Tony Rosado, whose guest posts on this blog you might have read – on the Taniguchi case, on translating useless materials, and on how judges work with interpreters, has recently published a guide to assist new court interpreters during their first few months as professionals and, in his words “face, for the first time, the reality of working within the legal system as an officer of the court“.

Tony runs Rosado Professional Solutions in Chicago. He has been a freelance conference interpreter for almost 30 years and is Federally, Colorado, and New Mexico certified. He also qualified as an attorney from the Escuela Libre de Derecho in Mexico City. You may also be interested in his English/Spanish blog.

I have to admit that I haven’t yet been able to obtain a copy of Tony’s book, but knowing his style, I’m sure that it will be a great and practical tool. Do write in if you have read it and share your comments.

The book is divided into seven chapters. The first four cover the basics of the profession and the law. The last three deal with the profession itself, covering what an interpreter should do before, during, and after interpreting. Included at the end of the guide are some practical documents that a new interpreter could use as a basis for communicating and negotiating with a client.

This what Tony says: “My hope is to help newcomers to this great and necessary profession understand the basics of making a living as a professional interpreter, encourage them to be good interpreters, and show them the beauty of this activity so they remain full-time professional interpreters for many years“.

CONTENTS

• Introduction
• 
Legal Interpretation
• The Ethics of Court Interpretation
• 
The Judicial System in the United States
• The Bill of Rights
• 
Before the Interpretation
• 
During the Interpretation
• After the Interpretation
• 
Final Thoughts
• Appendix of Documents