Meet Tennessee’s newest Certified Court Interpreters
Meet Tennessee’s newest Certified Court Interpreters
By Barbara Derthick
TAPIT is happy to announce that 4 TAPIT members have recently passed the Court Certification exam. Three agreed to an interview and so we invite you to learn about these new members and their interests, which vary from preaching to horseback riding, to all things Spanish.
Heidi Giordano, Spring Hill TN
Where were you born and what was your early life like?
I was born in Northridge, California, and I am one of seven siblings, six girls and one boy. I grew up in a predominantly Hispanic community, so Spanish was spoken constantly, except when in school. I also had the privilege to spend many summers in Mexico with my paternal grandparents. I say privilege because it has been tremendously fundamental for speaking fluent Spanish.
What first made you want to be an interpreter?
Surprisingly, I didn’t know a career in interpreting existed. It all happened unexpectedly. My older sister was looking for a career change and started the processes to become a California Interpreter. Shortly after starting, she realized it was not her thing, and for some reason thought about me. She asked me if I was interested in becoming one and I asked her what it was about, she gave me all the learning material she had, I looked it over and it instantly sparked something within me which eventually lead me down this path.
How did you prepare for the interpreting oral exam?
I used several training materials available like Acebo, listened to true crime podcasts in English and Spanish, read lots of printed local newspapers from the source language into the targeted language and recorded myself. Aside from practicing in all three modes, I made sure to have a good foundation of vocabulary, their synonyms, antonyms, and also learned lots of idiomatic expressions in both the source and target language.
What are your hobbies and interests?
I enjoy long walks, about 5 to 6 miles a day, horseback riding, and love having dance offs with my 8 year old daughter, which somehow she always wins.
What is an interesting fact about yourself that most people do not know?
I am certified in sit-down and stand-up forklifts. I worked in the grocery industry for ten years prior to moving to Tennessee. Part of my job was to unload delivery trucks for the store, which consisted of twenty to thirty pallets at a time, and were between six to ten feet high. The hardest part was to make sure they did not sway, lean or fall over as they were being pulled out of the semi and into the store.
James Peach, Jackson TN
James Peach is from Madison, TN. He’s one of three children, with two sisters. James spent a lot of his childhood outside, playing with his sisters and neighbors, using his imagination to play as kids did before there were screens and cell phones.
He learned Spanish in an unusual way, first moving in with friends in Nashville who only spoke Spanish. There he was immersed in Spanish and forced to try to communicate. His wife is from Mexico so the family only speaks Spanish at home. Together they have traveled to Costa Rica, Spain and Mexico. Additionally, James is a part of a Spanish speaking congregation, so often uses his Spanish there and speaks at larger conventions as well.
James first wanted to learn Spanish so that he could teach others about the Bible. The more he got to personally know Spanish speakers, the more he wanted to help them in other ways too. He began to interpret for friends and family, eventually using his bilingual abilities at work. When the time came for a career change, he decided to start interpreting professionally.
James studied for the court certification exam using Interpretrain and the Acebo study materials. The Interpretrain app was especially useful as he could practice simultaneous exercises while traveling to assignments. He also welcomed feedback from fellow interpreters.
In his free time, James plays guitar, spends time with his family and preaches as he is one of Jehovah’s witnesses.
Brandee Strickland, Chattanooga TN
How did you prepare for the interpreting oral exam?
I purchased an English/Spanish legal dictionary and practiced testing myself on all the terms. My son, who’s growing up bilingual, would read them to me and then tell me if I said the right term. I also planned and taught a Spanish/English interpreting course at UTC with one module on legal interpreting so that definitely helped me prepare. After you teach something you know and remember it in a deeper way. Specifically for simultaneous, which took me three times to finally pass, I had some materials a fellow interpreter lent me to practice and also found practice materials online. I recorded myself interpreting on my phone and then looked up challenging areas.
Where were you born and what was your early life like?
I was born in North Carolina to a family that only spoke English. I decided during elementary school after meeting an exchange student from Spain who said “people from the US only know how to speak English” that I wanted to become fluent in another language. I started taking Spanish in school in 6th grade, tested into the intermediate level and double majored in Spanish in college. While in college, I went to Middlebury College in Vermont for a 7- week intensive language school and studied abroad in Chile for 6 months in my junior year, falling in love with the country. I moved back to Chile after I graduated and eventually found a job teaching English. After meeting my husband in Chile, teaching English at a local Chilean university, moving to Canada and back to Chile together twice to study a Master’s and then PhD in Spanish, becoming an Assistant Professor in the Departamento de Idiomas Extranjeros and then having my first child in Chile, we finally decided to try our luck back in the U.S. in 2019.
What first made you want to be an interpreter?
Before moving to Chile I worked as a bilingual domestic violence victims’ advocate for a year in NC and often attended court to assist victims and witnesses and saw the work of the court interpreters. In Chile the Vice Rector of the University where I worked asked me to interpret for visitors from foreign universities and occasionally as an interpreter at academic conferences. After moving back to the U.S. and starting a position as a Lecturer of Spanish at UTC, I learned from a friend of my husband’s that there was a need for more legal interpreters in Chattanooga. His wife, Barbara Derthick, helped orient me on the steps towards certification. Then, by chance, my university asked if I would be willing to teach an advanced Spanish course on Spanish/English interpreting, so it seemed the stars aligned for me to explore that path!
What are your hobbies and interests?
I try to surround myself with Spanish however and whenever I can. I also encourage my two boys (9 and 5 years old) to repeat themselves in Spanish whenever they speak English at home. I love helping my students on their paths towards either becoming bilingual or polishing their Spanish (in the case of heritage speakers) for professional purposes and organizing opportunities for them to be connected in our local Spanish-speaking and bilingual communities. I enjoy my husband’s musical talents and skills as a music producer and we also try to get out into nature and go camping or just enjoy the back yard.
What is an interesting fact about yourself that most people do not know?
I love to sing and used to take voice lessons and sing in choirs. When I was living in Chile I helped organize a visit from the choir I had sung with (at Bowdoin College in Maine) to Chile, where they were able to visit and sing in 3 different cities, including Santiago, Valparaiso and Concepción, Chile. I helped them find the venues, organize transportation and book their hotels. I sang with a choir when I studied in Chile and brought that Chilean director’s arrangement of the Violeta Parra song “Gracias a la Vida” back to Maine with me with his blessing. The choir that visited Chile sang in a concert where that director was present and had learned and sang his arrangement and it brought him to tears to hear it. That was a beautiful moment.
