The Essence of Interpreting with Dr. Sofía Garcia-Beyaert

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Turn Yourself into a Booked Out
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Our ideal listener is an earlycareer, ambitious and passionate
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(00:21):
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Speaker 2 (01:26):
Welcome back, language professionals, to
another episode of the Brand theInterpreter Podcast.
This is Mireya, your host, andtoday I am super excited to
share this particular episodefor two reasons.
Number one, because I have gonepast the 100th interview

(01:46):
threshold, which means that I'veinterviewed over 100 guests on
the show Not 100 episodes,because I have over 100 episodes
, but there have been a lot ofsolo episodes and things of that
nature Q&A throughout the years, but today is the 101st guest

(02:06):
on the show that I have had theprivilege of being able to
interview, which means that,thanks to your support and your
dedication to this particularpodcast, we have been able to
continue and continue invitingguests and that this podcast
continues to grow.
So, as usual, I want to take amoment to thank you and thank

(02:29):
you so much for being here todayand joining me.
The second reason is becausetoday's episode is quite special
.
Perhaps I've shared this withyou before, but when I was
seeking training program toadopt and train our in-house
bilingual staff in the schooldistrict that were performing
the duties of an interpreter, Ichose a program that was

(02:52):
entitled the CommunityInterpreter and in it there was
a topic that fascinated me andthe author of that section in
that textbook of that program isjoining us here today.
She is none other than Dr GarciaBayert.
Dr Garcia Bayert is a professorat the Universidad Autónoma de

(03:13):
Barcelona, where she researchesand teaches interpreting to
graduate and undergraduatestudents.
She is one of the authors ofthe reference book the Community
Interpreter, an internationaltextbook, and has published
multiple research papers inacademic journals.
She is the founder of ArcosInstitute, which offers

(03:33):
credit-granting, high-qualityprofessional development
opportunities for interpreters,online and in person.
Her passion for this field wassparked 25 years ago, first as a
conference interpreter, then asa scholar interested in
advancing the communityinterpreting profession.
For that, she conducted herdoctoral research in the field

(03:53):
of public policy.
She has had the opportunity tolearn from and contribute to
this field through extendedstays in Canada, the United
States and Spain and shortervisits in Belgium, france and
Switzerland.
She is always interested inlearning more and from more
regions, and today she joins theincredible list of guests on

(04:15):
Brandy Interpreter and delvesinto the behind-the-scenes of
her work, regarding a term shecoined, communicative autonomy,
offering us a refreshingperspective on the profession.
She also shares her thoughts onthe need for clarity and
distinction in the academicfield of interpreting, and so

(04:36):
much more.
So stay tuned and enjoy thiswonderful and enriching episode.
So, without further ado I can'tbelieve I'm saying this Please
welcome Dr Sophia Garcia-Beyartto the show.
Dr Sophia Garcia-Beyart, it issuch an honor and such a

(05:00):
privilege to have you on theshow today.
Thank you so much for beinghere.

Speaker 3 (05:05):
You are very welcome.
Thank you for the invitationand I'm very looking forward to
this conversation.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
Oh, my goodness, I'm okay girl fanning back here, but
also just very much lookingforward to today's conversation
as well.
I know how precious your timeis with everything that you have
going on and the fact that yousqueezed in some time to allow
for me and for our audience tobe able to listen to your story.

(05:34):
I just know that I amdefinitely grateful and
appreciative of your time.

Speaker 3 (05:40):
Thank you.
I will not lie, life feels veryhectic lately, but this is very
important and again, I'mgrateful that you're creating
this space for all of us.
So in any way I can contribute,I will be happy to.

Speaker 2 (05:55):
Yes, wonderful.
Thank you, I am so excited toget started.
Just for clarification purposes, before we begin, I will be
addressing, with all due respect, dr Sophia Garcia-Beyart as Dr
Sophia, is that okay, dr Sophia?

Speaker 3 (06:10):
I go by Sophia my life generally, but Dr Sophia is
some space.

Speaker 2 (06:14):
Yes, Thank you, Dr Sophia.
Then it's a good compromise,right?
So let's get started.
Question number one that Ialways like to ask my guests
here on the show has to do withyour childhood.
So if you would be so kind asto taking us back into your
childhood and talk to us alittle bit about where you grew

(06:35):
up and potentially even sharingwith us what a fond childhood
memory of yours is.

Speaker 3 (06:42):
Sure, I'll share a fond childhood memory and we are
starting with a complexquestion.
Already.
I always say, you know, thatwhat should be an easy question
is a little complicated for me.
Where are you from?
Where did you grow up?
Oh, multiple places.
I am half Spanish, half Belgian,so I spent a lot of time in
Belgium, but I grew up mainly inSpain, but in different places

(07:06):
in Spain as well.
So, and you know, it might berelated to what ended up being
my professional interest andcareer, so it's a little bit
related, but the memory I'llshare regarding, you know, a
fond memory, childhood memory, Ithink I envision myself on my

(07:29):
bike in Belgium, in thecountryside where my
grandparents lived.
I didn't have a lot ofopportunities to interact with
people there because my Belgianfamily is a French speaking
family, but my grandparentsretired in a Flemish speaking

(07:50):
region of Belgium.
So you know, French was alreadymy, it was my mother tongue,
but also my second language.
So when I spent summers therefor an entire month, month and a
half, I had to find ways toentertain myself, and when I got
my first bike, it was reallyfun to explore the countryside
and find new places and newlittle paths every time and

(08:14):
going through the woods and Ihad this sense of freedom and
excitement for what was the legslittle corner I was going to
find and you know would discovera new little pond with ducks or
a new little way of getting tothis known pond.
That took me through woods andyou know, if I went back now it

(08:34):
would probably be tiny and easyto cover in half a morning, but
at the time it felt exciting.

Speaker 2 (08:42):
That's so funny.
You say that because I recallalways thinking about my little
trajectory from home to schooland I always thought how was I
walking for so long at such ayoung age?
Right, I was worried for myself, and then one day, as an adult,
we drove by Doctor.
It was such a short distance,it wasn't even as long as I

(09:07):
supposedly remembered it.
So right now that you say thatit's actually very true because
I lived it, so that's so funny.
What a beautiful memory.
Thanks for sharing that.

Speaker 3 (09:17):
It's funny also how perception changes right and
something to always bear in mindas interpreters.
Maybe we can talk about thatlater.

Speaker 2 (09:25):
Yeah, that's a good one.
You mentioned French as being alanguage that was spoken in the
home.
How many languages were spoken,or how many languages, at least
during your childhood, did youcome across?

Speaker 3 (09:40):
So I grew up speaking French and Spanish, but I was
exposed to Dutch, the Belgianversion, flemish and a version
of Catalan, which is Valenciano,which is my grandparents on my
dad's side.
That's their language, so Inever spoke it growing up, but I

(10:01):
was exposed to it when we wouldvisit them and that's what my
cousins speak.
And so four different languagesin their complexities, each of
them write versions of otherlanguages, also Belgian French
being different from the Frenchthat I learned at school, since
I went to a French school, andso all of those subtleties,
differences and trying to figureout where you fit in in that

(10:23):
language landscape was very muchof my experience growing up.

Speaker 2 (10:27):
Wow, yes, how beautiful being exposed to the
different languages, to thedifferent cultural practices,
all within a familiar settingwhich is within your family
cluster.
And I know that as kids wedon't appreciate it as much as
we do potentially later on inlife, especially if it comes
into play in our professionalsetting.

(10:48):
When did English come into thepicture?

Speaker 3 (10:51):
I learned it at school, mainly high school, I
mean, we had an introduction toit in middle school, I guess.
But you know how it goes.
It's more like getting exposedto different sounds rather than
actually being able to express afull message at middle school
level.
But in high school I becamevery interested in it.

(11:12):
I just loved languages.
It wasn't my easiest one tolearn.
It didn't come naturally.
Pronunciation was super hard, Iremember.
But I enjoyed it very much andso I kept working at it.
And then I had opportunities tolive in the UK and Canada, and
the US is where I spent the mosttime in an English speaking

(11:34):
country, and so now I'm veryhappy to be fluent in this
language.

Speaker 2 (11:39):
Yes, absolutely.
You had mentioned a love forlanguages and we can get a feel
or a sense of how that even cameto be for you.
Potentially Did this love orthis passion influence your
academic pursuits once you werein that career path mentality.

Speaker 3 (11:59):
Yeah, you're always asked you know what you want to
do when you grew up and I cannotsay I said I want to be an
interpreter.
That came later and I did fallin love with interpreting
activity when I had a chance toexperience it.
But I was not the kind ofperson growing up who knew

(12:21):
exactly what they wanted to do.
I had so many differentinterests.
Probably the answer wouldchange from day to day and I'm
not sure interpreting ortranslation ever was in that
list.
But then, you know, a varietyof factors and circumstances
took me to the point of doingthe conference interpreting

(12:41):
specialization in my later yearsof my undergrad in Granada and
yeah, I really enjoyed it.
I fell in love withsimultaneous interpreting.
It just was very enjoyable,which you know sounds I don't
know.
Most people would think it's abig challenge and very difficult

(13:02):
, but somehow it came.
It was challenging I'm notgoing to say it wasn't, but it
was a fun challenge.

Speaker 2 (13:09):
Yeah.
So what marked your interest inthat specific specialization?
Was it someone you saw,potentially a professional that
was out in the field, orsomething you saw?
Did someone share with youtheir experience?
Or maybe you recommended theprogram?

Speaker 3 (13:28):
I think it was the cool thing to do when you were
in translation studies.
So in Europe, translationstudies or in Spain in different
countries in Europe it has ittakes different shapes, but in
Spain, translation studies is anundergrad degree and I ended up
in that degree.
I had considered many otherthings, from public relations to
psychology and to economics, toall sorts of things, and

(13:53):
decided in the end oftranslation and interpreting
studies and you don't have anopportunity to interpreting
until the second part of yourdegree when you're doing it.
But I knew that was the coolthing I wanted to do.
Why did I think it was cool?
Because it was interactive andbecause you had challenges come

(14:13):
up constantly, right, and Iliked the challenging part of it
.
And I also did not like theidea of translating and being in
front of my computer, or Ithink I'm more orally inclined
than textually written.
Hormones is less my thing, Ithink, although ironically now I

(14:36):
write a lot you just never know.

Speaker 1 (14:40):
But yeah.

Speaker 3 (14:40):
I sorry I don't have simple answers.
I did not do interpreting and Iloved it, but it's not like I
have a person that, oh, I wantto be like them.
It was more like, oh, this iswhat we do in this school.
This really seems interestingto me.
I want to go try it out and, oh, it's really hard.
I want to keep working on it,to master it to the extent

(15:04):
possible.

Speaker 2 (15:05):
Yeah, to improve, to master it right.
I can see why this would be ofsuch interest.
I do make the same connectionwhen you identify that this is
fun yet challenging, which ofcourse creates this new
realization that this particularprofession is more than just

(15:29):
knowing another language rightor having fluency.
It's about learning newtechniques and problem solving
and of course that just makes itthat much more interesting.
When did you begin applyingyour studies into the real world
Meaning?
When did you start your workprofessionally?
Did you begin as a freelancer,or what was that experience like

(15:52):
for you?

Speaker 3 (15:53):
So right after I finished my degree, I had the
opportunity to work immediatelyas a conference interpreter,
which I remember, as you knowvery anxiety-producing
experiences, but also suchsatisfaction at the end of the

(16:14):
day when you realized, oh, Imade it my goodness Because it's
challenging, but it's also itfeels even more challenging when
you have been trained toachieve high quality and have
been warned against everythingthat could go wrong.

(16:35):
Yes, you know there's good andbad about that approach.
You know you want to maintainthe standards of the profession
very high, but also, if it'sgoing to be, if it's going to
generate fear, then maybe itdoesn't work.
But somehow, you know, I gotover it and I had good first

(16:55):
experiences.
And then I also had goodopportunities to continue
working, even though I was anewer interpreter, because I had
a good language combination forthe time and the place I was
living in and that gave me theopportunity to want to continue

(17:17):
developing my language skills inthat language combination that
was English-French.
In Southern Spain that washosting a lot of
Euro-Mediterranean meetings forcountries around the
Mediterranean that spokedifferent languages but for
which English-French were thelingua francaz, and I had those
languages.
But working as a conferenceinterpreter with languages that

(17:39):
are not your mother tongue isnot easy and it's even frowned
upon.
So, you know, french could beconsidered my mother tongue, but
you know, I figured I need toreally have very strong English
skills if I want to continuewith this.
So those were my firstexperiences as an interpreter.
It was conference interpreting,and very soon after I took a

(18:01):
different route.
That's what I do.
That's what I do.

Speaker 2 (18:06):
Yeah, no, it's a great example, I think, of when
preparation meets opportunity.
So you did the schooling piece,and then it just so happened
that where you lived, there wereall these conferences that were
taking place, that which youcould leverage right.
Take advantage of the fact that, hey, I just had this training

(18:26):
and those are the languages.
Let me put this into practice.
What ended up happening?
That you switched directions,though.

Speaker 3 (18:34):
Well, I love to travel, I love to experience
different cultures and I had theperfect excuse I need to have
experience in a differentEnglish speaking country to come
back and be even betterinterpreter with French and
English.
So I found opportunities tospend time in the US.
I went to Los Angeles as ateaching assistant at Occidental

(19:00):
College and while I was there Ithought I cannot leave
interpreting behind.
I was the TA in the Spanishstudies or Spanish department
and I was teaching Spanish,doing Spanish, conversational
Spanish or something like that,and I thought I cannot lose
touch of interpreting.
And I got in touch with a localorganization that did advocacy

(19:20):
for interpreting in healthcareand I was fascinated by the
field and that's where there wasa before and after and now
community interpreting,healthcare interpreting, public
service interpreting.
With my new interest, Okay.

Speaker 2 (19:38):
So I have to ask because there is in the
interpreting profession you knowwe look at the different
specializations you have theconference interpreters, which
for many of us potentially wecould look at.
As you know, that's that very,not to say or minimize, the
training that communityinterpreters go through is not

(20:00):
intense, but you know therequirements are very different
for conference interpreting.
But of course we also know thatthe industry, the profession
interpreting is interpretingright.
And so if you look at thespecializations or you know the
different areas, what did youfind from conference

(20:21):
interpreting to communityinterpreting that were
potentially those common areas,right, those areas of
intersection that you felt, hey,I could bring some of this
training into thisspecialization, if any.

Speaker 3 (20:36):
I very much agree that interpreting is
interpreting.
I think Holly Nicholson was, ifnot the first one, the first
one I read this sentence from onone of her publications and I
quoted that before and I thinkI'm quoting it in a paper I'm

(20:56):
working on that's that's goingto be published soon.
Maybe at the time I knew thatinstinctively.
But it's not the commonalitiesamong interpreting that made me
want to continue with communityinterpreting.
It's actually the drasticdifference between the two

(21:17):
fields, the level ofprofessionalization in both
fields and thinking they're bothequally important.
Why is one of themunderdeveloped and the other one
so looked up to and sodeveloped?
I want to understand thisbetter and I want to know which
piece I can contribute tolessening that difference.

(21:39):
And that took me to.
I couldn't stay in the US.
I would have liked to at thetime, and so I was thinking
about what do I want to go?
And I go back after this yearas an exchange student.
I'm going back to Spain.
What do I want to do?
And so I thought I want tounderstand the systemic aspects

(22:03):
of this and I went into amaster's program.
The master's program was socialsciences and political sciences
, so you learn the techniques toresearch issues in that realm,
and then I specialized in publicpolicy and within public policy
, I was always obsessed withwhat are the systemic changes?

(22:24):
We need to bring this to theattention of public policy,
because this is clearly a matterof public concern, so we need
to understand what's going onhere.

Speaker 2 (22:33):
And so it sounds like the seed of curiosity was
planted for you, dr Sophia, increating or at least beginning
your research in systemicchanges for what you just called
a matter of public concern.
And the nerd in me can help butjust feel inspired just by
listening to how your trajectoryin the field was born.

(22:55):
We often talk about that herein this podcast, about how we
want to pursue those things thatinterest us, of focusing on
finding solutions to theproblems that we identify and,
of course, of being inspired byhearing the stories of others
and their experiences andtrajectories, just like I am

(23:19):
currently experiencing, and I'mhoping that those that are
listening right now areexperiencing as well.

Speaker 3 (23:25):
If I may, just speaking of inspiration, it was
the fact that I could seeeverything that had been done by
this nonprofit organization,the fact that I understood that
it came from policies at thefederal level, that there was a
grounding for initiatives todevelop because there was

(23:50):
legislation that supported that,fed, that created spaces for
people to take initiatives invery locally identified needs.
Just realizing how much theprofession had advanced thanks
to many people's efforts in theUS was an inspiration to go back

(24:14):
to Spain and sort of analyzewhat are the similarities, what
are the differences?
Why are we so far behind?
Well, for one, because ourmulticulturalism and our history
with immigration is a verydifferent one and the needs were
getting started in the 90s forus, versus the needs were far

(24:38):
established in North America,and by the 90s everybody was not
everybody, but there wereinitiatives that were
establishing the profession hereand for us we were just getting
started with diversity.
So it took us much longer toidentify the needs.
But it was inspiration.
It's looking at what's beingdone somewhere else and looking

(24:59):
at what other people are doingand understanding what the
different pieces are, to seewhat shape of a piece you can
contribute, and that wasdefinitely part of it, yeah.

Speaker 2 (25:10):
Yes, but we have to admit that it also takes a
certain kind of individual to beable to look at things from an
eagles view, or to use theterminology you often utilize in
your articles, dr Sophia, beingable to see things from a macro
level and, in addition to that,being able to see how that

(25:32):
affects the micro level.
So you had a vision, the bird'seye view, and identified that
these situations were oftenaffected by federal policies,
for instance, so up at the top,and how that trickled down and
made its way to communitysettings or, in your case, as

(25:53):
you are experiencing, as ahealthcare interpreter thanks to
the experience with thisnonprofit organization.
So I just have an appreciationfor individuals that are able to
see the big picture and howthat connects down to, you know,
the micro level setting.

(26:14):
So individuals such asourselves that are out in the
field doing the work, becausesometimes as an individual, we
realize or understand that thereis a problem and potentially it
feels like the issue is biggerthan us and that we are too

(26:35):
small potentially to be able topropose a solution or be a part
of a solution, or we simply failto recognize how we can be a
part of the solution and in yourcase, of course, you know,
you're seeing the differencesand seeing a lot of the
similarities in the field whenit comes to this particular

(26:58):
specialization which, by the way, we here in the States refer to
it as community interpreting,but out in Europe it is referred
to as something different.

Speaker 3 (27:11):
We refer to it as public service interpreting,
which is fascinating in and ofitself because it tells a lot
about the institutional settings, or the institutional context,
I should say, and in which theactivity takes place.
Right, yeah, you know, I'vestarted using an umbrella term
because I really want toencompass both realities and I

(27:32):
think if we talk aboutinterpreting in public services
and community settings, itreally is what we're talking
about.
Sometimes it happens in publicservices in the US, in Canada,
in Spain, in other Europeancountries, and sometimes it
happens in community settings inthe US, in Canada, in other
European countries, in Spain.
So I think neither of those arecompletely accurate and it's

(27:57):
more all of it.
All of it exactly.

Speaker 2 (28:01):
No, I completely agree.
I think that, especially forunderstanding the complexities
in the different settings, youknow, we do have to be inclusive
of the different titles, Isuppose, just so that we can get
a broader understanding, butanyway, so if we do refer to it
as community interpreting and ifyou're listening out, in

(28:22):
European countries, we are alsospeaking about public service
interpreting, of course,focusing more on this side of
the world only because that'swhere we're, that's where we're
currently in, physically right,that's where we're currently in.
So let's go back, then, toactually this particular new
venture of yours, because itultimately led you to what the

(28:44):
theme of today's conversation isgoing to be, and I won't
mention it just yet just to keepyou guys super interested still
in this conversation.
But let's talk about thistransition.
So I know that there have beenmany times, at least in my
experience, where I am learningsomething in, you know, the

(29:05):
academic world and I cannot waitto apply it in the real world.
Or if I'm, you know, with anorganization, how can I apply
this into the real world?
What was it like for you onceyou started this new journey, or
this new discipline, academicdiscipline and trying to see how
you were going to be able tomake that transition into

(29:28):
actually applying some of thesethings.
What were those things you werejust so excited about?
Do you recall?

Speaker 3 (29:34):
You know I remember how difficult it was to convey
the relevance that I was sopassionate about in circles that
have not experienced the needfor translation and interpreting
services activities.
You know, there I was in aprogram for political science or

(29:57):
public policy for my doctoralstudies and everybody came from
those fields and I didn't, and Iwas just so adamant to see you
know what are the tools I canlearn to apply to this field of
interest of mine.
And also, can you not see howimportant this is?

(30:18):
And it took me a long time tounderstand how to speak about it
so that people could relate towhy I was so passionate about it
.
And it's not that I foundspecific terms or just that when
we say interpreting or languageaccess, so much is encapsulated

(30:40):
in it for us who are in thisfield, and it was fascinating to
realize that it was sort ofopaque for those who are not in
this field, at least in Spain atthat time.
So that was a big learningpoint for me, realizing, oh, I'm
going to have to be smart abouthow I talk about this so that
people understand why this isimportant.

Speaker 2 (31:02):
So what were those tools or strategies that you
identified to support you inbeing able to convey your
message to individuals thatperhaps were hearing about this
topic for the first time or, asyou say, did not relate
necessarily to it because oflack of understanding or

(31:24):
knowledge about it?
And I ask specifically for thepeople that are out in working
in entities on their ownpotentially I have them in mind
that are trying to convey theimportance of this topic or the
creation of specific policies orstructures and, speaking to

(31:47):
individuals that may notnecessarily understand the
importance of language accessand creating systems or
processes or policies in supportof these services, Do you
recall?

Speaker 3 (32:01):
So I think you do recall, and it became the center
of my research, in fact, to acertain degree, and I used the
terminology or the tools theanalytical tools, I would say of
public policy analysis.
And in public policy they talkabout problem definition and

(32:23):
about agenda setting and howproblem definition has an impact
on whether an issue makes it tothe political agenda or not.
So you know, I started readingabout that, understanding how
that works and problemdefinition for this very real
social matter of public concernbecame the focus of my

(32:49):
dissertation.
And how do we define what we'reactually talking about so that
it becomes relevant for thosewho are not in the profession or
who are not facing the need andwho are at decision making
levels?
How do we talk about itstrategically so that it can
compel those who are inpositions to make important

(33:10):
decisions?

Speaker 2 (33:12):
What is the title to that dissertation?
Is it publicly available?

Speaker 3 (33:16):
It is publicly available and I need to think
about what the title is.

Speaker 2 (33:22):
Oh, okay, so here's what we're going to do.
So that we don't put Dr Sofiain the spot at the moment, I
will include the link to thatdissertation because I think
many of us could absolutely putthis into use in some of our
organizations, if anything, atleast to have a mental note of
some of these approaches and beable to apply them, because, as

(33:44):
I've shared before, I mean thesolutions are always there.
It's trying to centralize theresources in a place in which
they're easily accessible, sonow that you know about it, you
can go and look for it.
So go find the link in theepisode notes and we promise to
include it there for quickaccess for you.
Dr, you mentioned earlier thatthe strategies you employed to

(34:07):
make this topic relatable toothers that are unfamiliar with
it or were unfamiliar with itbecame the central focus of your
dissertation.
Would you care to share moreabout this particular experience
?
The Orange County Department ofEducation is proud to host their
seventh annual Interpreters andTranslators Conference

(34:28):
September 29th and 30th at theHilton Orange County Costa Mesa
in Costa Mesa, california.
This conference promotes theincredible work of interpreters
and translators.
Bilingual persons and stafftasked with providing language
access in schools and in thecommunity Know your path.
Each step matters.

(34:49):
To ensure language access isthis year's theme and main focus
.
Conference sessions andengagements will respond to the
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Participants will delve intounique opportunities to acquire

(35:09):
and refine their skills, learntips and strategies to enhance
their professional practices,keep up to date with the latest
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service efforts.
Language access is a priority inpublic education and, as

(35:31):
interpreters and translatorsworking in the K-12 system are
more visible than ever, becominga substantial part of every
educational encounter, it isimperative to professionalize
the field through continuousimprovement, training, growth
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The Orange County Department ofEducation Language Services

(35:51):
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(36:14):
Join them this fall at the 2023interpreters and translators
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Registration is now open.
So head on over to the episodenotes to find out more about the
interpreters and translatorsconference hosted by the Orange
County Department of Education'sLanguage Services division,

(36:36):
taking place September 29th and30th.
Hope to see you there.

Speaker 3 (36:40):
Yeah, so I mentioned before right that there was a
spark of inspiration when I hadthat experience at a nonprofit
organization in Los Angeles theyworked for Orange County and I
have such fond memories and ifanybody who is in any way
related to that organization oranybody I met at that time is

(37:03):
listening, I just want to takethe opportunity to say hi, it
was a very little moment for me,so very grateful to them.
But, yeah, so that was aninspiration and then, as I was
doing my doctoral studies, Ilooked for more inspirations and
also more opportunities to livein yet another country.

(37:23):
So I ended up doing my fieldwork in Ontario, canada.
I was a visiting scholar at theUniversity of Toronto and I was
just fascinated by the societalsetup in Ontario.

(37:43):
It's a multicultural it's.
You know, canada has a verydifferent approach to
multiculturalism in that it'sembraced actively as a public
policy approach and Ontario hasmore than one official language.
In Toronto at the time had morethan 180 language.

(38:04):
So that made it for a veryinteresting case study and I was
fascinated to learn what thingswere like over there and to use
that as a source of data andinformation to develop concepts
and ideas on what would be aneffective problem definition for

(38:28):
what we refer to casually aswhat community interpreters do.
Right, but like what is it andand and how do we talk about it
outside of our circles?
But then the US was still a.
Even though I wasn't living inthe US, I wasn't doing field
work in the US, it was, it wasstill a source of inspiration.
I remember taking theopportunity of one of my visits

(38:50):
to go down to Maryland and takethe licensing training for the
community interpreter with crosscultural communications and
that started another leg of myadventures in this field.
That was incredibly enriching.

Speaker 2 (39:08):
Wow, it's so interesting at times when you
hear the stories of others andrealize it's a small world after
all.
I'm actually very familiar withthe community interpreter
program, both as a participantand as a licensed trainer, and
so that was that trainingprogram, actually, that I
presented to the school districtthat I used to work for as the

(39:31):
curriculum to train theireducational bilingual staff.
So it's just fascinating tohear how your experiences led
you to this program and then youended up as a co author of what
became, for me at least, one ofthe most significant parts of

(39:53):
the program's textbook.
So talk to us a little bitabout this part of your story.

Speaker 3 (39:59):
Yeah, it's endearing to remember because I took this
bus from New York.
I think we had taken a bus toNew York with a friend and I got
to Maryland in the mostunexpected ways.

(40:21):
Even you know how howtransportation works here.
It's completely different.
So I had completely differentexpectations and I remember
getting lost from the hotel tothe training facility and being
completely late and feeling soterrible and so out of place, so

(40:45):
small, and to think that if youwere to tell that person on
that particular day that shewould be given the great honor
to contribute some content tothe training, she would not have
believed it for a second.
Yeah, after I took the training, I was very impressed myself.

(41:07):
I could see incredibledifferences.
At that point I had alreadyjoined my research group in
Spain.
I had taught at the master'sprogram in integral
communication and I was veryaware of the differences in how
interpreting was taught, becauseof which fields of interpreting
were more prominent in eitherside of the ocean right

(41:31):
conference interpreting inEurope, community interpreting
in the US.
So the core of the trainingsfocused on different dimensions
of the skills and interpreterneeds, and that was fascinating
to me.
Yeah, so I wanted to bring someof that to my situation in
Spain, universitat autónomaBarcelona, and I invited

(41:54):
Marjorie.
I shared with my research groupand I asked the principal
investigator would it be okay toinvite her?
What you think about it?
And it was exactly the righttime.
It was the time when we werewelcoming new ideas and so we
invited Marjorie bankraft tocome in and and provide training
for us and so that we couldtalk about the different

(42:16):
approaches and she could presentthe community interpreter as a
program.
And we're having lunch or coffeeor I don't remember, but
Marjorie approaches me and shesays you know, we would love it
if you could contribute some ofyour ideas to the community
interpreting program and we'regoing to be writing a new

(42:39):
textbook for it and so would youlike to participate?
And I'm just so excited and sohonored and thinking, wow, yeah,
what a great opportunity.
And what I'm envisioning islike I will send her a couple of
paragraphs of a couple of myideas.
You know we collaborated forthree years I think it was three

(43:04):
years.
It was years of intensecollaboration with an amazing
team of authors that broughtincredible expertise and
diversity of opinions, and justit was such a learning part of
my journey in of getting deepinto this field of community

(43:26):
interpreting, and that happenedat the same time as I was trying
to write my dissertation and itdid extend the time I took to
write my dissertation.

Speaker 2 (43:36):
Because in reality, it turned out to be not just a
few paragraphs of contribution.
What ended up happening is youend up coining a term, which
we're going to get into now, andnot just coining a term, but

(43:58):
creating.
You became, for me at least,that pebble that created the
ripple effect, and you taskedyourself with quite a task, and
that was and I quote here youtasked yourself to quote capture
the essence of theinterpreter's contribution in

(44:23):
community settings.
And then I repeat that againbecause it was so powerful when
I read this you tasked yourselfto capture the essence of the
interpreter's contribution incommunity settings.
Share with us your inspirationbehind this particular work, dr
Sofia, and walk us through thisjourney, because it's huge.

Speaker 3 (44:48):
You don't wake up one morning with that idea, and
I've actually already beentalking about how it came about.
In a way, it's similar to whatI was doing with my dissertation
.
It's like how do we talk aboutwhat we're actually doing?
And I was fortunate enough tobe working on it.
Well, it was fortunate and achallenge to be working on it,

(45:09):
both for my dissertation, whichwas dealing with what's
happening at the societal level,what's happening with the
structures, what are the tools,what are the spaces to voice
this issue at the institutionallevel.
And then I was also looking atwhat is the essence for the

(45:29):
profession, because as a group,we decided that we wanted to
develop a code of ethics andstandards of practice.
That would be useful, thatwould be one of the teaching
tools.
So when you, I think none of usknew how big a task that would

(45:52):
be.
I mean, we all knew it wasgoing to be big, but we didn't
know how big it would be.
And somehow this fascinated meand I just became my
perfectionist, wanting toexhaust all the angles which
comes up once in a while, andbecause it was informed by what

(46:13):
I was doing at the micro leveland the micro level, and I think
that was helpful to understand.
We just need to get to a pointwhere that essence is
understanding that problem, orwhat is the problem that we're
trying to solve and you need todistill it to the minimum
expression so that you can useit as a source to build

(46:37):
everything else upon.
So I got to that point withoutreally trying to I didn't task
myself with it.
I found myself there, I wasriding my bike through woods and
the woods got really dark andeventually I found a beautiful
tree that had light on it.
Yeah, just like your child'swork, this analogy work, maybe
not no absolutely.

Speaker 2 (46:58):
It's like your childhood memory, I think.
Right, you're riding on yourbike and coming up with all
kinds of different new thingsthat you're discovering and
trying to find out what's thenext thing, what lies behind
those trees, what lies behindthat pond that you came across.
So it's a beautiful analogybecause actually it feels like

(47:21):
that is the world of discoveryonce you start on that journey,
and what ends up happening isyou end up creating something
that we talk about and perhapsyou can help guide us through
understanding this a bit further.
For those that are listeningand may not be relating to the
micro and macro levels of thistopic, what ends up happening is

(47:45):
you create something that isunderstood on both levels.
So it's a neutral understanding.
It has this bigger essence toit which can be applied to the
systemic approach, theorganizational approaches, but
then it's also understood at themicro level, the individual.

(48:06):
So when I talk about readingthis text, but going through the
training and finding my essence, not just as an individual but
as a professional, and what I amable to contribute at the time
for the organization, I was ableto identify as a person, never

(48:27):
mind the profession, and as aprofessional, as one person,
with what you coinedcommunicative autonomy as being
my essence of the work that I doin the community, which, as
Daniel Meter if you're listening, daniel which I know you

(48:50):
probably will be very, verylikely one of your big fans.
By the way, she spoke about youand your work in a previous
episode that was here.
She's an ASL interpreter, aninterpreter trainer and what
I've called, or what I call, abrand ambassador of your.
You know the term and thepractice of communicative

(49:11):
autonomy.
She says we wanted to go beyondthis facilitating communication
, which sounds so simplistic,you know, for most of us, we
knew that there was more to ourwork than that, and so when
individuals such as Daniel Meterand myself, and I'm sure many,
many others, come across thisterm, communicative autonomy,

(49:34):
we're like this is the holygrail, this is what gives us
meaning to the work that we do,because there's so much more
involved, and I'd like to giveyou now the opportunity to help
us understand you know, themicro and macro levels of what
we're talking about here, theimpact, I should say, in both of

(49:56):
these levels and, of course,helping us understand what is
communicative autonomy from themouth of the person that coined
the term.

Speaker 3 (50:08):
Well, okay, so maybe I'll start by reading the
definition that was reachedafter group discussion, right,
because this was the result ofteamwork, as I mentioned, when
we did this textbook, we met sooften and we all impacted each

(50:29):
other's way of thinking of thecontent that we were creating.
And the definition forcommunicative autonomy that we
landed on, I will read, is thecapacity of each party in an
encounter to be responsible forand in control of his or her own
communication.
What this is trying to say is,when the interpreter is called

(50:54):
to provide a service, theinterpreter's mandate is to help
people own their owncommunicative process, and for
that the parties that areinvolved in that encounter need
to have their own voice, andbecause of the language barrier,
that's a challenge.

(51:16):
So when they send messages, ifthe interpreter is people who
love conveying those messagesaccurately, reliably, then the
interpreter is supportingcommunicative autonomy.
But there's also the other side.
When the interpreter is makingsure that the messages that are
directed or expressed in theroom directed to that party or
expressed in the room are alsoconveyed, then you can truly be

(51:40):
an owner of your communicativeprocess.
So supporting communicativeautonomy is facilitated in
communication, but facilitatingcommunication could also mean
having a part in thatcommunication.
Oh, let me explain.
You just misunderstood.
This is what they meant.
That is not supportingcommunicative autonomy.

(52:00):
So in that way I wanted to finda way to express this in a more
precise way.
And some people will not agreewith the fact that communicative
autonomy is the specialcontribution of the community
interpreting profession, but forthose of us who do agree, I

(52:22):
think it helps to have a way ofnaming it that is unequivocal.

Speaker 2 (52:27):
Yes, absolutely.
And two things here.
With that Number one, I am aproduct of what communicative
autonomy can do for theprofessional and have been able
to see once I understood this asmy objective, as my essence as
a trained interpreter what itcan do for the individuals that

(52:52):
I am supporting or that I amservicing.
So I want you to know thatyou're seeing firsthand a
product of all that work thatyou're putting together as a
teamwork.
And another thing is withrelation to being able to see
the results or the fruit of thatobjective is the participation

(53:17):
dynamic and that dynamic ofcommunication, how that change,
how powerful this is once weknow what our objective is.
And I'm going to quote theAmerican author, daniel H
Pinkier, when it comes toautonomy, because I feel like
you know, we're going to talkabout a little bit further, of
course, but he says controlleads to compliance, autonomy

(53:43):
leads to engagement, andengagement for me is what I saw
with the families that Iserviced is engaging in that
conversation as an activecontributor to the dialogue, as
opposed to someone that'ssitting on the side and just

(54:06):
listening to what is being givento them or what they're being
told.
So let's dive a little deeperif you will doctor into
communicative autonomy, what youfound out, what you were
discovering, and, of course,this is the reason why perhaps
not only reason, but why atextbook of this magnitude can

(54:26):
take up to three years todevelop right.
So let's dive into, if you will, what other things are
important about communicativeautonomy for interpreters
working in community settings.

Speaker 3 (54:39):
Yeah, first of all, I love how you related that quote
with what you experienced andwhat you saw.
And that's the idea, right,quite, always be aware, but
sometimes and just maybe notlive enough to express your でした.
Every situation is differentand we always need to take
things on a case-by-case basisin interpreting.

(55:00):
I will talk about it too.
But it is often the case thatwhen we allow for this exchange
to happen in as direct aspossible away between the
parties, then their relationshipis going to be different than

(55:21):
if we behave as liaisons thathave more of an imprint on the
co-constructed communicativesituation.
So, yeah, this engagement comesfrom.
Oh, I have agency, I am presenthere and I'm seen there is a
language barrier, but it's beinglifted and I have access to the

(55:44):
other party and the other partyhas access to me because that
barrier is lifted.
So that's the idea behindcommunicative autonomy.
Yeah, so I mentioned beforethat founding.
The essence was both relevantat the institutional level and
so macro and the micro level,and as we were looking at codes

(56:04):
of ethics or looking intocreating a training tool that
would serve as a reference forguidelines, right Guidelines for
ethics and standards forcommunity settings in general, I
looked for inspiration in codesof ethics of other professions.
So I looked for codes of ethicsof helping professions like

(56:27):
therapists, nurses, socialworkers, and in that process I
realized, okay, we are also ahelping profession.
We're a different helpingprofession.
What makes us different?
So that question was alsoanswered by looking at what is
the special contribution thatthe interpreter brings, what is

(56:48):
the special value of communityinterpreting in society?
Every profession contributes toa wider web of services and we
are a profession that has itsvery own contribution.
What is it?
And I think that very ofteninterpreters find themselves in

(57:08):
situations where it's reallydifficult to make decisions
because it becomes veryconfusing very fast.
And I was getting very confusedmyself as I was reviewing codes
of ethics and standards ofpractice within our profession
that existed, that were issuedby institutions around the world

(57:28):
.
Sometimes advocacy was not onlyallowed but also a part of the
definition of the role, andalways impartiality was a part
of the definition of the role.
And that seemed like aninherent contradiction and I
wanted to untangle that.
And to be able to untangle that, I needed to know what it is

(57:49):
that we're doing and how do wejustify advocacy or how do we
not justify advocacy.
So in that way I feel likebecause that was the source
looking at conceptualentanglement what is the source
of looking for conceptualclarity.
So I think that having clarityon what it is that you're

(58:11):
bringing to the table providesyou empowerment.
It helps you understand whereyour agency is needed and where
your agency is not onlylegitimate but part of your
responsibility.
If you are stepping into muddywaters of what am I allowed to

(58:34):
say, not say where do I have avoice and where not, then it's
really hard to make decisions.
But if you know exactly whyyou're there and what is it that
your profession exists for,then you know how to defend your
decisions when you're there tosupport what your profession is

(58:58):
there to support.
Maybe this sounds veryconceptual, but if I face an
ethical dilemma or if I face asituation where I'm being
challenged by a provider becausethey don't allow me to finish
messages when I'm trying toconvey them, I'm able to tap
into my professional authorityin the realm that belongs to my

(59:19):
professional authority.
But if supporting communicativeautonomy is part of my
professional authority, then Iam going to make it happen.
I'm going to intervene at thatpoint to say I need to finish my
messages.
Or maybe in another situation,the provider is asking the
interpreter to do something thatis out of the scope of their

(59:41):
role, and saying no is veryuncomfortable, but when you have
certainty of why you're sayingno, it's a little easier to do
that.
If you understand that thelimitations in your role are
actually enhancing the valuethat you're bringing to the
table, then you feel moreconfident about bringing the

(01:00:04):
news that it's going to be a noand you feel probably more at
ease finding reasons to justifythat answer.
So you know it's theenhancement and it's also the
limitation.
It comes with limitation.
Understanding that supportingcommunicative autonomy is the
reason you're there comes withthe understanding that you are

(01:00:27):
limited, that if you go beyondcertain activities, beyond
conveying messages orintervening to be able to convey
messages as efficiently andaccurately as possible, then you
know that you're going to runinto issues with impartiality,
transparency and all of theseethical tenets that are there in

(01:00:49):
order to support communicativeautonomy.
So you use the term glue.
I think that's how I thoughtabout it too.
I was looking for the perfectglue as we were working on this
code of ethics.

Speaker 2 (01:01:01):
So wonderful, yes, and so there you have it.
Limitations not necessarilyalways falling on that, the
negative connotation.
It could absolutely be apositive thing, at least in this
context.
Right, it could absolutely helpus in our role and professional
authority.
There's another term for youguys having that feeling of

(01:01:21):
empowerment.
I know that it's oftenpotentially thought of as
probably egotistical, but if welook at it in the way of being
able to feel the confidence inour roles, of making those
decisions, I think that is thegreatest of the empowerment

(01:01:45):
feeling is knowing that everyoneis in control of their own
communication, includingyourself, when needing to step
in which I feel like itdefinitely is for community
interpreters, at least in myexperience, a piece of the
puzzle that is missingUnderstanding our true essence,

(01:02:06):
which, again I go back to saying, I feel that communicative
autonomy the term encapsulatesthe essence, the true essence of
the role of the interpreter,but also being able to
immediately see the return ofinvestment, meaning being able

(01:02:27):
to see what it actually does forthe service users.
I mean, I can go on and on abouthow we can actually see the
results immediately and what itdoes for us, for ourselves, but
I'd like to now go back to you,dr, and talk a little bit about

(01:02:49):
what has happened, the aftermathof your contribution, of course
.
Now you're hearing firsthandwhat some of the results have
been.
I'm a product and, like me,there are many, many, many
others out there in the fieldnow that, thanks to your work,
have been able to find purposein their professional settings.

(01:03:10):
But what has happened, what hasbeen the aftermath, and what
are you currently working on,potentially?

Speaker 3 (01:03:16):
Oh, first, of all, I think the best reward is to know
that your hard work is goingsomewhere and if only to know
that it's helped you with yourinterpreting and you've seen the
effects on real families.
It makes me super happy, andI'm always surprised to hear
this.
I think that maybe myco-authors for the textbook have

(01:03:42):
been giving me more publicitythan I'm aware of, and every
time I'm in the US and I hearabout these things, I'm like I'm
genuinely surprised and verypleased to hear that I no longer
live in the US.
I live in Barcelona now, whereI'm teaching at UAB, which I
mentioned before, universidadAutónoma Barcelona.

(01:04:03):
I'm a professor at the School ofTranslation and Interpreting
Studies and so I get to work onthis every day, either by
teaching, which I love, or doingresearch in community
interpreting or public serviceinterpreting, and what we are
going to be working on next withmy research group, miras, which

(01:04:27):
stands for Mediación,interpretación Reserta en el
Ambiente Social, sointercultural mediation and
research in the social fieldsareas.
We got some funding to develop aresearch project in the field
of medical interpreting, andit's a bigger team and we will
each be able to focus on adifferent branch, and I'm

(01:04:50):
looking forward to researchingthe perceptions of providers and
decision makers regarding thedifferent opportunities, the
different tools that are at handto overcome the language
barrier.
You know, not just theinterpreter, the community
interpreter or public serviceinterpreter, but also the
intercultural mediator, which isa different role, and even

(01:05:15):
software tools and artificialintelligence and all of the
resources that are being usedactually in the medical field in
different places, and we'regoing to be looking at that in
Barcelona.
So that will be a new avenue ofresearch for us.

Speaker 2 (01:05:33):
Amazing.
Yes, so it's.
You continue teaching, youcontinue researching and, of
course, you continuecontributing, because I know
that you continue to writepieces and putting them out
there.
All you have to do is do aquick search for Dr Sofia Garcia
Bayer and you'll see all thecontributions that she has given
to our profession.

(01:05:54):
If you could give someoneadvice that is just starting in
this field, that maybepotentially feels a little lost
in what they can possiblycontribute to the profession,
what recommendation or advicewould you would you give them?

Speaker 3 (01:06:13):
Well, they would probably know this already, but
they've chosen a beautifulprofession and a profession that
is full of rewards, a veryhuman activity.
You know, I think communicationis the essence of what defines
a human.
Probably and we will see thismore and more with the emergence

(01:06:36):
of artificial intelligence Well, this is a whole other topic
that we won't get into.
I'm not, I'm not a specialist,but my, my instinct tell me that
probably communication andintercultural communication
might be the last bastion to beconquered by artificial

(01:06:59):
intelligence, and hopefullynever will.
We'll see, at any rate, for newinterpreters, don't ever give
up your professional development.
It is so rewarding.
If you maintain this curiosity,this desire to learn, this
desire to keep improving, youwill get the rewards, because

(01:07:24):
you will see how it impacts yourday to day work.
And what I wish for all of usis that we very soon see those
rewards also in the form ofrecognition of the profession,
both by everybody knowing whatit is that we do, but also by

(01:07:46):
knowing that we will never haveto struggle to get to the end of
the month or that we will becomfortable like other
professionals who work atsimilar levels of sophistication
and complexity.
They really get.
We need that for our professiontoo.
So the rewards are there and weneed to find them everywhere
they are, and probably the humanaspect is is is what I would

(01:08:09):
like Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (01:08:11):
Thank you, anything, dr Sophia, that you would
perhaps like to see donedifferently in the interpreting
field.

Speaker 3 (01:08:20):
I something I would like to see change or or evolve
differently in the academicfield.
This is a relatively new fieldof study and a lot of the
studies are have been.
There's a big variety, ofcourse, but a lot of the studies
are descriptive and exploratoryand we haven't reached a point

(01:08:42):
where we have clarity on how todefine what's the background of
the people that we are talkingabout, the people that are being
part of the studies that we arereporting on through academic
papers.
And it makes a big differencewhether we're talking about

(01:09:03):
somebody who was trained as anintercultural mediator or
somebody who was trained as aninterpreter with the premise
that something likecommunicative autonomy is their
contribution, or somebody whowas trained as an interpreter
with the premise that they needto facilitate communication in a
much broader understanding inthat way, or sometimes not

(01:09:28):
really clear on what it is thatwe are looking at.
And we really need research andwe need clear concepts and we
need to know what it is thatwe're studying.
And I think that will come withtime and I think that every
kind of mediating role has itsvalue in the right context, but

(01:09:50):
also we need to understand whatkind of mediating role we're
looking at.
So the role of the introverts,and never ending discussion.
I think we have the opportunityfor much faster progress if we
are able collectively to definebasic understandings of what it
is we're looking at.

(01:10:10):
So that's one thing I wouldlike to see in the future yeah,
huge yeah.
And then and then also, you know, very often we finish academic
papers talking about thelimitations of our contributions
, and one aspect of this way ofdefining the profession's
contribution, anchored in thisconcept of communicative

(01:10:32):
autonomy, is that autonomy is acultural construct, and I just
think that we need toproblematize that.
So, you know, we spent all thistime talking about how it's
helped me make sense of things,how I think it can help
professionals make sense ofthings, and now I'm going to

(01:10:54):
just deconstruct that for you atthe very end and say you know,
not every culture thinks thatautonomy is the ultimate goal.
So what does that mean?
How does that have an impact on, you know, the intercultural
reality that is being built whenpeople from different
backgrounds come together in newcontext, and I'm very aware of

(01:11:17):
that being a potentiallimitation.
It's something I haven't beenable to explore.
I might not be the right personto explore it either, but I
think that it brings a whole newavenue for investigation.

Speaker 2 (01:11:31):
Absolutely.
And discussion and furtherdiscussion and understanding
that, how, how, how.
Culture is absolutely embeddedin these dynamics of
communication.
So they're not, they're notisolated topics right there.
They're embedded at some point.

(01:11:51):
There is these, there's theseconnections.
And again, another topic ofdiscussion that if, if you
either lead it or are theresearcher, we'd have to have
you come back again and talk alittle bit further about it.

Speaker 3 (01:12:06):
You're in 20 years.

Speaker 1 (01:12:10):
Great topics.

Speaker 2 (01:12:11):
Well, dr Sophia Garcia Bayer, it has been an
absolute honor and an absoluteprivilege to have had you here
on the show to share some ofyour insights, to share your
journey through this process andbeing able to, to contribute to
the discussion in a way inwhich, potentially, we talked

(01:12:34):
about it a lot on the show, on aon a level, on a macro level,
that maybe you had not realized.
I mentioned it you, your work,became the pebble and and the
results of what's happening outthere in the interpreting
community, particularly incommunity interpreting, through

(01:12:56):
my personal experience, is theripple effect of that.
Many years ago, when I firststarted in the profession, I
knew that what I wanted to do,my contribution, was to be able
to help others by means of beingable to support them in their
own communication.
But I also knew that I wantedto go beyond that.

(01:13:17):
I knew that I wanted to helpothers feel empowered, and I
always thought that it was twoseparate components, that maybe
it was my two personalities onewanted to help, you know, by
direct help, by directly helpingpeople, and the other one
wanted to help them feelempowered about themselves.
And I always thought, maybe I'msupposed to be a coach when I

(01:13:38):
grow up.
But thanks to your work andyour contribution and your
research and you putting yourwork out there, I've come to
realize that I'm exactly in theright place because through my
work and through understandingthe essence of my role and I've
come to realize that I amactually helping empower others

(01:14:02):
to be and say whatever it isthat they want to say and be who
they want to be, naturallyregardless of the language
barriers, and your work hascontributed to that
understanding doctors.
So I just want to say thank youso very much for both your work
and for sharing space here withus and sharing your story

(01:14:25):
Beautiful.

Speaker 3 (01:14:26):
And how humbling to thank you very much for sharing
that.
Thank you for this opportunityfor this conversation.
That has been an absolutepleasure for me to and see you
out there in the field everybody.

Speaker 2 (01:14:42):
What a fantastic conversation, would you agree?
I feel so privileged andhonored to be able to have this
space to invite individuals suchas Dr Garcia Bayard and every
guest that has been on the showto have a one on one
conversation with them, be ableto pick their brains and simply

(01:15:05):
find out more about them asindividuals as well as
professionals, and then have theprivilege to turn around and
share this resource freely withyou.
Today's conversation filled thenerd in me and has absolutely
inspired me to go out and domore things that I have in mind.
Remember that she left us withplenty of practical resources.

(01:15:28):
I'll turn over to the episodenotes to check them out.
And hey, if you enjoyed thisepisode, remember to share it on
social media and tag me.
Or if you know of a colleaguethat would enjoy this episode,
just hit that share button.

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}The Essence of Interpreting with Dr. Sofía Garcia-Beyaert