Behind the Scenes Series Part I

Video Link: https://youtu.be/yl0vHQPHXA8

After watching the video, don’t you go thinking that we only sing and dance as interpreters! One of the interpreters featured in the video, Fadhma, was so inspirational with her words, and prompted us to write the behind the scenes story.

Interpretation is such an abstract concept, so we were trying to figure out how we could explain it. Ultimately, we realized that we could demonstrate it using something relatable and timeless like music. It’s something that everyone is familiar with and likes. This is why we link interpreters to music and we are proud to say that through the collaboration of our fellow interpreters around the world, we have vividly drawn various analogies between our interpretation profession and music.

That’s right! The role of interpreters is as important as music to all of us! In the video, we pose a question: Imagine what the world would be like without interpreters? And then the voice on the background answers to it exactly “on all those faces, what do they say?” We are amazed by how our colleague Hina has wonderfully found that line of monologue from one of Nia’s contributions. That basic answer provides the core foundation for our mission as interpreters.

We then asked a Chat AI: Answer simply on what the world would be like without interpreters? The answer was: Without interpreters, the world would face significant communication barriers and misunderstandings. Interactions between people speaking different languages would become extremely challenging, hindering international cooperation, business transactions, and cultural exchange. Traveling and understanding different cultures would also become more difficult, resulting in a more isolated and divided world.

The Chat AI’s reply is decent, but it is insufficient as it only gives an answer about the consequences. How do you go straight to the core like a professional interpreter in answering the question and allowing us to use the answer in a fast yet must catch all video? This is one aspect in the production that professional interpreters can distinguish ourselves from AI!

We cannot stress enough the significance of interpreters weaving diversity and unity through communities. Again, the video background voice champions and answers right to the heart – “Yeah…ah! The colors of the rainbow, so pretty… in the sky.” The hues of the rainbow so unbelievably fit into the messages we would like to deliver, and we felt like they are a godsend.

This video has certainly re-ignited our sense of mission and the mission must go on even further in spite of AI technophobia. AI is capable, but then can AI interpret our tones, our feelings, our energy, our life, our passion, our emotions, and our sense of mission that professional interpreters have shared? Seeing this video, we are reminded once again that interpreters who are full of life with a good sense of mission will continue to prevail over AI! We are thrilled and honored to connect with all the amazing interpreters in the world! At this point of conclusion, the messages of the video become clear that these are real life, real energy, real interpreters, and real interpretation that AI can not replace, at least not in our lifetime! Being surrounded by the predominant AI waves today, this video serves as a therapeutic piece to relax the minds of human interpreters, so let’s go sing and dance!

Monterey Language Services have explored Interpreters and Communities and now we’re taking a look at Interpreters and Music! We would like to draw an analogy of interpretation to music. We intend to demonstrate that interpretation is like music, and ultimately how it is about diversity and richness.

We have started a demo reel to give you a glimpse of where we are coming from. We hope to include your participation to make it a fuller image of the interpretation profession. Please feel welcome to send us photos/videos of you taking part in music-related activities, whether you were the performer or attended a performance. We are mainly looking for interpreters enjoying themselves outside of work.
We would also like to include interpreters whose native language is ASL, and interpreters of color, from different communities that represent richness and diversity of the world we live in.

We do not intend to advertise our company in an intro or outro. By not doing so, we can include all interested interpreters. The final video link will be shared to those who were selected to participate.
Check out our Interpreters and Music Demo Reel here.
Please send photos or videos to info@montereylanguages.com

Please feel welcome to pass the invitation to interpreters who you think would be interested.

Thank you and have a nice day!

Interpreters play a vital role in connecting people through different languages and cultures, shaping them into one harmonious community. Their importance cannot be understated, yet they often form a role that’s considered invisible.

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.

Monterey Language Services has showcased the useful functionality of hybrid technology in our conference room. You can view the video here.

Our office has several approaches to hybrid meetings. We own a Polycom system, which allows users to securely connect with their partner’s IP address for meetings. We also use applications such as Skype, Zoom, Google Meet, Webex, and Teams to provide virtual rooms for interpretation sessions.

Not all businesses are equipped with reliable tools and technology, or some customers or workers may be traveling in the Monterey area and not have reliable means to join meetings. Well, we can help you.

At Monterey Language Services, we offer conference room rental. Gather with your customers or employees both in-person and in hybrid fashion to make the most of your business ventures.

If you are looking for conference room space to rent out, or if you need interpretation services for your meetings, please reach out to us at montereylanguages.com or at 831-655-3460. We would be happy to help.

We love community events. We enjoy interpreting at community events because it gives us a great sense of belonging, serving, and giving back to the community we live in.

Community events foster a sense of togetherness and responsibility, spurring community members to keep the community safe, inclusive, and welcoming. This is especially important when the community is made up of people from all walks of life, from younger to older, different genders, different cultures, and across languages.

California especially is home to people from many different countries and backgrounds, including first- and second-generation immigrants, and others whose preferred language isn’t English. Diverse backgrounds bring fresh perspectives to community events and planning, which is why we were so excited to provide interpretation services to the recent Hilby Avenue Traffic Calming Project on May 17^th.

The interpreter we provided has a great many years of experience, even in other traffic-related projects. We prepared our interpretation equipment, made up of portable receivers and headsets that have an incredible range of use. Our client let us know that the portable equipment was a “great approach” for their walking tour around Hilby Avenue, and was quite happy with our mobility and flexibility in helping.

The event was a great success. We helped to welcome incoming community members, letting them know that interpretation services were available. The headsets allowed for the Spanish participants to understand the presentation, Q&A, and breakout session in order to provide feedback. Our interpreter assisted the Spanish speaking participants to write their comments in English on the provided maps of Hilby Avenue, as well as interpreted for the event employees so they could directly communicate with the Spanish participants and ask for their ideas.

This type of community safety event is very important, and therefore, we worked as community members as well to help generate more feedback from participants who were able to offer different perspectives. We look forward to future continuous endeavors with the traffic safety project.

Check out our Facebook page to see photos from the event.

Located in beautiful Monterey California, Monterey Language Services provides clients with solutions to their multilingual conferences and meetings. We’ve worked with countless programs and businesses. In the following video, we showcase sample events that we’ve serviced in Monterey County and Silicon Valley. These events hold some precious memories to us, and we hope to make many more with you. Take a look!

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

We hope that this video gives you some insights into our approach to simultaneous interpretation at events. Non-English speakers blend in very well with other audience because they can receive information simultaneously. The interpretation equipment used in these events is portable. The equipment can be taken anywhere in California to suit your needs.

If opportunities arise, we look forward to working with you in Monterey, Silicon Valley, and other parts of California as well. We hope you enjoy the video!

Are you looking to host a multilingual event for your business or community? Are you unsure about how to go about it, or concerned about the technology involved? No need to worry!

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.

Are your visitors traveling from overseas? Are they worried about the language barrier? Do they feel comfortable attending multilingual conferences where they hear languages they don’t understand?

At Monterey Language Services, we do not only provide interpretation services, but also interpretation AV equipment to facilitate understanding. We regularly provide transmitters, receivers, headset microphones, and headsets for simultaneous interpretation events. Transmitters and headset microphones are for the interpreters, and the receivers and headsets are for your visitors. Within seconds, the equipment can be set up and adjusted to your visitor’s comfort.

By using our equipment, the speakers do not need to pause for the interpreters to catch up— instead, they can keep speaking. Simultaneously, the interpreters relay the information to your visitors in their native language. This way, your visitors wearing the receivers and headsets can receive information via the interpreter. At the same time, the audience of the main language does not hear the interpretation and can better focus without any distractions. As a result, the communication at your event will be more effective, and the speech and/or conversations will proceed smoothly and seamlessly.

When we receive a request for interpretation at an event, we gather all relevant information for the event: date, location, language, number of attendees, anticipated length, subject matter that are required for the work.

For smaller events, we provide receivers and headsets for the audience, where the interpreters are able to follow the audience and keep mobility from one location to another. For larger events, we use Interpreter Consoles, where the interpreter stays in a booth to relay information to a larger number of event-goers who speak different languages. We also use a hybrid mix of portable equipment with fixed stations. Please feel welcome to email us to find out more at info@montereylanguages.com

Just as we provide the most suitable interpretation equipment to fit different situations, we ensure to assign interpreters who are experts in the field of your event. For effective interpretation, especially simultaneous interpretation events, multiple interpreters are often needed and we send only those who are knowledgeable in the subject matter. For example, conference interpreters usually specialize in a particular subject, whether it is IT, Business, International Tech Reseller meetings, Product Training, Marketing, or Finance, etc.

We’ve provided services for top tech companies with our portable equipment including for visitors from Latin America and Asia. We’ve provided for large marketing and conference events with interpretation console equipment. Our methodology works. Our easy-to-use and effective equipment, knowledgeable interpreters, and detailed planning rise high to each and every occasion. We owe it to our clients to provide the very best, after all.

Human energy can be mysterious. Some are early risers, others are late-night owls, and others seem to never run out of steam. However, one of the universal human experiences is how just the right set of circumstances can leave us energized for more.

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!

On March 3^rd, Monterey’s local Middlebury Institute of International Studies had its annual Translation, Interpretation, and Localization Management career fair—and for the first time in years, the event was in-person rather than remote.

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.