Gamut

It's been real, y'all.  I finished the consecutive interpreting section some time ago, and today I'm knocking out the last sight translation lesson.  Additionally, I completed the simultaneous interpreting lessons and was dismayed to discover there was a whole bunch of pages after that, all devoted to additional practice of simultaneous interpreting.  It's been helpful yet frustrating; clicking on random court proceedings recordings simulates the environment in which I will not only take my test but also (Lord willing) perform my functions as a court interpreter.  However, the speed is way beyond any lesson presented up to this point.  Often I find myself pacing back and forth in the kitchen, leashed to the laptop by my gaming headphone cord (gaming headphones are the only quality that makes the crappy Acebo recordings intelligible), waving my open steno notebook in one hand and, with my other hand, swirling my pen in little circles as I stumble, jet ahead, reel, scramble, and otherwise clamber to spit out the mercilessly-precise vowels that make mumbling in the target language impossible.  Sometimes, if the recording is easier or slow, I draw back (replegar) the back door curtain with my pen and look unseeing into the yard.  Sometimes I record myself to see how I do.  It's always intriguing to listen to myself in action, something I obviously can never do when I'm really at an interpreting job.  I think, "Wow, I sound like I know what I'm talking about."  Then there are some pauses, some airless jabs at the formation of who knows what sound, then it comes spilling out at ninety miles an hour, sometimes with holes where key words or thoughts might have been.

Regarding fits and starts, I am purposefully practicing KEEP ON GOING.  According to the test description, their recommendation is to "STICK WITH IT" and not get paralyzed.  It bothers me, though, because I have to stop interpreting something and skip.  What about that poor sentence, that thought that never got spat out?  Who's to say that word or phrase wasn't key, and I'd have better luck stammering that out rather than going on to whatever comes next?  It's painful.

Apparently the exam won't be offered until May at the earliest.  That gives me more time to prepare, thank goodness.

I tried to sign up to get a language proficiency assessment at a company I used about three years ago.  They no longer do these assessments to anyone who is not an employee.  I'd really like to get retested; for one thing, it would be nice to know what my areas of weakness are with enough time prior to the oral exam so I can improve my Spanish.  Secondly, I am secretly hoping that my score will be higher than the last time I did this assessment, and this would serve to bolster my confidence going into the oral exam in a few month.  However, other than an expanded vocabulary, I'm not sure I can say my proficiency in Spanish is any greater now than it was three years ago.  I don't know.  I chit chat and have heart-to-hearts much less frequently now than I did then.  It's sort of sad; the more I study, the less connected to my friends and my acquaintances I feel.  A lot of it has to do with the education and proficiency of most of my Hispanic friends, but that is a topic for another day.

Today I read about the word "gamut."  Who knew?

Ha!

That's a defiant, victorious "ha!"

It's been well over a month since my last post.  You might have thought, "She's not going to blog anymore"; you might have thought, "She's probably not keeping up with her studies"; you might even have thought, "She's given up on preparing for the oral exam."

Well, guess what: I'm back!

I took two weeks off in the month of December due to insanity of my part-time job and small events like traveling out of state and celebrating Christmas and New Years.  Whew.  I'm glad it's over.

And, while I had some trepidation jumping back into my lessons (I was worried I had forgotten everything), last week went fine, and this week is proceeding tolerably as well.  While I have several (like 7) lessons to go on Sight Translation, I am about 5 recordings away from finishing the Simultaneous Interpretation, and next week I am scheduled to do my LAST Consecutive Interpretation lesson.  Hallelujah!

This means I am more or less on track to finish the curriculum with enough time for reviewing and fine-tuning before the oral exam in the spring (date to be determined; I'm guessing April, but I really have no idea).  So, ha! I'm still hanging on.

The other meaning of "ha!" is that there are a few words in Spanish that are more precise than in English, and shorter.  I love finding these rare things.  My favorite right now is dolo.  In law we use the English term "criminal intent."  That's two syllables as a return on 5!  Hooray!  My other favorite is corva, which I don't get to use much, but it means "the back of the knee."  Apparently some people use the term "knee pit," which is disgusting.  Corva - you can't get any better than that.  It even sounds pretty!