Well begun is half done, as the saying goes; but today I would say that being active is half done.

 

Last semerter I attended a lecture held by English department in our school, and the topic is about court interpretation. I am a student who major in Chinese, but I always want to be a  full-time or part-time interpreter. Therefore I attended this lecture just for my personal interest. The lecturer graduated from our university and then went to the U.S. to study her M.A. and Ph.D degree. After her got her ph.D in Education, she firstly worked as a teacher in local school, but then she felt bored about this teaching work and wanted to find a more challenging job. Therefore she started to work as a interpreter, at the beginning of her interpreting career, she interpreted only for a single institution and always interpreted in just one fixed field. Soon, she felt bored again, and thought she could do better than that, then she quited her job and started to be a "free interpreter". Now she is a certificated court interpreter of Hawaii Court and at the same time, she still interpreted for many companies and institutions. The lecturer told us that she thought those different interpreting experiences enriched her life a lot, and push her to learn new things unceasingly. She is in her fifties now but she said she still feel very young and energetic.  

 

Actually, I almost forget about what her said about the skills in court interpreting, but her attitude moves me a lot. From her words and facial expressions, I can feel her activeness and enthusiasm. And I can still remember that in the end of the lecture, she stood up and said: " I can be a good interpreter, and you too!" We all know that to be a good interpreter is not a easy case, we need to practice and practice and practice. But isn't practice a thing that everybody could do?  The answer is definitely yes.

 

After this lecture I realized one thing, that is to be active all the time, and learn to challenge yourself. If you want to do something, then just do it! You will never know your real ability unless you try it. The activeness makes the lecturer young, and it is the activeness that made her success.