More Tips For Bengali / Sylheti Interpreters

O.K.you want to work as an Interpreter for Bengali/Sylheti speaking people.
You are good at both English and Bengali/Sylheti.You also have some interpreting
qualification and may be even you have done it informally in the past. (like helping a relative or an associate at the doctor's surgery or someother place.)

But to work as a professional interpreter you need some qualities on top of your language skills or qualifications.And you have to adhere to them all the time.
The first principle is you have to interprete everything.You do not decide what is important and what isn't.You don't add anything or omit anything.Whatever either language speaker is saying, you translate it to the other language speaker.Doesn't matter if it is offensive,embarassing, filthy or a swear word.
It is your role as an interpreter to interprete everything and right of the other parties to know what is being said.You can not take any side.You have to be impartial.You can not have a personal conversation with either party during the interpreting session.Your role is not that of an adviser.So do not give advice of any sort.That would be totally unprofessional and unethical and you could also be creating problem for yourself for the future.If you can stick to these few principles I mentioned above, you would go a long way to become a good interpreter.Oh one other very important thing. Confidentiality !
As an interpreter you would get to know a lot of personal/ private information about different people.You are bound by your professional ethics to keep all that information confidential. You must not divulge any of that to third parties.And that includes your friends and family.
Similarly for the sake of impartiality, you should not interprete for any family member or a friend or any body known to you.If you are given an interpreting assignment and after getting there you find that either of the parties involved is known to you, you must disclose that and let the authorities decide whether you should proceed with the assignment or not.( my persoanl opinion would be not to).I might have mentioned some of these before; but there is no harm in repeating them.These are very important.
I suggest you read my older posts as well to get more inforamtion.You would pick up bits of helpful inforamtions from each post and taht way would be able to build an overall picture.If you still want to have a personal chat, I am quite open and willing to have a chat. My mobile no. is 07832371577 and my email is
mognichoudhury@yahoo.com
It is better to email me giving me some of your background information.Based on that I can guide you to the right direction.

If you are an Interpreting / Translation agency or you need a Bengali/ Sylheti Interpreter/ Translator , you have come to the right place.You can contact me on my mobile or email as mentioned above.I have worked as an Interpreter in Courts, Police stations, Doctors'surgeries, Airports(for immigration officers), for social services', for solicitors ( at their offices and accompanied them to prison visits)for film makers etc. I also do Translation and Transcription work.

How To Become an Interpreter

I get a lot of querries from would be Interpreters about the
basic things.i.e. How do you become an Interpreter ? Where do
you start ? What are the requirements ?
So let me answer some of the basic questions about becoming an
interpreter today.
O.K; you can start by doing short courses in community interpreting.
But I think that is a roundabout way of doing it.Because if you start
that way, it would take you a long time to become an Interpreter who
would be able to work at any level of interpreting field.Let me expalin:
You can not get on the NRPSI(National Register of public service
Interpreters)register if you do not have a DPSI(Diploma in Public service
Interpreting)or a language degree and some other requirements.
Community Interpreting qualification is lower level than the DPSI.
DPSI is an NVQ level 4 qualification. Right, now if you are not on the
NRPSI register, you can not expect to get calls from the law courts or
police forces.So already your market is smaller and so your earning ability
is also less.That's why I think it is better to go for the DPSI course first
rather than doing it in satges.Yes, it is harder and would take longer to begin with but once it's done, it's done.Also if you are coming into the field of interpreting, you should be confident enough to do it.
Another thing.Do not expect the teacher/s to teach you the languages.You should already be good in both languages.The course would teach you Interpreting skills, not the language/s.And it may sound silly; but let me get it clear anyway.
You must be able to read and write both the languages.Yes, unless you can do that , you can not expect to become an interpreter.Simple as that.But that's no reason not to do it.Learn what you have to learn before starting the course if you are really keen to become an Interpreter.
OK; that's basically it. In a future post I will talk about other skills and qualities you would need to be a good and successful Interpreter.

You can contact me by email at : mognichoudhury@yahoo.com or my mobile on 07832371577
My Name is Mohammad Mogni Choudhury.If you are looking for an experienced and qualified Bengali/ Sylheti Interpreter for court interpreting, prison visits , Solicitors' office, Hospital, Doctor's surgery,Probation Service or any other Interpreting or Translation work, please feel free to contact me .