The Month in Numbers: Interpreting

Here's a summary of Judy's interpreting adventures during the month of June. This is meant to be taken with a grain of salt and a bit of Friday sense of humor.

  • Spanish-language interpreting assignments: 95%
  • German-language interpreting assignments: 5%
  • Court appearances in district/justice court: 1
  • Court appearances in family court: 0
  • Number of depositions: 17 (including cancelled, postponed and cannot-find-deponent depositions)
  • Escort interpreting assignments: 1
  • Number of times court clerk or court reporter wanted to swear me in as a court translator: 7
  • Number of times an attorney fell asleep during a deposition: can't say; well, OK...5 times
  • Number of objections voiced by opposing counsel to the other counsel's questions: lost track (in the hundreds)
  • Amount of times an attorney wanted to state for the record that he or she found another attorney to be offensive, rude or inappropriate: 4
  • Percentage of deponents who really did speak English and did not need a court interpreter: 15 (guesstimate)
  • Amount of times interpreter had to ask for repetition because of mumbling speakers: too many to count
  • Miles driven to and from interpreting projects: exactly 200 
  • Amount of extra-soft European tissues shared with anyone who needs this this month: 0 (it was a good month)
  • Dictionaries and books brought to every assignment: Holly Mikkelson's The Interpreter's Companion and Dennis McKenna's Criminal Court Dictionary
  • Amount of times I looked anything up in these dictionaries: 0
  • Blunder of the month: could not think of the English translation of "perejil" (parsley) fast enough. 
  • Person who came to my rescue: an attorney
  • Longest amount of time spent searching for car in the parking garage after assignment: 15 minutes
  • Percentage of law firms who paid their May invoices within 30 days: 100%
It was a good month indeed! How did June go for you?

Happy Friday, dear readers!





4 comments:

Judy Jenner and Dagmar Jenner on July 3, 2012 at 4:12 PM said...

Ah, forgot to add:
* Bottles of water spilled on fancy conference table: 1

:)

Jennifer Bikkál Horne on July 11, 2012 at 9:55 AM said...

Number of times I received direct praise and thanks from people in a conference: 3

Number of times a booth partner dozed off: 1

:-)

Judy Jenner and Dagmar Jenner on July 11, 2012 at 10:03 AM said...

@Jen: awesome that you received so much well-deserved praise! It's awesome when people take the time to thank the interpreter. Haha -- wow, a snoozing booth partner is less than ideal...

Karin Bauchrowitz said...

That was excellent, thanks Judy, for sharing. Have a wonderful weekend.
Karin

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