Interpreter for a Day - being the bridge between Language and English speakers

 

In this workshop, Lavinia Heffernan (NAATI-certified Pintupi-Luritja interpreter), Lauren Campbell (NAATI) and Mandy Ah Mat from the Aboriginal Interpreting Service NT (AIS) will dive into what it takes to be a professional interpreter. This workshop will give participants a renewed appreciation for the important and difficult role that interpreters play in enabling Language speakers to have their voices heard and pushing our languages to express new ideas as the world grows.

 
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Lavinia Heffernan is a Pintupi-Luritja woman from a small community three hours north-west of Alice Springs called Papunya. Both of Lavinia’s parents were linguists, and she was fortunate to observe and learn from her parents who did translating and interpreting work, thinking: ‘wow, I want to be able to do what my parents do one day’. Lavinia is a NAATI Certified Provisional Interpreter in Pintupi-Luritja and English. She also holds a Bachelor’s Degree in General Studies in Education from Queensland University of Technology. 
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Lauren Campbell is a linguist and language lover who has worked for many years training interpreters from Aboriginal language groups in the Northern Territory. Lauren has been working with NAATI for the last four years supporting interpreter certification for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages.

 

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Mandy Ahmat is proud of her Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage, she was born at Darwin Hospital, Northern Territory. I am employed by the NT Government – Chief Ministers Department working for the Aboriginal Interpreters Service (AIS) as the Training Manager. I have worked supporting and developing Aboriginal Interpreters across the NT, with my current role as the Training and Capabilities Office – Training Manager. I find my work very rewarding working with the many different Aboriginal language speakers in the Northern Territory and cross boarders (SA/WA). AIS Interpreters are front and centre of our business at AIS. As the training Manager I am responsible to train and support Trainers that are based in each region of the Northern Territory. I provide hands-on training to each Trainer; on-going support and hold regular meetings with staff. We ensure that training materials are updated and suitable for adult learning.