Here's how you can master the key skills required for professional interpreting.

Keep in mind the different Spanish dialects, you don't want to insult someone unknowingly. Treat the elders with respect when conducting interpretations.

Read good literature in the language and learn interesting passages by heart, word for word. This will enrich your voculabulary as well as give you contextual chunks of words which always helps their retention.

Exceptional listening skills are essential for accurate interpretation, involving grasping the full meaning behind spoken words, including nuances and implied context. - Practice active listening by focusing on the speaker without interrupting. - Enhance your ability to remember and process information by taking notes or developing a shorthand system. - Repeating speeches or dialogues verbatim can improve your understanding and retention of spoken language in real-time. With consistent practice, your listening and interpretative skills will significantly improve.

Cultural intelligence involves understanding and interpreting the cultural context of the languages you work with, ensuring accurate and appropriate message conveyance. To develop this skill, immerse yourself in relevant cultures by studying their social norms, body language, and etiquette. Familiarize yourself with cultural references and humor to prevent misunderstandings. Being culturally intelligent allows you to interpret not only the language but also the nuances that accompany it.

Be respectful and open to every fellow human, learn as much of the cultural norms as you need to treat everyone and be treated with dignity.

When we start working as an interpreter, we're already being told what kind of calls we're going to receive.Most of the consecutive interpreters work in medical field and general interpretation which includes simple legal calls. It's beneficial if one tries to understand common terms used in the conversation in different scenarios. It will make the call much smoother than you interrupting again & again,& asking for clarification.Try to take that term down if you didn't hear it before, write it's language equivalent in your notes.Moreover, you'll never know what kind of terms you're going to deal with,so it's much better to read some blogs by certified interpreter.I am a certified interpreter but yet I continuously strive to learn new words.

I once learned 120 medical terms for a conference on pregnancy complications I was translating for only to arrive and see that doctors from both sides exchange latin words and need no help understanding each other in professional setting.

Ethical standards, respect, professionalism, attention, accuracy and sensitivity are a must for a translator. I found that clients needed to sometimes be reminded that the translator him/herself also needed to be treated like that. It is not immediately obvious for some people, I understand.

Read good books, professional, fiction, watch movies, you need to be using the language in various contexts to be fluent in it, oh and absolutely learn to curse

I agree, but nowadays it is important to also familiarise oneself with the new technologies and the different ways interpretation can be dispensed. For exemple, up till three years ago, court interpretation was only provided on-site, either consecutive or simultaneous, but now, we also provide online interpretation, mostly for remote areas and for relatively short judicial proceedings (appearances, bail hearings, etc.) The same goes for conference interpretation that we provide either on Teams or Zoom and therefore, one has to get acquainted with technical aspect. Interpretation is also provided more and more over the phone. So while interpretation skills are important, technical skills can also come in handy nowadays

El cliente principal debe tener en cuenta que no puede dejar que el/la intérprete tomo el timón de la comunicación porque quien lleva la voz cantante NO es el intérprete, es básicamente quien paga el servicio. Debe quedar claro para las personas que interactúan con el cliente principal que hay ciertas reglas para interpretar de forma efectiva (párrafos/intervenciones cortas, no interrumpir, no asumir lo que va a decir el otro aunque se comprendan algunas cosas en el otro idioma, la importancia de dejar que el/la intérprete anote y entonces inicie, entre otros elementos necesarios en una sesión de interpretación. Si esto no está claro entre todas las partes es muy posible que sea más difícil la comunicación eficiente.