not
a membership association.
(14:38):
We're a certifying entity.
We don't have annual dues.
Our goal is to elevate thestatus of interpreters among
healthcare professionals and thestatus of medical interpreters
among other interpreters andlanguage professionals.
So, as a certifying body, eventhough we don't have members, we
(15:00):
interact with our candidatesand our certificates regularly
through surveys, events, e-news,social media, et cetera, and we
continuously seek their inputon our policies and involve them
in test development.
Also, it's interesting to notethat the content of all of our
(15:21):
exams is created solely by ourcertificates.
So, because CCHI is not anassociation, any opportunity for
continuing education orprofessional development that we
offer is available to all ofour certificates and the public
in general.
So we offer free and low-costtraining opportunities with CEUs
(15:45):
for our certificates.
These include webinars, onlinemodules, and that includes
performance-based modules.
This is a requirement for allof our certificates that some of
their continuing education beactually working on interpreting
skills, so we make sure tooffer some of those
opportunities.
The only opportunity that weoffer for certificates is
(16:10):
participation in testdevelopment projects, and we
actually award them continuingeducation units for that, and
that's really a fantasticopportunity to learn about exam
creation and think about howtests are formed, and I did it
before I was a commissioner andI found it really fascinating.
We held a virtual conference onNovember 18th that offered CEUs
(16:37):
, and in April we're going to beholding a conference live in
person in Houston.
That will be a place for us to,number one, offer
skill-building webinars, butalso to really talk about the
future of our profession andwhere we're going.
It's our 15th anniversary andso we're looking back 15 years,
(17:03):
but we're also going to startlooking forward for the next 15.
And as CCHI doesn't have members, we advocate for the profession
, and we saw this during thepandemic.
For example, cchi was the firstorganization to issue a
statement about the safety ofinterpreters in healthcare and
the need for PPE for them.
(17:23):
We also invite experts toparticipate in our community
conversations, youtube series,which is where we bring together
important figures in our fieldabout topics like the
measurement of interpreterproductivity and fatigue, the
use of simultaneous interpretingin the field, challenges of
(17:46):
interpreting for the deaf andhard of hearing communities,
immigration, ai and interpretingall of these topics that affect
really everyone in ourprofession and, of course, most
importantly, the people that weserve.
Cchi has also participated, orrepresentatives of CCHI have
participated, in statelegislative projects on
(18:08):
interpreter certification.
We've done that in Colorado,oregon and Washington and really
I think that the main way thatwe advocate for the interest and
rights of the profession ofhealthcare interpreting is just
through certification.
With our accreditedcertification, we are committed
(18:30):
to raising the standard and thestatus of medical interpreters
and therefore improve theservices provided to speakers
with limited English proficiencyand help level the playing
field and get them access to thecare they need.
Cchi's biggest achievement isthe creation and rollout of a
(18:55):
novel language neutralperformance exam for
interpreting, which is usedalong with high language
proficiency standards as part ofour core CHIP or core CHI
performance exam.
So I'll explain what I mean bynon-language specific
(19:20):
performance-based.
So across the board, in courtinterpreting and healthcare
interpreting, up until now,there are certification exams
for specific languages that areperformance-based.
So CCHI has an oral exam forSpanish, arabic and Mandarin
(19:41):
interpreters.
What about all of the otherlanguages?
So of course, we would love toand, in the future, hope to
develop more language-specificinterpreting exams to use in our
certification processes.
But there's always going to bethat next language that doesn't
(20:01):
yet have an exam and, frankly,there are some languages that
just never will.
And so, historically, the onlyway to start to assess the
credentials of thoseinterpreters or the skills of
those interpreters is through aknowledge-based exam or written
exam.
And so that is that those examshave existed for a long time
(20:24):
for healthcare and medicalinterpreters, for court
interpreters, et cetera, andthey're important because they
show that the interpreter knowsabout the ethics of interpreting
, they have some of thevocabulary needed for
interpreting, but it doesn'tactually show that the person
(20:45):
has the ability to interpret.
It shows that they know aboutinterpreting.
So CCHI did a research studyand the results have been
validated that we are able totest in an English-only format
the sub-skills of interpreting,the cognitive processes that are
(21:06):
required and combined, thatmake up the interpreting process
essentially.
So with that we developed anexam that is part of our CCHIP
credential and that means thatfor languages for which there
isn't an oral certification exam, they are still being tested on
skills that are indicators oftheir ability to actually
(21:28):
interpret, which means they'regoing to be providing better
services.
So that is our biggestaccomplishment to date.
We've just rolled it out thisyear and we're working on
awareness raising amonginterpreters, administrators,
major TNI associations aroundthe value and importance of this
CCHIP certification andcertification in general.
(21:50):
Also worth noting we're goingto be sunsetting our core CCHI
credential, which is thewritten-only credential, in the
future Not immediately, no needto panic if that's the one you
have, but we will be sunsettingit.
So we encourage all core CCHIinterpreters to get their core
CCHIP certification and that wayin the future all certified
(22:14):
healthcare interpreters willhave been tested on their actual
skills.
And then we're also thinkingabout where we go next in the
medium term.
So developing new exams arevery expensive, but we're
committed to growingcertification and especially our
accredited certifications.
We aren't sure what path we'regoing to take, but maybe we'll
(22:40):
work on creatinglanguage-specific certification
in more languages.
Maybe we'll look atcertification in different
specialties, maybe a master'slevel certification to
demonstrate an even higher levelof skill.
Maybe some certification forinterpreter services
administrators to show that theyunderstand and have a really
(23:02):
strong understanding of what ittakes to organize and administer
a strong language accessprogram in a hospital, for
example.
Who knows.
None of this is on the books.
None of this is official.
This is just brainstorming tothink about where we're going to
go next.
To maintain our accreditation,cchi is required to do a
(23:24):
national job task analysissurvey every six to seven years
and build our exams based on theresults.
So that means that we actuallysend out surveys to working
healthcare interpreters.
They don't have to be certified, they can be certified.
They don't have to be justworking interpreters to find out
(23:45):
what they're doing in theirday-to-day work and based on
that, we create our exams,because we need a certification
exam to reflect the work beingdone in the field.
So we did our third job taskanalysis survey in 2022.
And this year we updated ourexams.
Furthermore, our commissionersand managing director are active
(24:08):
leaders in the field.
This means that we regularlyparticipate in various
collaborative projects like theassociation advocacy group
hosted by ALC, where CCHIparticipated along with other
associations, or participatesalong with other associations
like ATA, aaite, theinterpreting safe AI task force,
(24:31):
etc.
We've also participated inlistening sessions by the Office
of Minority Health and others.
And, of course, ourcommissioners are very active
attending and presenting atindustry conferences like ATA
and CIHC California Health CareInterpreting Association, the
Texas Association of HealthcareInterpreters and Translators,
(24:54):
and on and on.
I could give you an entire listof acronyms, but I won't.
We also hold quarterly Zoomhuddles or informal meetings
with language access managers.
This is called our NationalLanguage Access Leaders Huddle.
And we have another huddle withinterpreter trainers.
(25:15):
And so there we learn about thechallenges, successes and
innovations that thesestakeholders are facing and
observing and achieving, and wealso are able to share with them
CCHI's new initiatives.
And we don't only stay currentwith the trends, but we also
(25:36):
seek to set standards for theindustry and envision the future
and how we can advance.
So I'll plug it again Oursecond National Certification
Summit will be on April 6th ofnext year and we'll focus on
setting the course for theprofession for the next 15 years
(25:58):
.
So for interpreters who arelooking to develop
professionally, to interact withtheir peers, to contribute to
the growth of our profession, Ithink it's really important to
join professional associations.
It's not an either, or it's notget certified by CCHI or join
(26:21):
the ATA.
No, it's both.
And in terms of whichassociations to join, of course,
it really depends on where youlive, your specific interests,
et cetera, and here I'm speakingcompletely as an individual.
Cchi is completely neutral, hasno recommendations for which
(26:44):
associations you should join,because we are a certifying body
.
But if there is a regionalinterpreting association
translating an interpretingassociation where you live
that's active, it's a good ideato join that to know what's
happening in your region, aswell as paying attention to the
national organizations.
(27:04):
In particular, the ATA is thebiggest national organization
and what I love about the ATA isthat it brings together
everyone, and so you can learn alot about what's happening in
other parts of our profession.
In healthcare, I think theNational Council on Interpreting
in Healthcare is a reallyimportant one that sets some
(27:30):
good standards.
But again, these are just mypersonal thoughts.
This is not an official CCHIposition and really it's also
just a matter of what you see.
You don't have to join anassociation site unseen.
Check out their website, seewhat their social media presence
(27:51):
is like, how they'reinteracting online, and if it
speaks to you, if it seemsinteresting to you, then
absolutely, by all means, join.
To learn more about CCHI, aboutthe certification process,
about continuing educationopportunities and about our
huddles for leaders or trainers,please look at our website
(28:16):
cchicertificationorg.
We also have social mediapresence.
You can search for CCHIcertification on Facebook.
Our Instagram account is CCHIcertified.
You can also search for us onYouTube, which is where we have
(28:36):
our community conversations andalso where we share videos from
some of our online events.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
That was very informative.
Would you agree, now that we'vetaken the time to listen to the
two certifying bodies formedical interpreters, let's
pivot into the educational field, a brand new specialization
that, while not necessarily newin its existence, it is new in
the development ofstandardization and
(29:05):
professionalization.
So let's begin with Nattissel.
Speaker 5 (29:09):
My name is Anna Soler .
I am the chairperson ofNattissel, the National
Association of EducationalTranslators and Interpreters of
Spoken Languages and this is ananswer to a question posted by
Brandy Interpreter.
So membership benefitscollectively contribute to the
professional growth of ourNattissel members by enhancing
(29:30):
their knowledge, their skills inprofessional standing within
the educational translation andinterpretation community.
And I'd like to share a fewexamples.
Our Nattissel members, forexample, are involved as subject
matter experts in the NationalCertification Pilot Test for
Spoken Language Interpreters andthey're actually helping us to
(29:52):
develop our written testquestions and scripts for our
oral test.
Our members have alsoparticipated in our job task
analysis, which helped to definethe skills, the knowledge and
abilities that characterize aprofessional spoken language
interpreter and education, andalso helped us with the process
(30:12):
of validating our code of ethicstwo years ago by participating
in focus groups, analyzingsurvey results and review and
interpreter job descriptions.
So they're definitely hands on.
We also offer monthlyprofessional opportunities for
interpreters and translators andeducation We've been doing that
for the past three years, aswell as three virtual
(30:34):
conferences with national andinternational guest speakers,
and one thing that we really areproud of is that when we go
through the guest speakerselection process.
Our priority is our member pooland overall we were looking at
our statistics just now about95% of those who have presented
in our monthly webinars andconferences are Nattissel
(30:56):
members who are willing to sharetheir knowledge and skills, and
we really love the fact thatwe've been able to mentor them
throughout the process.
Likewise, all of our courseinstructors are Nattissel
members, who have receivedmentoring and coaching to really
launch their careers as coursefacilitators, not only with us,
(31:16):
but with other organizations aswell.
And, of course, our membersbenefit from discounts on all of
these professionalopportunities and, of course,
receive scholarships whenfunding is available, to be able
to not only participate in ourprofessional development
activities but also thoseoffered by other organizations.
(31:36):
We have a member portal, whichis a great opportunity for our
members to engage with eachother in small groups and also
access specific resources thathave been created for their
purpose, their skill.
We have different committeesthat are working on specific
resources that members haveasked us for, and so we house
(31:58):
them in this particular portal.
And so we also are members ofdifferent organizations, and one
example is the joint nationalcommittee for languages and the
National Council for Languagesand International Studies, and
this commitment and thisengagement with different
organizations has helped toengage and actually create a
(32:21):
wider network where our memberscan participate.
So those are some of the manybenefits that we offer we're
actually going to be offering in2024, we have quite a bit of
surprises that I'm not able toshare quite yet but one of the
professional developmentopportunities that we will offer
in 2024 is a series of languagespecific practice sessions,
(32:46):
because our interpreters andactually our members have
provided feedback on the factthat we need a little bit more
practice.
We're grateful for the lecture,for the theory, but we really
want to have that hands onpractice.
So we'll be offering languagespecific sessions where
interpreters can practiceconsecutive simultaneous note
(33:08):
taking and also translation andeducation with language bearers.
So we have Arabic, spanish andwe're about to announce a couple
more languages with the purposeof expanding glossaries and
expanding networks, really withour interpreters.
Of course, we also apply andobtain CEUs from different
(33:31):
organizations such as CCHI andATA, with the purpose of
engaging interpreters not onlywho work in the educational
setting, but we understand thatinterpreters in education touch
many different settings, such aslegal and medical, and so
through the CEU process, we wantto engage all of those other
professionals who are alsoworking in schools, who may have
(33:52):
experience in other areas ofexpertise.
One thing that I did want tomention in terms of our
professional development is thatour opportunities are not
exclusive to interpreters ineducation, and that's what
really makes us different.
We have very much in mind ourstakeholders, who are
(34:12):
linguistically diverse, families, educators, and also
interpreters and translators.
So, for example, we received agrant from the Missouri
Developmental DisabilitiesCouncil to launch a series of
professional developmentsessions for school leaders and
educators on how to work withinterpreters, because we really
(34:33):
feel that the training and thecollaboration when it comes to
interpretation and translationin K-12 and also early childhood
really has to come from manydifferent angles.
So we involve the schoolleaders, educators and
everything that we do regardingprofessional development.
We have also partnered with acouple of organizations to
(34:54):
provide training forlinguistically diverse families,
and this is something thatwe're very passionate about,
because we're really given thema lot of information about their
rights and responsibilitieswhen it comes to language access
, so they can self-advocate,because really, as we know, as
interpreters we cannot do thatpart, but we can share
information with families to beable to do that on their own.
(35:18):
The TISL members, as I mentionedinclude linguistically diverse
families, interpreters,translators, and school leaders
and educators and as such, wereally remain in touch with our
diverse audiences to hear theirconcerns, their challenges, but
also their opportunities to worktowards the same goals that we
have.
And so we engage all of our keystakeholders in conversations
(35:42):
about language access and reallyconnect families to work
collectively to improve thatcommunication in school settings
, as well as, of course,contributing to setting the
standards for professionalinterpreters and translators in
schools.
So we work with partnerorganizations, for example, to
train families, like I mentioned, on language access rights and
(36:04):
responsibilities.
We have developedself-empowerment tools to help
raise the voice of our familiesand raise their concerns about
language access in their schoolcommunities and really
understand the implications ofcollaborating with untrained
interpreters.
So we advocate for theinterests of school leaders and
educators by supporting themwith research-based information
(36:27):
on creating language accessplans, for example, best
practices to hire, to qualifyand train interpreters and
translators, and education andsharing topics about how to
remain involved in aconversation with a family when
an interpreter is present tosupport communication.
So, again, the training, theprofessional development, really
(36:49):
corresponds or connects withthe same stakeholders and what
they tell us is important tothem.
So, of course, these issues areimportant to our school leaders
, our educators, not justbecause language access is a
civil right, but also becauseaccurate and complete
communication supports thatfamily engagement and student
(37:12):
achievement.
And so, lastly, of course, weadvocate for the interests and
rights of our interpreters andtranslators by getting their
input on the development ofresources to support their work.
For example, we have a seriesof best practices, fact sheets
available on our website, andthese are tips that all of our
members have gathered and theseare members who live and breathe
(37:34):
this work every day and knowexactly what it's like and will
be publishing additionaltraining tools and tip sheets
for interpreters and translatorsto really help with their work
and self-advocate in theirsettings as well.
So we can proudly say that wecannot name only one significant
accomplishment.
To start, we validated our codeof ethics two years ago as a
(37:58):
first step to initiate thisdevelopment of a pilot
certification test for spokenlanguage interpreters.
We based our work on alreadyexisting code of ethics and
standards of practice formedical sign language and legal
interpreters, and also on thework already accomplished by the
Minnesota Department ofEducation and then the
(38:19):
University of Minnesota yearsago.
So we were not the first, andwe wanted to make sure that we
expanded on what was alreadypresent by conducting different
focus groups and surveys withour stakeholders, again to give
us this initial overview of theconcerns, the challenges and the
opportunities in this field ofinterpreting and translation in
early childhood and also K to 12.
(38:40):
So this really gave us a goodorganization, direction and
vision.
Of course, the completion of ourjob task analysis.
I think it's another greatexample of the teamwork that we
have displayed over the years.
Our stakeholders weredefinitely involved and, most
importantly, our linguisticallydiverse families had the
(39:00):
opportunity to reallyparticipate in this whole
process of defining the skills,the knowledge and abilities of
interpreters and translators ineducation.
And you know we have beenselected.
This is something that we'revery proud of.
We have been selected as aprimary course developer and
evaluator for an entire state inthe state of Massachusetts, and
(39:22):
really we're consulting withother state departments of
education on the training andqualification of school-based
interpreters and also freelanceinterpreters who work in schools
.
And so we're really, you know,proud of the work that we have
done, the proud, proud of thework that shows that we have
been able to manage large grantsand a great you know teamwork,
(39:45):
definitely in everything that wehave done so far.
So we are members of variousorganizations, not only for
school leaders, educators, butalso parent advocacy
organizations, and they, ofcourse, represent our
stakeholders and really give usthe voice to determine what
(40:05):
other resources we need todevelop or what other visions we
need to follow.
And so we're very attentive andwe get to hear directly from
our audiences directly on thosechallenges and opportunities and
concerns, sometimes aboutlanguage access.
In our setting Our NACISLambassadors or members we now
(40:30):
represent 31 states and sevencountries, and so they bring
information to us to help usshape and prioritize the
resources and information thatwe develop or help to
disseminate Our resources, andthis is really important,
something that we're also veryproud of.
Our resources and materials arenot created because our
(40:50):
leadership team determines thatthey're important.
Our resources and the formatthat we utilize to share them in
our evaluation processes todetermine their value come from
the ground up, meaning that theyoriginate from the same
communities that we serve, andso, as a result, we have what we
have available on our website,for example, and what we offer
(41:11):
to our members, and ourresources that are practical,
that are applicable to the workof the interpreter and the
translator on the field, whetherthey're school-based or
freelance professionals, andreally to the families and
educators that we serve, becausereally that's the bottom line
to make sure that our familiesand educators have the best
interpreters that they can have.
So we are thrilled to welcomeyou as a member, but a lot of
(41:36):
our information is housed on ourwebsite.
It's wwwnacislorg.
We have lots of resources.
We have been told that we arevery generous with our resources
.
We have lots of free glossariesand information for
interpreters and translators andeducation, but also for
educators and also our families.
(41:58):
I'm happy to welcome you as amember, but if you're not a
member, you still have a wealthof information that you can find
on our website and happy toanswer any questions that you
may have about our organizationand more.
I absolutely thank you, mirage,for the opportunity to share
this information.
Like I said, there's a wealthof information on our website,
(42:20):
but we often do not have theopportunity to really share
what's going on behind thecurtain sometimes and really all
of the initiatives that we havebeen going on.
We have a lot of things that Iwish I could share more, but we
have a lot of resources thatwe're currently developing that
(42:41):
we're hoping to launch in 2024,so we're really excited about
what's coming for us and, ofcourse, our pilot certification
test needs to be done by 2024,so we're hoping that all of you
who are interpreters ineducation are there volunteer to
take the test to make sure thatit is as valid and as fair as
(43:02):
we can possibly make it and giveus your feedback as we go
through the process.
So thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (43:08):
Lots of exciting stuff.
That was Natissal.
Now we'll move into AAITE.
Let's take a listen.
Speaker 6 (43:16):
Hi, I am Giovanna Carriero-Contreras and I have
the honor to be the chair of theAmerican Association of
Interpreters and Translators inEducation, and I have the
pleasure to be here and speak tothe brand interpreters'
listeners that are interested tolearn more about our
association.
(43:36):
Let me delve first of all inwhat are the benefits that
associations can share withtheir members and, before
talking specifically for AAITE,I would like to really bring up
the point that members are abenefit to the association as a
whole, as the value of theassociation brings benefits to
(44:00):
the members.
I look at these equationsalways as a key intake, because
the associations that work thebest are the ones that put
themselves at the service of themembers that they address.
So in our case, at AAITE, weaddress primarily interpreters
(44:23):
and translators in education,but we also consider, in
everything that we do, programadministrators, school
administrators, language accesscoordinators, interpreting and
translation coordinators,managers in the districts and in
the schools.
So among the benefits that ourmemberships offer, we can count
(44:48):
first of all the frequent meetsor meetups that we have.
The one that I think is the mostvaluable, equally at the level
of the association and themembers, are our edu-talks.
We actually promote aconversation regarding a certain
topic of interest, and theseideas always come from our
(45:12):
members, and the conversationfor us is really to learn about
what interpreters andtranslators do around the
country.
Let's remember that we still donot have an organic approach or
a consistent approach to ourprofessions, and we're really
still fighting against the meetsor the stereotypes of what a
(45:35):
translator or an interpreter cando or a bilingual staff can do
with the addition ofinterpreting and translation
duties.
So the edu-talks are once amonth and they are nine across
the year, and that's where wereally get feedback.
(45:56):
The other benefits that weprovide are the discounted fees
for other learning opportunities.
So we run two majoredu-workshops during the year
and these are addressing bothinterpreters and translators in
separate sessions, and therecordings of all our
(46:19):
opportunities are available tomembers.
A lot of our members are takingadvantage of the recording.
However, please remember thatthe association thrives on the
active collaboration with theirmembers.
Lastly, the most importantthing that we have started doing
(46:43):
last year is to organize theedu-conference, and we started
our first edu-con 2023 in Denver, colorado.
That exceeded our expectations.
Why?
Because that was really themoment where I think it was
(47:06):
tangibly received, as this issomething for us, the
edu-conference 2023 had aspecial significance because it
was really the effort of all themembers and the leadership the
chairs of the committees thathad worked together.
(47:26):
This is something that we'rerepeating every year and in a
second I'm going to tell youmore about that.
If you look at our memberships,we also have several types of a
membership.
We hope that you can involveyour districts and your schools,
because we firmly believe thechanges can only be made from
(47:50):
bottom up and top down.
In a nutshell, I can tell youthat our membership menu items
include you have a seat at thetable.
You can talk about what's goingon in your district, in your
state, by sharing with us theedu-talks.
(48:10):
You have voice at the nationallevel, because AAIT is well
connected with a number of otherorganizations and therefore we
voice your opinions, yoursuggestions, your work at the
very national level and it doesnot go unseen.
You have a knock-off access toedu-talks, so they're free for
(48:35):
you and you can also re-listento the introduction part of the
topic before we break intobreakout rooms.
You have discounts on ourprofessional development
opportunities and with this, wehave the edu-workshops, we have
the edu-conference, but we alsohave special events like the one
(48:59):
that we run on language access.
You have access to listservthat is only limited to our
members, and we have had a veryimportant exchange, exchanges or
conversations around cut-tools,around best practices, around
(49:20):
resources.
We also have a public directorythat is for the community at
large, so not only our members,but also those that are
interested in understanding whatAAIT does and to be preview of
our communications.
And, lastly, we also have amember recognition space where
(49:45):
you can download your memberbadge to show that you made your
commitment to the greaterpurpose of these professions, on
LinkedIn, on your social media,etc.
I myself am a member of a numberof different organizations and
every year when I startrethinking of renewing my
(50:06):
memberships, I always thinkwhat's in it for me?
What is that this associationreally does for me?
And there are a couple ofpoints that I always try to
evaluate.
The number one how do Iparticipate in this association
as a person and as aprofessional?
I profoundly believe that if Ido not take advantage of my seat
(50:30):
at the table, then I need toget whatever comes to me, but if
I instead am proactive andproactive does not mean that you
have to work on this, you know100 hours a year.
Think that if any member did alittle bit, then we push and
(50:51):
advance a little bit farther anda little bit faster together.
So let's go back to what Ievaluate.
So does the mission and thevision of the association aligns
with my purposes?
Do they propose or makepropositions about what needs to
be accomplished for me tobecome a more and more valuable
(51:15):
professional in a way that I cansell my services better, but
also in a competent way?
Do I learn from them how tobetter value myself in the eye
of my stakeholders?
Because each one of us hasstakeholders.
I work in a school and theteachers that I work with, the
families that I work with, theadministrators that I work with
(51:38):
those are all stakeholders ofthe services that I provide.
How do I interact with them?
What am I learning from theseassociations that teach me or
educate me or improve my skillsin doing that as well?
So, as you can hear, I'm makinga difference between me
developing as a professionalmeaning in my day-to-day
(51:58):
services, but me also developingthe soft skills, and that's
where I think AAIT does a verygood job.
What we want to foster with ourmembers is really to develop the
awareness for the value that webring to the table and how to
speak about this.
(52:18):
So, if you pay attention to allthe venues where AAIT members
have participated, we alwaystalk about how we should be and
should be talking asprofessionals.
In other words, advocacy for usis a very important part of our
(52:39):
mission.
Advocacy is not something thatjust gets dumped on our lap.
Advocacy comes from the abilityto speak not only on behalf of
each of us personally, but alsoin a way that integrates with
(53:01):
the overall purpose of theprofessions, both on the
translation or the interpretingside.
Let me be a little bit morefactual so that people can
relate to what I'm saying and Imyself can relate to my own
words and give you a practicalexample.
We are organizing a Up on theHill Advocacy Day for May the
(53:24):
2nd, which is the day before welaunched our EDUCon 2024.
Going up to the hill will giveus really the opportunity to be
vocal, to be heard about whylanguage services are important,
why funding for schools anddistricts is important.
But we're going to lead up tothat teaching, sharing,
(53:49):
educating our members on reallyhow to talk about these advocacy
initiatives so that you can dowhatever can be done in your
daily life.
Another big initiative that weare part of is with SAFE AI Task
Force.
(54:09):
For those that do not know whatthe task force is about, please
go to SAFE-A-I-T-Forg and thatstands for SAFE Artificial
Intelligence Task Force.
You will see that the taskforce is at the moment running a
(54:31):
survey that is collecting dataaround how interpreting services
are used and why they'rebeneficial and why AI can impact
negatively the delivery ofthese services.
If guidelines are now set anddefined pretty quickly.
If you look at that website,there is so much importance on
(54:54):
reaching out to diversecommunities, and that's because
people like us know how toadvocate, to bring those issues
up.
So this is the type of advocacythat the AAIT wants to foster
with their members, because we,as a profession, cannot wait for
(55:15):
others to do it on our behalf.
We, in our circles, cannot waitthat the laws and regulations
come down to us and expect thatwe can deliver our services with
our ethics, with our protocols,with our boundaries, in limits
that are created by those thatknow nothing about our services.
(55:37):
This is because, again,advocacy is another of those
situations where you havebi-directionality, is give and
take.
We educate and get educated,informed every single day, and
this is really what AAIT isabout Not only leading the way
(55:58):
to professionalize theprofessions, but create
professionals that can advocateand can be the agent of changes
in their own realities.
Aait, just as a name, will nevermake any change, the same way
as no other association can.
The strength of everyassociation is the membership
(56:22):
and the members that step up tobe leaders in committees, at the
board, spoke person, advisoryboard groups, etc.
So there is a place foreverybody.
In other words, regardless ofthe time that we have to devote.
This same passion is what hasreally motivated and inspired
(56:45):
the work that we do at AAIT.
Aait is not the result of thework of one, and from day one we
have always worked towardsnational consensus or national
collaboration, and I personallylike to preach we walk the walk
(57:05):
and talk the talk together,whether we agree or disagree.
Sometimes agreements come outof a lot of disagreements.
We have accomplished quite a bitthis year and the two main
accomplishments that I wouldlike everybody to go to the
website and download and use,abuse, reuse with anyone you
(57:27):
know in your districts Are thereport on the job task analysis.
Everybody should read thatreport because you can
understand what is the statusquo of our professions and what
came out of that survey.
A second survey was also run,because the data of that job
(57:48):
task analysis kind of createdother questions and now the job
task analysis committee isevaluating those results.
The other one is what we haverecently announced so I am going
to say this with the mostcheerful voice on behalf of the
AAIT ethics and standardscommittee is really the
(58:11):
publication of the firstnational code of ethics and
standards of practice forinterpreters and a national code
of ethics and standards ofpractice for trans-ethics.
The practice is very long.
However, it is very informative.
Every single piece, everysingle paragraph of these
(58:38):
prefaces is important for you tounderstand where we stand as
professionals in our schooldistricts.
Other initiatives that we aregoing to run for next year are
an entire set of resources thatare going to revolve around the
(58:58):
codes of ethics, because theycan now stand only as isolated
documents.
We need to live them.
We need to really understand,adjust their reading and say, oh
, be accurate or be confidential.
Nothing in a code of ethics orstandards of practice leaves
isolated from other components,and so the prefaces give you an
(59:24):
example, but we are going tobuild other resources going into
the new year.
We are also going to publishsoon best practices that our
committees have worked on for along time, and obviously we are
preparing for the eduCon 2024,not only the conference, the
advocacy on the Hill.
(59:44):
We are going to start a seriesof advocacy workshops that
really tend to train, educate,inform our members, to develop
this advocacy aptitude that weneed, because it has to permeate
the way we talk about it.
(01:00:04):
I sometimes start talking aboutus and what we do with Congress
representative, representativeof the House and I need to make
an adjustment on the way we talk.
Some understand my passion withsome they're more quiet and I
have to understand what othertype of words I use, and so this
is also important in order tosend your message across what is
(01:00:29):
in the future for members interms of state, current industry
trends.
We do not live in silos.
We are not islands.
Our communities needs theexpertise that come from
learning what happens out there.
The fact that I work in Aurora,colorado, for Collins, colorado
(01:00:54):
, or wherever you are, does notmean that what we go through
happens only to us, and this hasbeen the time, for a long time
now, where we need to reallylearn.
That, I think can no longer beapplied to us as professionals,
(01:01:14):
because there is a professionout there.
This is what AAIT has beenpreaching for years.
We are such a profession thatwe need it to be visible and
that's why we brought it upyears ago and AAIT was born.
I also want to underscore thefact that AAIT keeps abreast of
(01:01:36):
what's current in the industryby participating in different
national efforts with differentorganizations.
So, for example, as you can seefrom the acknowledgments of our
codes of ethics, we haveactually interacted with other
associations, and the fact thatyou don't see the names of all
the associations on thatacknowledgment does not mean
(01:01:59):
that we have not hadconversations, but it just meant
that it was not the right placeor the right competence for
them to participate in thateffort.
But we regularly meet withleadership at AAIT, at the
Association of LanguageCompanies, at ALC, with MAJIT,
(01:02:23):
the National Association ofJudiciary Interpreters and Trans
Leaders, and with the twomedical certifications
organizations, cchi and NBCMI.
I know that the big elephant inthe room remains training and
certification.
Aait is on the path tocertification but, as everything
(01:02:47):
else, we do require prior steps.
So that will be the otherbenefit that you're looking at
down the road and it's coming,it's coming.
We are just checking all theboxes to get there and, by the
way, if you worked with us, wecould get to that checkbox much,
(01:03:09):
much faster, so I hope that younow have a better idea.
I would love to go into muchbigger detail for every of the
points that I have touched on.
However, time is of essence andyour time is precious, and I do
thank you for listening to meand to the voice of AAIT.
(01:03:31):
Our email is info at AAITorg,my email is chair at AAITorg,
and our website is there tosupport you, to give you
information, and in the meantime, it's also being redone, so
that's the other thing coming up.
(01:03:51):
Thank you for listening andthank you, brandy interpreter,
for giving us this opportunity.
Speaker 1 (01:03:57):
Happy holidays, well there you have it, folks, the
voices behind some of theassociations and organizations
that are out there forinterpreters, and perhaps you're
even thinking.
Well, I'm still undecided,because they all now sound great
, and you're right, theycompletely do.
I'd like to chime in and giveyou some of my personal
(01:04:18):
recommendations when making suchhard decisions.
A lot of the things that I'llmention right now actually were
mentioned during today's episode, so it'll be a recap.
The very first thing thatperhaps you will want to
consider is the overarchingtheme, or rather, in this case,
what is the mission or vision ofthese associations or
(01:04:43):
organizations that you alsoalign to?
As you begin your journey inthe field, you'll want to
consider your own interests andvalues and then try to find
associations that align withthem.
Oftentimes, knowing thesethings makes it clear for you to
know what you don't want toalign yourself with, and, while
(01:05:03):
mission and vision statementsmay sound similar, really look
into what their overall oroverarching theme is that the
association is focusing on.
Once you have identified anassociation that has similar
interests or a mission similarto your values, look for them.
(01:05:24):
On social media, when utilizedstrategically and in order to
communicate information to themasses, social media is actually
a very powerful tool.
Look for what the associationsor organizations are sharing so
what is the content that theyshare with their followers and
(01:05:45):
then also look for how they'reengaging with their following.
This particular element may notnecessarily be as important to
everyone.
It just happened to be animportant element for me to
identify how they engaged withnot just an in-person audience,
but also an online audience.
(01:06:05):
We receive communication in somany different ways and a lot of
people engage in communicatingin a variety of different ways,
and social media should notnecessarily be something that is
overlooked.
Many people do receive theirinformation from social media,
ask questions based on thecommunication or the information
(01:06:26):
that is being posted, so thisparticular element just happened
to be something important forme.
When I was trying to follow orjust to try to see what type of
information was being shared, Iwas always looking for these
details.
Of course, if you have specificquestions, there's always the
email address.
You can always send out anemail with your specific
(01:06:47):
question and see what responsesyou get back.
Browsing through their websiteis always helpful just to
identify the type of informationthat is being shared, upcoming
events or even conferences thatthey may be holding, and
speaking of conferences.
Consider attending conferenceseven before you are a member.
(01:07:07):
Don't feel that you must becomea member in order to be able to
attend the conferences.
Granted, you don't get themember discount, so it could be
a little bit more expensive, butat least you get a feel for the
type of conference that is puttogether and the type of people
that attend these conferences.
I personally do practice thisapproach before determining
(01:07:31):
whether or not I'd like to be amember of the association.
So consider this as a strategybefore making your decision.
And, of course, lastly, thelocation might be something
that's important to you.
So if you want to findsomething that is local, that
maybe continuously puts togetherevents that are close to you
and proximity, then maybe thisis also another determining
(01:07:54):
factor.
But again, consider that justbecause you make a decision now
doesn't mean that you can'tchange your mind later, and that
, my dear Laura, is the responsein a one hour nutshell.
While my intention is not togive you the answer, I do,
however, intend to be able togive you as much information as
possible for you to consider inorder to make an educated
(01:08:16):
decision.
Thank you for submitting yourquestion because, as always,
your question could be someoneelse's question and now you've
helped me be able to provide thespace for a response to those
particular inquiries that wehave, especially at the
beginning of our interpretingprofession.
I'd like to take theopportunity to thank the guests
(01:08:39):
that were on the show today.
Thank you, nbcmi, cchi,natissel and AAITE for accepting
my invitation to come on theshow and be able to offer a
little bit more informationabout their respective
associations or organizations.
I want to thank you once againfor joining me today on this
(01:09:01):
second to the last episode ofthe year, and I hope you come
back again next week for thevery last episode of Season 6 of
the Brandy Interpreter podcast.
In the meantime, I hope youhave a very merry Christmas and
if Christmas isn't your thing, Ihope you enjoy your holidays
Until next time.
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