Hello, I'm Jill.
This is ASL Stew.
(hand slap... ♪♪♪)
Hello, today I'm going to be talking about professional development.
You might be wondering what that means.
That means you do some sort of study or work
related to improving your work in a profession.
So for this, it's interpreting.
Professional development can include things such as
workshops, webinars,
reading a book,
reading different articles,
maybe doing a study yourself,
working with a mentor OR maybe working with a mentee,
independent study,
interviewing people and learning about new topics or new signs,
listening to podcasts,
or just watching a video!
So, how are those related to interpreting?
It could be related to things such as
the interpreting process itself,
theories,
linguistics,
learning new signs,
learning new concepts such as things in
poetry, math, science, or whatever you typically interpret a lot in.
You can learn more about those subjects.
That will help you interpret better.
Also, you can do biomechanics.
So that means analyzing yourself and/or having somebody analyze you
to make sure that you have good posture while you're interpreting.
Make sure you have the correct body form.
Or really anything related to interpreting, signs,
or just general concepts.
Anything can pretty much be included for interpreting.
Sometimes professional development can be free, or you might have to pay a fee.
Some places might provide free workshops or webinars.
So you just have to check.
If you get CEUs,
then typically there will be a fee for that,
unless you work for a place like a college or something that might provide free for that.
You can do an independent study.
Some places such as interpreting agencies and others
will offer the ability to provide that service.
Typically that's for covering CEUs
and you have to fill out paperwork and there's usually a fee associated with it.
But you can check and see what's available in your area.
So, what are the reasons for needing professional development?
Well, one is to maintain your CEUs.
If you are certified, then there's a specific amount of CEUs that you need
and professional development will satisfy that.
Another reason could just be to improve your skills as an interpreter.
If you never do any sort of study, or try to learn anything,
you will become stagnant or your skills will drop.
That's not being a good interpreter
and that's not helping you or your clients.
Maybe you want to work in different parts of the interpreting field.
You might be bored with one type of interpreting.
So you want to learn something new and maybe it's the interpreting process
or some sort of topic, and then you can do something new.
Keep yourself excited about the profession!
So really the main point is to better yourself, but for your clients too.
Professional development helps you and it will benefit your clients.
You will become a better interpreter and therefore
that will give better service for your clients.
So, I'm curious, what types of professional development do you do?
What do you like? What don't you like?
What do you think are cool ways to continue your professional development?
Definitely let me know and leave it down in the comments
because I want to be able to share this with other people.
So they can read the comments.
Maybe get some new ideas on what to do.
So, that's about it for today.
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Thank you so much for watching
and see you in the next video. Bye!
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