Blog 22: Final Lesson Reflection

1. What are you most proud of in your block presentation and/or your senior project and why?
        In my final presentation, I am most proud that I was able to demonstrate how interpretation works by having the actual equipment (headphones and receiver) at each student's place and using the microphone and transmitter myself. I was so excited to have the equipment because I didn't know if I would be able to rent it for my presentation (and not an actual interpreting event) or how much it would cost. But when I emailed the company my mentor, Anne, had recommended, Continental Interpreting, they responded saying that since I was a student they would be able to provide me with equipment for the day of my presentation at no cost! Yay! Even though I felt that having the equipment there was somewhat underappreciated by the students, I was very happy to have it. 

2. What assessment would you give yourself on your block presentation?
        AE

3. What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project?
        AE

4. What worked for you in your senior project?
        Something that worked really well for me was being able to use the Cal Poly Pomona library databases to access scholarly articles on interpreting. I got almost all of my research for my I-Search paper and final presentation from journal articles that were available online to students with a Cal Poly login. It was so helpful to be able to go on there and find a wealth of reliable, free sources instead of just doing a regular Google search. Being able to use these expert resources really enhanced the quality and credibility of my project. 

5. If you had a time machine, what would you go back and do differently to improve your senior project?

        I would not choose to go back in time and change anything about my project. I know there are always ways to improve and there are have been many throughout the course of this year. I could have done a better job at keeping up on research notes despite limited accountability, for example. However, I did my very best in every component and am proud of all my work. I don't regret any of the decisions I made regarding missing school for mentorship, using technical and timeconsuming sources, etc. So although my project is not perfect, I am confident in it, I love it, and would not change anything about it. 

6. How has your senior project been helpful to you in your future endeavors?

        Completing my project to the best of my ability has given me a great head start in becoming an interpreter myself. I have all of the knowledge, now I just have to put it into action. All the work I did for my project and everything I learned have left me with not only a great base of research and knowledge as I continue pursuing my goal, but also even more excitement and inspiration than I started with. 
        The connections I made with professional interpreters is another aspect of my project that has been helpful to me as I think about the future. Through interacting with my three mentors, I learned some of the more practical and logistical aspects of the field, such as different opportunities of settings to interpret in, what certifications are beneficial to obtain, and what interpreter training programs are in the area (such as the one at Cal State Fullerton). I was also added to an interpreter/translator Facebook group. My senior project has been a diving board from which I am now jumping off into the proverbial pool of continued study in the field of interpretation.

I'm done!!! :D

Blog 21: Mentorship

Literal

• My log has been updated.
• I completed my mentorship component with Anne Guzman, Guzman Translation and Interpreting

Interpretive

        The most important thing I gained from my mentorship is that after watching and talking to professional interpreters, I still want to be one. Before my mentorship, I had never seen a professional interpreter work before. Even though I had read extensively on the topic and seen videos, I didn't know if actually experiencing it would change my mind. But observing my mentor at her meetings, interviewing her, and watching her translate a couple of times caused me to fall more in love with the field of interpreting and translation and brought me joy and excitement, both of which were invaluable to me kept me going in my project this year.

Applied

        My mentorship helped me answer my essential question by allowing me to see how my research applied to real life situations. After finding an EQ answer by reading a scholarly article, I was able to see what I had been reading about play out in the "real world" of my project. I saw each of my three of my answers (fluency, cultural knowledge, and strategy) all utilized by my mentor at one time or another throughout the course of completing my hours, which confirmed to me that my answers were all relevant and correct ways of ensuring understanding between people, the focus of my essential question and overall project.

Blog 20: Exit Interview

1. What is your essential question and answers? What is your best answer and why?
        My essential question is How can an interpreter best ensure understanding between people who do not speak the same language? My three answers are that an interpreter can best ensure understanding by possessing a high level of fluency in both the source and target languages, by possessing a thorough knowledge of the culture behind both the source and target languages, and by using a combination of different interpreting strategies.
        My best answer is that an interpreter can best ensure understanding between people who do not speak the same language by possessing a high level of fluency of both the source and target languages. Even though there is a sound argument for any of my answers being the best one, I chose this answer because as I have researched and watched interpreters in action, I have seen how fluency is both what enables interpreters to do their job in the first place and then also allows them to transfer meaning with the most accuracy so that people understand.

2. What process did you go through to arrive at your best answer?
        I had a hard time choosing a best answer because I believe all my answers must be present in an interpreting situation in order for the listeners to understand. The absence of any of these three elements is detrimental to a person's ability to understand someone who does not speak their language. To decide on my best answer, I thought about each one and how they impact the effectiveness of an interpreter. After thinking and going back and forth for a while, I felt that even though cultural knowledge and strategy are critical to one's success as an interpreter, it is possible to interpret without them and people may still have an understanding, albeit a limited one, if the interpreter does not posses these two skills at the level they should. However, it is impossible for listeners to understand if the interpreter is not highly fluent in both languages. A person's understanding would be severely hindered by an interpreter's lack of fluency, so I picked that answer as my best one.

3. What problems have you faced throughout your senior project? How did you resolve them?
        The greatest problem I have faced over the course of my project has been getting mentorship hours. Fortunately, I did end up finding a mentor, but it has still been difficult to shadow her sometimes because she does not work very much right now. But I have been able to do some hours with one of my mentor's colleagues as well as my mentor, which has been helpful. I resolved the mentorship hours problem by supplementing shadowing my actual mentor with other interpreting/translation activities such as a translation reading group at Cal Poly, a translation event that was also at Cal Poly, and working with a translator/interpreter at the LACOE office in Downey, and other Spanish-related activities that I counted for mentorship. In the end I have been able to get all my hours, but it has been a stressful situation this year.

4. What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why were they significant?
        My two most significant sources were the Cal Poly Library database, from which I got all my research articles and without which I would have had an extremely difficult time researching and finding material to back up my essential question answers. My answers came from a combination of many different articles, which all were pointing to my answers as the best way to ensure understanding when interpreting. My second source was three interpreters who helped me significantly with my project, Anne Guzman (my mentor), Edna Santizo, and Daniel Tamayo. In talking to them about the field, interviewing each them for my project, and watching Anne and Edna interpret, all my eq answers were supported by their experience and I was able to learn so much more about interpreting than I would have by just reading articles.

The Final Stretch!

        As April comes to a close I am realizing how close I am to finishing my project and graduating. This past month I finished up my second independent component and started working on my I-Search paper. My mentor, Anne, has not been doing much interpreting lately, but I was able to watch her translate on one occasion. This whole time I've been thinking that translation is not something I am interested in pursuing, but after watching and talking to Anne, I may consider trying it in addition to interpreting. I am going to a translation even at Cal Poly next week and it will be interesting to see what it's like and get more exposure to translation.
        May is going to speed by. I've started thinking about and planning my final presentation, which is on the 26th. My greatest challenge will be coming up with an acceptable activity, as I have found that the skills required for interpreting are rather difficult to apply to monolingual students in an engaging manner via said activity. As far as senior project is concerned, after turning in my paper and completing my exit interview, I'll be able to focus all my attention on my final presentation, and that will be all!

Blog 19: Independent Component 2

Literal

• I, Claire Dix, affirm that I completed my independent component, which represents 47 hours and 15 minutes of work.
• The printed source I used to help me complete my independent component was Integrated Chinese Textbook Level 1. My other sources were my friend, Ching Chow and the city of Ensenada, Mexico.

My Chinese textbook, which I
worked through a bit with Ching

Ching and me

The border 

• My senior project hours log has been updated.
• My independent component had two main aspects. The first was continuing to learn Spanish and Mandarin by focusing on speaking. I did this by meeting with my Chinese friend Ching. We conversed in Chinese and she helped me with pronunciation and learning vocabulary, as well as useful grammar concepts in Chinese. On the Spanish side, I went to an orphanage in Mexico for a weekend and spoke a ton of Spanish there. The second aspect was gaining more knowledge about the culture of the people who speak languages. I did this by watching two movies in Chinese, talking to Ching and going to a Chinese bakery with her, and going to Mexico.

Interpretive
        I specifically honed in on two critical skills that are required for an interpreter to best ensure understanding between people: Fluency/linguistic ability, and cultural knowledge of the languages in use. To do this, I was intentional about practicing speaking Chinese and Spanish with my friend and in Mexico. Through talking to Ching, watching the movies, eating Chinese food, trying to read every Chinese character I saw, and being in Mexico, I gained more cultural knowledge that I can build upon as I learn and study more. This was significant to my project because I was able to go in depth on these two EQ answers and continue to prepare for becoming an interpreter myself as well. I'm not fluent yet, but the time and practice I put in during my component was helpful. It's pretty hard to fully learn a language and a culture without living in the country, so I hope to do that in college. The bulk of my hours came from my weekend trip to Mexico, and the rest were from meeting with Ching and watching the Chinese films, which were about two hours each. The principle things I achieved through this component were intangible, but here are some visuals describing what I did for my hours.

These are the Chinese films I watched

        

Went to 85 degrees and tried to decipher
the Chinese characters labeling the food.

Here is a link to another blog post, where I wrote in detail about my Mexico trip. And here are more pictures of my time that I did not include in the other post. I was taking most of the pictures for the group so I'm not in very many of them.

Applied
        My essential question is how can an interpreter best ensure understanding between people who do not speak the same language? I focused my independent component on my first and second EQ answers, which are achieving a high level of fluency in the languages and possessing an in depth knowledge of the culture of the languages, respectively. What I did helped me answer my EQ in that it gave me more support for my answers and allowed me to actually put them into practice myself. I improved in speaking both Chinese and Spanish, which I was very happy about. It makes me so excited to get better. Especially when I was in Mexico, I realized I was farther ahead than I thought in  how much Spanish I was able to understand and respond to. I really gained a lot of confidence from it that I had lacked before.
        The other aspect of my component, cultural study, also helped me answer my EQ because I was actively researching and learning about the cultures of both my languages, which, some experts say, is at the core of being a qualified and competent interpreter. By actually going to a country where Spanish is the dominant language, I was able to see how the people lived and get actual immersion experience. The Chinese movies that I watched were rich in Chinese culture, and I could hear the language at the same time. It was awesome that I was able to understand some of the Chinese spoken in the movie! Even if I didn't look at the English subtitles! (Sometimes).

Mi Viaje a México (My Trip to Mexico)

        As part of my independent component, I went to Mexico for two days with a group from my church. We were at an orphanage in Ensenada hanging out with the kids. We also made them food and taught them how to clean their kitchen. The trip fit perfectly with my component because I got to speak a lot of Spanish and experience the culture of Mexico as well. The majority of the people on the trip spoke Spanish, and I was proud of myself for being able to understand most of what they said to each other and for being able to respond to them. None of the kids at the orphanage spoke any English, so I got to talk to them too. And I even interpreted for my brother and a non-spanish speaking friend! That was one of my favorite parts of the trip. I felt like I was actually able to experience for a tiny second what interpreting is like. A significant portion of the cultural aspect came in the form of the food we ate. I have Mexican food all the time but it was really cool to eat a taco in the actual birthplace of tacos. I also found crossing the border quite fascinating. It was the first time in my memory that I have crossed an international border by car (usually I'm in a plane). Going into Mexico, there was no line and they didn't check at all for any kind of identification from anyone. Some random cars were searched, but that was it. However on the way back, we sat in a two-hour line to get to the window at the border (there were 26 open windows and it was still taking forever), where each of our passports, or birth certificates in the case of my brother and me, were looked over and verified with their respective owners. Then we were asked 20 questions about why we were in Mexico, where we were going, what we were bringing back, etc. No wonder the line had moved so slowly. I'm so glad I was able to go and get my IC Spanish hours finished up but also bring smiles to the kids' faces in the process. Unfortunately I was only able to get pictures at the actual orphanage and none of the city of Ensenada.

The kids loved soccer

This the main gathering area at the orphanage

Not a good picture of me, but it proves I was there!
I was the group photographer, which explains the lack of pictures with me in them

They had a little playground

Here are some team members making lunch for the kids

Craft time

Blog 18: Fourth Interview Preparation

Post 20 open-ended questions you want to ask an expert in your field concerning your senior project. The focus of your questions should be on your answer to your EQ.

1. What is the purpose of interpreting?
2. What is the most important aspect of interpreting?
3. How does creativity tie into interpreting, if at all?
4. What does it mean to be fluent in a language?
5. What is the best way to achieve fluency?
6. What is the best way to deal with words that don't have an equivalent in the target language
7. Does an interpreter’s accent affect what the people listening think about the interpreter and/or what is being said?
8. What is the best way to make sure you have a realistic accent?
9. How important is it to know the culture of a language?
10. What role does a person's culture play in their understanding of a message/interpretation?
11. What aspects of culture are most important to know?
12. What are some strategies you use when you encounter someone who is difficult to interpret for?
13. How important is it to go through some kind of formal interpreter training?
14. How has your training helped you in the "real world" of interpreting?
15. What is the greatest challenge you have encountered while interpreting?
16. How can you be sure the audience is understanding your interpretation?
17. How can an interpreter best ensure understanding between people who do not speak the same language?
18. How can I go more in-depth on my EQ?
19. How can I improve any of my three answers?
20. To you, what is the best part of being an interpreter?