Google+ has made it easy to connect with clients and colleagues around the world — via video that accommodates up to nine people. Monterey professor Esther Navarro-Hall, in a team with Al Navas and Gerda Prato-Espejo, have launched weekly informal “hang-outs” (called Endless Possibilities) that are free and open to everyone to participate. Every week features another guest speaker, and Judy was lucky enough to be invited on May 13. Attendees participated via Twitter and chat from around the world, from Venezuela to the U.K. The recording is available via the Endless Possibilities channel by clicking here.

Judy and Cristina inside the KNPR studio

Judy recently had the pleasure of participating in a roundtable discussion on live radio with several fellow court interpreters. THe local Las Vegas National Public Radio station, KNPR, had organized the session, and Rob Cruz, the national chairman of the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators, called in from Tennessee. Also in attendance via phone was Laura Abel, the deputy director of the National Center for Access to Justice, who has done many studies on language access in the courts. Judy was joined in studio by her colleagues Cristina Sanchez, a state and federally certified court interpreter and Carol Partiguian, a state certified interpreter who works full-time at the public defender’s office, where she’s the only interpreter for 100 attorneys. The lively hour-long conversation revolved around the challenges of the profession, recent pay cuts in Clark County (where Las Vegas is located) and even some on-air interpreting by Cristina Sanchez.  You can listen to the recording here.

With co-host Lorena Pike

Judy was recently asked to give a one-hour radio interview for a local Spanish-language radio station in Las Vegas: KRLV 1340 AM. It was a huge pleasure to share a bit of information about our profession with the Hispanic community in Las Vegas. The program is called “Cultura Comunitaria” and airs on Fridays at 5 p.m. Co-host Lorena Pike is a fellow translator and court-certified interpreter. We also discussed the recent significant reduction in pay for certified court interpreters in Nevada. We hope that you enjoy the recording, even though Judy clearly doesn’t have a trained radio voice (and live radio is a bit scary!)– but can you tell that Lorena does? Click here to listen.

We are delighted that PRI has decided to air a report on the important topic of court interpreting and how pay cuts around the nation could create serious difficulties for American courts who must provide language access for non-English speakers in criminal proceedings.

A NPR national correspondent contacted Dagmar and Judy Jenner to weigh in on the issue. Please have a look at the NPR article “Mubarak’s Message: A Matter Of Interpretations.”