Our Curriculum
The IKIGAI curriculum is designed to prepare students to succeed in the field of judiciary interpreting. We do not teach students how to pass a test, we teach them how to be the best interpreter they can be by learning the proper techniques, strategies, auxiliary skills, and overall knowledge that will enhance their performance.
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At IKIGAI we uphold the best practices for the profession of judiciary interpreting.
By teaching excellence in the overall interpreting performance we are also advocating for interpreters to be properly compensated and respected every time they engage with other members of the legal community.
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Our courses include an overview of the legal systems and procedures in the U.S. and abroad, the protocols and professional best practices standards for judiciary interpreters, text and discourse analysis, terminology research, and the three modes of interpreting used in legal settings: consecutive, simultaneous and sight translation.
Our Next Course: The Linguistic Defense:
why, when and how to assert your interpreting decisions
Instructor: Janis Palma, MLS, MA, USCCI
NEW DATE TO BE ANNOUNCED
Course Description:
Interpreters often make intuitive choices in their target language that may be challenged by a third party (e.g., a lawyer) and find themselves lacking a proper way to explain and defend their choices. In this course, participants will learn about the function of syntax, semantics, and pragmatics in the cognitive progression of language input and output during bidirectional (i.e., consecutive) and unidirectional (i.e., simultaneous) information processing. Instruction will be language-specific (Spanish) based on examples from actual interpreting scenarios to demonstrate best interpreting practices and how to articulate a linguistic defense if challenged.
Mode of instruction: Online, via Zoom.
Contact Hours: Three (3)
Languages: English and Spanish
CEUs approved for AZ, KY, LA, MD, MA, NE, NM, OK, OR, MO, TN, and UT. More are being requested and will be added here as they get approved.
About the Instructor: Janis Palma has been teaching interpreters since 1986. She holds a Master in Legal Studies, a Master of Arts, and is currently studying for her Ph.D. in language studies. Ms. Palma is a federally certified English-Spanish interpreter with 43 years of experience in the field, including court work and conferences, as well as the translation of documents. She is certified by NAJIT as both an interpreter and translator. She has also researched and written extensively on subjects related to language access and interpreting.