Community Interpreting and Sight Translation, Chinese – English

This course provides a foundational skill-based grounding for the community interpreter who orally translates between English and Mandarin Chinese in both directions. This course will facilitate interpreting practice in a wide array of public, community, and commercial settings—from the adoption interview, real-estate closing, and arbitration proceedings to the pre-trial deposition and parent-teacher conference; the course will also emphasize sight translation, the oral translation of written texts, as a fundamental skill in community interpreting. As part of an experiential learning approach, students will role play and constitute their own "scenarios," practice self- and peer-assessment, and learn the multi-faceted process of interpreting, including note-taking, listening, voice production, the use of verbal and non-verbal cues, memory training, and paralinguistic applications. The course will survey the role of community interpreting in the US context addressing key sectors including healthcare, public education, social services, and the criminal justice and court system.

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