Sessions & Speakers

Practical strategies for improving the quality of your translations (T)

Corinne McKay

Description: In this session, we’ll discuss a variety of strategies to improve the quality of your translations, in both big-picture and practical ways. This session is for translators in any language combination, and we’ll focus on techniques you can apply right away, to become a better target-language writer, format your translations more efficiently (including official document translations), and proofread your translations more effectively. 

Learning Objectives:

Attendees will learn:

• Strategies for becoming a better, more natural-sounding writer in your target language
• Strategies for solving common MS Word formatting problems such as using tab leaders
• Strategies for proofreading your own work, including text-to-speech proofreading 

Human Trafficking Cases: An Interpreter’s Primer(I)

Javier Castillo

Description:In this language neutral webinar participants will learn the key concepts related to Human Trafficking as well as special considerations to keep in mind when interpreting for victims and witnesses in order to provide accurate and impartial interpretation. Topics to be covered will include Legal definitions, understanding the various aspects of Human Trafficking, the organizations involved in combating Human Trafficking, specific terminology and slang, revictimization and other issues to understand when interpreting for victims and interpreter ethics.

Learning Objectives:

In this session, participants will:

• Learn Legal Definitions related Human Trafficking
• Understand the different aspects of Human Trafficking
• Understand the people and organizations involved in combating HT
• Learn about Specific Terminology and Slang
• Understand Revictimization and other issues to understand when interpreting for victims
• Learn where to find resources for terminology

Court Interpreting and Criminal Terminology (I)

Emily Alfonso

Description: Court interpreters are required to possess proficiency in English and foreign languages and must be highly skilled in the three modes of court interpreting. Additionally, they must know courtroom protocol, legal, and criminal terminology. The fast pace of court interpreting does not allow for five-second pauses. Therefore, this session will not only introduce more than 50 common legal-criminal terms, their meaning and target language rendition, but also the unified court systems of North Carolina and South Carolina. Throughout this interactive session, the use of extensive key terminology and glossary of terms will be facilitated; participants will review, and understand the language and terms commonly used during criminal court proceedings, followed by group discussions.

Learning Objectives:

Attendees will learn:

• Current criminal court terminology.
• Understand the meaning of legalese.
• Anticipate the bench’s and bar’s use of the terminology.

 

Flip the Rx for interpreting medications (I)

Tatiana Cestari

Description: Healthcare interpreted sessions that involve medications may be challenging. Many interpreters report struggling to interpret these sessions because of complicated drug names and lack of knowledge about medications. Since being ‘fluent in the language of medications’ can take many years, what could interpreters do to overcome the challenge? This session will answer the question by identifying and providing effective solutions based on known interpreting skills and protocols in order to succeed when interpreting sessions that involve medications.

Learning Objectives:

• To identify basic concepts regarding drugs and medications.
• To leverage certain interpreting skills to interpret drug-related clinical sessions.
• To leverage certain interpreting protocols to interpret drug-related clinical sessions.

 

Advancing Community Interpreting Standards through Academia (I)

María Francisco-Montesó

Description: Certified interpreters are highly trained language professionals whose expertise spans various domains, from serving as officers of the court to facilitating communication between individuals with Limited English Proficiency (LEP) in critical sectors such as healthcare, education, public administration, and other public service settings. Their work ensures equitable access to essential services, upholds ethical standards, and enhances the effectiveness of institutional processes.
Interpreters play a pivotal role in the U.S. by fostering clear communication and safeguarding the rights of those who rely on language access. Without proper training, unqualified interpreters can inadvertently contribute to misunderstandings that may compromise legal proceedings, medical outcomes, or educational success. Academic training, professional development, and continuing education are essential to maintaining high standards of accuracy, ethics, and cultural competence.
SC Centro Latino, El Centro—the first university-based center in South Carolina dedicated to the study of Hispanic and Latino cultures—has made Translation and Community Interpreting a core pillar of its mission. Committed to advancing the professionalization of translation and interpreting in public service, El Centro offers specialized educational programs that equip students and community members with essential competencies, including mastering specialized terminology, ethical & professional standards, skill-building & real-world application, cultural & linguistic competency, etc.
El Centro has developed curricula tailored to both students and bilingual professionals, incorporating research-based methodologies and guided skill development. Our certificate programs and professional training initiatives equip future interpreters with the tools they need to meet the evolving demands of multilingual public service environments.
Additionally, through collaboration with local entities and statewide networks, this initiative fosters interdisciplinary learning and strengthens the role of interpreters across diverse sectors. By offering structured training opportunities that align with continuing education requirements, El Centro ensures that interpreters remain at the forefront of best practices, enhancing language access and equity across communities.
Working alongside leaders in the public sector and local communities, we can elevate the field, support professional growth, and empower interpreters to make a lasting impact in South Carolina’s public service landscape.

Learning Objectives:

• Develop an Informed Perspective – Gain a deeper understanding of the social and political issues affecting the communities served by interpreters.
• Recognize the Power of Visibility and Advocacy – Explore how increased recognition and support and local collaboration enhance awareness and respect for the interpreting and translation professions.
• Understand the Need for Standardized Training – Identify the importance of formal and standardized academic training in strengthening the field of interpreting.

 

What it takes to be a successful interpreter/translator (T)

Milly Golia

Description: The role of context in translation/interpreting is crucial for achieving accuracy and conveying the intended meaning of the source text. This presentation will explore the multiple layers of context—cultural, situational, linguistic, and social—that translators must consider to ensure their work resonates with target audiences and maintains the original message.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify and Analyze Different Types of Context in Rendition: Participants will learn to recognize and differentiate between various forms of context that influence their renditions.
• Evaluate the Impact of Contextual Factors on Communication Outcomes: Attendees will understand how different contextual factors can significantly affect translation accuracy and appropriateness. This objective aims to promote critical thinking regarding the implications of context in professional translation practices, ultimately guiding participants to make informed choices in their work.
• Apply Effective Strategies for Contextual Consideration: Participants will be introduced to practical strategies and best practices for incorporating context into their translation processes. Attendees can apply these strategies in their projects, fostering a more context-aware approach that enhances the effectiveness and relevance of their renditions for diverse audiences.

 

Interpretation in the Educational Field (I)

Lorena Riedener

Description: Overview of Interpreters working in the educational field. The idea or main goal is that the Interpreters get and overall understanding of different areas of Interpretation required to fulfill a professional and thorough performance during meetings or events following National Standards of Practice and Code of Ethics and what is expected during these sessions.

Learning Objectives:

• Learning demands.
• Understanding differences in interpretation compared to other fields of interpretation.
• Learning academic/educational lingo, abbreviations and acronyms.

 

Deliberate Practice for Consecutive Interpreting: Practical Tools for Increasing Accuracy (I)

Gabriela Siebach

Description: Interpreters provide a service that is mentally taxing and requires constant upkeep. Aside from terminology research and preparation, interpreters must regularly practice their consecutive interpreting techniques to maintain and improve the quality of their renditions. Reflexive practice is a common technique used to enhance any interpreting skills, however, a rubric to evaluate our own performance and a path towards improving deficiencies is essential to level up one’s interpreting. This course will apply deliberate practice principles to enhancing consecutive interpreting skills and will provide a rubric and skill enhancement exercise suggestions.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the primary elements of the interpreting process
• Determine personal level of competence in the consecutive mode of interpreting
• Apply one strategy to enhancing and/or developing consecutive interpreting skills

 

Simultaneous Interpreting 101: A Beginner’s Guide and More (I)

Hsin-Ya (Tina) Teng

Description: The presentation outlines a structured approach to developing key skills for simultaneous interpreting. The step-by-step guide includes listening comprehension, terminology acquisition, shadowing, and interpreting practice, with an emphasis on fluency and accuracy. By incorporating self-recording and structured speech practice, interpreters can improve their cognitive agility, language flexibility, and subject matter familiarity for more natural and effective delivery.

Learning Objectives:

• Develop cognitive agility for SI
• Enhance domain knowledge and language proficiency
• Refine delivery and interpretation quality

 

Reaching New Heights: Setting a Bold Standard for Interpreting Skills Assessment with the English-to-English Exam (I)

Jorge U. Ungo

Description: In 2017, CCHI began discussions with stakeholders and focus groups about the feasibility of exploring whether cognitive interpreting skills can be measured via a monolingual standardized oral performance test in English (English-to-English or EtoE). This innovative approach provides a viable assessment tool for interpreters of less common languages (i.e., languages of lower incidence), where creating a separate dual-language oral performance exam is often unfeasible.
The English-to-English exam evaluates interpreting readiness in U.S. healthcare settings through indirect methods that assess cognitive interpreting skills rather than direct interpreting skills. The exam includes various components such as paraphrasing, listening comprehension, shadowing, memory capacity, and reading comprehension. Paraphrasing, for instance, demonstrates English comprehension of U.S. medical discourse, the accuracy of conversion without changing meaning, and depth of vocabulary in English.
What sets this exam apart is its performance component, which elevates national certification by providing interpreters of all languages the opportunity to demonstrate their readiness for healthcare interpreting without the logistical challenges of creating bilingual performance tests.
During this presentation, participants will have the opportunity to engage in mock exam exercises, gaining firsthand experience with the efficacy of this innovative method for assessing and predicting interpreting skills. Join us as we aim higher and establish new benchmarks in the field of healthcare interpreting!

Learning Objectives:

• Participants will gain a comprehensive understanding of the English-to-English exam’s innovative approach to evaluating cognitive interpreting skills, recognizing its relevance and application in assessing readiness for interpreting in U.S. healthcare settings.
• Attendees will actively participate in mock exam exercises, allowing them to experience firsthand the assessment methods used in the English-to-English exam and how these methods effectively predict interpreting skills regardless of their LOTE working language.
• Participants will explore how the incorporation of performance components into the certification process enhances the credibility and accessibility of interpreter assessments, fostering discussion on how this approach can set new benchmarks in the field of healthcare interpreting.

 

From Castilian to Caribbean: Working Across Spanish Varieties in a Multicultural Market (T)

Julia Velasco Espejo

Description: Spanish is a rich and diverse language, spoken across multiple continents and shaped by distinct regional influences. However, linguistic professionals working in the USA often face the challenge of navigating significant differences between varieties of Spanish—differences that can impact comprehension, professional interactions, and audience expectations. Castilian Spanish speakers, for example, are an underrepresented community in the USA, and Castilian translators and interpreters even more so. Yet they are not alone in encountering linguistic and cultural gaps. Whether a linguist’s background is in Rioplatense, Andean, Caribbean, or any other variant of Spanish, the need to adapt and bridge differences is a shared experience.
From linguistic misunderstandings to cultural nuances—such as comfort with swearing, levels of formality, or modes of professional communication—it is essential for translators and interpreters to develop strategies that allow them to communicate effectively while maintaining the integrity of their linguistic identity. This presentation will explore key challenges faced by Spanish-language professionals in the USA and offer insights into how differences in regional Spanish varieties can be managed in translation and interpretation work.
The session will begin with an overview of common linguistic and cultural hurdles encountered when working in a Spanish-language professional environment where multiple varieties coexist. It will then move to address some possible strategies illustrated by case studies, as well as some tools and resources that professionals might find useful. It will also discuss how to turn diversity into an advantage.
Some topics that will be covered are the dangers of linguistic and cultural blind spots, the crafting of a personal idiolect as a strategy to engage different audiences without sounding excessively artificial, how a linguist’s use of language might unwittingly shift in such a professional environment, and how to manage client expectations, among others.
Finally, the presentation will conclude with a Q&A session, encouraging participants to share their own experiences and insights on working across Spanish varieties in professional contexts.

Learning Objectives:

• Increase awareness of the importance of understanding one’s cultural background within a linguistic community.
• Increase awareness of the factors that influence one’s idiolect, and how changeable it can be.
• Avoid linguistic and cultural blind spots in one’s own native language.
• Transform differences into strengths.

 

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

(in alphabetical order by first name)

Speaker Bio’s in alphabetical order by first name:

Corinne McKay

A full-time freelancer since 2002, is ATA-certified for French to English translation, Colorado court-certified for French interpreting, and holds a Master of Conference Interpreting from Glendon College. In addition to her own translation work, Corinne writes and teaches about business practices for the language professions, through her online professional development platform, Training for Translators. She is the author of How to Succeed as a Freelance Translator, a how-to guide for the language professions, with over 15,000 copies in print. Corinne served on the Board of the American Translators Association for seven years, including as ATA President from 2017-2019.

Emily Ortiz Alfonso

Emily Ortiz Alfonso is a state court-certified interpreter, Spanish<>English translator, and OSHA Authorized Outreach Construction Trainer. Her professional background include over 30 years of experience in the legal sector. She is co-founder and co-owner of Archway Safety Consulting & Language Services, Inc., a South Carolina language service provider. Currently, she serves on the board of the Carolina Association of Translators and Interpreters (CATI) and is a member of both the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators (NAJIT) and the American Translators Association (ATA).

Gabriela Siebach

Director of Interpreting Services at Cesco Linguistic Services and Adjunct Professor at UMass – Amherst, has accumulated more than 15 years of professional experience. Gabriela holds a graduate degree in Spanish translation and interpretation from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. Gabriela also Co-chairs the AAITE Job Task Analysis Committee, sits on the ATA Government Division Leadership Council and Interpretation Profession Advisory Committee, and volunteers on several initiatives of the NCIHC Policy, Education & Research Committee. She is also a member of the CATI, NAJIT, and ASTM.

Hsin-Ya (Tina) Teng

Tina is the President of Formosa Language Services, LLC In Holly Springs, NC. She is a Chinese <> English interpreter, translator and copywriter specializing in international relations, trade, ESG, materials science, education, corporate communications, marketing, finance and investment and transportation. She has a strong proven track record in major translation projects such as the Foreign Relations Yearbook for Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ESG reports, annual reports, RFPs, trade reports, press releases, government regulations, and more.

Tina received her MA in Conference Interpreting from National Taiwan Normal University and successfully passed the 2021 Joint Professional Examinations in Chinese-English Conference Interpreting. She is a member of the American Translators Association (ATA) and the Carolina Association of Translators and Interpreters (CATI). She passed the NCAOC court interpreter written screening test in 2024.

With extensive experience and training in broadcast journalism in the earlier part of her career, Tina delivers precision in accuracy and meaning to ensure audiences enjoy content that stays true to its message in the most natural expression of the target language.

Born and raised in Taiwan, Tina is a native speaker of Mandarin Chinese. Having lived and worked in Belize, the United States, South Korea and Hong Kong, Tina’s extensive international experience has fostered a keen cultural awareness that facilitates both language and cross-cultural bridge-building. She holds a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism and Spanish from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Tina lives in Holly Springs with her family.

Javier Castillo

Javier Castillo, president of Castillo Language Services, Inc. in Greenville, NC, brings 25 years of experience in interpretation, translation, forensic transcription-translation and training. He is a Federally Certified Court Interpreter, NC AOC certified interpreter, and Certified Medical Interpreter (CCHI). He has extensive experience interpreting human trafficking issues for federal cases and for the U.S. Department of State.  He is the former chair of NAJIT and former president of CATI, he leads IAPTI’s U.S. Chapter. Since 2007, he has trained interpreters, translators and other professionals across the globe.

Jorge U. Ungo

For over two decades, Jorge U. Ungo supported healthcare organizations in their efforts to deliver compassionate, culturally competent, patient-centered care to their diverse patient population. During this time he served as a board member on the National Council on Interpreting in Health Care (NCIHC), President of the Texas Association of Healthcare Interpreters and Translators (TAHIT) and a Commissioner for the Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters (CCHI). In 2015, Jorge earned recognition from the Texas Association of Healthcare Interpreters and Translators as the “Texas Star in Language Access,” and in 2019, he was honored as a “Language Access Champion” by the National Council on Interpreting in Health Care. While Jorge has now shifted his career focus towards yoga and real estate, he remains committed to his work in language access, serving as the Language Access Advocate for the Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters (CCHI). Born in El Salvador and raised in a bilingual, bicultural home in Texas, Jorge is passionate about uplifting marginalized communities and being a vocal ally for the underserved.

Julia Velasco

Julia Velasco is an ATA-Certified translator of Spanish, English, French, and German, and interpreter of Spanish and English. She holds a Licenciatura en Traducción e Interpretación from the Universidad Pablo de Olavide in Seville, Spain; an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of South Carolina, and an MA in English from the University of Cincinnati. She has lived, studied and worked in the USA for over 10 years.

Lorena Riedener

Simultaneous Interpreter and Translator in Foreign Languages with 30 years of experience.
17 years of experience in the Educational Fields in Charlotte NC.
World Traveler (89 countries) Chilean, Swiss and American citizen.
Teacher and Master in English/Linguistics. Specialized also in Woodworking Industry and Forestry Engineer.
Owner of Sieben Languages, private Company for Interpretation, Translation and Training.

María Francisco-Montesó

María Francisco-Montesó is a senior instructor in Spanish at USC Upstate. Montesó graduated from Universitat Jaume I, Spain, and earned a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in translation and interpreting studies in Spanish, Catalan, English, and German. She has more than 10 years of experience teaching Spanish and translation & interpreting courses. Montesó is a Ph.D. candidate. Her research interests center on the need for trained community interpreters in SC and interpreting studies. Montesó creates a service-learning component in her translation and interpreting courses, through which her students provide translation and interpretation services in the South Carolina Upstate to support non-profit organizations’ outreach into the area’s Hispanic community. She also created a unique certificate course to train bilinguals in English and Spanish to become professional interpreters in educational and legal settings.

Milly Golia

Milly Golia is a Ph.D. candidate in Linguistics and Translation at Jaume I University in Spain. In her research, she delves into the legal and educational translations of K-12 reports, focusing on IEPs. After she got her Master’s in Legal Translation (double major in Translation and Conference Interpreting) from the Universidad Nacional de La Plata in Buenos Aires, Argentina, she got two certificates in Global Operations Management and Applied Project Management at the University of California in Orange County (UCI). Then, she opened up a translation company in Argentina and later in California. She is the Founder and CEO of Bureaucom LLC, providing written and oral translation services in over 40 languages. Milly is also the creator of a curriculum called Take5steps©, a training business unit for students who want to become professional translators or interpreters. She has split her professional career between the United States and South America as a translator/interpreter, localization manager, consultant, and international lecturer. She also developed the Legal Spanish Interpreting Program for the University of California, Irvine, and is one of the instructors for the Certificate Program at UCI.

Tatiana González-Cestari

Tatiana González-Cestari, PhD, CHI-Spanish has 22 years of combined experience as a pharmacist, pharmacologist, researcher, professor, manager, and remote interpreter. Tatiana is passionate about quality, innovation, compliance and cultural sensitivity. She serves as the Director of Language Service Advocacy at Equiti; is the vice chair of the NCIHC Policy, Education and Research committee; contributor to Martti’s blog; and co-author of The Remote Interpreter textbook. Tatiana has mentored, developed training, presented at national and international events, published peer-reviewed and non peer-reviewed articles, and lectured at various universities. Tatiana obtained her pharmacy degree and her Ph.D. in pharmacology from Universidad Central de Venezuela.