Interpreter Training 24-25 February 2007

Susan Emerson (left) came to work as an interpreter for Annual Negotiations Meetings between the Finnish Association of the Deaf and Maryknoll Cambodia, but she arrived in Cambodia a week early on holiday. Here she is welcomed at lunch by Justin Smith and Stephanie Linder. Susan and Stephanie knew each other previously in Australia.   Susan Emerson has a lot of experience in interpreting and agreed to do two days of training for the DDP interpreters while she is here. A mini-workshop was set up for Saturday and Sunday at the DDP office.   During a break, the DDP intepreters discuss some of what they have heard while Phirom makes notes on the board. DDP now has a staff interpreter and five job training interpreters.   Day 2   Susan explained various scenarios that arise in sign language interpreting and gave many examples from her own experience. It was good for the DDP interpreters to hear of her real-life situations. Sem Von (white shirt) was a spoken English to spoken Khmer interpreter for Susan.   Susan kept the group's attention by involving them in various activities during the two days. The DDP interpreters have good basic skills but lack experience so it was good for them to hear of Susan's interpreting situations.   Currently Susan is interpreting in Kosovo with Colin Allen, a deaf man who worked at the Deaf Development Programme for several years before transferring to the Finnish Association of the Deaf's Albania project. Now that the interpreting workshop is finished, Susan begins interpreting for DDP's two deaf advisors in the Annual Negotiations Meetings between Maryknoll and the Finnish Association of the Deaf. Go to DDP Projects page Go to Charlie Dittmeier's home page