IW 137: InterpreTips: Working Alone Doesn't Mean Being Alone

Star date 09820.00 The big blue ball made another revolution around our star. It is 2025 of the common era!

Many of us set goals at the beginning of each year. It is a time to rethink, reschedule, and renew us, and our plans. This episode talks about how we can do this even we work, study, and practice alone. But are we really alone? No, there are many of us.

Listen to how we can do it all and come together too.

LINKS mentioned:

• IW Community
  • 10-50% OFF workshops, seminars, and more.
• Sharon's new book! (Use promo code IWCurry for 10% Discount.)
  • Give a note to ask for a signed copy!
• Stay tuned for upcoming workshops!

Transcript

IW 137: InterpreTips: Working Alone Doesn’t Mean Being Alone

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[ROCK INTRO MUSIC STARTS]

00:00:02 Tim [ONLY TIM SPEAKS IN THIS EPISODE]

Good morning, good evening, good afternoon. Wherever you are, this is the Interpreter's Workshop podcast. I'm Tim Curry, your host. Here we talk everything sign language interpreting the ins, the outs, the ups, the downs, the sideways of interpreting. If you're a student, a new interpreter, experienced interpreter, this is the place for you. If you want to know more, go to interpretersworkshop.com.

00:00:28

Let's start talking... interpreting.

[ROCK INTRO MUSIC ENDS]

00:00:34

And now the quotes of the day, the first one by Dr Seuss, American author.

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“You may be one person in the world, but you may also be the world to one person.”

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And the second quote by John Lennon,

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“There's nowhere you can be. That isn't where you're meant to be…”

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As interpreters, we often work alone. Even now, when we're working online in a team, it can feel as though we're alone because we are sitting alone in front of a camera in front of a monitor and we have to make decisions, split second decisions alone.

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It makes it hard to push away the burnout, to push away the loneliness, to push away the indecision.

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Am I good enough?

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How do I do this?

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Am I making the right decision?

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But if we take the quotes and apply them to these thoughts, we come to the discussions that we're going to have today. So let's get started.

[SHORT TRANSITION MUSIC]

00:01:40

OK. I admit it.

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We are awesome.

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Extremely amazing at what we do.

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Our brains can do so many things as interpreters all at the same time and correcting ourselves in mid thought.

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It's amazing.

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Yes, it takes some talent.

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It takes some skills.

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It takes an artistic development of the knowledge that we have as interpreters, but even we need to rethink or step back for a moment and look at what we do. Look at the product.

00:02:13

The interpretation that we produce. In this time of year, the beginning, is when a lot of people start setting goals and thinking about losing weight or eating healthier, exercising…

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These are all vocabulary words that I don't understand.

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But I should. [slightly chuckles]

00:02:33

OK, jokes aside, it is a good time to remind ourselves that this is a practice profession.

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We need to practice.

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We need to get out there and train and hone our skills, keep them developed.

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Because over time, we get into habits, and we don't even see that we have these habits.

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We don't even hear them when we speak them, so this time of year, why not take a moment…

00:03:01

…some of those precious moments that we have, and sit down and write your goals.

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What is it that you want to improve?

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Or what is it that you want to work on this year?

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I recommend not doing a year-long goal.

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I think it's better to start small. Think about in three months, in three months I want this.

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I need this.

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I will do this for three months.

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Give yourself a timeline and make a goal that is measurable, just like if you were a researcher and you're asking a question. Can you really measure those answers?

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Can you really get proof that this is what it is?

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Give yourself that moment to write down a goal for three months that you will do this or you will make this and it actually may be something in your personal life. In our last episode, we listened to Sharon Neumann Solow talk about…

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How she never thought about work balance. She just kind of had it.

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They just did what was necessary in life and it all worked out.

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You do the best you can in your personal life and in your professional life, that gives you that balance. You may have more work than personal life or more personal life than work.

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But if you're doing the best that you can when you're doing whatever it is, that's balance. You're content. You're giving it your all. You're being the best that you can be.

00:04:33

So, look at your personal life or your professional life, find one thing that could improve who you are and what you do. If you need to have more personal time, schedule it. 

00:04:44

As an example. Your goal is to have one day off a week.

00:04:49

Wow, that's pretty big, isn't it? For sign language interpreter?

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That's, that's, that's huge.

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It's hard to do when you get last minute calls.

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And you're like, well, my heart says I should.

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Or my finances say I should or I'm available why not?

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But we need to think about ourselves for self-care.

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So, book it, put it in your calendar and say Nope, I'm busy.

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If it's “busy you.”

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All about “you.”

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So set yourself that goal. Maybe one weekend a month, you go somewhere, a short trip for yourself. And it doesn't have to be expensive, but a short trip. Drive somewhere, have lunch in another town.

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Go to a park in another town. Have a picnic there.

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Come back. Something for you to relax.

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But if you have it in there, you can say yes, I did do this. That's measurable.

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You did it.

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I have the receipts.

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I got a T-shirt.

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Those are all measurable.

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So how do we do this as a professional, as an interpreter?

[SHORT TRANSITION MUSIC]

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Remember, as interpreters we normally work alone. Even in teams, we have to make our own split-second decisions within our brain. Even though we have someone supporting us, which is wonderful.

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Teaming is amazing.

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It's the best way for us to work.

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Because we feel that emotional support and professional support at any time, we can get that feedback, we can be fed information that we forgot or give us information that we don't need the capacity to hold. But because we work alone a lot, we do a lot.

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We become good at cutting corners, being good at using a phrase in one language or another phrase in the other language. We do A equals A, B equals B.

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When someone says this, I sign this.

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They sign this, I say this.

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We get in those little habits, or we get limited in the vocabulary we use because it saves time, energy and capacity to think about other things.

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So, working alone can give us burnout. Not being able to de stress, debrief, discuss our work with others, discuss how we feel about the assignments.

00:07:07

But it can also get us into habits that can be shown as patterns in the interpretations we produce. And then as we get more and more experienced, we sometimes take for granted what we do.

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We take for granted that, oh, I know how to do this. OR…

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Yes, I don't have to think about this.

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It's just kind of automatic. This part of the production is just normal.

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Just comes out without me thinking about.

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I can make decisions without thinking about them because I've done them so much.

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And that's when we can become complacent. Even though we have to do workshops and we have to do ongoing education.

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But are we actually practicing our practice?

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More and more researchers, teachers, other interpreters, we hear we need to practice.

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We need to videotape ourselves.

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We need to do mock interpreting.

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We need to pretend to do interpreting.

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Practice not on the job.

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Look at your videotape.

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See what you produced.

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Is it faithful to the meaning to the intention of the speaker?

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Is it clear?

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Are there patterns that keep popping up that need to be fixed that need to be stopped?

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This is a good time of the year to start this record yourself. Or perhaps you already know what you're having trouble with. Record yourself.

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Look at what you think you're having trouble with and see what it really is.

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Is it a pattern?

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Are you really bad at it?

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Are you really struggling or is it just what you feel?

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Look for the patterns of what really exists in your work, and that will be a way to start making goals on what you need to develop or what you need to practice to keep the skill at least as good as it is now.

00:09:02

Many resources out there for you to use to help you find those patterns and to think of what you need to work on.

00:09:11

In fact, take a look at the show notes right now. If you're listening when this was published, then check out Sharon Neumann Solow’s, new book, Powerful Interpreting. Build Your Skills in Five Steps.

[ROCK TRANSITION MUSIC STARTS]

00:09:24

Are you tired of social media shenanigans?

00:09:28

Well, why not go old-fashioned? Subscribe to my newsletter and get the information directly to your inbox once a month with tips and tricks, learn about the upcoming episodes and special events. So go to the show notes, click on Subscribe to the Newsletter.

00:09:44

Thank you. Let's go back.

[ROCK TRANSITION MUSIC ENDS]

00:09:48

While you're working alone, you are awesome, and sometimes it feels like you may have to practice alone as well, and that makes it tough, doesn't it?

00:09:59

There are resources out there like Sharon Neumann Solow’s new book, Marty Taylor’s books of all of the detailed miscues where you might make mistakes and why you might make those mistakes.

00:10:12

Ethical decisions, you can look at Role Space by Robert G Lee and Peter Llewellyn Jones or Demand Control Schema with Robin K Dean and Robert Pollard.

00:10:26

So many resources out there to help you with your interpreting skills,

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your decision-making skills,

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your professional skills,

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soft skills,

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but even those are working alone.

00:10:39

Some of us are privileged to have a local interpreting organization where we can get together or meet other interpreters and talk about these things or do a book reading together, but not everyone is so privileged. That's why I do the podcast.

00:10:56

So that those who are more isolated can at least listen to other interpreters around the world and how they work through these problems, how they work through their everyday work as a professional signed language interpreter.

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It's another reason I opened the IW Community online, a place where we can get together to talk about these things, to have workshops and to have discussion groups about them.

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I think the important thing for us to realize.

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Is that we're not alone in this universe of signed language interpreting.

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We feel like it sometimes, but reach out, reach out to someone else, reach out to me if you like.

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Send me a text message.

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Send me a voicemail.

00:11:41

Email me.

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All the contacts are in the show notes.

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Check out the IW Community even.

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Make sure you follow this podcast, so you get the regular updates of the episodes.

00:11:52

This podcast with someone else, but most importantly connect with fellow interpreters. When you happen to team with someone, get their contact.

00:12:02

Meet with them once in a while. Stay in contact.

00:12:06

Ask how they're doing.

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Maybe set up a time to discuss something or to practice together.

00:12:12

Let's help each other. Let's share. Let’s learn.

00:12:14

Let's enjoy this wonderful profession together. That's what it's all about.

00:12:19

Loving what you do, being content where you are.

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Sharing the passion with others, talking about something you enjoy… is a joy. Oh boy.

[SHORT TRANSITION MUSIC]

00:12:33

Well, it is the beginning of 2025.

00:12:37

We are awesome.

00:12:38

Make your year even better.

00:12:41

Become a little more disciplined.

00:12:43

That's my goal.

00:12:44

Look at how I balance my professional and personal life, how I meld the two together as one because it's all me.

00:12:53

It's who I am.

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It's the passion I have.

00:12:55

So again, write down your goals.

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Give yourself a timeline, a short timeline.

00:13:01

That is doable, that is measurable.

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And again, in three months or so, set another goal.

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Work on it again.

00:13:09

In the same way, write it down, make it measurable.

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Give yourself a deadline.

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Check in with yourself.

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Make sure you're doing what you want to do. In your professional life, do the same.

00:13:22

Write down the goals.

00:13:24

Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice alone.

00:13:28

Get the resources that you can. The books that you can, the online courses, the workshops, the communities, the podcast.

00:13:36

All of the things that you can do alone that you can gather by yourself. And then reach out to others, find those friends in the community of sign language interpreters around the world that can help you share, and learn, and grow.

00:13:52

And finally, those that are listening that feel like they're alone, that are having a very rough time, especially those who work in an environment that is not supportive, we're here.

00:14:06

Reach out.

00:14:07

Maybe we have the answers.

00:14:09

Maybe we don't.

00:14:10

Send me a voicemail, ask your questions to me.

00:14:13

I will put it out in the podcast and maybe we can get some answers for you.

00:14:18

Let's do it together. And keep calm while you're doing it all.

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And keep practicing interpreting.

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I'll see you next week.

00:14:27

Take care now.

[ROCK EXIT MUSIC ENDS AT 00:15:05]