Dynamic Equivalence Blog

Unsplash photo by Scott Graham Getting started as a freelance interpreter or translator can be daunting, especially when it comes to the infamous independent contractor or sub-contractor agreements. Although some professional organizations like AIIC  (International Association of Conference Interpreters) and ATA (American Translators Association) provide their members with contract templates and information about common clauses, many clients (i.e. Language Service Providers or agencies, Organizations, Institutions, etc.) may provide us their own contract with different clauses. As an interpreter & translator, I will share some of the clauses I pay particular attention to, however, this should not be misconstrued as legal advise and a legal professional should be consulted for legal concerns related to any contract or agreement as well as any questions pertaining to any of the clauses shared in this entry.  Payment Terms & Compensation One of the first clauses I search...

Unsplash photo by Chris Montgomery The current situation has pushed many trainers and conference organizers to leap into the remote/online arena. Over the past several months, I have had the opportunity to attend many online training events, webinars, and conferences as well as training opportunities specifically designed for trainers and presenters who have not yet taken the plunge. What have I learned? There are a couple of key items that can make your training, presenting, or learning experience more meaningful.   Preparation The first step to ensuring a positive presenting or learning experience is preparing for the online event. Testing your internet connection, access to the remote platform, and functionality of your headphone/speakers, microphone and camera is key to minimizing any glitches on training day.  Although many of the online conferencing and training tools have browser based access points, some may have limited functionality, I have found that the best p...

Unsplash photo by Volodymyr Hryshchenko This week's issue of Connecting Cultures' Interpreter Development Newsletter included a short piece on a very important reality in our or any service profession: the importance of the experience we provide our clients. We often focus on the hard (or technical) skills required to provide quality service, such as linguistic, interpreting, and translation skills, however, as Winnie Heh always teaches the graduate students she advises at MIIS, our customers' experiences are more often shaped by our soft skills. For better or for worse, the reality of our profession is that we often provide services to monolingual, bilingual or even multilingual individuals who do not fully understand the value we bring or the technical skills required to do what we do. The value of well-developed soft skills is that they help us demonstrate our quality in a language they understand. In my experience, communication is the most essential collection of int...