Friends and colleagues, good afternoon!
I hope this e-mail finds all of you healthy and happy this holiday season!
I’m very excited to inform you all that we will be offering our second annual training for Court Interpreters here in Kentucky from January 31st through February 4th, 2015. We offered a similar training in early 2014, and the positive feedback from our participants has been overwhelming! This training represents a partnership between the Kentucky Court of Justice and the National Center for Interpretation, home of the renowned Agnese Haury Institute for Court Interpreting. Yvette Citizen and I are delighted to be able to lead this program once again, and we both look forward to working with many of you in the very near future. There are some notable modifications to this year’s course:
1. Last year, the training ran from Monday through the following Saturday. This year, the training will take place from Saturday, January 31st, through Wednesday, February 4th. We hope that the new format will allow more interpreters to participate since the training will ultimately require less time away from normal weekday activities.
2. The first two days of the training are ‘ language neutral’, meaning that interpreters of all languages are invited to participate. Offering hands-on interpreter training in a language neutral setting is something that we are very interested in developing, and we are so excited about the possibility of offering such a high caliber event to interpreters that don’t typically have too many opportunities to grow their skills through formalized instruction. Although all languages are welcome, we have the specific ability to offer language-specific instruction on Day 2 to interpreters of Spanish, French, Somali, Vietnamese, Arabic and Russian (subject to student enrollment). All other participants will form an international work group with instruction in English.
3. Days 3 through 5 will focus on Spanish<>English legal interpretation. Participants can expect an intense, hands-on learning experience designed to help attendees improve their pragmatic interpreting skills. Trust me when I tell you that we intend to push you harder and refine your skills further during these 3 days than most people would think possible.
4. There are two options for participating in this event:
a. ‘Option 1’ entails participating during the first two days only. This option is appropriate for interpreters for languages other than Spanish, or for Spanish interpreters that cannot commit to the full 5-day training. The price for Option 1 is $240.00.
b. ‘Option 2’ is to participate during all 5 days. This option is geared towards Spanish interpreters, both experienced and new to the profession. The price for Option 2 is $600.00.
5. As you have probably already noticed, we have gone to great lengths to keep the participation cost as low as possible. In fact, we have actually lowered our costs substantially from our 2014 training. I dare say that you will never find a similar training anywhere else for this amount of money. Our mission is to offer the best training available to as many interpreters as possible, and we hope that this price point will help us achieve that goal.
6. Last year’s training was held at a hotel in downtown Louisville, KY. This year’s training will be held at the Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts in Frankfort, KY. I think you will find our facilities to be first rate.
All of the information needed to enroll can be found on the attached flyer. Those that enroll before January 9th will receive a 10% early bird discount!
As always, please don’t hesitate to contact me personally if you have any questions. Also, feel free to forward this along to friends, colleagues or acquaintances that may be interested in participating. I look forward to seeing you here in Kentucky in 2015!
Atentamente,
Joshua C. Elliott, M.A.
Supervisor – KY AOC Spanish Interpreting Division
Federally Certified Court Interpreter
KY & IN State Certified Court Interpreter
Certified Health Care Interpreter™
Core Faculty – Agnese Haury Institute of Interpretation
Louis D. Brandeis Hall of Justice
600 W. Jefferson St., 3rd Floor, Room 3115
Louisville, KY 40202