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The University of Arizona

University of Arizona – Agnese Haury Institute for Interpretation

Undergraduate
Continuing Education
Graduate
Professional Studies

About the Program

Program Description

The AHI Method

The AHI is committed to providing students individual attention. Improving a skill requires practice. Much of the Institute is spent in the language laboratory and small group workshops, working closely with fellow students and experts in the field on simultaneous and consecutive interpretation and sight translation techniques and strategies. Lab work is mixed with lecture, maximizing the impact of both while helping keep students fresh. Lecture topics run the gamut of areas important to working interpreters, from law, ethics, and protocol to specialized vocabulary, retention, note-taking skills, and self-instruction techniques, to forensics and regional distinctions in Spanish, among many others.

The Skill Building Workshop I begins with a self-assessment and continues with an overview of court and medical interpretation, including:

Objectives of Court Interpreters
Useful Phrases for Interpreters
Interpreter Do’s and Don’ts
World Class Standards for Interpreters
Code of Professional Responsibility
The Profession of Medical Interpreting
Medical Interpreter Standards of Protocol
Glossary of Spanish Terms needed by the Medical Interpreter

Also covered in the workshop are the additional topics:

Self-Critique Check-List for Consecutive and Simultaneous Interpretation Performances
Interpreter Resources
Skill Building Exercises
Professional Opportunities
Use and Development of Glossaries

Here are some of the topics that will be covered:

Consecutive Interpretation

Car Accidents
Burglary
Weapons
Medical Setting
Drugs
Guilty Pleas

Sight Translation

Report of Interview
Plea Agreement
Sex Crimes
Death/Birth Certificate
Probation
Last Will and Testament

Simultaneous Exercises

Constitutional Rights
Jury Instructions
Opening/Closing Statements

About the Skill Building Workshop II

The seminar will cover the following:

overview of the legal process
objectives of court interpreting
explanation of interpreter testing
Ethics & Protocol
Interpreter Do’s & Don’ts
Interpreter Phrases
Hint for Maintaining Neutrality

Consecutive Interpretation

Includes memory exercises highlighting the following:

Chunking
Visualization
Notetaking

and pplying, concepts and vocabulary to the scenarios listed below:

Order of protection
Rape

Automobile accident involving pedestrian

Simultaneous Interpretation

Instruction for simultaneous performance used in the following examples:

Opening argument in a rape case
Opening statement (DWI)
Closing argument (DUI)
Closing argument (Domestic Violence)
Mental health history of defendant
Statement of constitutional rights
Medical expert testimony (DNA)

Seminar will also highlight:

Skill building exercises
Professional opportunities
Publications & additional resources

Sight Translation

Concepts & vocabulary used to translate documents pertaining to:

Child support
D.U.I.
Protection order
Probation
Instructions to the Jury
Harassment
Instructions for order of protection
Divorce
Sexual Abuse
Traffic
Rape
Order to desist
Burglary

Editor notes

The Agnese Haury Institute provides a three-week course designed to improve language and interpreting services in many areas. The institute’s forte is its flexible curriculum, enabling for example that students attend specific classes from the Medical Interpreter Training Institute, and with excellent instruction in judicial/legal interpreting.