the northwest linguist - notis.wildapricot.org · to give a special thank you to those mem-bers who...

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IIIIINSIDENSIDENSIDENSIDENSIDETHISTHISTHISTHISTHIS I I I I ISSUESSUESSUESSUESSUE

3 NOTIS and WITS Notes

4 Letter from the WITS

President

4 Interpretation Ethics

Debate

5 The Magic of WASCLA

6 Go Global, Be Local: A

New Alliance

7 “Start Behaving like a

Business”

9 Meeting Our Members

10 NOTIS Election for 2010:

Candidate Statement

11 Cultural Corner

12 WITS-NOTIS Holiday

Party

13-14 Events Calendar

Volume 23 No.4, Fall 2009Volume 23 No.4, Fall 2009Volume 23 No.4, Fall 2009Volume 23 No.4, Fall 2009Volume 23 No.4, Fall 2009

THE NTHE NTHE NTHE NTHE NORORORORORTHWESTHWESTHWESTHWESTHWEST LINT LINT LINT LINT LINGUISGUISGUISGUISGUISTTTTT

Letter from the NOTIS PresidentBy Laura A. Wideburg

How fast the year has gone by! Now Iam finally feeling like a President, and haveone more year to go before my six-yearNOTIS Board term expires.

I am happy to say that our PortlandSeminars and our Translation Day eventswere both great successes! The programcommittee and I would like to continueto increase our offerings of programs toour membership, and if you have any ideasfor seminars, feel free to contact me orthe Program Directors. Also, I would liketo give a special thank you to those mem-bers who took the effort to tell me howmuch they enjoyed my literary transla-tion seminar in Portland. This was myfirst seminar offering, and I was pleasedby your turn-out, your questions and yourfeedback. The Program committee willbe considering a repeat in the Seattle areafor those who missed it!

Our Annual meeting and ATA recapwill be held on November 21st (See de-tails elsewhere in this newsletter) so besure to come and share your ideas. (Thereare no ballot items for the annual meet-ing. Members running for the Board havebeen chosen by acclamation, as providedby our revised By-Laws in cases wherethere are no competing candidates).

I am also very excited by our co-operation with the World Trade CenterTacoma, which can increase the access ofquality translation to our local businesscommunity! Look for Katrin Rippel’s ar-ticle elsewhere in this Newsletter andcontact her to get involved.

Finally, each year brings transition,and this year I want to thank CristinaPaget, our outgoing Treasurer, for her fan-tastic work making sure our books bal-ance. I also want to thank AndreaBrugman, a solid and dependable Vice-President, who also is leaving the NOTISBoard. Your years of service to NOTIShave been much appreciated.

And last but not least, so long to my“Partner President”, Kenny Barger, whohas served WITS long and well. I enjoyedlearning to be President by often callingmy colleague, and together we have con-tinued to bring increased levels of co-operation and friendship between WITSand NOTIS.

I am looking forward to seeing you atthe Annual Meeting and the HolidayParty! Vi ses!

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Northwest Translators and Interpreters SocietyA chapter of the

American Translators Association

OFFICERS

President Laura Wideburg

Vice-President Andrea Brugman

Treasurer Cristina Paget

Secretary Kathryn German

COMMITTEES

Directory Caitilin Walsh

Membership Rosa Bendezú Allen

Program Andrea BrugmanJamie Lucero

ATA Certification Jean Leblon(425) 778-9889

Outreach Faiza SultanKatrin Rippel

SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS

Chinese SIG Michelle LeSourd(206) 764-8909

Medical SIG Renée PalermoCristina Paget

OFFICE MANAGER

Jonas Nicotra

The Northwest Linguist is published in February, May, August, and

November. Letters to the Editor, short articles of interest, and

information for the calendar and other sections are invited. Please send

submissions to Editor at [email protected]. Submissions

become the property of The Northwest Linguist and are subject to

editing unless otherwise agreed in advance. Opinions expressed are

those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the

Editor, the Society, or its Board.

Editor Laura Wideburg

Layout Rosa Bendezú Allen

Production Rosa Bendezú Allen

Deadlinenext issue January 15, 2010

NOTE: Subscriptions for non-members are $12.00 a year. Send

a check, payable to NOTIS, 1037 NE 65th Street, # 107, Seattle,

WA 98115

NOTIS Membership FeesIndividual & Institutional $35.00 a yearCorporate $50.00 a year

For membership information write to: NOTIS,

1037 NE 65th Street, #107, Seattle WA 98115 USAor call: NOTIS Voice Mail (206) 701-9183.Email: [email protected]: www.notisnet.org

For information on the ATA contact225 Reinekers Lane, Suite 590Alexandria, VA 22314Tel: (703) 683-6100 Fax: (703) 683-6122Email: [email protected] Website: www.atanet.org

WITS Board of Directors/Chairs

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Kenneth Barger, [email protected]

Barbara Hua Robinson, Vice-President,Programs Co-Chair

[email protected]

Jesse Acosta, [email protected]

Eugenia Munday, Membership [email protected]

Sheila Harrington, Treasurer, [email protected], [email protected]

Vania Haam, Board [email protected]

Kamal Abou-Zaki, Board [email protected]

Veronica Barber, Board [email protected]

Hernan Navas-Rivas, Board [email protected]

Ferdinand Vélez, Board [email protected]

Marta Reyes, Eastern Washington [email protected]

COMMITTEE CHAIRS AND OFFICERS

Claudia A’Zar, Advocacy Chair, PR &Outreach Committee [email protected]

Nicole Lee, Hospitality [email protected]

Diana Meredith, Email [email protected]

Julie Bryan, PR/Outreach Committee [email protected]

Alicia Lanzner, Programs [email protected]

Ellen Whiting, Newsletter [email protected]

OFFICE MANAGER

Christina [email protected]

The Northwest Linguist is published quarterly by the Washing-ton State Court Interpreters & Translators Society, PO Box1012, Seattle, WA 98111-1012.

Our voicemail telephone number is (206) 382-5690.

WITS has a Web page which can be visited at www.witsnet.org.

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NOTIS Notes WITS Notes

New MembersHarumi Branch

Anthony Brown Spanish < > English

Norma Candia English > Spanish

Maria Concordia

Teresa Suarez Cronin

Anne Dumoulin

Helen Eby English < > Spanish

Allison Howard

Teresa Ramon Joffre English > Spanish

Cristina Klatovsky English < > SpanishGerman > English

Gabrielle Knight Portuguese < > English

Loan Nguyen-Phan

Ionela Popescu Romanian < > EnglishFrench < > EnglishSpanish > English

Italian > English

Jared Prost-Hughart

Faiza Sultan

Khushdev Tiwana

Ine-Marie Van Dam French < > EnglishDutch > EnglishGerman > English

Spanish > English

New MembersCristina Bravo de Rueda Spanish

Anne Crawford Spanish

Noland A. Edwards Marshallese

Takashi Hashimoto Japanese

Galina Korotkova Russian

Larisa Kulinich Russian

Rejoining MembersDimitri Balashov Russian

Maria Uribe-Dopps Spanish

Rejoining MembersChristopher Schindler Japanese > English

Portuguese > EnglishRussian > EnglishFrench > English

German > English

Sarah Ellen Curtis Spanish > English

Norma Fender Spanish < > English

JokeboxLanguage DivideA Swiss man, looking for directions, pulls up ata bus stop where two Americans are waiting. “Entschuldigung, koennen Sie Deutschsprechen?” he asks.The two Americans just stare at him. “Excusez-moi, parlez vous Francais?” hetries.The two continue to stare. “Parlare Italiano?”No response. “Hablan ustedes español?”Still nothing.The Swiss guy drives off, extremely disgusted.The first American turns to the second andsays, “Y’know, maybe we should learn aforeign language.”“Why?” says the other. “That guy knew fourlanguages, and it didn’t do him any good.”

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I have just returned from the WASCLA Summit V.This two-day conference was held on the WashingtonState University Riverpoint Campus in Spokane. It waswell attended by colleagues from all around the state, aswell as professionals from many other related fields.

The quality of the panels and presentations seems tobe steadily improving with each summit. Each panel wasrelevant and stimulating. There were presentations oncolloquial expressions, ethics, language access in mentalhealth, and much more. WASCLA is upping the ante, andit is gratifying to see this evolution. See Lorane West’sarticle elsewhere in this issue to read more about thisevent.

WASCLA is currently in the process of formalizingits existence, and meantime, with the current economicsituation, many sources of funding have ceased to exist.WITS was called on to support this summit in a biggerway this year than in past years, with financial sponsor-ship as well as some administrative assistance. I am gladthat we were able to contribute in this way to what Iconsider to have been a very successful event.

Letter from the WITS PresidentBy Kenneth Barger

Continues on page 8

This year, WITS and WASCLA have done moreprograms east of the mountains than in the past. This isterrific and should continue; however, we must not ne-glect our constituents in the west either. Many memberswill be pleased to know that next year, the WASCLASummit will be held in Seattle.

Turning to the future, WITS will be sponsoring sev-eral more events before the end of the year. We haveeducational workshops on November 14 and November22, in Shoreline and SeaTac, respectively. And as per thecustom, we will hold the Holiday Party with NOTIS onDecember 12. Don’t miss it!

Finally, as the year draws to a close, it is time to thinkabout renewing your membership. You will find a re-newal form elsewhere in this issue. Please take a momentto renew now, and consider taking advantage of the dis-counted price for renewing both your WITS and NOTISmembership at the same time. And thank you for sup-porting your professional organizations.

On Saturday, September 19th, a workshop on courtinterpreter ethics was conducted at the Language Ex-change in Burlington, led by Joseph Tein. The subjectwas a fourteen-page essay written by a certified courtinterpreter and professor of interpreting, Erik Camayd-Freixas, regarding his experiences while interpreting forImmigrations and Customs Enforcement in May of 2008.The professor had quite clearly violated the code of eth-ics for court interpreters by speaking out on the case andlosing his impartiality and neutrality, although this had noimpact on the outcome of case, since he did it after thecase was over. A lively discussion ensued at the work-shop, with the general consensus being that he had in-deed violated the code of ethics, but that this did notharm the profession of court interpreters; it was a per-sonal decision on his part, since he had come to the pointwhere he could no longer be impartial.

The following is a condensed version of my ownresponse to Professor Camayd-Freixas’ essay. The com-plete version, spanning five pages, containing 2,500 wordsand a considerable amount of sarcasm, is available uponrequest by email from: [email protected]

I wholeheartedly disagree with Erik Camayd-Freixas’assessment of the entire situation. He claims to be neu-tral and impartial, but he is not; he has a political bias anda vendetta against the Bush administration that comesthrough clearly in his writing. He claims that the defen-dants were innocent of any wrongdoing, and that theywere forced to plead guilty without understanding whatthey had done wrong; but the facts do not support thisclaim. He tries to make the case that the problem is thatthe Department of Homeland Security is under the Ex-ecutive Branch of the government, rather than the Judi-

Interpretation Ethics Debate – A ResponseBy Ellen Whiting

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The Magic of WASCLABy Lorane Alisa West

The 2009 WASCLA conference was by all accountsthe best ever, with a broad spectrum of representativesfrom government, education, legal and medical profes-sions, in addition to language specialists for both speak-ing and deaf communities. Speakers included experts ondomestic violence, civil rights and mental health, andranged from local to national. There were several excel-lent panel discussions facilitated by our own interpret-ers. Seminars and conferences take place every day. Whatwas so special about WASCLA? Let me share my per-sonal experience.

On a personal note, I was able to ride over and roomwith a wonderful interpreter who now knows me betterthan she should (I hope she can keep her mouth shut —luckily interpreters are trained to do this!) We had somuch fun that when I mentioned to others over lunchthat we had been talking and giggling long into the night,another participant asked drily if we were in Room 223because they could hear people laughing and crowingthrough the wall into the small hours of the night. Thatwas us.

More importantly, of course, the collegial atmo-sphere was palpable. Yet we were not all colleagues in thetraditional sense of the word. Think about how manyinterpreter trainings you have attended where everyoneis — well — an interpreter. Yet at WASCLA I was in aroom with interpreters, prosecutors, defense attorneys,judges, school administrators, government officials, na-tional consultants, mental health experts, union repre-sentatives, agency owners, and many other experts andstakeholders. What an amazing group! I do not remem-ber, for example, ever having had the opportunity to speakwith and hear from so many ASL interpreters. There areso many overlaps and yet some very vital differences, andthese ASL attendees and panelists offered information todeepen our understanding. Interpreters representing lan-guages of limited diffusion brought up the lack of avail-able certification and other issues of concern. Colleaguesin Spokane gave some surprising data about which lan-guages were prevalent in their school system, and re-minded us of the ever-changing community needs any-where refugees settle. Civil rights attorneys, lobbyists,union reps, agency owners and others sat side by side andshared information throughout WASCLA. I cannot thinkof another gathering place for all these stakeholders, norof a better environment for open, respectful interchange.

During one panel, some very serious ethical dilem-mas were thrown out to the audience for us to say howwe would respond. I heard one interpreter jokingly whis-per, “Oops! All our bosses are in the room!” Okay, so thatwas me. In spite of some natural hesitation, interpretersdid bravely open up and give their opinions on how theywould respond and we were able to get incredible andwide-ranging feedback from interpreter coordinators,ethics gurus and judges, as well as from other interpret-ers. We all went back time and time again to our code andtalked about which sections apply and how to best inter-pret the code for given hypothetical situations.

But again, WITS members Downer Debbie andNegative Ned may mutter, who cares? We do this at ourinterpreter seminars ad nauseum. So how was it differentto have all these stakeholders in one room? Well, here isone example. Subpoenas scare people, and interpretersare people. At interpreter-only trainings, there is a long-standing joke that our testimony will consist of “I don’tremember.” Our code clearly says that we will not act asa witness, and interpreters often express that it is hard tounderstand how these subpoenas fit into our code, andamongst ourselves we have been heard to whine abouthow the cops should just testify for themselves and leaveus out of it. Along these lines, some idiot actually tookthe mic during WASCLA to ask if in the given hypotheti-cal where the interpreter was subpoenaed to testify aftera police investigation, “Was the police officer dead?” tomake the point that interpreters wish to be left alone todo their impartial work and never never ever testify. Okay,that was me again. I hadn’t slept much. Luckily for all, aprosecutor grabbed the mic and explained what shouldhave been obvious to me years ago: the monolingual po-lice cannot possibly have personal knowledge as to whatthe suspect said, only as to what the interpreter said. It isperfectly reasonable to voir dire the interpreter to estab-lish linguistic competence, thus linking the chain of tes-timony from suspect to police report. In a large room ofmany different opinions, we were able to have an opendiscussion of this delicate issue and reach a broad con-sensus that interpreters should be available to be voirdired but that does not mean it is appropriate to ask us togive opinions on matters such as body language, credibil-ity, etc., areas in which we are clearly not trained experts.To tell you the truth, a part of me (by weight about 158

Continues on page 8

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NOTIS has over 250 professional members provid-ing translation and interpretation services in more than38 languages. The WTC Tacoma “grows trade” and theirmembers are individuals, specifically entrepreneurs ofsmall and large companies who would like to expandtheir businesses worldwide. Wouldn’t be the next logicalstep that both organizations work together and help con-necting local businesses with local translators and inter-preters for international success?

Yes, indeed. In early summer, Laura Wideburg, presi-dent of NOTIS, and myself, Outreach Committee Co-Chair, went to the WTCTA and met with NathalieBougenies, Membership and Outreach Director, andMariam Anderson, Events Coordinator, of the WorldTrade Center Tacoma.

The World Trade CenterAssociation is a non-profit or-ganization that brings togetherbusinesses and governmentagencies involved in interna-tional trade, providing extensivetrade services and thus func-tioning as an economic stimu-lus in a particular region.

Over the last years, I had attended various events ofthe WTC Tacoma and found while talking to members alack of knowledge of the importance of professionallytranslated material when doing or intending to do busi-ness in other countries. I even had heard comments ofEnglish being the world language anyway! With my be-coming part of the Board and Outreach Committee ofNOTIS, the idea of building a connection between NOTISand WTCTA members and educating the local commu-nity about professional translation/interpretation was born.

After an inspirational discussion between the fourof us, lots of brainstorming, and the approval of bothboards, we sealed our alliance with an informal Recipro-cal Agreement.

With that, the WTC Tacoma will highlight our orga-nization on their website, their broadcast emails and theirmembership package. The NOTIS Outreach Committee

created a flyer for that purpose and also delivered ATA’sexcellent brochure “Translation — getting it right”, andsome of our newsletters “The Northwest Linguist”. Inaddition, we prepared a short introductive presentationon NOTIS for WTCTA new member orientation eventsor for WTCTA networking events.

With that in place, NOTIS members might also re-ceive an email once a while announcing WTC Tacomaevents that might be interesting toattend for getting informed on in-ternational business updates, andfor networking. Furthermore, in theredesign of the NOTIS website, weplan to include possibilities for lo-cal businesses to post their needfor translation and interpretationprofessionals.

The WTCTA provides us a platform for offeringmore presentations, such as “Solutions for Translation/Interpretation Buyers” or “Entering the Chinese Market”or “Translate your Website” or “Contract Translation”.

If you like to give a presentation, let us know aboutit, and we can help you make your educational “publicity”happen! With enough interest and participation from you,we may also consider creating regular events, consistingof educational sessions (your presentations) and/or pan-els, and networking between local translators/interpret-ers and local businesses. This alliance can be your chanceto compile your wisdom, and get up and make yourselfknown for your experiences, and reach potential newcustomers - or maybe find like-minded and create strate-gic partnerships with other NOTIS members. You neverknow where it might go!

The NOTIS Outreach Committee hopes that thiswill help to raise awareness to the importance of profes-sional translation, interpretation and cultural education,and make our organization a one-stop resource for find-ing local language professionals, as well as supporting thesuccess of local companies. For your ideas or interest inparticipation, please send an email to Katrin Rippel [email protected]

Go Global, Be Local: A new alliance between NOTIS and theWorld Trade Center Tacoma (WTCTA)

By Katrin Rippel

Nathalie Bougenies

Mariam Anderson

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Now, there’s a thought! Within this entitling con-cept, are many notions that will bring us forward as trans-lators and fulfillers of other linguistic needs, and help usseat our talents as a reliable source of livelihood.

Judy Jenner of Twin Translations, based in Las Ve-gas, Nevada, and Vienna, Austria, recently joined usNorthwestern linguists to celebrate International Trans-lation Day by bringing us her highly informative and en-lightening presentation of The Entrepreneurial Linguiston September 26, 2009. Against the back-drop of thebeautiful University of Washington Horticultural Cen-ter, Ms. Jenner, or Judy — as today’s Northwesternerswould call her — led us through a full day of informationsharing relevant to the language professional. She hascombined her expertise and experience as a translatorwith her MBA, and built a body of knowledge and ideasthat all we linguists can put to good use.

Judy’s “Lessons from Business School” guided herenthusiastic audience from basic business practice suchas keeping good records, decreasing expenses, and find-ing sound tax advice, to making our mark and standing outamong the many professionals a prospective client mayencounter.

The Entrepreneurial Concept of language profes-sionalism is no small matter. Judy includes this in her fivefundamental lessons to be learned and carried into and

“Start Behaving like a Business”By Louise Morehead

through the exercise of our related fields, along with:behaving like a business; not feeling intimidated whennegotiating with clients; pricing our highly specializedskill accordingly; and being generous with colleagues andothers in our profession by sharing knowledge and sup-port.

Networking and relationship building were amongthe many processes of the day, and the balance betweenthe presentation and audience participation seemed sat-isfying, as shown by the many supportive and illustrativeanecdotes and case examples shared by the listeners aspart of the presentation. Jamie M. Lucero and AndreaBrugman of our Program Committee must be heartilythanked.

And special thanks go to Judy Jenner, who has madea rule of applying her sound advice through her willing-ness to share her successful strategies with us. Thankyou, Judy.

As the month of October progresses, I can onlyawait eagerly the next educational or social event ourNOTIS Programs Committee has in store for us. Now,let’s do business!

Louise Morehead

NOTIS Board Member

206 713 4369

Judy Jenner

Kathryn German, Jamie Lucero, Andrea Brugman,Judy Jenner, Ferdi Nadir and Louise Morehead

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pounds of me) really wants to pretend I understood thisfully all along, but let’s face it. This was a real eye openerfor me and for some others. Another example of howimportant it is for interpreters to reach beyond thebounds of our own profession and share information onhow to meet the needs of the stakeholders, while always,always maintaining our professional standards. Thesekinds of issues cannot be aired, discussed and resolvedunless we are in the same room together, in an open andcollegial environment where we are able to trust eachother and get down to business. In a word, at WASCLA.

One last example. In an informal conversation with alobbyist on the issue of L&I coverage for interpreters, hesaid offhand that he supposed L&I coverage to be of lowpriority for interpreters. Well! It was news to him thatmedical interpreters are actually at high risk of work-place injury from communicable diseases as well as acertain degree of exposure to radiation and other sub-stances, leaving aside the emotional toll of some of thework. When I shared my story about unwittingly spend-ing several hours in a labor room with a coughing, activeTB patient, no one wearing a mask, and the hospital and(now defunct) agency’s refusal to offer me so much as theskin test, as I didn’t really “work” for anybody, it reallybrought home to him issues related to interpreter needsthat he just didn’t know about. And the look of surpriseand concern on his face brought home to me that manyinterested parties and stakeholders simply don’t spendenough time together to be fully aware of one another’sneeds and points of view. We simply all have so much to

learn from the experiences of others. This is whyWASCLA matters above and beyond the typical con-tinuing education credit option.

At WASCLA, there was a shared understanding thatwe are all in this together; that all stakeholders have aninterest is maintaining and improving language access;and that we are capable of sharing information and learn-ing from each other in order to further that goal. A gath-ering of experts of such scope and magnitude is amazing.So is discovering our areas of ignorance and expandingour knowledge bases into areas where we didn’t evenknow we were lacking. Throughout the conference, timeand time again, speakers took the mic to say, “I did notknow anything about this particular issue and now I wantto know more!” Their questions and fresh points of viewenriched the experience for all of us. And this, my friends,is the magic of WASCLA. I hope you will all plan toattend next year’s conference and participate in this amaz-ing networking and learning opportunity. And when youdo, be kind to everyone from lobbyist to union rep, keepme away from the mic, and don’t get a hotel room near meand Milena if you wish to sleep. Because none of ourneighbors will get to sleep before we do. One more re-minder that whether we choose to cry ourselves to sleep,rock with hysterical laughter, or roll up our sleeves andget to work, we are all in this together. Welcome toWASCLA!

Lorane West is a Washington State Court CertifiedSpanish interpreter and the author of COLOR: LatinoVoices in the Pacific Northwest. She can be reached [email protected]

cial Branch, and therefore the illegal immigrants weredenied due process. He proclaims the defendants inno-cent, although he clearly does not have all the facts, andhis motivation in declaring them innocent is simply tocondemn the United States and its efforts to protect itscitizens. He criticizes DHS for not doing enough to com-bat terrorism, yet at the same time he believes that weshould not enforce our immigration laws, because thepoor Guatemalan peasants who were the targets of thisraid were just here trying to earn an honest living andsupport their families back home. He is dangerously naïvein his beliefs that our laws are unjust and that we arewrong to try to enforce them.

Theater, the Arabic language and teaching have ac-companied Faiza her whole life. Her present roles asmother of four children, wife to her husband from hersecond marriage and business woman of a growing com-pany give her barely time for much else, yet she nurturesa new ‘old’ dream: Starting a nonprofit organization, cre-ating educational plays and going back to Iraq to travel bybus from villages to towns to perform important mes-sages for new, healthy lives.

...Ethics Debate (Continued from page 4)

...WASCLA (Continued from page 5)

...Faiza Sultan (Continued from page 4)

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Meeting Our MembersBy Katrin Rippel

Katrin Rippel interviews a WITS / NOTIS Member for everyissue of the Northwest Linguist. Maybe you will be next?

Soul language in the face of war – meetingFaiza Sultan

A simple stage was set beforeimprovised rows of chairs. Women,covered in traditional scarves andof all ages with their children run-ning between them were followingthe play on the stage — a most un-usual happening in the little Iraqivillage. Romeo just died beforeJuliet’s eyes because his mother

hadn’t given him the polio vaccine when he was a child.The bus of the American health organization with FaizaSultan and the other actors was long gone, but the mes-sage stayed unforgettable with the village folk.

Faiza Sultan grew up in Northern Iraq in Arbil, thecapitol of the Kurdistan Autonomous Region. WithKurdish-Arabic inheritance she started learning Arabiclanguage very early, and is a true bilingual. She obtainedher Bachelor of Arts Degree in English from Universityof Mosul, College of Education in Mosul, Iraq. With herexcellent English skills, Faiza started working as an Inter-preter for an American humanitarian agency, teachinghealth education. It was her passion for role plays andacting that gave her the brilliant idea of using known playsand folk stories and adapting them for teaching essentialsof health issues. Faiza developed and directed those dra-matic demonstrations that the group then presented inIraqi villages with lasting success in health care educa-tion.

Faiza Sultan, who only remembered two years notdominated by war, sanctions and struggle, had to leaveher home country when Saddam Hussein ordered thedeath of anyone helping foreigners and their organiza-tions in 1996. The American organization evacuated Faizaand the other interpreters, and for several months shestayed in a Guam refugee camp not knowing what thefuture would bring. Upon her final arrival in the US shewas hired right away as an Interpreter to help refugees,and is since then continuously involved in translation andinterpretation for immigration, courts, Non-Governmen-tal Organizations and at the Department of Social Health

Continues on page 8

Services (DSHS). Faiza settled down in Seattle where sheobtained DSHS Medical Certifications for Kurdish andArabic languages.

She married a Kurdish refugee and her first son wasborn. Faiza enjoyed the peace around her. She was intelephone contact with her family, was able to send themmoney regularly and hoped that one day she could travelback to see her family.

Faiza started to teach Kurdish and Arabic languageson various institutions in the Seattle area such as theIslamic School, the Washington Academy of Languagesand Bellevue Community College. For Faiza, Arabic wasthe language of her soul and its sound was music to herears. When she wrote short stories or poems, she wrotenot in Kurdish but in Arabic. Faiza loves teaching thislanguage: “If someone is open for it, they can learn quite abit of it in 10 months.”

The smiling faces which mirrored her own ceasedwith 9/11. “I am not a terrorist,” she said to a SeattleTimes journalist who was writing a series of articles aboutFaiza and her family. “It’s as if the war is chasing me.” Withthe U.S. invasion in Iraq in 2003, most direct communi-cation with her family was interrupted until Saddam’sfall. She was glued to a satellite television as she tried toget glimpses of her family, and put pieces of what wastruly happening there together via watching the diverse(and often controversial) news in Arabic and Englishlanguages.

“Iraqi dialects were getting in demand as well ascultural education”, said Faiza, “This cultural knowledgebecame essential for saving lives.” Faiza started conduct-ing cultural workshops for US Army Soldiers at FortLewis, WA. Over the following years, Faiza built up strongexperiences in Arabic and Kurdish Curriculum Devel-opment. She created and organized online lessons in vari-ous Iraqi dialects and Modern Standard Arabic as well astest scripts for the GLOSS (Global Language Online Sup-port System) Project and the Defense Language Instituteon an ongoing basis, together with the University of Mary-land and Avant Assessment.

In 2005, Faiza founded Translation4all, LLC, a trans-lation and interpretation company for Arabic and Kurdish.She manages a large team of linguists and organizes tran-scription, translation and localization projects of all sizes,especially in Arabic and Kurdish, and primarily for mili-tary and government agencies. Since 2008 she has beenserving as one director of the NOTIS Board and in itsOutreach Committee.

Faiza Sultan

1 01 01 01 01 0


Nicole PennebakerI’m a Northwest native who has recently relocated

back to Seattle after spending 10 years living in the South-west. After completing my M.A. in French from the Uni-versity of Colorado at Boulder, my husband and I movedto Albuquerque, New Mexico where I taught French atthe Alliance Française, the University of New Mexicoand Central New Mexico Community College. I beganworking as a freelance translator in 2007 and made it myfull time occupation when we arrived back in Seattle in2008. It has been thrilling to discover all of the opportu-nities available to translators and interpreters in theNorthwest, many of these thanks to the hard work ofNOTIS. I have been able to attend conferences on topicsranging from localization to contracts and literary trans-lation, and became ATA-certified in my language pair.I’ve learned an enormous amount from these events aswell as from the colleagues I’ve met. Earlier this year Iattended a NOTIS board meeting and was impressed bythe warm reception I received and the wide range of

NOTIS ELECTION FOR THE BOARD 2010CANDIDATE STATEMENT

initiatives and activities the board is undertaking. Al-though I’m relatively new to the profession, if elected Ican offer the board my enthusiasm and willingness towork hard on behalf of this organization and its members.I would be honored to serve NOTIS as a board memberand help carry on its work of promoting our professionand serving as a resource for translators and interpreters.

Wireless Communications Equipment for Interpreters

The use of wireless equipment for simultaneous interpretation frees the interpreter from having to sit next to thelistener. The interpreter can now move to a spot offering the est hearing and visibility, where the interpreter can concen-

trate on the message without interruptions or distractions.

Although some courts provide this type of equipment for its interpreters, availability is not always guaranteed. Andmany courts and other venues don’t even offer it.

For less than $100, interpreters can now have their own set of wireless transmitter and receiver, includingmicrophone and earphone. In many instances, the rental of similar equipment for just one day exceeds this purchase cost.

TN Communications offers dependable, long-lasting wireless equipment. Equipment is very light and small and easilyfits in a shirt pocket. Transmitters and receivers come with a one-year warranty.

In addition to our VHF single-channel equipment, we offer VHF 3-channel equipment and our newest addition, UHF16-channel equipment We also have battery chargers and optional headset microphones and headphones.

Visit www.tncommunications.com for product specifications and availability. Or you may call 1-888-371-9005 or [email protected] for more information.

—PAID ADVERTISEMENT—

by John Ruoff

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Membership Renewal for 2010

First name: ___________________________ Last name: __________________________________

Business name: ____________________________________________________________________(for Corporate and Institutional members only)

Mailing address: ____________________________ City: _____________ State: __ Zip: _______Email address: _____________________________________________________________________

Joint NOTIS/WITS Individual only: $70Please mail with check in US funds payable to:

WITS only Individual: $45 Supporting: $50Full-time Student: $15 Institutional/Corporate: $90

Please mail with check in US funds payable to:

NOTIS only Individual: $35 Corporate: $50Institutional: $35

Please mail with check in US funds payable to:

NOTIS1037 NE 65th St. #107Seattle, WA 98115

WITSPO Box 1012Seattle WA 98111

NOTIS1037 NE 65th St. #107Seattle, WA 98115

Cultural CornerBy Laura A. Wideburg

I was reading a book to my daughter called If Americawere a Village: A Book about the People of the UnitedStates. One interesting aspect discussed was the languagesspoken in the United States, which I would like to para-phrase here:

If America were a village of 100 people, 82 peoplespeak English as a first language, 10 people speak Spanish,1 speaks Chinese, 1 speaks French and one speaks Ger-man. All other languages are smaller than one person perlanguage, but languages spoken include languages fromall parts of the globe, such as Tagalog, Vietnamese, Italian,Korean, Russian, Arabic, Greek, Hebrew, Khmer, Na-vajo, Hmong, and the Scandinavian languages.

What a wealth of languages we find right here withinour own country! Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could

celebrate this benefit, and not just on InternationalTranslator’s Day every September. Wouldn’t it be won-derful if every High School could offer language coursesin the top four languages spoken here at home! Wouldn’tit be wonderful if a greater diversity of languages could betaught at all levels of education in this country!

Instead, I fear that the teaching and dissemination oflanguages is seen as a perk that is one of the first to gowhenever budgets must be cut. The number of profes-sors in the Humanities has declined in the United Statesby 25%. I do not even want to contemplate the teachingof languages at the other levels. Chinese is one exception,due to the Chinese government’s interest in supportingits promotion in other countries and therefore the in-crease in funding that has moved into American schools).

We all benefit when we realize that human beingsspeak more or less 6000 different languages, and learningjust one expands our understanding of each other, notonly abroad but also here at home.

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Bring your favorite dish to share and enjoy the company of col-leagues and friends, live music, and international dishes. Beverages provided. Bring a non-perishable item for the food bank.

RSVP BY WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2009 to (206) 382-5690

University of Washington Waterfront Activities Center Montlake Blvd NE and Pacific Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98195

Date: Saturday, Dec. 12, 2009

Time: 1:00 pm — 4:00 pm

NOTIS/WITS Traditional Holiday Party!

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Events CalendarEvents CalendarEvents CalendarEvents CalendarEvents Calendar

DateDateDateDateDate EventEventEventEventEvent DetailsDetailsDetailsDetailsDetails LocationLocationLocationLocationLocation

Nevada Interpreters & Translators St Mary’s

November 9-13, 2009 Association (NITA) Phone: (775) 772-9319 Regional Hospital

Connecting Worlds Email: [email protected] Reno, NV

Training for Health Care Interpreters

November 14, 2009 Introduction to Localization Presenter: Colleen Nylund Bellevue College, North

9 am - 2:30 pm Campus, Bellevue, WA

American Literary Translators

November 11-14, 2009 Association (ALTA) www.utdallas.edu/alta Pasadena, CA

2009 ALTA Conference

November 14, 2009 Team Interpreting and Ethics Workshop www.witsnet.org/programs SeaTac, WA

/INDEXcalendar.htm

American Council on the Teaching of

Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Annual

November 20-22, 2009 Convention and World Languages Expo www.actfl.org San Diego, CA

Speaking Up for Languages,

the Power of Many Voices

Northern California Translators Assoc (NCTA)

- SDL Trados Studio 2009

November 21, 2009 Workshop for Beginners www.ncta.org San Francisco, CA

-SDL Trados Studio 2009

Workshop for Upgraders

November 21, 2009 NOTIS Annual Meeting & 1pm - 4 pm Bellevue College, North

ATA Conference Recap [email protected] Campus, Bellevue, WA

November 22, 2009 Ethics Workshop plus www.witsnet.org/programs Shoreline, WA

Cicero and Plato at the Clinic /INDEXcalendar.htm

November 28-29, 2009 Organización Mexicana de Traductores (OMT)

13th Int’l Translation & Interpretation www.omt.org.mx/ Guadalajara,

Interpretation Congress San Jerónimo Mexico

Translation: The Borderline Between Cultures

10 am to 5 pm Bellevue College, North

December 5, 2009 Wordfast Level II Presenter: Jamie Lucero Campus. Bellevue, WA

Bellevue, WA

December 12, 2009 NOTIS/WITS Holiday [email protected] University of WA

Potluck Party Waterfront Activities Center

Seattle, WA

December 27-30, 2009 Modern Language Association (MLA) www.mla.org/ Philadelphia, PA

125th Annual Convention

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Printed on recycled paper.

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ttttthhhhh Str Str Str Str Streeeeeeeeeet #1 t #1 t #1 t #1 t #10000077777

Seattle W Seattle W Seattle W Seattle W Seattle WA 98 A 98 A 98 A 98 A 98111111111155555

Voice Mail: (206) 701-9183E-mail: [email protected]: www.notisnet.org

NNNNNOOOOOTIS / WITTIS / WITTIS / WITTIS / WITTIS / WITS BoarS BoarS BoarS BoarS Board Meed Meed Meed Meed Meetings:tings:tings:tings:tings:

OrganizationOrganizationOrganizationOrganizationOrganization Date & TimeDate & TimeDate & TimeDate & TimeDate & Time LocationLocationLocationLocationLocation ContactContactContactContactContact

All Board Meetings are open to the membership of their respective organizations.

WITS December 3, 2009, 7:30 pm Telephonic [email protected]

NOTIS December 15, 2009, 6:30 pm TBD [email protected]

...Calendar ...Calendar ...Calendar ...Calendar ...Calendar (continued from page 13)

DateDateDateDateDate EventEventEventEventEvent DetailsDetailsDetailsDetailsDetails LocationLocationLocationLocationLocation

February 3-6, 2010 National Association for Bilingual Education www.nabe.org/ Denver, CO

(NABE) Annual Conference

July-December 2010 TIP-Lab 21st Spanish Translation www.witsnet.org/programs/ online

/Revision Workshop INDEXcalendar.htm

Registration Deadline

is Dec 7, 2009

For more international, national, and local events, please see: www.notisnet.org, www.witsnet.org, www.atanet.org

the northwest linguist - notis.wildapricot.org · to give a special thank you to those mem-bers who...

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