Henry: The Interpreter Who Beat Magellan

Most people think of Ferdinand Magellan as the Portuguese explorer who first sailed around the planet on a quest to prove that the Earth was round. Now, consider this. While Magellan did sail from Spain on an expedition that eventually went full circle, he never completed the tour. Also, Magellan never set out to sail […]

A Cool Portable Equipment Hack

If you enjoyed my post on the value of portable interpretation equipment, you will probably like this one, too, on a cool equipment hack. It introduces a rather creative way to use the bidule, whenever the number of people in the audience exceeds the number of receivers available. This came about as a quick fix […]

For UN Interpreters, Less is More

Since the release of my video on the language requirements for interpreters in the UN, I have been contacted by many aspiring interpreters with questions that are, mutatis mutandis, more ore less the same. Basically, they want to know whether their language combination qualifies and they also wonder what else they could/should be doing to merit consideration […]

The Accidental Interpreter

interpreter

This picture was taken in Brasilia, on Tuesday, March 17, 1992. It shows the exact moment when I became an interpreter. The gentleman in a light suit is congressman Ibsen Pinheiro. Sitting diagonally from him is His Royal Highness Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh. I am the young guy in the middle. Yup. The one […]