Translator Interview Question:

What has been your biggest professional challenge?

Submitted by: Muhammad

I can't say that I've had any overarching professional challenges since I started, just a lot of little ones every day. No two documents are alike, so every single one that comes across my desk presents a new little puzzle to unlock, and presents at least one new thing for me to learn. In this profession I'm always challenged, I'm always learning, and I'm never bored.

Now, with regard to my most challenging project, I would have to say that one of them was definitely working with the district attorney's office of Athens-Clarke County on a murder case involving a Mexican suspect. I was asked to do a "transcriptlation" of his interview with the investigator and testify as an expert witness during the trial, answering various questions from the prosecution and defense about my qualifications, Mexican slang, gangland terminology, etc. What unsettled me was not the questions that the defense was firing at me in an attempt to establish doubt as to the accuracy of the translation, but the fact that the suspect was staring at me quite aggressively the entire time, trying to intimidate me, I suppose. It was a little scary but I stayed focused and the DA told me I did a great job.
Submitted by: Muhammad