Conversations: Interpreting and Translating's Podcast

The Centre for Cultural Diversity in Ageing provides expertise in culturally inclusive policy and practices for the aged services sector with over 20 years of experience in supporting aged care providers to address the needs of older people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. The Centre for Cultural Diversity in Ageing’s vision is that all aged care consumers in Australia experience inclusive and accessible care and aims to build the capacity and capabilities of Australian aged-care providers to deliver services that are welcoming, inclusive and accessible.

This week, Fatih chats with the centre’s manager Lisa Tribuzio about The Centre for Cultural Diversity in Ageing and some of their current and upcoming projects.

http://www.culturaldiversity.com.au/

Guest Bio: 

Throughout her 20-year career as a Social Worker in the field of cultural diversity and community development, Lisa has had the opportunity to listen to a diverse range of stories, to reflect upon justices and injustices that we are faced in our external and internal paradigms. She has an established career in a range of settings including government, education, community, youth, multicultural, aged care and disability sectors with extensive experience in community development, grant writing, project planning and management, financial management and developing and maintaining relationships with stakeholders and community. She values being involved in the process of positive change, assisting in providing positive outcomes for clients and stakeholders.

Your interest and support is greatly appreciated and we hope you will join us for our events throughout 2021 and onwards.

Don’t forget to visit our training website for more information and PD opportunities:

https://www.conversations-interpretingandtranslating.com.au

This week Fatih chats with Dr Mustafa Derbashi, an Arabic Interpreter/Translator from Auckland, New Zealand about his fascinating and inspirational journey from a refugee camp in Jordan to the shores of New Zealand and his recent achievements.

Guest Bio: 

Mustafa Derbashi is a Palestinian born in an HNHCR refugee camp in Jordan, where he spent the first 29 years of his life. He came to New Zealand at age 31, not being able to speak a  word of English. He taught himself English and became a community-oriented person with a passion for people, culture, understanding, education, and inclusion. 

He completed his Interpreting and Translation studies at Auckland University of Technology in 2018. In August 2020, he was chosen by the New Zealand High Court to interpret at the sentencing hearing for the March 15 Mosque attacks. In 2021, he was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to migrant and refugee communities. Most recently, he was selected as a member of the Ministerial Advisory on the Government response to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the terrorist attack on the Christchurch mosques.

Your interest and support is greatly appreciated and we hope you will join us for our events throughout 2021 and onwards.

Don’t forget to visit our training website for more information and PD opportunities:
https://www.conversations-interpretingandtranslating.com.au

The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated how vital interpreters are in providing access to high-quality health care and advice. The NSW Ministry of Multiculturalism has just announced its interpreter scholarship program for the training of interpreters in new, emerging and in-demand languages.

This week, Fatih chats with George Bisas, the Director of Language Services, Multicultural NSW, about the program and how aspiring interpreters can apply.

Link to apply for the NSW Interpreter Scholarship:
https://multicultural.nsw.gov.au/

Guest Bio:

George Bisas has more than three decades of extensive management experience in Australia and abroad within government, private and non-government sectors.

George has assumed multiple key management positions across various sectors and disciplines, including change management, public relations, adult education and training, media and marketing. He was previously CEO of VITS, the Victorian Interpreting and Translating Service, where he managed a major change process resulting in significant commercial success.

Before joining VITS, he was with the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission, where he managed the Commission’s education, community relations and commercial operations. George was appointed to a senior advisory position with the Hong Kong Government through the HKEOC, where he was responsible for establishing a range of commercial training, education, research and consultancy services. He also served as the Chief Executive Officer of Headway Victoria, a state-wide disability advocacy service providing support for people living with acquired brain injuries and their families.

He has been elected or appointed to an extensive range of Government and non-Government boards and advisory committees.


Your interest and support is greatly appreciated and we hope you will join us for our events throughout 2021 and onwards.

Don’t forget to visit our training website for more information and PD opportunities:
https://www.conversations-interpretingandtranslating.com.au/w/AU/

Overview:

For accurate translation and interpretation, healthcare interpreters and translators need good knowledge and understanding of the anatomy and physiology of the main body systems, most common diseases and disorders, assessment and treatment methods. (Crezee, 2013)

So how do you start preparing for the healthcare interpreting job you just accepted? Where do you access the medical information and terminology? This week Fatih speaks with Certified Arabic Interpreter/Translator Dina Kerr, an experienced healthcare interpreter and interpreter trainer on how she prepares for her assignments

Guest Bio: Dina studied computer science at Swinburne University and worked at Telstra for over 17 years in various position varying from technology specialist to technical strategist, Solution Analyst and finally as a solution architect in Content and media (Engineering group). She completed her Masters of Social Science (Translating & Interpreting studies) at RMIT University (2009-2010). Dina has been practising as an interpreter and translator into Arabic. She currently teaches at RMIT University in the T&I Program.

Your interest and support is greatly appreciated and we hope you will join us for our events throughout 2021 and onwards.

Don’t forget to visit our training website for more information and PD opportunities: https://www.conversations-interpretingandtranslating.com.au/

In Touch is the official magazine of the Australian Institute of Interpreters and Translators. In this episode, Hayley gives Fatih a sneak preview of the upcoming Autumn issue of the magazine. 

If you have any questions for Hayley regarding the magazine or would like to contribute, you can email her on [email protected] 

Guest Bio: 

Hayley is the current Managing Editor of AUSIT's In Touch Magazine. She is also a Spanish to English translator and interpreter specialising in the legal and business areas. 

Hayley grew up in Brisbane/Sunshine Coast, and has been based in Guadalajara, Mexico, for the last 13 years and has interpreted for the US Consulate in Guadalajara, Monterrey Institute of Technology, and translated for the Guadalajara International Book Fair. 

Your interest and support is greatly appreciated and we hope you will join us for our events throughout 2021 and onwards.

Don’t forget to visit our training website for more information and PD opportunities: https://www.conversations-interpretingandtranslating.com.au/

The MINDSET Study aims to improve the quality of interpreter communication in a cognitive assessment for dementia. The rationale for this work stems from research that found that interpreters were servicing increasing numbers of people with dementia but had variable experience and knowledge about dementia. This resulted in inconsistencies in interpreting which reduced the validity of cognitive assessments, diminished clinician and patient satisfaction, and overburdened health services. Subsequently, interpreters themselves recognised the need for specialist training in dementia. 

In this week’s episode, Fatih chats with the study's chief investigator Associate Professor Bianca Brijnath from the National Ageing Research Institute, about the importance of the MINDSET study and what it aims to achieve.

Website: https://www.nari.net.au/news/dementia-training-for-interpreters

Guest Bio: 

Associate Professor Bianca Brijnath (BA Hons; PhD) is the Divisional Director of Social Gerontology at the National Ageing Research Institute (NARI). Her disciplinary training is in medical anthropology, cross-cultural gerontology, and public health and her research expertise is in ethnic and minority health, particularly dementia and depression. 

Your interest and support is greatly appreciated and we hope you will join us for our events throughout 2021 and onwards.

Don’t forget to visit our training website for more information and PD opportunities: https://www.conversations-interpretingandtranslating.com.au/

We come across subtitles every day; when watching videos on our phones and tablets, laptops or television, including the big screen.  Subtitles are used in virtually everything now from video games and apps, promotional material, YouTube videos, educational videos, online tutorials, museum or art exhibits and many more places.

In this week’s episode, Fatih chats with Professor Jan-Louis Kruger from Macquarie University, a world-leading scholar in Audio Visual Translations and Media Accessibility, about eye-tracking technology to study how people interact with subtitles.

Guest Bio: 

Jan-Louis started his research career in English literature with a particular interest in the way in which Modernist poets and novelists manipulate language, and in the construction of narrative point of view. From there he started exploring the creation of narrative in film and how audio-visual translation (subtitling and audio description) facilitates the immersion of audiences in the fictional reality of film.

In the past decade, his attention has shifted to the multimodal integration of language in video where auditory and visual sources of information supplement and compete with text in the processing of subtitles. 

Professor Kruger’s research uses eye-tracking experiments (combined with psychometric instruments and performance measures) to investigate the cognitive processing of language in multimodal contexts.

Your interest and support is greatly appreciated and we hope you will join us for our events throughout 2021 and onwards.

Don’t forget to visit our training website for more information and PD opportunities: https://www.conversations-interpretingandtranslating.com.au

NAATI and All Graduates have collaborated in an initiative that aims to provide information to practitioners directly from a NAATI representative. Every quarter, a panel of NAATI managers will answer questions that Interpreters and Translators have sent through using an online form. 

Questions will be picked at random and directed at the panel by Fatih at the end of each quarter.

Guest Bio: 

Ask NAATI March 2021, features Certification Policy and Development Manager, Aurelie Sheehan and National Operations Manager, Michael Nemarich on the panel.

List of Questions for Part 4:

-As now many organisations accept digital copies of certified translation documents, I found that some migration agencies are illegally using NAATI translator's stamps. Once an agency has received some documents translated by a translator, they would know what the stamp looks like and can keep a copy of it. With lots of document editing software available, it's very easy for an agency to "steal" a NAATI translator's stamp and "paste" it on whatever documents they want, and then send the fake stamped documents to relevant parties. During the whole process, the translator and the document receiver do not know the truth. I have seen many migration agents advertising on their website saying "Free NAATI stamp to put on your documents if required". How does NAATI prevent these kinds of things from happening? How can the translation document receivers know if the stamps on the documents are real or not? How can translators themselves know if their stamps have been misused or not?

-Why is there no standard hourly rate for interpreters, every Agency pays different and when is travel allowance payable, how is the distance calculated: is the reference point from the city or distance from the interpreters home?

-An Agency is allegedly letting all of their contractor interpreters (of all levels of certification) access and accept the available interpreting jobs at the same time, causing an unfair allocation of jobs, despite they always deny that and claim that interpreters with the highest level of certification get the priority. The fact is all certified interpreters working for this Agency are currently getting much fewer jobs than their provisional certified colleagues. This could be seen simply as their way of business running, but it undermines what NAATI is always promoting, which is every interpreter should aim to further their skills and obtain the next level of certification. Said Agency is prioritising provisional certified interpreters over certified interpreters, thus dis-encouraging provisional certified interpreters from improving themselves. What is NAATI’s view on this?

-In the current environment, most agencies have shifted to telephone interpreting services thus fewer hours face to face so how could interpreters fulfil the criteria of 200 hours if jobs are scarce! Should NAATI reduce the criteria considering work practices have changed!?

Your interest and support is greatly appreciated and we hope you will join us for our events throughout 2021 and onwards.

Don’t forget to visit our training website for more information and PD opportunities: https://www.conversations-interpretingandtranslating.com.au/w/

NAATI and All Graduates have collaborated in an initiative that aims to provide information to practitioners directly from a NAATI representative. Every quarter, a panel of NAATI managers will answer questions that Interpreters and Translators have sent through using an online form. 

Questions will be picked at random and directed at the panel by Fatih at the end of each quarter.

Guest Bio: 

Ask NAATI March 2021, features Certification Policy and Development Manager, Aurelie Sheehan and National Operations Manager, Michael Nemarich on the panel.

List of Questions for Part 3:

-The number of years a practitioner in the workplace is not recognized in certification. For example, after 20 years at least one step up is fair.

-When will you change the name for the "Certified PROVISIONAL Interpreter" to "Paraprofessional" Interpreter as it used to be? Provisional is the most misleading and unsuitable denomination and it affects how we are perceived as interpreters. There is nothing "provisional" about me being an interpreter; have been doing it for over 25 years. 
The change in the name needs to be ASAP. 

-When will you lower your Re-certification fees? They were lowered for COVID. Please keep them at $99 or lower. Not higher. Interpreters are not very well paid. For as long as this is the case, please keep them as low as possible. Much appreciated. 

-Hi, any indication of when you may have testing for advanced translator level for Persian - English in the future? The old system used to have it and I am wondering if the new system will too. Cheers!

-If a person had done Diploma of Interpreting (certified) in the year 2015 & has been working as an Interpreter since the year 2012, could s/he sit for NAATI directly, instead of doing the competency tests. This is for the Tamil language.

-We know leaving the Interpreter for Interpreting Assignment and a patient in a closed room with a psychiatrist on Video link is against HEALTH AND SAFETY rules, unacceptable and risky.  but this is happening in some clinics. What you will do about it?

-In the next few months, I will be sitting for the NAATI CPI test. I have looked high and low for Greek prep courses and found absolutely nothing. So how does one prepare to study for the NAATI test? Do I concentrate on glossaries or dialogues? I have requested guidance from NAATI, RMIT, TAFE SA and AUSIT and have hit a brick wall. How would you best utilize the 15 minutes prep time before each part of the test?

-What is the failure rate of participants in NAATI testing? How many fail their first go? Second, go?

Your interest and support is greatly appreciated and we hope you will join us for our events throughout 2021 and onwards.

Don’t forget to visit our training website for more information and PD opportunities: https://www.conversations-interpretingandtranslating.com.au/w/

NAATI and All Graduates have collaborated in an initiative that aims to provide information to practitioners directly from a NAATI representative. Every quarter, a panel of NAATI managers will answer questions that Interpreters and Translators have sent through using an online form. 

Questions will be picked at random and directed at the panel by Fatih at the end of each quarter.

Guest Bio: 

Ask NAATI March 2021, features Certification Policy and Development Manager, Aurelie Sheehan and National Operations Manager, Michael Nemarich on the panel.

List of Questions for Part 2:

-T&I Testing material (Farsi) is not standard, has errors in it. Examiners and test designers Don't Have Tertiary Qualifications in interpreting and translation and that's why they made many mistakes in choosing test materials and in examining the test. I and many of us raised the matter to NAATI, it is time for them to change the system and invite fresh, educated people in the panel. Why doesn’t NAATI want to replace the uneducated (male-dominated) Persian/Farsi panel with academic and highly educated examiners and test designers? Why someone with no tertiary education in interpreting/translation, someone with only limited knowledge should be a NAATI examiner and test designer?

-I am planning to take the Certified Interpreter test soon & do not have many materials to practice by myself. Any comments on this?

-Based in New Zealand. Can I train and become certified through NAATI?

-Can I apply for the Certified Interpreter exam while I am still studying? I have completed the key interpreting units and would like to sit my exam ASAP.

-I took the Interpreting test a couple of times and was unsuccessful. I got my doctorate here in Australia and I have been working as a freelance interpreter for many years. However, I didn't have the NAATI qualifications to pursue my dream of focusing on an Interpreting job. The ways role players did weren't fair because they kept talking which is not true in a real conversation. If we interrupt them so many times, we're seen not capable to do the interpreting job, but if we don't, we only can interpret the overall meaning of the segment. Examiners' members, please put yourself in the situation, if somebody told you 5 or 7 sentences very fast non-stop and you were asked to repeat exactly without errors, can you do that? Another problem was that the markers marked sentence by sentence like the written language test. Can the NAATI examiners' board please make sure to have a fair test and marking for us so more people can get NAATI qualifications? Thank you!

-As a recognised interpreter for Kirundi, how can I get a certification?

Your interest and support is greatly appreciated and we hope you will join us for our events throughout 2021 and onwards.

Don’t forget to visit our training website for more information and PD opportunities: https://www.conversations-interpretingandtranslating.com.au/w/