Studying Jorge Ramos


In preparation for tomorrow's Supreme Court of Nevada court interpretation exam, Judy has spent hundreds of hours working with court-specific terminology lists, professionally developed mock exams, and has interpreted dozens of hours of recorded testimony, opening and closing statements, and other court-related materials. All this is well-documented on Judy's new best friend: a digital tape recorder. 


After she ran out of official court materials, she turned to YouTube to interpret -- who would have thought -- Judge Judy episodes into Spanish. While those are a bit light on the legal terminology, they are somewhat representative of what happens in small claims court. However, the prize for best videos to practice to goes to any video of Univisión nightly news anchor and Spanish-language journalist extraordinaire, Jorge Ramos. If you live in the U.S., you can see him nightly at 6:30 p.m. in every time zone, and there's just something magical about his delivery, speed, eloquence, and tone (and no, none of Judy's interpretations have thus far matched Jorge's cadence). Plus, it doesn't hurt that he's extremely good-looking: somehow, it makes these interpretation exercises easier! For the English speakers, we have chosen an English-language video. For professional materials, we highly recommend the ACEBO website (warning: not a pretty website), in particular, the The Interpreter's Edge.  


2 comments:

Álvaro Degives-Más on September 19, 2010 at 6:50 PM said...

Oh! I'm sorry somehow missed the "tomorrow" in you exam... How'd it go? :-)

I'm sure you won't know until weeks later, but all the same, I'm antsy to hear your impressions. I bet it's the consecutive that had you sweating most, no?

Judy Jenner and Dagmar Jenner on September 20, 2010 at 10:32 AM said...

No worries, my dear ADM. Well, it was fair, but challenging. While I definitely could not come up with some much-needed vocab on the consecutive, the simulataneous was, as expected, the most challenging for me, as I don't have experience with it. I tend to get a bit nervous and start sweating when I miss a few words -- have yet to develop the skills to keep calm. All in all, I think the exam is definitely do-able for those with some experience and who know their legal terminology. I do think I have a shot, but it might be very close. 7 more weeks to go.... :(

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