News

[JITF2022] Parallels between Music and Interpretation Practice and Performance

Laura Burian Laura Burian is a Professor of Chinese/ English interpretation and Dean of the Graduate School of Translation, Interpretation, and Language Education (GSTILE) at the Middlebury In...

[JITF2022] The Balance Between Services and Remuneration for Professional Interpreters

Seth A. Reames After taking a year off from his U.S. college education at the age of 19 and learning professionally at a translation company in Japan, Seth Reames returned and obtained his und...

[JITF2022] YOU GOT THIS! 

Ewandro Magalhaes Ewandro Magalhaes is a writer, former United Nations staff and a conference interpreter. He is also a TED author, a professor and a former Chief Interpreter in the UN system....

[JITF2022] How Should Interpreters Defend Their Interests When Doing RSI

Tony Rosado For over 30 years, Tony has worked as conference interpreter for many highprofile events and clients, including the U.S. Department of State as an independent contractor; major rad...

[JITF2021] Note-taking Techniques: Why do I need those?

Debra Russell Debra is a Canadian certified interpreter, educator and researcher. As the previous David Peikoff Chair of Deaf Studies, at the University of Alberta, her research interests incl...

USA Freelancing without a Parachute #6 – Exciting, Yet Hazy Future

I. Prologue It was pure white. The kind of white that seemed inconceivable for a human face. On it, there were swirls of red in every direction. As the Kabuki actor Nakamura Hashigo continued to r...

USA Freelancing without a Parachute #4 – Freefall

Jump on the count of three. One... Life is funny. Hard to predict. Just when you think you have it all figured out, something comes your way that you weren’t expecting. You see, the first week ...

USA Freelancing without a Parachute #3 – Please Fasten your Seat Belts

START YOUR ENGINES What happens when you have trained for years to be a conference interpreter, but the job that falls in your lap is all about technical translation? In a word, panic!! And wha...

USA Freelancing without a Parachute #2 – Around the world in 80+ Days

ON YOUR MARK The branches whipped into the car furiously knocking my elderly friends off their seats. The brake’s harsh squeal was matched only by the piercing horn, alerting onlookers to step asi...

USA Freelancing without a Parachute #1 – Unpredictable Beginnings

Overture It seems to me that big changes often happen in your life when you least expect it. For me, it was when I arrived at the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). I was ...

Business Aspects to Interpreting for Commerce and Industry: Learning to think like a business owner (Part 3) Offers

Not Off-the-Shelf Because interpreting is a professional service, interpreters cannot sell their offer in the same manner as a physical product. Unlike a banana or a wrench, there is nothing to pu...

Business Aspects to Interpreting for Commerce and Industry: Learning to think like a business owner (Part 2) Value and Pricing

You say: I’m just an individual interpreter who gets almost all of my assignments from a few agencies; I feel more like a hapless laborer with three part-time jobs than an independent business. And my...

Business Aspects to Interpreting for Commerce and Industry: Learning to think like a business owner (Part 1)

Competitiveness: distinguishing your own business from others to win clients and command higher fees Preface For any profession like a medical doctor, financial accountant, notary public, real estate ...

[2/27] Japanese-English T&I Workshop @ MIIS Presented by JACI

The Japan Association of Conference Interpreters will be organizing its first ever Japanese-English T&I workshop at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS) in February...

[2/29] JACI Certification Examination in San Francisco (Japanese-English)

The Association will be holding a certification examination this spring in San Francisco, USA. If you are an active conference interpreter with at least 200 days (or approximately 1,500 hours) of conf...

JACI Simultaneous Interpreting Grand Prix 2019: Results

[Student Division] Grand Prix: Ryoko Haruta (International Christian University) Runner-up: Masako Fukutani (Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey) [Open Division] Gr...

Interpreting in the U.S. #10 – Profiles of American Interpreters (Part 1 of 2)

For my very last article, I would like to introduce you to some of the Japanese Conference Interpreters working in the U.S. I chose two from New York and two from D.C. All are dear colleagues and cons...

Interpreting in the U.S. #9 – Big Cities vs. Small Towns

If you have read any of my previous articles, it’s no secret that I live in the Midwest. I have been writing from the perspective of someone in the 15th largest city in my country. However, the view i...

Interpreting in the U.S. #8 – Marketing

Good morning, wherever you are! I bet you woke up today and said to yourself, I’d like to be making more money and working for clients I actually like. Right? Me too. Well, as luck would have it, that...

Interpreting in the U.S. #7 – Going Freelance

When I went freelance in early 2017, I was unsure how to begin. I read a few blogs, but mostly just followed my gut using the networks I had developed as an in-house interpreter. The result was that I...

Interpreting in the U.S. #6 – What Agents Want

Let me preface this article with a cultural difference: When you work as an interpreter in Japan, agencies are a big part of what you do. However, in the US, agencies are far less common. There are v...

Interpreting in the U.S. #5 – Remote Interpreting

Building on my last article about technology and interpreters, I would like to take you on a tour of the remote simultaneous interpreting movement that is disturbing the U.S. interpreting industry. Th...

JACI Award for Professional Excellence 2018 – Dr. Daniel Gile

The JACI Award for Professional Excellence was established in 2018 to recognize outstanding individuals and/or organizations that made a significant contribution to promote the interpreting profes...

[JIF2018] Working in a Growth Industry – Interpreting at a Foreign-Affiliated General Insurance Company

Taku Doi Freelance interpreter and translator. While at professional interpreting training school in 2011, began his career as a simultaneous interpreter at an advertising agency. After working a...

Interpreting in the U.S. #4 – Interpreters and Technology

Greetings from sunny Columbus, Ohio. My name is Allyson and I work here as a conference interpreter. Now that we’ve gotten to know each other a little, let’s dive into an even thornier topic: Technolo...

Interpreting in the U.S. #3 – Struggles and Working Conditions

Greetings from sunny Columbus, Ohio. My name is Allyson and I work here as a conference interpreter. Over the next 8 articles, I will be giving you an honest, at times critical, overview of the Japane...

JACI Simultaneous Interpreting Grand Prix 2018: Results

[Student Division] Grand Prix: Yuta Okuyama (International Christian University) Runner-up: Reina Nagase (International Christian University) [Open Division] Grand Prix: Yuta Ishii ...

Interpreting in the U.S. #2 – Training and Certification

Greetings from sunny Columbus, Ohio. My name is Allyson and I work here as a conference interpreter. Over the next 9 articles, I will be giving you an honest, at times critical, overview of the Japane...

Interpreting in the U.S. #1 – In-house Challenges

Greetings from sunny Columbus, Ohio. My name is Allyson and I work here as a conference interpreter. Over the next 10 months, I will be giving you an honest, at times critical, overview of the Japanes...

JACI Interpreter Interview #3: Fri McWilliams

This interview of JACI-certified member Fri McWilliams took place in June 2017. - Tell us a little bit about yourself. I was born in Yamaguchi, but soon moved to Hiroshima where my parents still...