Irina Jesionowski and Jinny Bromberg of Interpreter Education Online were there...and here are Irina's thoughts:
It was great to meet everybody at the 31st NAJIT Conference in Orlando!
The event was a blast – exhilarating and stimulating as always. More than 200 interpreters from all over the United States were able to choose from 43 educational sessions and workshops.
While the majority of participants were Spanish interpreters, there was a significant growth of language-specific options for other language combinations. Russian interpreters enjoyed Elena Bogdanovich’s pre-conference, day-long, skill building workshop. It was great to learn from a language professional of such caliber! Over ten Russian interpreters came to see our presentation on Courtroom Russian: from Legalese to Ruglish (presented by Jinny Bromberg and Irina Jesionowski). Many participants wished for longer language-specific sessions. “Thank you, I learned a lot from this class! Very, very beneficial. I sincerely hope that NAJIT will continue offering Russian-specific workshops”, wrote one participant in her evaluation form.
Another highlight of the conference for us, Interpreter Education Online representatives, was a chance to meet a few of our students in person. We are very excited for Rosa Bassett, a Spanish interpreter, who passed Florida written exam with flying colors. While taking our Basic Unit course, in addition to her talent for interpretation, she demonstrated a great work ethic and a strong resolve to learn and improve. She earned her success! We wish Rosa all the luck at the oral portion of the examination and in her career!
Maria Weir, a Spanish interpreter working in the Greater Philadelphia area, a board member of Delaware Valley Translators Association, and an IEO student, said, “It was a delight to attend Virginia Valencia’s note-taking and memory developing tricks as well as Agustin de la Mora’s Weightlifting for Court Interpreters. Both presenters were dynamic, entertaining and knowledgeable. They made my trip to the conference!”
Overall variety of presentations and workshops was amazing and it was so difficult to choose which session to attend! While debriefing the conference, Jinny chose Purvi Shah’s presentation, Vicarious Trauma, as the most memorable, and Irina, Melody Kramer’s on a lawyer’s thought process when working with interpreters.
The 31st NAJIT Conference was a great success thanks to our tireless Board and staff members, the Executive Director Robin Lanier and the Administrator Christina Filipovic.
We look forward to seeing everybody again next year in Long Beach, CA, where we are hoping to report on some empirical data regarding online interpreter training.