How quick the time flies ! It's been more than two years since I wrote the last post here. A lot has happened in that time. Probably the most significant thing that has happened in interpreting field here in the UK has been that MOJ( Ministry of Justice) has signed a contract with a private interpreting agency to provide interpreters at courts. Previously courts used to call the interpreters directly to engage them for hearings and trials. A lot has been said about this change by a lot of people. I won't go into those details now; may be another day. But basically, interpreters' earnings have been effected seriously- for the worse . Because of the recession and subsequent austerity measures implemented by various government departments the available work for interpreters have also gone down quite a lot and whatever work is left, the rates of pay for that work have gone down. Perhaps it was inevitable. I kind of expected it to happen. I could see some of the things that was going on and knew that it couldn't last for ever. So I am not shocked. I was prepared for it and adapted to the new environment. I still get interesting assignments from time to time. Like a couple of months ago, I was asked to do a voiceover job. I really enjoyed doing it. It was interesting because I completed the job without ever meeting the client or even the sound engineer or their technical guys. I was in a studio in London and the sound engineer and the technical team were in a different European country far away ! We did it using technology and finished it seamlessly. All of us were very satisfied with the results. Just to clarify, I did not join this agency which the MOJ has signed contract with. But I am still getting by depending on my old contacts. And I am happy so far. It's been a very hot week this week here and I am also fasting. So I will keep today's post short and finish here. I just felt obliged to come back and get in touch with you guys. See you soon.

Bengali Interpreter

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Are you looking for a qualified and experienced Bengali / Sylheti
Interpreter? An Interpreter with thousands of hours of experience
working at Courts, Police Stations, Solicitors' offices, Hospitals,
Prisons, Probation service, Home office, Film makers etc ?Interpreter
with very flexible attitude, willing to travel and accept jobs at short
notice and whose rates are very reasonable ? Then contact me Mohammad
Choudhury on 07832371577 or email me at mognichoudhury@yahoo.com
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Happy New Year !
Today before I say anything about Interpreting, let me tell you about my recent visit to Bangladesh. This was my first visit to Bangladesh in Four years. Since we had a very cold and icy December in 2009, I decided that I would go to Bangladesh the following  December to escape the cold and the snow.See, the December temperature in Bangladesh is quite mild; around 18-20*C. It is also dry. So I thought it would be ideal escape for me. Also I had a couple of weddings to attend. I also decided to go and visit parts of the country I had never been to before.
So I decided to go to Chadpur to see where Padma( The Ganges) and Meghna merge together. You are of course aware that both of these rivers are amongst some of the major rivers of the World ! Two of my friends from Dhaka joined me (in fact I was their guest) on the journey. It was a five hour journey by launch from Dhaka. We sat with the Captain in his cab and had the best view. It was sad to notice though the way the rivers were being polluted. For about an hour and a bit of our journey starting from the terminal in Dhaka it was very smelly and the river looked dead; no trace of any life !(caused by industrial waste being dumped directly in to the river). Everybody must be aware of the condition of the river and also the cause. Why don't they do anything about it? It is my appeal to everybody concerned to do something . Please try and reverse the situation. It can not go on like this. It can not be good for any body. Please try to understand ! If we look after the river and take care of it, we ourselves would benefit.
Anyway, once we reached Chadpur, we hired a small boat(traditional but powered by a small diesel engine). We then roamed in the river for a couple of hours; went to a river island and explored it for awhile. Saw one or two river dolphins in the area. I was thinking : if the rivers were not polluted there would have  been lot more of those dolphins and the area would be very rich in other sort of aquatic creatures and birds.

I think it is getting too much for today. So apologies. I will tell you rest of the story another day along with my experience in Bandorbon and Rangamati (Hilly districts in the South East Bangladesh).              

    

Recent Developments in the field of Interpreting

Are you looking for a qualified and experienced Bengali / Sylheti
Interpreter? An Interpreter with thousands of hours of experience
working at Courts, Police Stations, Solicitors' offices, Hospitals,
Prisons, Probation service, Home office, Film makers etc ?Interpreter
with very flexible attitude, willing to travel and accept jobs at short
notice and whose rates are very reasonable ? Then contact me Mohammad
Choudhury on 07832371577 or email me at mognichoudhury@yahoo.com
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A lot of things are going on in the field of interpreting at the moment.On the one hand the recession is taking it's effect.The government is cutting down in different fields and in my opinion rightly so.Because as a nation we simply can not afford to go on spending the money we do not have.Some of you may have different views on this.But that is what I believe. And its not that I won't be affected by it. Definitely I will. But still I think that if we all share a bit of the pain for the benefit of the country, ultimately it will benefit all of us.

On the other hand I have heard some news about some other changes taking place in the North/ North West England.Apparently some police forces have given out their contract for the interpreting service to an agency. I do not know how much or what sort of effect it will have on the interpreters. If you live in that part of the country and want to share your views or experience, I would be interested to know.
One thing I have a strong view about is that the properly qualified (i.e DPSI) interpretrs' rights should be protected.There was a national agreement in 2007 about the criminal justice system only using qualified interpreters from the NRPSI register.But what I have been hearing lately is that that agreement is not being strictly followed. I know that lot of NRPSI registered interpretrs are not happy about it and that includes me too. I would be interested to hear your views about it.

Also there is a forum(but it is only open to interpreters on the NRPSI register)now for the interpreters.If you want to have a feel about the current hot topics in the field, you could visit the forum.
Another thing that is happening is because of the recession a lot of people are trying their luck in this field believing it to be recession free.I personally do not think our field is completely recession free. And the other thing is as I have mentioned before, just because somebody speaks two languages, that does not make them an interpreter. There is more to it. And I still notice unprofessional behaviour of the interpreters in the course of my work. That only vindicates my point of gaining a professional qualification before starting out in the field and if those people are 'qualified' that again proves my arguement that it is not an 'easy' profession.
Please do not get me wrong. I have a lot of sympathy for the people suffering due to the present economic climate.That's why I have started a blog on 'self development'. You will find a lot of helpful tips and helpful information on the blog. You can take a look by clicking on the link 'view my complete profile' and then visiting the blog. Why don't you give it a go?

A New Angle

Are you looking for a qualified and experienced Bengali / Sylheti
Interpreter ? An Interpreter with thousands of hours of experience
working at Courts, Police Stations, Solicitors' offices, Hospitals,
Prisons, Probation office,Home office, Film makers etc ?Interpreter
with very flexible attitude,willing to travel and accept jobs at short
notice and whose rates are very reasonable ? Then contact me Mohammad
Choudhury on 07832371577 or email me at mognichoudhury@yahoo.com
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You can tell from my long period of absence from these pages that I have been quite busy.Yes, again the last few weeks have been very interesting !I feel tempted to tell you the stories but I have to be careful to protect the privacy of the people I have interpreted for.But I have to say that this is the most enjoyable work I have ever done in my life.I am a late starter in this field really.I should have started ages ago !It would have been much more interesting and richer !( I mean experience wise; not financially.)

One advantage of writing this blog is that apart from the interpreting work, I also get in contact with people who want to be interpretrs themselves and ask for advice,guidance etc. Some just like my writing style and phone me just to show their appreciation. I personally do not think there is anything special about my writing style at all.I just write in the very simplest form.So I am grateful to those readers who have expressed their appreciation.If for nothing else, it is worthwhile writing these posts just for those readers.I take my hat off to you guys.

I want to add a different angle to the interpreting job market today. It is no great secret any more that China is a great trading power in today's world.And their trade and influence is going to increase even more.Whether you think in terms of trade between Bangladesh and China or trade between English speaking countries and China. And China is also increasingly a growing tourist destination. So what does that mean? Do you spot an opportunity here? If you can speak Chinese or want to learn it do you see the potential here? You will be in demand. I wish I was few years younger! I would certainly give it a go then !
I am not just speculating here either. I have seen ad for Chinese- Bengali interpreters.So you have got the proof ! Intrigued? Why don't you give it a go?

I just want to add abit of legal disclaimer though.My posts here are only for information purposes.I am not giving you any career advice or offering any guarantee of employment.So there is no contract between you and I of any job offer or any financial matter.You should take legal or professional advice before you invest in any courses etc. and you do so at your own risk and assume your own responsibility.

Recent vacancies for Bengali Interpreters

Recently there have been quite a few opportunities available for new or
would be interpreters.Just today one agency has advertised for interpreters
based in Scotland.I know there are very few Bengali interpreters in Scotland.
So if you are based in Scotland, this is a great opportunity for you.

Couple of weeks ago, one of the Police forces in Yorkshire advertised for Bengali
(as well as other language )interpreters. The best thing about that opportunity
was that they would give you the training as well( I think they were paying the course fee).When I did the course, I paid my hard earned money for that. So again,
if you are based in Yorkshire, this is an excellent opportunity for you.You would gain the DPSI or Met Police Interpreters' qualification and so you would be accepted on the NRPSI register.So on top of the Police jobs, you would also get asked for other jobs(like court assignments all over the country).These opportunities are too good to miss in my opinion.If you had your eyes and ears open and you managed to secure a place for yourself on any of the above, congratulations !Perhaps you would want to share your story on these pages.I would be quite happy to let you tell others about your success.
I came across two more interpreting vacancies last month.One was a salaried position for a Bengali Interpreter in the Bristol area.The other one was in Northern Ireland.Again, if you have been lucky/smart enough to secure a place, congratulations ! On the other hand, if you missed these chances, I would say, don't worry too much.No point regreting for the past.But be prepared in future.Keep your eyes and ears open.Be creative.Use your imagination.And I wish you best of luck.

Right attitude of would be interpreters

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Are you looking for a qualified and experienced Bengali / Sylheti
Interpreter ? An Interpreter with thousands of hours of experience
working at Courts, Police Stations, Solicitors' offices, Hospitals,
Prisons, Probation office,Home office, Film makers etc ?Interpreter
with very flexible attitude,willing to travel and accept jobs at short
notice and whose rates are very reasonable ?

Or do you need to translate a document in Bengali in to English or vice versa
at a short notice?

How about Transcription? Got a recording in Bengali that you want transcribed in to English? You have come to the right place.
Contact me Mohammad Choudhury on 07832371577 or email me at mognichoudhury@yahoo.com
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As an interpreter I get to know very intimate details of a person or a family.But of course I am bound by the code of confidentaility.So I can not divulge anything to any third party.But I suppose if I were inclined to write fictions (story or book)these experiences could give me a lot of ideas to create plots for my stories.

Certainly working as an interpreter is a very enriching experience.Life is really very interesting and real life is really more interesting than works of fictions.

Through this blog I also come in to contact with different kinds of people.Today I want to talk about one particular type that I come into contact with.These people bump into my blog and it intrigues them and they fancy having a go at interpreting. They want to become an interpreter.Nothing wrong with that so far.But problem starts when they think that since they can speak Bengali and English, they can become Bengali interpreters.They ask me to guide them or give them some information or give them some job.
But remember that is not the only criteria to qualify to work as a Bengali Interpreter (or interpreter of any language for that matter). If that was all that was required, then almost everybody would be an interpreter ! Please think a little. You need a bit more than that. You need some qualifications.Now a days any agency you want to work with would ask you for some interpreting qualifications. And courts would not accept you if you do not hold DPSI and/or if you are not NRPSI register.Some interpreters have got into trouble by accepting double booking and sending friends to one of the bookings.What happened, was that the friend could not read Bengali.So when they were asked to read a Bengali document and do a sight translation, they got stuck.Then the truth came out.The friend delegating the work got in to serious trouble.Got prosecuted and sent to prison I believe.So at least you can see that on top of the ability to speak the languages, you also at least need to be able to read them.
And delegating work like that is also against the ethics.There are a whole lot of codes you need to follow.So do not think it is easy or a casual business. It is serious and you need to be prepared and have the right attitudes and qualifications.

Still interested? Good. If you are still reading then you are the right type and I can certainly guide you the right way and give you helpful information. If you are the serious type, I do not mind helping you as much possible.You are welcome to contact me.Drop me line.( you have got my email at the top of this post) or call me.Again my number is displayed at the top.I wish you best of luck.And a very very happy and prosperous new year.

Meeting Other Interpreters

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Are you looking for a qualified and experienced Bengali / Sylheti
Interpreter ? An Interpreter with thousands of hours of experience
working at Courts, Police Stations, Solicitors' offices, Hospitals,
Prisons, Probation office,Home office, Film makers etc ?Interpreter
with very flexible attitude,willing to travel and accept jobs at short
notice and whose rates are very reasonable ? Then contact me Mohammad
Choudhury on 07832371577 or email me at mognichoudhury@yahoo.com
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Lot of you interested in working as a Bengali/Sylheti interpreter have contacted
me over the last two months.I have given you names of some agencies and told you
about sites where you can register yourselves.I hope that has been helpful.Some of you have just contacted me to say that you enjoy reading my blog.Thank you for the
kind comments.
If I have not been able to call you back that is for two reasons.Either I have been very busy or I lost your contact details.See, if you call me at a time when I am busy, it is not always practical for me to save your phone number.So please do not get me wrong. I am not a snob and I have not ignored you deliberately.That's why I always urge you to contact me via email.That way,I can get back to you when I am less busy and also your contact details are more safely stored.
I am also embarrassed about deleting the email of a person who tried to get me a booking.I was not sure how to respond to it.Because if the person managed to send me the email then how they would need an interpreter for a driving test?If you are that person reading my blog now, I do apologize to you.You can contact me again and I will try to help you.If you have already passed your test, congratulations ! If you are going for your test soon, I wish you best of luck.
Last two months have been very interestting. I have met few excellent interpreters and have learnt from them some new skills.See, there is always something to learn.Again I have been to few places up and down the country.I have been to Scotland and gone past the Lochness (did not see Nessy though!), been to Southampton, Bournemouth,Northampton,Milton Keynes,Different parts of Essex and Hertfordshire, Luton and of course different parts of London.
In the next post I want to talk about some ethical issues and what not to do as an interpreter.Some interpreters are in trouble for doing some wrong things. When you start to work as an interpreter you want to avoid doing those things. Otherwise that gives the whole community a bad reputation and you personally could get into trouble as well.