Adventures in Guatemala

        I know I've written a little bit about my summer mentorship and such already, but I thought I would take this opportunity to expand on that and my trip some more, because my experience was so instrumental in setting a foundation for my project, and there is not a lot to give an update on otherwise.      
        The most important and obvious requirement for becoming an interpreter is having the ability to speak more than one language. To continue this process for myself, I went to Guatemala City for five weeks this past summer.  I lived with a Guatemalan family and went to Spanish classes at a school called CASAS (Central American Study and Service). It's a small school with a beautiful little campus. When I arrived for my first day of class I had no idea how it would be set up. I thought there would be at least one other student with me. But as it turned out, it was just me and my assigned teacher, Panchita. And she didn't speak any English. At that point I was very grateful for what little Spanish I had learned in school at home! So I wasn't completely lost.

        Panchita was an amazing teacher, and one of the sweetest people I have ever met. Meeting her was one of the best parts of my time. Usually I am a pretty reserved person and tend spend more time listening than talking about myself, but Panchita was the kind of person who was really easy to talk to. Her patient teaching and the fact that she only spoke Spanish really forced me to improve.

Panchita and me

        Another aspect of my time in Guatemala was getting my summer mentorship hours with my host mom, Veraly. I was planning to go to Guatemala before I found out that she was actually an interpreter, so I was so excited when I found that out! It was really amazing how it worked out for her to mentor me. I wish I could have continued my mentorship with her throughout this year. Veraly started interpreting when she was 14, and now she teaches both interpretation and translation at a university in Guatemala City. For my hours I went with her to her classes and was able to participate with the class or do other work that she gave me. It was such a valuable experience to be able to talk to her about language interpretation and listen to her teach as well. I learned a ton!

        I was hoping that going to Guatemala this summer would push away any doubt I might have in my mind about what to do for my senior project and for my career, and it definitely did! Through going to my Spanish classes and hearing hardly any English for a month, I realized how much I love other languages and doing my mentorship confirmed that interpreting is something I want to pursue. I'm really excited about everything more I will learn and do throughout the course of my senior project.

These are my host siblings. From left to right, Emilio, Eily, me, Emy, and Luna the dog. In this picture we are at some Mayan ruins.

Blog 4: First Interview Preparation

1. Who do you plan to interview? Why?
        I plan to interview Monica Giron, because she has many years of experience as a consecutive interpreter for immigration court and as a medical interpreter. Because of her experience in these two different areas, I believe she will be able to give me valuable insight as to the details of being a consecutive interpreter.

2. What additional questions do you plan to ask?

• How did you know you wanted to become an interpreter?
• How does personality play a role in a person's success as an interpreter?
• What personal characteristics or qualities are valuable to have as an interpreter?
• What is the best preparation one can get for becoming a consecutive interpreter?
• What would you say are some common mistakes of aspiring interpreters?
• What is one piece of advice you would give to someone who wants to become an interpreter?

Blog 3: Topic Choice and Working Essential Question

1. List your topic here:
        Consecutive Interpretation

2. Write a question that helps you focus your research this month.
        What is the best way for a consecutive interpreter to facilitate understanding between two people who do not speak the same language?

3. Post the working bibliography on the right hand side of the blog and share it so anyone can view it.
        It's over there.       -------------------------------->

Blog 2: Summer Mentorship Component

Literal

1. Link a log of your specific hours and a description of your duties
        Mentorship Log

2. What is the contact name and number of where you volunteered?
        My mentor was Professor Veraly Morales at Mariano Gálvez University in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Her contact number is 5632-6753.

3. What questions were raised because of the 10 hours of experience?

• What is the best way to get experience as an interpreter?
• Do interpreters usually pick one type of interpretation to focus their career on?
• As an interpreter, is it important to have translation skills as well?
• What happens if an interpreter makes a mistake?

Interpretive

4. What is the most important thing you gained from this experience and why?

        The most important thing I gained from my summer mentorship experience was confirmation that interpreting is the career for me. This was most important to me because I'm glad to finally have this question of What am I going to do after high school? answered for sure, as it is one that bothered me even before I started high school.

Applied

5. What is your senior project topic going to be? How did what you did help you choose a topic? Explain.

        The topic of my senior project is going to be consecutive language interpretation. Learning from my mentor by talking to my her about interpreting and her experience in this field, sitting in on her interpretation class, and even watching a movie she suggested gave me a better understanding of what all the job entails and also clarified in my mind that consecutive interpretation (as opposed to simultaneous interpretation) is something I really want to pursue both as my senior project and as a career.