Episode 13

Roberta Barroca delivers the golden package (1)

00:00:00
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00:30:20

28 April 2017

30 mins 20 secs

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About this Episode

Roberta is not only a Portuguese/English interpreter, but she also experiences the most outrageous things in the interpreting space! From peacocks in the booth, to talking to her younger self, falling in love with Frank Sinatra and what an eject button would do for her sanity. For your comfort and safety, we have split the episode in two parts that are published simultaneously for the curious ones among you!

Episode Links

  • Fedex - the golden package TV commercial
  • Roberta on Twitter — English-Brazilian Portuguese interpreter. I LOVE what I do, I do what I LOVE. Interpreting isn't only my profession, it's a calling.Proud ATA and AIIC member.
  • The D.I.V.A. Interpreters — What the newbie didn’t know was that some professionals with countless booth hours develop the Delusional Interpreter’s Vain Arrogance (DIVA) syndrome. I explained to him what the syndrome was all about and reassured him it wasn’t personal. Our conversation went kind of like this…
  • OCID – The Overwhelmed Conference Interpreter Disorder (a satirical article NOT to be taken seriously) — Are you a conference interpreter? Do you have nightmares about being late to assignments due to traffic or the alarm not going off? Do you suffer from cold sweats and tachycardia in the booth? You might be suffering from the “Overwhelmed Conference Interpreter Disorder” (hereinafter OCID). However, don’t panic just yet because the Department of Interpreters’ Wellness has carried out a promising new research and issued new guidelines for the treatment of OCID.
  • A Hologram, a Peacock or Sinatra – What Kind of Interpreter Are You? — Simultaneous interpreters should definitely get hazard pay for working in a confined space. After all, in the booth we are exposed to our boothmate’s cold and also to some very different personalities, up close and personal. Throughout almost ten years of interpreting professionally, I’ve had the chance to observe my colleagues’ funny and not­so­funny traits. Below, you’ll find a list of some characters I’ve had the pleasure or misfortune of working with…
  • My Boothmate: A Love Story (On good booth manners) — “Would you like to sit on the right or left side of the booth?” – he asked. That sounded like music to my ears and I immediately knew this was love at first sight. I said it didn’t really matter so we just randomly chose our seats and started talking before the conference started. After about 15 minutes of getting to know each other, we started preparing for the assignment. As we had both arrived about one hour in advance, we still had some good 45 minutes to prepare.
  • My Boothmate: The Heartbreak. (On bad booth manners) — Traffic was particularly bad that Monday morning but because I always leave very early for assignments, I managed to arrive about 40 minutes prior to the opening remarks. My boothmate hadn’t arrived yet so I sent him a text message to let him know I was already in the booth settling in.
  • Letter of forgiveness and gratitude to my old self as an interpreter — Dear old me, Today it’s been exactly 9 years and 7 months since I earned my certificate as an interpreter. As I look back at my career, I feel very pleased with all I have achieved and learned but also remember some low points for which now is time I forgive and thank myself for. Here it goes:
  • The Golden Package — In the 1994 Super Bowl an insightful and inspirational commercial by FedEx (Federal Express at that time) was broadcasted. I had the opportunity to watch it recently in an assignment as an interpreter and immediately found parallels to my profession.

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