TDLR Approved Courses 2007-2008

Course No. 3040 - "Cognates, Complex Syntax & Keeping the Record"

a) Cognates and Their Use in Interpreting (1 hr) - Rafaela Graffos

b) Strategies for Dealing with Complex Syntax at High Speed (2 hrs) - María Eugenia Conde and Jorge Dieppa

c) Keeping the Record: A Shared Responsibility of Court Reporters and Interpreters (1 hr) - Esperanza Gallegos

Course No. 3039 - "Idioms, Ethics & Group Hearings"

a) Understanding Equivalence of Idioms, Phrases and Sayings in Spanish and English (1 hr) - Virginia Miller

b) Court Interpreter Ethics (2 hrs) - Jorge Dieppa

c) Interpreting in Group Hearings (1 hr) - Rafael Carrillo

Dates:    TDLR Course No. 3040, Saturday, November 17, 2007

TDLR Course No. 3039, Sunday, November 18, 2007

Times: 8:00 am - 12:30 pm - Check-in begins at 7:45 am

Location: UTEP, Liberal Arts Building, Room 209

Early-Bird Registration Deadline: November 15, 2007 (this month’s EPITA meeting)

Cost: same as last year

      By deadline of 11/15 –

Members – $50 per course, Sat and Sun, for a total of $100

Nonmembers – $70 per course, Sat and Sun, for a total of $140

      After deadline of 11/15 –

Members – $75 per course, Sat and Sun, for a total of $150

Nonmembers – $95 per course, Sat and Sun, for a total of $190

Here is a link to download the registration form. 

Continuing Education Updates 2007

Breaking News - November 28, 2007

All course credits have been entered into the TDLR Continuing Education Completion Reporting Site.  Go to TDLR's Continuing Education Courses Look Up page and enter your License No. to check your current credits.

Important Information Regarding EPITA's TDLR Continuing Education Courses

EPITA's courses are open to the public, but primarily scheduled to meet the needs of the membership.  The currently-approved courses were offered in November 2007.  There are currently no plans to offer them again.  New courses will be developed for 2008.

November 11, 2007 - Found out that our TDLR courses have been approved.

October 30,2007 - Finished updating Presenters Bios.  Added link to "new page" comment for October 26.

October 26, 2007 - Updated Presenters Bios. Moved last year's course information to a new page.  Added 10 TDLR shortcuts to Links page. Fixed Committee e-mail links.

October 24, 2007 - Updated the Continuing Education pages on the EPITA portal.

October 18, 2007 - Information announced at monthly EPITA meeting concerning anticipated dates, times, location, fees and contents for courses.

October 13, 2007 - Application for two new 4-hour courses sent express mail to TDLR in Austin, including timed outlines, handouts, and certificates of completion.

October 10, 2007 - 8 hours compiled. Application for TDLR approval in process.

June 14, 2007 - EPITA renewed by TDLR as a Licensed Court Interpreter Continuing Education Provider, No. 1338

Presenter Bios

Rafael Carrillo is a Federally Certified Court Interpreter licensed in the State of Texas, and is a member of the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators, American Translators Association, and El Paso Interpreters and Translators Association. Mr. Carrillo has worked as a staff interpreter for the United Stated District Court for the District of New Mexico and is currently employed as a staff interpreter for the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas. He has provided interpretation and translation services to federal, state, and administrative courts for more than 12 years and language support services as a consultant for numerous government agencies including the US Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigations, Drug Enforcement Administration, and US Department of Homeland Security. Additionally Mr. Carrillo has participated in several international conferences on law enforcement cooperation between the governments of the United States and Mexico.

María Eugenia Conde, M.A., is a Federal and State (New Mexico) Certified Court Interpreter, as well as an English>Spanish translator certified by the University of Texas at El Paso. Since 1995, and prior to joining El Paso County as Senior Interpreter, she has worked as in-house translator and interpreter for various maquila companies in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, México. María Eugenia grew up in México and holds a Master of Arts in Linguistics from the University of Texas at El Paso and a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Monterrey, Nuevo León, México. She also holds a minor in Translation from the University of Texas at El Paso and a Diploma in Translation and Interpretation from the Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, México.

Jorge L. Dieppa, M.A., EPITA’s Continuing Education Coordinator and Professional Development Chair, is a Certified Federal Court Interpreter and has been a translator as well as a conference and court interpreter for over 30 years. Besides working full-time as Staff Interpreter for the El Paso Federal Courts, he is a Lecturer in UTEP’s Department of Languages & Linguistics where he has been teaching interpreting classes since 1989. Over the years he has been involved in training interpreters in OH, VA, CA, AZ, WA, and TX.

Esperanza Gallegos, B.A. in Linguistics, is a State (New Mexico) and Federally Certified Court Interpreter. Prior to her current employment as a staff interpreter with the Federal Court in El Paso, she was a freelance court and conference interpreter. She coordinated interpreting services for international organizations and corporations throughout the United States and Mexico on a contract basis, supplying simultaneous interpreting equipment for assignments ranging from small-scale business meetings to multi-interpreter conferences.

Rafaela G. Graffos, MEd., is a Certified Federal Court Interpreter and full-time Staff Interpreter for the El Paso Federal Courts. She was the first Coordinator for the Minnesota State Certification Program and was the trainer for its state-wide Interpreter Orientation Workshops as well as the judiciary workshops for judges and other users of interpreting services. She co-authored the Ethics portion of the Minnesota State Certification Test and coordinated the administration of the Certification Test. She has taught classes in the Interpretation/Translation Extension program at the University of Minnesota.

Virginia Miller, M.A., M.B.A., has been a free lance interpreter, and the owner of Miller Translation and Interpretation Services, for 15 years. She is a Federal Certified Court Interpreter and has provided translation and interpretation services for State and Federal courts, and agencies, for the past 15 years. She is also the senior Coordinator for the Alternative Teacher Certification Program at the University of Texas at El Paso where she trains and prepares future teachers. Virginia is a native of Spain and holds a Master of Arts in English as a Second Language from Colorado State University and an MBA from the American School of International Management, (Thunderbird) Glendale, AZ. She also holds a bachelor´s degree in Filología Inglesa from the University of La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain. Virginia and her company act as language consultants for Raining Popcorn Media specializing in the translation of children’s educational websites  designed for banks, energy companies, and various other business partners.