What are the Federal Courts, and what goes on in there?

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About the Presenter

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Armida Hernandez holds a BA in Spanish (Linguistics Concentration), and a MA in Applied Linguistics with TESOL certification. She is a Federal (AOUSC) and New Mexico State Certified Court Interpreter as well as a Certified Healthcare Interpreter (Spanish) with 31 years of experience in the interpreting and translation fields.

Currently, she is a Staff Court Interpreter for the United States District Court, District of New Mexico, Las Cruces Division. She is a past board member of the California Federation of Interpreters, and past member of NAJIT’s Bench and Bar Committee as well as the Subcommittee on Remote Interpretation under the New Mexico AOC’s Language Access Committee. Reflecting her great pride in her Pueblo Indian heritage, Armida was a founding member of Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo’s Tiwa Language Revitalization Project Committee. She has been a guest speaker in UTEP’s linguistics lab and undergraduate sociolinguistics courses as well as a presenter at international conferences at the University of Notre Dame and the First Nations University in Saskatchewan, Canada, focusing on indigenous language preservation/revitalization, and bio-linguistic diversity. On the lighter side, Armida enjoys singing, Latin Ballroom dance, sewing, and making traditional pottery.

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• Presentation Slides

The January Ethics training session will explore the difference between ethical, moral and practical solutions to courtroom dilemmas faced by interpreters. We will review the ethical guidelines for interpreters issued by courts in the states of Texas and New Mexico and the United States Courts.

 

We will go over several scenarios and work together to find the best solution for each case considering the ethical guidelines, moral principles and practical decisions.        

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About the Presenter

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Rafael Carrillo is a Federally Certified Court Interpreter licensed in the State of Texas currently serving as a staff interpreter for the Office of the Federal Public Defender in Las Cruces, NM. Mr. Carrillo had the honor of being appointed as the first Supervisory Staff interpreter for the Federal Court in the District of New Mexico. He has also worked as a staff interpreter in New Mexico and the Western District of Texas. During a good part of his career he provided consulting services to federal and state law enforcement agencies providing monitoring, transcription and translation services. Mr. Carrillo is one of the coauthors of the position paper on Transcription and Translation published by the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators.

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• Presentation Slides for part 1

• Presentation Slides for part 2

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Like most things since the onset of COVID-19, the challenges within the translation and interpretation industry have been magnified, but so have the opportunities!

 

An overview of the current state of affairs of the industry will be presented as well practical advice on how to pivot or expand your offerings beyond those of a professional translator and/or interpreter.

 

What will you learn?

 

• What the state of the T&I industry is now (Fall 2020)

• Challenges or opportunities? A matter of perspective

• Expanding your offerings

• Back to basics

• Where to focus

 

November is National American Indian Heritage Month and EPITA pays tribute to the rich ancestry, traditions, and enormous contributions of Native Americans.

 

Armida will be sharing with us an overview of the relationship between language, culture and community.  She will also be providing us with information on biolinguistic diversity, the cost of language extinction, and the efforts to revive and preserve our native languages.

 

Armida will also review our role as interpreters and translators and offer ideas on how we can help preserve these languages. Attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions about Native American languages and culture.      

 

About the Presenter

 

Armida Hernandez holds a BA in Spanish (Linguistics Concentration), and a MA in Applied Linguistics as well as TESOL certification.  She is a Federal (AOUSC) and New Mexico State Certified Court Interpreter with 28 years of experience in the interpreting and translation fields.  She is a past board member of the California Federation of Interpreters, and past member of NAJIT’s Bench and Bar Committee as well as the Subcommittee on Remote Interpretation under the New Mexico AOC’s Language Access Committee.  Reflecting her great pride in her Pueblo Indian heritage, Armida was a founding member of Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo’s Tiwa Language Revitalization Project Committee.  She has been a guest speaker in UTEP’s linguistics lab and undergraduate sociolinguistics courses as well as a presenter at international conferences at the University of Notre Dame and the First Nations University in Saskatchewan, Canada, focusing on indigenous language preservation/revitalization, and biolinguistic diversity.  On the lighter side, Armida enjoys making traditional pottery, sewing/needle arts, and as a dramatic soprano is known to bust out a Ranchera song or Operatic aria on occasion!

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• Slide Presentation - Language Preservation in 2020

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​Presenter's Recommended Resources:

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• INDIGENOUS PEOPLE'S CELEBRATION 2020

 

​Presenter's Recommended Resources:

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• Josephy, Alvin M. Jr. (editor) America in 1492:  the world of the Indian peoples before the arrival of Columbus ISBN 0-394-56438-3

• Mann, Charles C.  1491:  New revelations of the Americas before Columbus ISBN 1-4000-3205-9

• Sale, Kirkpatrick. The Conquest of Paradise:  Christopher Columbus and the Columbian Legacy ISBN 0-452-26669-6

• Stannard, David E.  American Holocaust:  Columbus and the conquest of the New World. ISBN 0-19-507581-1

• Wright, Ronald.  Stolen Continents:  the Americas through Indian eyes since 1492.  ISBN 0-395-56500-6

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Like most things since the onset of COVID-19, the challenges within the translation and interpretation industry have been magnified, but so have the opportunities!

 

An overview of the current state of affairs of the industry will be presented as well practical advice on how to pivot or expand your offerings beyond those of a professional translator and/or interpreter.

 

What will you learn?

 

• What the state of the T&I industry is now (Fall 2020)

• Challenges or opportunities? A matter of perspective

• Expanding your offerings

• Back to basics

• Where to focus

 

About the Presenter

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Valeria B. Delmar is a translation strategist and conference interpreter passionate about advising clients and colleagues on top-notch T&I industry-related solutions. She is an experienced and ATA-certified translator in the Spanish-English combination and a nationally-certified healthcare interpreter (CHI Spanish designation) with a BA from UTEP in French and Psychology. In 2010, Mrs. Delmar also earned an MA in Spanish Translation and Interpretation and a Simultaneous Interpreting Professional Certificate from the renowned Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS).

 

Since 2004, Mrs. Delmar has held both freelance and in-house roles for a wide range of clients and employers, to include local and federal government, law enforcement, oil and gas firms, university, medical, legal, community clients, and top 100 global language service providers. Moreover, she is currently the owner of A Lingua Franca LLC, a T&I consulting firm, and a professor at UTEP teaching translation and interpretation courses. Lastly, Mrs. Delmar is a proud and active member of the American Translators Association (ATA) and EPITA.

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• Slide Presentation - State of the T&I Industry and How to Pivot Since COVID-19

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• CalPro - Translation Cost Calculator 

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​Presenter's Recommended Translation Resources:

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• Sonia Colina’s “Fundamentals of Translation”

• Mona Bakers’ “In Other Words,”

• Perform a "translation studies" search on Amazon books and take a free look inside the ones that might be of interest, there are a few more worthy options, so you can choose which to buy or rent (as a more cost-effective option).

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About the Presenter

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Born in Mexico and raised in Costa Rica, Marcia Resler, federally certified, is also an Arizona Tier 4 credentialed interpreter. She is a staff interpreter at the Federal Public Defender Office, District of Arizona. Prior to joining the FPD, she worked for the U.S. District Courts for 15 years. She holds a B.S. in Journalism from John Brown University. She has been Faculty and a rater for the Federal Court Interpreter Certification Examination since 2007.

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• Sample Material

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About the Presenter

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Rafael Carrillo is a Federally Certified Court Interpreter licensed in the State of Texas currently serving as a staff interpreter for the Office of the Federal Public Defender in Las Cruces, NM. Mr. Carrillo had the honor of being appointed as the first Supervisory Staff interpreter for the Federal Court in the District of New Mexico. He has also worked as a staff interpreter in New Mexico and the Western District of Texas. During a good part of his career he provided consulting services to federal and state law enforcement agencies providing monitoring, transcription and translation services. Mr. Carrillo is one of the coauthors of the position paper on Transcription and Translation published by the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators.

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• Presentation Slides

Laura García-Hein has been the staff interpreter for the District of Nebraska, and one of the top providers of remote interpreting services through the U.S. Courts Telephone Interpreting Program (TIP), since March 2007. Born in San José, Costa Rica, Laura received a bachelor’s degree in English and French and a juris doctor degree from the University of Costa Rica, and a master of laws degree with an emphasis in international law and alternative dispute resolution from the London School of Economics and Political Sciences in London, England. Laura served as a certified Spanish language examiner for the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. She is an active member of the American Translators Association (ATA), the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators (NAJIT), where she previously served as a director, and the Nebraska Association for Translators and Interpreters (NATI). In addition to her certifications and experience as an interpreter and translator, Laura is also a certified mediator in Kentucky, Florida and North Carolina. She served as a Costa Rican diplomat in Sweden for six years and taught negotiations as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Louisville. Laura García-Hein was a legal consultant and negotiator in labor matters for several Fortune 500 companies in Mexico City. She has been a rater for the Federal Court Certification Examination since 2009.

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Melinda González-Hibner is a state and federally certified court interpreter (English<> Spanish). Her interpreting career has been diverse, covering conference, court, and community assignments at all levels. In 2004, she became the first full-time Court Interpreter Program Administrator for the Colorado Judicial Department. Currently, she is the Supervisory Court interpreter for the U.S. District Court for the  District of New Mexico. In addition to her state and federal certifications, Melinda is qualified by the U.S. Department of State. She served as the Chair of ATA's Interpretation Policy Advisory Committee and the Board of the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators and the ASTM F-43 Language Interpreting Subcommittee. She is a founding member and past co-chair of the Colorado Association of Professional Interpreters and a current member of the Texas Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators. Melinda earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Texas and a Master of Science degree from the London School of Economics.

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