Interpretation

Professor Holly Mikkelson (center) is among the faculty teaching in the Monterey Institute’s new Spanish Community Interpretation Program.

Beginning in January 2015, the Monterey Institute of International Studies will offer a fast track to professional interpreting positions in bilingual Spanish-English communities through its new six-month Spanish Community Interpretation Certificate program.

The new program is designed as a hybrid, low-residency program that begins with an on-site, four-week module on the Monterey Institute campus in January, continues with an online module through the spring, and culminates with a seven-week summer module back in Monterey. The concluding summer module includes a week of intensive preparation for medical and court certification exams.

Participants who complete the certificate will be eligible for many freelance or staff positions at courts, law firms, hospitals, clinics, school districts and other public service centers. Ideal candidates for the program should have a bachelor’s degree, strong bilingual and bicultural skills, and an interest in using their language and cultural backgrounds to facilitate communication in these important community environments.

The program features nationally-known faculty who are active interpreters and translators in the community market, teaching a curriculum that offers participants a solid foundation in written translation, sight translation, consecutive dialogue interpreting and simultaneous interpreting.
The Monterey Institute’s state-of-the-art interpreting lab facilities enable participants to develop and hone their professional skills with extensive individual feedback.

For more information, or to apply to the Monterey Institute’s Spanish Community Interpretation Certificate program, please visit go.miis.edu/communityinterp.

Student competitors: Suwen Feng (MACI ’14, 1st place), Yanbo Wang (MACI ’14, 3rd place), Xinyu (Jennifer) Zhang (MACI ’14, 5th place) with Prof. Wallace Chen (MATI ’95, 2nd from left)

Monterey Institute students participating in the 2nd Televic Simultaneous Interpreting Competition in Newcastle, placed individually in first, third and fifth place. Suwen Feng (MATI ’14) placed first in the competition, Yanbo Wang (MATI ’14) third and their classmate Jennifer Zhang (MATI ’14) also made it to the final round to ultimately place fifth. The students are all graduating this spring from the Chinese Translation and Interpretation program.

The MIIS delegation was led by Professor Wallace Chen and it is the second year in row that a MIIS student won the competition. “Together, the three highly talented contestants made MIIS and Chinese T&I shine once again after our first victory last year,” said Prof. Chen.

Prof. Laura Burian (center-left) of the Monterey Institute interpreting for First Lady Michelle Obama in China. (Photo courtesy of Getty Images)

“It was very inspiring to see our professor in action and working with such high-profile individuals,” says Joan Li-Chun Wang (MACI ’14) of the photos in national and international media showing Professor Laura Burian of the Monterey Institute next to First Lady Michelle Obama, serving as official interpreter during her visit to China.

It was no surprise to her students that Translation and Interpretation Prof. Burian is a highly accomplished and respected interpreter who works with the highest levels of government, but seeing her appear in media coverage of the First Lady’s visit to China hit home for many of them. “It serves as motivation for us, reminding us that we are not far away from interpreting at the top level,” says Weihao Zhang (MACI ’14), “and if we work hard, maybe one day we will be able to have such opportunities as well.”

Weihao Zhang was especially “thrilled” to hear that the First Lady had included his home high school in her itinerary. “In addition to its pioneering strides of connecting remote schools in rural areas with online classrooms, Chengdu #7 High School really stands out in its focus on international education and partnership.”

Joan Wang says that she could see from media reports and videos how crucial Prof. Burian’s role was in facilitating communications between the First Lady and the people she met. She adds that she thinks it was “nice to see how important to role of the interpreter is, especially to students of interpretation.”

Prof. Burian says that it was very exciting to participate in this trip: “I am truly honored to have been entrusted with this assignment.” For Weihao Zhang it was further evidence “that our education here at MIIS is provided by the most prestigious practitioners in the field, which is truly valuable.”