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Vol. 30, No. 3
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"Many Languages.....One Voice"
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Winter, 1999
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CCIA Loses Major Scholarship Funding
By now, I think it is well-known throughout the State that Claudio Eskenazi withdrew the funding for the Lygia Ribeiro Cintra Scholarship Fund.......
Lourdes Links
the Americas
I am one of those fortunate interpreters who has always felt that I was getting paid to have fun.......
Training Judges and Other Court Personnel
by Holly Mikkelson
University Degree Program Steams Ahead
The members of this committee met January 17th on the Queen Mary in Long Beach.
WORKING CONDITIONS:
The committee plans to survey the general membership regarding working conditions statewide.
Inside the JCIAP
by Charles Brown
The Web-Footed Interpreter
Have Web Will Travel - Part V
President's Message
First of all, let me assure you that I am grateful and honored that you have entrusted me with the leadership of the CCIA. This is an old and proud organization that can point to many accomplish-ments in terms of achieving recognition for our profession. Last year I promised to steer this organization in the proper path towards growth, fairness, more educational opportunities, better working conditions, better pay, and most of all, a greater recognition of your skills as an elite force that helps the courts of the great State of California serve non-English speaking defendants and witnesses.
I will now list for you the educational, promotional and financial achievements of CCIA during the past year:
For the first time ever, CCIA's annual conference, held in collaboration with the Santa Barbara-Ventura College of Law, offered continuing education credits to both attorneys and court interpreters. Attendance was excellent and the presentations were extremely well-received. The conference site for 1999 has already been chosen; we will meet on the campus of California State University at Long Beach.
The committee charged with developing the curriculum for a BA in Interpreting and Translation is making excellent progress. Cal State Long Beach has agreed to implement the program when it comes to fruition. See page 3 for more details.
The CCIA is also working on developing a curriculum to educate future lawyers about our profession.
Since this is a compliance year for many interpreters, CCIA will be planning several workshops for your convenience in rounding up those last few credits.
In collaboration with members from CCIA chapters around the state, over the past year we have presented four reports to the JCIAP. The San Diego chapter prepared Profile of an Interpreter Coordinator; Working Conditions was written by members from the Imperial Valley; the Monterey chapter wrote Administrative and Medical Interpreters; and the Inland Empire contributed Computer Data Information Gathering.
The new editor of The Polyglot has changed its format and added more graphics and photos.
Between the scheduled publication dates of the newsletter, we sent out four President's Updates to the general membership as major events unfolded. We also broke new ground with the production of CCIA's first promotional video. This video, which is a valuable tool to aid us in education and recruitment, can be purchased through the main office.
As you can see, we have accomplished a great deal but there is so much more to do. For example, we need to establish a stronger presence in many under-served areas of the State where as things stand now, interpreters find themselves pretty much at the mercy of the counties. We also need volunteers to raise the general public's awareness and understanding of our profession. We need to groom younger members for leadership responsibilities.
While these are all vitally important concerns, it seems to me that the most important task we have is to take responsibility for ourselves and realize that this is our profession. Chief Justice George, William Vickrey, Joseph Wong and Kate Harrison at the Judicial Council and the AOC are very nice and caring people. But they are not certified interpreters. Governor Davis, Speaker Villaraigosa and Lieutenant Governor Bustamante are very nice and caring people. But they are not certified interpreters. But... Regina Coronado, Arturo Cásarez, Charlie Brown, Richard Weatherby, Renée Veale, Mari-na Lunche, Sean Lillywhite, Lourdes Campbell, Martha Hassan, Alex Rainof, Holly Mikkelson, Olivia Johnston-Grossman, and all the rest of us CCIA members are very nice and caring people...and we are court certified interpreters. We are the ones who know best who we are and where we want to go and we are the ones that will push the hardest to achieve our goals. It is up to us to be the leaders of this profession because what we do-or don't do-will serve as guidelines for the Chief Justices, the Vickreys, the Wongs and the Gray Davises of the future.
I have a clear vision of where we are going and what the pitfalls may be, but it falls to each one of us to do their part, working to overcome membership apathy and getting people to participate "one member at a time". We cannot afford to let this profession be run by non-apathetic bureaucrats for whom interpreters, ultimately, represent little more than another line item in the budget of the Great State of California.
-Carlos Cerecedo
"It is up to us to be the leaders of our profession..."
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CCIA Loses Major Scholarship Funding
By now, I think it is well-known throughout the State that Claudio Eskenazi withdrew the funding for the Lygia Ribeiro Cintra Scholarship Fund because his 1998 investments were not as productive as he had expected. We
understand that but unfortunately our CCIA has been left holding the bag as we had told schools all over California that these funds would be available to us for the next five years. This means that students who had received scholarships last year will now be cut off in mid-program and will be unable to finish the courses they had started.
The money we had left in the fund has now been transferred to the Ely Weinstein Scholarship Fund, which has been renamed the CCIA Ely Weinstein Scholarship Fund. It still has some money in it, so we have been able to continue helping two applicants who needed to complete their studies at UCLA. Meanwhile, I am trying to locate new sources of money, primarily through the federal or state governments. It is not easy. The red tape and conditions of such funds have to be studied carefully. I plan to write to Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer in the very near future and am also investigating some private sources.
Of course, the surest and most immediate source would be the CCIA membership itself. I have thought that if every member of CCIA were to contribute $25, we would be able to continue granting scholarships, at least for this year. This plan would also allow the CCIA to set its own conditions for granting scholarships, rather than having to abide by conditions imposed by an outside grantor. Please give it some serious thought and if you can participate in this program, please send your check as soon as possible to the CCIA State Treasurer, Martha Hassan, at 16315 Amar Road, Valinda, CA 91744. The check should be made payable to the CCIA ELY WEINSTEIN SCHOLARSHIP FUND and preferably should be sent by March 30. This will allow the committee time to make decisions on scholarship grants, consistent with the schedules of the schools.
Clearly, the most important goal of granting scholarships is to see that future interpreters and translators are properly trained and equipped to pass the certification exam and to work competently in our profession.
Finally, the Scholarship Committee would like to thank our president, Carlos Cerecedo, for his pledge to donate $1,000 to the CCIA Ely Weinstein Scholarship Fund . We extend our thanks as well to Dr. Alex Rainof, who has pledged to give us 10% from the sales of his books.
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Lourdes Links
the Americas
I am one of those fortunate interpreters who has always felt that I was getting paid to have fun and, more than anything, getting paid to learn something new every day.
My assignment two weeks ago was anything but ordinary. After interviewing several people, the Catholic Diocese of Los Angeles decided to hire me to interpret for the Pope, via a satellite hookup at Cal Tech in Pasadena. The pastoral visit to Mexico was orchestrated much like any other major media event. Some advertising genius, seeing commercial tie-ins in the homonym papa, even negotiated the right to display an image of the Pope inside Sabritas potato chip bags! For the event itself, which was held outdoors in Mexico City's Estadio Azteca, a five-country satellite link of the Americas was set up to allow live simultaneous interpretation.
Peru, Argentina, Brazil, the Dominican Republic and Honduras each presented a special ceremony for the Pope in Mexico City, at Estadio Azteca. In the U.S., Cal Tech in Pasadena broadcast the program live from Mexico City to private audiences and television audiences in the United States. The program was also broadcast onto big screens in stadiums and televised to the audiences in all of these countries through my simultaneous interpretation.
We also had closed-captioned subtitles. The closed-captioning expert took my interpretation and placed the subtitles, in English, for the benefit of hearing-impaired people in all seven countries, and those who wanted to hear the live program in Spanish while reading the subtitles in English. I have no idea how the closed-captioning expert managed to write:
Blessed be our Lady of Chiquinquirá.
Blessed be our Lady of Coromoto
...and the rest of the 4 minute litany.
The songs were another challenge. I was instructed to translate all of the songs, because the hearing-impaired needed to have a text at all times. I was quite comfortable as I heard the melody to Cielito Lindo coming up since, like any good Mexican, I know the words by heart. To my surprise, I quickly realized that the words had been changed and I found myself translating the "holy version" of Cielito Lindo!
In any event, I might have just earned 1,000 days credit in Purgatory because, of course, there was no script, no preparation, no text, and no Bible in English for when someone decided to quote scriptures. No list of names of unpronounceable indigenous groups who sang and dedicated poems and songs to the Pope. Still, I thought that after the songs and dances and ceremonies, I would be home free. Although I still had two more hours to go by myself, because I don't believe they quite grasped the importance of the concept "team interpreting", the next presentation was the official speeches from all the heads of state or their representatives.
For this part of the event, I had done my homework and studied all weekend long. I had considered the possibilities of the Chiapas conflict being mentioned by the Pope to the President of Mexico I had memorized the Web site of the Archbishop's Office in Mexico City. I knew all the details of Vatican II. I had even learned to pronounce, correctly, the words, nunciate and vicar. I had learned all of the minute details of the Pope's visits to Croatia, and that the Pope had taken 218 pastoral visits abroad. That, including Italy, he had covered 1,118,130 kilometers-that is, 27 times the circumference of the earth or 2.8 times the distance between the Earth and the Moon. And that in his 720 days of traveling, he had given 3,078 speeches.
Armed with all this research and with two hours of warm-up under my belt, I felt much more confident about this job. How could I have imagined that the President of Brazil would speak three words of Spanish and then deliver a four- minute speech in Portuguese! After all, the ceremony was in Mexico City and the Archbishop's office had only arranged for one Spanish interpreter.
I was very surprised, but my high school Latin classes came to the rescue, and I was able to understand and interpret quite faithfully.
My experience illustrates that, although no one would dare ask a violinist to switch to the trombone in mid-symphony, interpreters are frequently called upon to perform under less-than-ideal circum-stances. In spite of this fact, we somehow manage to do our jobs and do them well.
Remember to study and read-read everything-for the love of learning and to improve our skills.
-Lourdes González Campbell
Life is on the wire; the rest is just waiting.
-The Flying Wallendas
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CCIA BOARD OF DIRECTORS
President:
Carlos Cerecedo
(805) 963-4483
pumacasu@aol.com
Vice-President:
Sean Lillywhite
(949) 362-2666
Fax: (949) 362-9023
prolang@home.net
Treasurer:
Martha E. Hassan
(818) 333-0027
Recording Secretary: Lourdes G. Campbell
(805) 654-0509
language@west.net
Membership Director:
Jo Ann E. Breeze
(760) 352-1637
abrisa@btbsoftware.com
CHAPTER CHAIRPERSONS
Central Coast Marina Lunche (805) 485-5789
Imperial Valley Jo Ann Breeze (760) 352-1637
Inland Empire Jeannette Borge (909) 779-0007
L.A. County Renee Veale (626) 449-1127
Monterey Bay Marta Granados (408) 424-9811
Orange County Dolores Gordon (714) 531-6300
105701.3044@compuserve.com
Fax: (714) 531-1617
Redwood Empire Genevieve Navar (707) 575-7577
Sacramento Valley Regina Coronado (916) 961-3678
interlex@worldnet.att.net
San Diego Pending (760) 635-0273
Greater Bay Area Lucy Flores (510) 426-1290
Stockton/San Joaquin Raquel Carash (209) 474-0745
DIRECTORS OF STANDING COMMITTEES
Continuing Education: Lourdes Campbell
(805) 654-0509 / language@west.net
Fees and Working Conditions: Sean Lillywhite
(949) 362-2666 / prolang@home.net
THE POLYGLOT
Polyglot Editor : Susan Greene Burris
(619) 756-6685 / FAX: (619) 756-3660
aperegrina@aol.com
Graphic Design: Chris Burris
goldborder@aol.com
Illustrations: Lance Burris
CCIA Offices
345 S.Hwy.101,Suite D, Encinitas, CA 92024
Voice mail : (760) 635-0273 FAX : (760) 635-0276
<http://www.ccia.org>
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About the CCIA
The California Court Interpreters Association (CCIA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the standards of court interpreting and furthering the interests of the profession. It was founded in 1971, and now has chapters throughout California, as well as members-at-large in many states of the Union and in other countries. Nearly 800 members provide the various court systems and the medical and business communities with expert interpreting and translating in approximately 70 languages and dialects. Membership in CCIA is open to all those employed in, interested in, or concerned with the profession of court interpreting. The fee for Active or Associate Membership is $65.00 per year. For more information, please contact the CCIA Office.
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About The Polyglot
The Polyglot is published quarterly by the California Court Interpreters Association. Its purpose is to serve the CCIA and its membership. For persons living or working in the State of California, membership in the CCIA is a requisite to regular receipt of the newsletter. The cost for non-residents of the State of California who do not work in the State is $40. The cost of a single copy is $12.
Accepted submissions become the property of the newsletter and are subject to editing for grammar, style, punctuation, and space limitations. Opinion/ Editorial pieces should be limited to 300-600 words; feature articles to 800 words. Materials selected for publication do not necessarily reflect CCIA approval or endorsement of the content. The editor heartily recommends transmission of your article by e-mail to aperegrina@aol.com. Text should be formatted for Word 97 (or earlier versions), standard text format (.txt), or read into an e-mail message. Send hard copy submissions to: Polyglot Editor, P.O. Box 2173, Rancho Santa Fe, CA 92067.
The Polyglot is funded in part by advertising which should not be construed as an endorsement of the product or service being offered.
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Training Judges and Other Court Personnel
by Holly Mikkelson
We've all heard-or worse yet, experienced-the horror stories of judges who are so ignorant about the interpreter's role that they order interpreters to explain the defendants' rights, to not interpret certain remarks to the defendant, or to make sure the defendant appears at his next court date. There are judges who are so arrogant that they refuse to slow down or speak up or grant a recess when so requested by an interpreter. Other judges are so unaware of language issues that they say things like, "Don't interpret, just translate what he's saying word for word," or "I don't care if you don't know what the word means, just translate it."
And let's not forget the court clerks who ask the victim's daughter to interpret for the defendant when the certified interpreter is busy in another courtroom. We've also heard of coordinators who won't try to find an indigenous language interpreter because the defendant "looks just like all those Mexicans, has a Spanish name, and is just trying to scam the court by pretending to speak some dialect". Many of us have dealt with district attorneys who refuse to allow the interpreter to conduct a pre-testimony interview with a key witness or the public defenders who won't let the interpreter see the case file to prepare for trial. Granted, not everyone we work with is this intolerant and narrow-minded, but plenty of people in the judicial system are.
Dealing with ignorance
We may not be able to do anything about the arrogance or bigotry of courtroom personnel, but we can do something about the ignorance. In fact, many efforts are under way to educate judges, court administrators, interpreter coordinators, and attorneys so that they will know how to work effectively with interpreters. Bill Hewitt of the National Center for State Courts began presenting training for court personnel several years ago, drawing on the experiences of experts such as Robert Joe Lee of New Jersey and Joanne Moore of Washington. In 1997, he wrote a sourcebook titled Managing Language Problems: A Court Interpreting Education Program for Judges, Lawyers, and Court Managers (ISBN 0-89656-177-1), which can be used by anyone giving a presentation on working with interpreters. The NCSC also published a special issue of State Court Journal on court interpreting in 1996 (Vol. 20 No. 1) which includes articles by judges for judges (just in case they won't listen to anyone else) about managing interpreted cases effectively.
The subject of court interpreting is attracting more interest among academics and professional jour-nals as well, as evidenced by the article in the New England Law Review by Judge Charles Grabau and Llewellyn Gibbons (Vol. 30, No. 2, Winter 1996), and the special issue of the journal Forensic Linguistics that will be devoted entirely to court interpreting.
At last, we court interpreters have moved beyond the phase of standing up at our own meetings and expressing the vain hope that "someone" would educate the bar and the bench about what we do. Not only are judges and other legal specialists beginning to spread the word among their colleagues that court interpreting is a subject worth studying, but they are inviting interpreters to give presentations at national conferences attended by the movers and shakers of their professions.
For example, in 1995 I was asked to address the annual meeting of the Conference of Chief Justices and the Conference of State Court Administrators. I was able to tell a captive audience of supreme court justices and court administrators from all over the country just what it is that court interpreters do and, more importantly, what they need. I've since given similar presentations to judges, attorneys, and court administrators in Hawaii, Alaska, and California. I know several colleagues who have done the same in other states.
What does a typical training session involve? The most effective way to jolt these jaded judicial professionals out of their complacency is to make them try
a little interpreting themselves. That can be done even with a monolingual audience by using examples of English jargon from other fields (for example, putting a page from a computer manual or a medical journal up on an overhead and asking them to explain what it means, and when they fail, saying "But you speak English, don't you?"). Another very effective exercise is shadowing, i.e., having every member of the audience attempt to repeat an English passage on an arcane subject as it's being read aloud at a rapid pace. Judge Lance Ito, who also does a lot of judges' training, likes to use a video clip from a Shakespeare play for this purpose. He uses another video clip, this one a very compelling scene from the movie "Midnight Express," to put the audience in the
shoes of someone being prosecuted in a foreign country in a language he doesn't understand.
In addition to a shadowing exercise, the Hewitt book recommends a memory exercise to give the audience an idea of what consecutive interpreting is all about. Showing segments of a typical interpreting exam is also helpful for informing the audience of how difficult it is to become a certified interpreter, and presenting statistics on the low pass rates indicates how few bilinguals possess the necessary skills. The Hewitt book has a whole set of overhead transparencies that can be used for this purpose. Other issues that can be brought up are health and security issues, team interpreting, use of equipment, tape transcription, and managing interpreting services.
When I've given these training sessions at conferences where there are multiple sessions to choose from, the audience tends to consist of people who are already interested in and concerned about court interpreting, so I find myself preaching to the choir. Still, if I can give them some ideas about educating their colleagues, I feel that I've accomplished something. I always include a bibliography in the materials that I hand out in case they want to read further.
If attendance at the session on interpreting is mandatory, I find that I must persuade many skeptics in the audience, but by the end of the session most of
them seem convinced that interpreting is not just a legal technicality that will go away if they ignore it hard enough. What is most heartening is when individuals come up to me afterwards and say, "I had no idea interpreting was such a complex task! When I go back to my court, I'm going to meet with our interpreters and staff and see what we can do to improve the situation."
I've also had judges express shock that no interpreter ever told them about problems of audibility, speed, fatigue, or unintelligible jargon. "If only I'd known... It's such a crucial issue, why don't they say anything?" I point out that many court interpreters, myself included, are so intimidated by the black robe and the high bench that they don't dare interrupt the proceedings to make any special requests. This is just more evidence of the fact that we interpreters have an obligation to speak up and let our needs be known, rather than waiting for others to notice that something is wrong. So the next time you have an opportunity to talk to a judge, attorney, or court administrator about interpreting issues, let them know about these resources and offer to give a presentation at an upcoming meeting. If everyone does it, word will spread like wildfire.
"At last we court interpreters have moved beyond...expressing the vain hope that 'someone' would educate the bar and the bench about what we do."
"The most effective way to jolt these jaded judicial professionals out of their complacency is to make them try a little interpreting themselves."
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University Degree Program Steams Ahead
The members of this committee met January 17th on the Queen Mary in Long Beach. After welcoming Deborah Berry from CCIA's San Diego Chapter as a new member of the committee, the discussion turned first to the group's mission statement. It was agreed that the committee's stated purpose would be to develop an ideal curriculum for a four-year degree program leading to a Bachelor's degree in Translation and Interpretation. This curriculum would then be submitted to California State University at Long Beach.
The decision to offer a Bachelor's degree, rather than a Master's, was based on several observations by members of the committee. Many of the curricula that were collected and reviewed, particularly from sources abroad, focus on offering this type of program to graduate students. However, this group felt that it might prove difficult at the outset to find enough students with both the necessary skills and the academic background to justify launching a graduate program. The difficulty of finding enough teachers was also cited as a concern. Laying the foundation now with studies leading to the BA will furnish a foundation for a graduate program at some future date.
Joseph Wong, who represents the Judicial Council on this committee, stated that a four-year program may eventually become a prerequisite for taking the state certification exam. At present, it is envisioned that candidates may enroll in the program with the objective of passing the exam.
The committee spent a lot of time discussing the necessity for effective screening of the candidates for admission to the program. Alex Rainof outlined three possible approaches to evaluating candidates. These included a series of entrance exams lasting as long as a week; a gatekeeper course which the candidate must pass in order to be admitted to the program; or a requirement that candidates submit transcripts, along with a taped statement and a short autobiographical statement in the student's second language.
Lourdes Campbell suggested that perhaps the CCIA might administer a 'gatekeeper' program.
Holly Mikkelson, Olivia Johnston, Alex Rainof and Deborah Berry agreed to work together on the general structure of the program. Their priorities are to articulate the philosphy and rationale for the program; establish an effective screening process for program candidates; and develop core requirements for the major. The target date for completing these tasks is June of this year. They expect to have made significant progress on defining the program's philosophy and rationale and developing a screening method by March.
Before concluding the meeting, Committee Chair Richard Weatherby asked Joseph Wong if the Judicial Council might allow the subcommittee to communicate via the JC's constant conference lines, as CCIA is not in a position to underwrite this expense. Joseph Wong did not feel that this would present any problem.
The next meeting of this committee will be after the JCIAP meeting on March 13th in Long Beach.
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Legislature Approves Judicial Council Funding Request for Court Interpreters
The Judicial Council of California, the policymaking body of the California court system, today took a significant first step toward establishing uniform statewide rates for court interpreters.
As of January 4, 1999, the rates in most counties will be $200 per day and $105 per half-day. This represents an 11 percent increase for many urban counties, such as Alameda, Marin, Sacramento, San Bernardino, and San Francisco, and is a higher percentage in-crease for many rural counties that were previously below the Judicial Council-recommended rate of $180 per day and $90 per half-day. The full-day rate in Los Angeles County will be $230, a 9.5 percent increase, while Orange County's will be $206, a 5 percent increase.
"The availability of professional interpreter services is fundamental to ensuring equal access for California's trial courts," stated Chief Justice Ronald M. George. "This is an important first step in the Judicial Council's effort to establish uniform rates that will attract and fully compensate highly skilled interpreters who are needed in every court in the state."
The Judicial Council's objective for this initial increase is to provide rate increases for most interpreters while significantly reducing the number of different pay levels. Rates previously had been set locally, which resulted in 20 different rates among 58 counties, ranging from $114 to $210 per day. Uniform rates allow local courts to draw upon the limited pool of interpreters to serve in as many counties as possible, based upon need.
"This is a long overdue step toward ensuring the availability of the skills of a highly demanding profession that are essential to our system of justice," said William C. Vickrey, Administrative Director of the Courts. "This increase is not a complete or perfect solution for meeting the needs of the public, courts, and interpreters, but it is significant progress. It is a critical but necessary step in an effort to establish uniform rates that fairly compensate these highly skilled professional interpreters as con-tractors who do not receive benefits or a guarantee of daily employment. We hope the Judicial Council's pending request to move all interpreter rates to approx-imately $250 per day will be approved next July."
This article was excerpted from a news release published on the State of California's website at:
<www.courtinfo.ca.gov./newsreleases>
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Poly Update!
On February the 16th, a teleconference was held with Anthony Williams, a lobbyist for the Judicial Council who works with legislators to secure funding for various court programs. He told us that "next to trial court funding, court interpreting was the very next priority" before court modernization and jury fees. Mr. Williams assured us that everything possible is being done to obtain the funding.
Representatives from the three major interpreter organizations are working together lobbying legislators in Sacramento for funding needed to increase interpreters' rates to $250 per day.
-Sean Lillywhite
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California Gold:
250/150 or Bust!
The Fees and Working Conditions committee met at Long Beach the weekend of January 16th and 17th to set up its goals for the coming months. CCIA Vice President, Sean Lillywhite, doubling as this committee's chair, sends the following update to the membership:
FEES:
The committee agreed to seek uniform per diem rates statewide at $250 full day, $150 half day. Although the raise approved by the Judicial Council on December 29th was well-received by many interpreters, the rates have not yet been equalized throughout the state and therefore are inherently inequitable. Contact your local representative and let him/her know of your interest in securing adequate funding to support court interpreting. Equal access to the courts is at stake. When the more competent and qualified interpreters can earn more in Federal Court and the private sector, the State courts are left with a "get anybody you can" attitude, and equal access suffers. Current rates are not sufficient to attract competent, qualified interpreters in all languages.
The committee also plans to recommend that the Judicial Council withhold funding from counties that are not in full compliance with its requirements, i.e., using certified interpreters only in the 8 certifiable languages, registered interpreters only in the non-certifiable languages and following the 'good cause' procedures for all exceptions.
Other objectives formulated are to keep close tabs on the budget process and to work closely with BACI and CFI towards our common objective of increased rates. The committe is also working on establishing an effective means of communicating among committee members as well as the general membership. I recommend at least biweekly contact among all members of the committee, along with frequent updates for the general membership.
The committee agreed to re-commend, for the present, that additional fee considerations be worked out at the local level. Each county may have unique circumstances requiring adjust-ment to the basic fees. These considerations may include the following: mileage, parking, overtime and night court. Special per diem compensation, such as two half-day rates if the interpreter is reassigned to a different justice center or if one interpreter interprets in two different languages, may also be appropriate. Unusual cases might also justify rates higher than the minimum service level established by the Judicial Council. Local market pressures will be the dominant factor in these cases.
Our colleagues, particularly Renée Veale in Los Angeles and Regina Coronado in Sacramento, have been tremendously helpful in providing information and giving us the benefit of their experience in the highly successful contract negotiations in their areas. Other counties, such as Orange County, will soon begin a new contracting process. Many of the ideas put forth by these women, working in collaboration with CFI and others, will be put to the test.
WORKING CONDITIONS:
The committee plans to survey the general membership regarding working conditions statewide. Regina Coronado and Genevieve Navar offered to collaborate on the survey, which may be presented at the March CIAP.
One issue that has not been addressed by any of the existing contracts is the question of personal safety. Jim Herman, a Santa Barbara labor attorney and President of the Santa Barbara Bar Association, advised the CCIA that " interpreters have the right to expect that precautions are taken to ensure their personal safety in the marketplace and that these issues should be put on the record in case someone does get hurt." He further observed that this is the sort of policy that should be set at the state level.
Second to the matter of personal safety is perhaps the issue of a grievance procedure regarding interpreter matters. Many interpreters complain of having been wronged by the courts and have had no recourse to address the situation. This is extremely ironic, considering the nature of the courts!
Beyond these issues, the committee could pursue preparing a practical guide on working conditions for interpreters and court personnel alike. Many of these conditions were sited in the committee's first report, dated July 8,1998. Other matters to be taken up are issues regarding the California Rules of Court and the Standards of Judicial Administration.
-Sean Lillywhite
Current rates are not sufficient to attract competent, qualified interpreters in all languages.
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Inside the JCIAP
by Charles Brown
By now every certified interpreter in the State of California is aware that the request for deficiency funding request to raise the rates for per diem interpreters throughout the State was approved and underwritten as of January 1st 1999. This interim pay rate adjustment has been accomplished through the admirable efforts and the support of Mr. Vickrey, of the Judicial Council, as well as the Hon. Judge Lance Ito, the chairperson of the Court Interpreters Advisory Panel, and the representatives of the interpreters associations. They should all be heartily commended by our professional community.
At the December 12th CIAP meeting, the CCIA president, Carlos Cerecedo gave a copy of the videotape produced for the CCIA Annual Conference in Santa Barbara to Judge Ito and to Joseph Wong. He further asked that uniformity of working conditions be established throughout the State in providing working environment guidelines to the Courts.
Present at the meeting and giving a presentation to the Advisory Panel were Dr. Alexander Rainof, professor of the Interpreting and Translating Program at California State University at Long Beach as well as Dr. Frank Fata, Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, CSU Long Beach. They gave an overview of a proposed four-year program in interpreting and translating at that University. When this program is established, it will be the first of its kind in the country. The CCIA is taking an active participation in the establishment of this four-year Bachelor of Arts program.
As a reminder to all of you on-line, the Court Interpreters Program has an on-line service Web site. The address is:
www.courtinfo.ca.gov/programs/courtinterpreters
Please feel free to access this Web site for further information. There is a separate page for examination information, and the CIAP staff is working on updating the content. The Master List of Certified Court and Registered Interpreters is in the final stages of completion, and the final product should be up on the Web in the near future.
The next meeting of the Court Interpreters Advisory Panel is set for March 13, 1999 in Long Beach. I would hope that each of you in the Southern California area plan to attend. I always welcome information and input from all our members. I can be reached at (619) 299-5779, or even better, on the internet at cdbpeabody@aol.com.
Charlie Brown, a staff interpreter in the San Diego Superior Court, is the CCIA repre-sentative on the JCIAP.
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CCIA Members
Work for You!
With the recent addition of Kern County's Lorenzo Hur-tado, there are now 9 CCIA members serving on the JCIAP. Lorenzo joins our 8 other colleagues on the panel who have all given unstintingly of their time and energy to improve conditions for judic-iary interpreters throughout the state. Thanks to Richard Weatherby, Charlie Brown, Olivia Johnston-Grossman, Ana María Schneiderman, Mary So, Cecilia Isaacs, Jacki Noh, Arturo Cásarez and, of course, Lorenzo for their dedication to serving our profession!
-Editor
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The Web-Footed Interpreter
Have Web Will Travel - Part V
As has been seen in the previous four Polyglot articles dealing with paremiology, proverbs occupy an important place in language. Because of the authority and immediacy they carry, both didactically and morally, they are widely used in order to convince, to manipulate, to condition, and thus to produce various forms of behavior or action. Attorneys use them to convince jury panels, advertisers use them to sell products, politicians to sell themselves and their agendas, psychiatrists to evaluate patients. Lenin used proverbs in his speeches, as did Hitler in Mein Kampf.
Other Western politicians have also used proverbs extensively. For more on this subject, the interested reader is referred to Dr. Wolfgang Mieder's articles in the electronic journal of international proverb studies, De Proverbio. This Web site can be accessed at http://info.utas.edu.au.docs/flonta. It also contains numerous articles on the subject of paremiology written by Professors Shirley Arora, Teodor Flonta, and Archer Taylor.
However, from the translator's and interpreter's point of view, source language proverbs can only be translated by analogous proverbs in
the target language, proverbs that often are equivalent, yet very different in wording and imagery. As there is many a slip between the source proverb and the target language equivalent, they provide an excellent tool to evaluate the degree of bilingualism of the translator or interpreter, as well as an important method of training translators and interpreters. To illustrate this point, try to guess the English equivalents for the following proverbs from around the world. The equivalents will be given at the end of this article.
Japanese Expressions
1. Not speaking is the flower
2. Poke a bush, a snake comes out
3. Ten people, ten colors
4. A coin to a cat
5. Breaking wind, closing buttocks
6. The reverse side also has a reverse side
We must also remember that, from a linguistic point of view, proverbs are both high and low register utterances. Thus they have the authority of catechism, or legal or ritual utterances. They are high register due to their unchanging form and longevity, yet often low register in terms of their lexicon and syntax. The best proverbs, however, impart so much wisdom, in such a condensed and striking form, that they have the beauty and power of a haiku poem. Here are some of my favorites from around the world:
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All sunshine makes the desert. Arab proverb
An army of sheep lead by a lion would defeat an army of lions led by a sheep. Arab proverb
Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow. Swedish proverb
Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors. African proverb
A tree never hits a car except in self defense. American proverb
When you throw dirt, you lose ground. Texan proverb
Never squat with your spurs on. Texan proverb
The most beautiful of asses is but an ass, though laden with gold and silver. Rumanian proverb
Like a dog needs pockets. Russian proverb
Words must be weighed, not counted. Polish proverb
Even a clock that does not work is right twice a day.
Polish proverb
God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers. Jewish proverb
For Japanese proverbs with English equivalents and links to other Asian and European proverbs, go to Nihon-no-Kotowaza at:
<http://www.geocities.com/tokyo/4220/kotowaza.html>
When searching the Web for paremiological information, look under
proverbial expressions, not proverbs (which generally will access biblical references to Proverbs).
Now, for the English equivalents to the literal translations of proverbs 1-6:
1. Silence is golden
2. Let sleeping dogs lie
3. Different strokes for different folks
4. Pearls before swine
5. No use shutting the stable door after the
horse has bolted.
6. There are two sides to every story.
The Web-Footed Interpreter would be most grateful to all of you if you were to share any useful URLs you may have discovered. We will try to include them in the Web-Footed Interpreter column, and will most assuredly give you
credit for your con-tribution. Please send information or any questions you may have to:
Dr. Alexander Rainof
2835 Colorado Avenue, Santa Monica, CA 90404
<arainof@ucla.edu> or <arainof@csulb.edu>
Fax: (310) 828-4911.
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CHAPTER NEWS & VIEWS
Orange County
Orange County's CCIA Chapter recently held elections for new officers. Although the results have not yet been completely tabulated, observers of the Orange County scene predict the following slate will be installed:
Chair: Dolores Gordon
Vice Chair: Fanny Kraiem
Corresponding Secretary: Louise Snell
Recording Secretary: Joe Hernandez
Treasurer: Blanca Gaona
The Polyglot asked Ms. Gordon for a few comments on her election. She replied that one reason she felt that her name had been proposed was "because I don't have any problem telling people what I think is right or wrong. This, I was told, is what we need to improve our profession in general. Hopefully, members will under-stand that I try always to solve the problem and not pick on anyone in particular." There is no doubt that Orange County's new chair is a sharp observer of the linguistic pitfalls that await the unwary interpreter. In this piece, she demonstrates that even in the most innocuous of settings, the Spanish interpreter's task may not be "as simple as ABC".
"State your full name and please spell your last name..."
Here, the Spanish-speaking witness will either "pronounce" his name slowly, separating and enunciating each syllable, or will actually spell both his first and last name, or only his last name (if he or she really "listened" to the question). Even though Spanish-speakers do not learn Spelling as a school subject, because of the phonetic nature of the language, we'll assume that our witness responded correctly as follows:
"Me llamo Juan Caverna, CE - A -UVE - E - ERRE -ENE- A." Then, the interpreter inadvertently repeats: "My name is Juan Caverna, C-A-U-V-E-R-N-A", as the interpreter is used to calling the letter V a VE, instead of UVE. Not hearing the fast enunciation of this witness' UVE for V, instead of the slow U-V for these two letters, the interpreter has transformed this witness' origins into Portuguese, and has also caused the record to be incorrect...
These are a few names I have heard for some of the letters in the Spanish alphabet-written to be pronounced in Spanish:
B
be, be grande, be alta, be de burro
C
ce (Castillian pronunciation); se
CH
ce hache, se hache, che
F
efe, fe
I
i, i latina
LL
elle, ele doble, doble ele, dos eles, ele ele
Ñ
eñe, ñe
R
erre, ere
RR
erre doble, dos erres, erre-erre, errre
V
uve, ve, ve valona/baja/corta/chica/de vaca
WW
uve doble, doble ve, doble u, u valona
Y
i griega, ye
Z
zeta, zeda, tze
Now, when the witness misspells his or her own name... that is something else I am not going to bother you about today!
-Dolores Gordon
Inland Empire
Everyone from the Inland Empire sends their thanks for all the hard work that went into obtaining our pay raise. A special thank-you goes to our president for his dedication and perseverance. Needless to say, everyone is very happy and grateful.
Although matters in this area are proceeding fairly smoothly, interpreters here continue to experience problems with the incompetence of the calendar coordinators. These people are merely overworked clerks who apparently feel that they already have too much on their plates without having to deal with scheduling court interpreters on top of everything else. They lack any understanding at all that the calendar must be rotated for job fairness. It is unbelievable that we interpreters had to have a judge come in to tell the coordinators how to manage the calendar in two of the most heavily-used courtrooms, in order to make the most efficient use of the interpreters' time. The treasurer of this CCIA chapter, who does calendar coordinating for a local agency, also gave them some tips. It is obvious that the Judicial Council must implement the steps they had said they were going to take in the naming of true inter-preter-friendly calendar coordinators.
We also continue to struggle with the court administration's practice of calling 'provisional interpreters' even when there are both state-certified and federal interpreters available to work. Olivia Johnston met with an executive officer of the Riverside County Superior Courts to discuss this issue. She pointed out that these 'provisional' interpreters were qualified in 1995 by an incompetent 'bilingual panel', supposedly for a six-month period while they prepared for certification. Those of us who are certified have had to put up ever since with the resulting 'list' which, for all practical purposes, consists of 1 or 2 interpreters who are still working in the courts, although they never have passed the state certification test. Not only are they being called, but they are being assigned to trials while certified interpreters work in traffic matters. Olivia suggested to this official that instead of allowing this practice to continue, which is in violation of the mandates of the Judicial Council, that the IN-110 and IN-120 forms be used. This would bring in truly qualified interpreters who have been form-ally trained and who are seriously pursuing certification. The official told Olivia that he would do away with the 'provisional' programs immediately and look into implementing the IN-110 and IN-120 forms. We are hopeful that the real change will come when the 'good cause clause' is abolished and when the CPS can actually improve the passing rate of candidates for certification.
On to some really good news! Olivia Johnston, who teaches at UC Riverside Extension, tells us that the powers that be at UCR have scheduled a meeting with her, the head of the Spanish department, and the Dean of Humanities to begin the planning and implementation of a program that will offer a bachelor's degree in interpreting. We are very excited to know that at long last, the universities have begun to realize the importance of our profession.
-Jeannette Borge
Los Angeles County
I would like to address the continuing practice of allowing interpreters who are neither registered nor certified to work in the California courts.
In researching this article, I learned that all interpreters of non-certified languages who work in the Los Angeles courts have been informed that they must register with the Judicial Council. The requirements for registration include an all-English examination, the six-hour Ethics Workshop, and a minimum of 30 units of continuing education every two years.
I work as a certified Spanish court intepreter in Los Angeles County. For the most part, Los Angeles has set an example in the correct use of interpreters. That is, no non-certified Spanish language interpreters are working at present in the courtroom. I am aware of a few provisionally-qualified OTS interpreters of other certified languages working through 'good cause'. However, my main concern in writing this article is to focus on the problem of those interpreters who, although they are required to register, have not done so. Not only do they continue to work; they are often given choice assignments to boot-often taking precedence over their registered colleagues who have complied with the Judicial Council's mandates.
Obviously, this is inherently unfair. I am sure that there are many among us, both certified and registered, who would not have bothered to comply either, if we had also been able to keep working without having to take the 'blasted exam', give up another day to take the Ethics Workshop and complete those thirty units of continuing education.
Judges in Los Angeles and their clerks know that Spanish language interpreters have to be state-certified. However, they, along with their colleagues statewide, must be educated about the State of Cali-fornia's require-ments for other interpreters working in both non-certified and certified languages. Government Code 68561 clearly states:
(a): Except for good cause as provided in subdivision [c] any person who interprets in a court proceeding using a language designated by the Judicial Council under subdivision [a] of Section 68562 shall be a certified court interpreter as defined in Section 68566 for the language used.
And in the same Government Code 68561 [d]:
Any person who interprets in a court proceeding using a language not designated by the Judicial Council shall be qualified under the qualification procedures and guidelines adopted by the Judicial Council.
How many judges and clerks are really aware of these Government Code guidelines? I suspect that many, if not most, blindly trust that the interpreter assigned to them by the interpreter assign-ment office meets the established requirements. However, it is common knowledge that there are many judges who deliberately ignore these requirements.
It is high time that the Judicial Council show some backbone and teeth, and take action regarding this problem.
I will be addressing the Judicial Council Advisory Panel on this issue at our next meeting. I welcome and invite any com-ments, examples or suggestions that you may have to help me prepare my presentation. Please send them to me in writing at LACC, P.O. Box 90812, Pasadena, CA 91109-0812 before March 5, 1999.
-Renée Veale
"...at long last the universities have begun to realize the importance of our profession."
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CCIA CALENDAR
MARCH 6
Social Services for
Hispanic Clients
Sacramento area
6 CIMCE credits
(916) 961-3678
MARCH 13
JCIAP Meeting
Westin Hotel
Long Beach, CA
MARCH 20
Court Interpreting Ethics
and Techniques
Santa Barbara Superior Court
Free (no CIMCE credits)
MARCH 20
"American Pie"
Morning Workshop
3 CIMCE credits
Imperial Valley Chapter
El Centro, CA
(760) 352-1637
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Social Services for Hispanic Clients:
The Role of the Interpreter
SATURDAY, MARCH 6, 1999
9 AM to 4 PM
6 hours of CIMCE credits applied for
Learn new facts, apply new vocabulary, join in heated bilingual discussions, watch dramatic videos, share a delicious lunch and compete to win a prize.
Carol N. Meredith, Ph.D., Spanish-English interpreter certified by the U.S Department of Justice and the California Judicial Council, has prepared this full day course for court interpreters, administrative interpreters, and translators working for social services.
Objective
Improve communication between government agency employees (Courts, WIC, schools, Immigration, etc.) and their Spanish-speaking clients, by understanding demographics, cultural values, economic problems, immigration issues and current trends. Improve translation skills by acquiring specialized vocabulary, such as terms used in law, psychology, social services.
Location in the Sacramento Area
To register, mail this form and your check made out to Sacramento Valley CCIA, to:
Sacramento Valley CCIA, P.O. Box 1365, Sacramento, CA 95812
Fee: Members of CCIA: $60.00
Non-members of CCIA: $75.00
Your fee covers the course, syllabus (including glossary) and lunch on site.
DEADLINE: February 28, 1999.
(After 2-28-1999, add $20 to the registration fee)
Non-vegetarian Vegetarian
For more information contact Regina Coronado at (916) 961-3678
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Prison Vs. Work
In Prison: You spend most of your time in an 8x10 cell.
At Work: You spend most of your time in a
6 x 8 cubicle.
In Prison: You get time off for good behavior.
At Work: You get rewarded for good behavior with more work.
In Prison: A guard locks and unlocks all the doors for you.
At Work: You must carry around a security card and lock and unlock the doors yourself.
In Prison: You can watch TV and play games.
At Work: You get fired for watching TV and
playing games.
In Prison: You get your own toilet.
At Work: You have to share.
In Prison: You spend most of your life looking through bars from the inside, wanting to get out.
At Work: You spend most of your time wanting to get out and go inside bars.
In Prison: There are wardens who are often sadistic.
At Work: Such people are called managers.
Thanks to Richard Weatherby, Web-surfer extraordinaire.