To celebrate interpreters’ success stories, Monterey Language Services has put together a video showcasing the friendliness, professional, expertise, and different roles of our interpreters in shaping the harmonious community of our nation.  You can view the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYxpYyoC7z0

Interpreters can spend years honing their skills to become subject matter experts in their fields, such as healthcare, education, or the legal sphere. Some have even worked in these fields as doctors, nurses, teachers, paralegals, and more before becoming language experts.

Interpreters believe in the fidelity and fairness of their work. Interpreters ensure that information is relayed accurately between the parties involved, making sure that nothing is omitted or erroneously said and everyone is on the same page. This is incredibly important in medical and legal settings.

Interpreters describe their work as rewarding and fulfilling. Many times, the act of interpreting contains an emphasis on helping those limited or non-English speakers or hearing disabled persons who are in need, such as to help with healthcare or education. This gives many interpreters great satisfaction in giving back to the community and keeps them looking forward to their work.

Monterey Language Services has the pleasure working with so many talented, devoted, professional interpreters, providing excellent service for your needs, whether your event is large, small, private, or a personal matter.

Thank you so much to our interpreters for working with us for all these years, and for the years to come.

Here at Monterey Language Services, we provide interpreters and interpretation equipment for your multilingual events. Below you will find our YouTube videos showcasing our equipment.

With these videos, we hope that everyone can gain a new understanding of the steps we take to ensure your event’s success, so you can just sit back and relax!

1. If you’re looking for a general overview of what we do to prepare for events, watch this video:

Conference Interpretation and Equipment
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp0NF7lvttk

In this video, our office manager describes a typical event that we provide interpretation and equipment for. With thorough preparation, we are confident everything will work out smoothly.

2. If you’d like to see a tutorial on our rental equipment, please look at this:

Interpretation Equipment Tutorial: Rent Our Equipment to Gear for Your Next Event
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KrR3Q9yrlo

Equipment explained in this tutorial includes a transmitter, a receiver, a headset microphone, and an audience headset.

3. Curious about how an interpreter sets up equipment for an event? Check out this video:

Interpretation Equipment Tutorial: Interpreter Perspective
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrjKO7sk0Hk

In this video, you’ll learn how interpreters use the equipment. Equipment used in this tutorial includes a transmitter and a headset microphone.

4. Worried about if your guests will be able to hear? We have a video detailing an attendee’s experience listening to the interpreter:

Interpretation Equipment Tutorial: Event Attendee Perspective
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEXZ8fY0EaY

Our colleague, Shenny, describes how our equipment can assist your guests to receive the relayed information simultaneously from an interpreter. Equipment used in this tutorial includes a receiver and a headset.

 5. What else has Monterey Language Services Done? Check out our event showcase video:

Simultaneous Interpretation Event Showcase 

Simultaneous Interpretation Event Showcase

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFTzivdlkXk

Located in beautiful Monterey, Monterey Language Services has been supporting the multilingual events of companies and visitors everywhere in California, from Monterey to the Silicon Valley, and beyond.

In our personal lives, these circumstances might relate to good relationships, holidays and birthdays, trips, etc. But what about our business lives? What gives us energy in the workplace, especially when we need it?

Leadership might get energized by smooth operations. By that, we mean things like business relationships and teamwork. For example, if team members take accountability, act to make things happen, and double check operations to ensure projects go smoothly, that will surely bring in a lot of momentum which makes everyone feel surrounded by growth and partnership. Equally important is when clients show understanding and provide positive feedback, which truly creates a very enjoyable working environment and energizes everyone as a team.

Management might like getting their hands on new projects. Bidding on a request for proposal and working on something brand new could get them energized for making new connections and new success stories. For example, even management of long-term assignments can be exciting if challenges and successes feel new.

As for others, energy at work can come from appreciation. Not just appreciation for the work they perform, but also for the work others perform. Be they coworkers, clients, vendors, or anyone, giving and receiving thanks energizes employees to do a good job for all those involved.

What gives you energy in the workplace? Let us know in the comments of this post, and we wish you a good day!

As many in our office at Monterey Language Services—including our director—are alumni of the Middlebury Institute, we join the career fair every year to speak to promising students and other alumni who attend the event. Those involved ranged from conference interpreters to patent translators or localization project managers, and each one spoke with lots of enthusiasm and eagerness about their experiences and hopes for the future.

The career fair takes months of planning to invite and coordinate the attending companies. When the doors initially opened at 8:00AM for preparation, we were there to set up. As in years past when the event was live, we prioritized mobility with our booth—with our information placed on the table, we were free to walk around the booth and meet attendees at eye-level. One attendee mentioned that it made them feel much more at ease to speak with company employees while we were all standing, rather than speaking with company employees who were sitting.

Our booth was a roaring success. Between the official hours of the fair, 9:00AM-12:00PM, a never-ending multitude of people came to inquire about our positions. It was a treat to meet such friendly faces and discover talent from across the globe. We hope and know that regardless of the positions these students and alumni earn, they will achieve great careers.

We would like to thank not only the attendees, but also the staff at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies for making this event such a success. We know that many, including ourselves, were eager to come to the career fair in-person after such a long time away, and we think that it could not have been better. Thank you.

We’re very excited to return to the career fair for the first time in person since the start of the pandemic, and we’re even more excited to be able to see all of you!

Ahead of the career fair, we’d like to ask that any interested students sign up using our online form https://forms.gle/hoFssswUREPEHZUw7. This will help us to get to know you better ahead of the event, and will help make our meeting more productive.

We’ll also be collecting resumes, getting to know you, and describing our exciting positions for interpreters or as a Project/Office Assistant.

Stop by our booth, meet our wonderful team, and tell us more about yourself! Don’t forget to sign up ahead of time using the link https://forms.gle/hoFssswUREPEHZUw7. And don’t forget to ask your friends and fellow classmates: Have you signed up yet?

As an IEP interpretation provider, we often think about what we can do or what information we can put out to improve the lives of the people we serve. In today’s blog, we will be going over techniques to create a growth mindset in your child, rather than a fixed one.

Fixed Mindset vs. Growth Mindset

Stanford University professor of psychology, Carol Dweck, has written extensively about mindsets and their effect on learning. Carol’s research is often based on the difference between a “fixed” mindset and a “growth” mindset, with “fixed” meaning that the person thinks that their abilities are static and can’t be changed, and “growth” meaning that the person sees setbacks as a chance to learn and improve from their mistakes.

As an example, consider a person who wants to become an artist. She may draw a picture and see only her flaws in it; and any constructive criticism from others makes her think, “I will never be able to get better, unlike the people who have natural talent.” This person would have a “fixed” mindset.

On the other hand, a person with a “growth” mindset would see the flaws and constructive criticism and think, “There is plenty of room for improvement. It might be difficult, but with enough practice and learning, I can become better.” While she might not become the next Michelangelo, this person might find joy in the challenge of improving herself and become a great artist in her own right.

How to Promote a Growth Mindset

1. Praise Effort and Perseverance

Even if your child doesn’t achieve “success” in project or endeavor, it’s still important to praise their attempts at success. For example, say your child wants to read a book aloud, but they read slowly or mispronounce words. It’s the act of doing something, often repeatedly, that allows many of us to improve and hone our skills. Encouraging your child for their effort and perseverance even through failure is vital.

You might do this by giving their efforts genuine interest—such as listening to their reading aloud, or watching them as they paint or color—and saying things like “I’m proud that you don’t give up,” “You’ve improved a lot,” or pointing out specific successes, even minor, like, “Good job on remembering how to read that word!”

2. Teach Leadership and Cooperation

It’s important to remember that, with humans being social creatures, we often have successes, growth, or otherwise positive impacts on ourselves and others through working as a team. While everyone has a different level of comfort with teamwork, teamwork is often a necessary skill in life. Talk with your child about what it took to work in a group, and what they may have done to help take responsibility for their team.

When encouraging leadership, remember that leadership does not correlate 1:1 with authority or a position of power. Rather than praising your child for giving terse, blunt commands, you should praise kindness, calm explanations, or presenting ideas.

3. Encourage Organization and Thoughtfulness

Organization is key in helping your child maintain good habits and mindsets. When a child has good organizational skills, they can keep better track of homework, chores, and the like, which gives them more room to grow. Thoughtfulness and intention are key to starting and keeping good organizational habits. Encourage your child to keep homework in special folders, put clothes away in the correct drawers, or to practice an instrument or sport at routine times, and praise them when they do.

Remember that each child is different. What works for your oldest child might not work for your youngest child, and some might need special assistance if they have a disability. Regardless, remember that your child is growing and learning every day, and that includes making mistakes or not knowing how to do things. Children need not only encouragement, but models to follow. If you’re not particularly good at organization, perhaps your partner or friend is. There’s no harm in asking for help.

Remote work deeply affected the language services industry as well, of course. While many translators who already performed their work remotely were able to adapt well, interpreters who were used to going to events in-person suddenly found themselves having to figure their ways around new video or phone systems and rely on their clients’ ability to use technology as well. By now, in late 2022, these interpreters probably have a good handle on remote work now, but we have a hunch that they’re happy about the recent return to in-person meetings and gatherings.

According to USA Facts, 68% of the United States’ population have been fully vaccinated as of November 2022, while roughly a third of the whole population has had a booster dose as well. While 21% of people in the United States seem to have not had any doses of the vaccine at all, the number of those who at least have some protection is still high. While there is still some risk to in-person meetings, the vaccine helps prevent particularly adverse cases of Covid-19.

With the increase in in-person meetings, wherever possible or requested, we at Monterey Language Services like to send interpreters to on-site meetings. In-person meetings provide less of a risk of missing information due to shaky internet connections or not being able to see the speakers clearly, and we fully support that our interpreters go in-person so long as they are vaccinated and feel safe. Many patients need the in-person support of an interpreter so that they feel comforted in a situation that they might otherwise feel very tense in.

We recently posted about sending Spanish interpreters to a school board event, but we also regularly send interpreters to other places as well, such as medical institutions like major county hospitals, children’s hospitals, large medical groups’ health centers, and even clinics under the State of California’s innovative and research contracts. It is our honor and privilege to be able to provide safe service so many community healthcare facilities, and we admire these places for being able to provide safe, clean spaces for staff, patients, and interpreters to interact.

Recently, Monterey Language Services provided simultaneous Spanish interpretation at a school board meeting. The parents of many students at this school are Mexican Spanish-speaking with a wide range of English proficiency, and the staff had become concerned that these parents were missing out on crucial information regarding school policies.

As a language service provider, we understand the importance of and advocate for information distribution. We jumped at the opportunity and immediately set to locating the most qualified interpreters in the community.

The Search

We have a vast network of interpreters, which allows us to choose the best interpreters for the job. In this case, we ended up picking two interpreters who were local to the area and subject matter experts.

You might be wondering why we assigned two interpreters. For a simultaneous event, it is standard practice to have team interpreters. Given the mental taxation for simultaneous interpretation, one interpreter will speak for a given amount of time (generally twenty to thirty minutes), then take turns with the other interpreter. This way interpreters can take a break, help with another matter at the event if need be, or provide notes or backup to each other.

We thought it was appropriate to assign interpreters from the area, as the interpreters have a closer association with local events and therefore have more enthusiasm in giving back to the community.

The fact that our two interpreters for this assignment are subject matter experts concerning education is another boon, because they know about the ins and outs of the education system.

The Preparation

Our office carries a plethora of equipment for interpretation events, including microphone headsets, transmitters, receivers, and receiver headsets. As a brief rundown, the interpreter usually whispers their interpretation into a microphone headset, which goes through a transmitter to the receivers; the interpreter’s words then are delivered right to the listeners’ ears through the receiver headsets.

We count out the number of headsets, transmitters, and receivers needed, then test each one to ensure that they work. Once all equipment is checked and accounted for, we wipe them with alcohol swabs to assure cleanliness before packing them into foam-lined cases to make sure nothing accidentally gets damaged.

Setup and Execution

Since this was the first interpretation event performed at this school, our office manager arrived an hour before the event. Preparation on-site began with introduction of the equipment to our client, in which we included written instructions for reference.

We also made sure to give the interpreters a place to be where they could see and hear the speakers, as well as see any supplementary material that the speakers put on a television screen. This setup allowed the interpreters to take in all available information so that their interpretation would be as accurate as possible.

Cleanup

Once all equipment was brought back to our office, we took great care to ensure that everything was still working well. Inspecting the equipment after an event can be a delicate process that includes checking for malfunctions, cracks, broken wires, etc. Given that Covid-19 is still a prevalent concern, we clean the equipment with alcohol swabs yet again before storing it.

Another concern is that, as our transmitters and receivers are battery-powered, we check for battery corrosion, which can harm the equipment and cause it to stop working. Leaving batteries for too long inside any equipment can lead to leakage of the hydrogen gas inside, so we always make sure to take batteries out when our transmitters and receivers are not being prepped for use or in-use.

The Result

The school office advertised to parents that there would be simultaneous Spanish interpretation at their school board event, and many of the people coming into the meeting were excited, even those who did not need interpretation services themselves. Spanish speakers eagerly took receivers and headsets, thanking our office manager and interpreters for the assistance. A conversation with a Spanish-speaking teacher revealed that there had been lots of anticipation around this event, and that the schoolboard was eager to provide an even better experience at the next one.

Getting to see how the Spanish speakers were excited about receiving information in Spanish at the same time as the English speakers is very inspiring and this is what helping people with communication is all about. It’s a rewarding experience and we look forward to the next one!

The Printing Press

It is a little-known fact among the Western world that Johannes Gutenberg was not in fact the first to create a printing press. Borrowing from wood-block printing in many Asian cultures, Korean Choe Yun-ui created the first printing press with moveable block characters in the 1200s. However, due to many factors, such as invasion into Korea and the fact that organizing the Chinese characters to print took quite a while, this printing press did not become widespread.

Gutenberg’s printing press, on the other hand, often printed works written in Latin, which is written with far, far fewer letters than there are characters in Chinese. Arranging the type pieces and going through the printing process was markedly easier than in Korea two hundred years earlier, and Gutenberg’s printing press was essential for the increase in literacy in the following century. In our last blog, we mentioned that Martin Luther’s German translation of the Bible was a major turning point in the history of translation; without the printing press, his translation would not have reached even half the people that it did.

The Rosetta Stone

The Rosetta Stone, first discovered in 1799, held a passage that was written three times—twice in two versions of ancient Egyptian, and once in ancient Greek. The passage, written in 196 BC, was key to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics, despite so much of the Rosetta Stone being broken and incomplete.

The Nuremberg Trials

The infamous Nuremberg Trials were held to take Nazis to court and to try them for war crimes that took place during World War II. Remarkably, the trials only took ten months to complete, despite the need to translate and interpret the proceedings into numerous languages. This was accomplished by implementing the world’s first simultaneous interpretation program, which likely saved years off of the Trials’ time. Simultaneous interpretation is difficult to learn the skills for, but is commonly used for conferences, such as for the United Nations.

The Internet

With the advent of the internet, the world became even more global than ever. While learning languages and speaking or writing to a language partner regardless of distance was possible with phone calls and letters, the internet sped up those processes to be nearly immediate.

With this, however, came increasing demands for translation and interpretation for global businesses. Translators and interpreters now had to learn how to not only navigate linguistic landscapes, but also digital ones.

Machine Translation

Very recently in the history of translation and interpretation has been the rise in machine translation. Essentially, putting one string from language A into a machine, which would produce that string in language B. This method vastly improves the speed at which translators can do their jobs, but as machines can’t understand language in the way that humans do, translators and proofreaders are necessary to ensure that the final product doesn’t sound unnatural.

Now

While looking back at history, we also look towards the future. In the past, human history has had lots of events that have influenced today’s translators and interpreters. Many events even had an impact on the world as a whole, such as the printing press and the internet. In the future, there will only be even more AI inventions and events that will shape the translation and interpretation sphere. However, one thing we have seen clearly is that language has been highly varied and shaped by human thought and action; in that vein, we in the translation and interpretation industry are still far, far away from being replaced by machines or robots.

Applicants will not need to log in with a federal student aid ID, nor upload any documents, but they will have to accurately and honestly provide information about their monetary earnings. Depending on their income and whether or not they received a Pell Grant during their college career (a grant being money awarded to students that does not need to be paid back, unlike a loan), applicants can be eligible to receive up to $10,000 or $20,000 in debt relief forgiveness.

Since the pandemic began, student loan payments have been frozen in an effort to provide some kind of relief for those in debt. The application form is not live yet, but is expected to release sometime in October; federal officials have suggested that many should file the form by November 15^th in order to apply the debt cancellation to their current balances, although applications will continue until the end of 2023. If an applicant has $20,000 or lower left on their balance, they may be able to completely wipe out their remaining debt before the federal pause on loan payments ends on December 31^st of this year.

Already, there has been much debate over whether Biden has the authority to do this, and whether states would lose out on the money to be had by being repaid. Others have said that the plan benefits people of color more than others, which would violate the constitution’s right to equal protection of the laws—although cases like this were dismissed on the basis of having no standing.

According to NPR, loan forgiveness would raise the standard of living for millions, if not tens of millions, of people—although the subsequent increase in spending might increase inflation. Some also call the forgiveness unfair to those who saved and worked through college, or those who have managed to pay off their debt; on the other hand, there are many individuals who feel that their own suffering through debt should not mean that others have to suffer through debt as well.

How do you feel about debt forgiveness? Please let us know by leaving a comment down below.