Jack of all trades and master of none?

It is often said that an interpreter is a "jack of all trades and master of none."  As interpreters, we are expected to know a little bit about everything. 

In the federal government, you often hear about SMEs- subject matter experts.  Yes, interpreters are SMEs about our profession, however, interpreters are increasingly becoming specialist in a particular area of our profession- intentionally and unintentionally- as we venture down our career paths.

After graduating from my ITP, I intentionally chose educational interpreting as my profession and spent the majority of my first two years working in the public school system.  When I transitioned to the freelance world, interpreting in government and business settings became my de-facto specialization.  I did not necessarily seek out government work, however government is plentiful in the D.C. area.  Furthermore, I felt that I lacked the training necessary for the  medical, mental health, and legal realms.  Ultimately, I do not enjoy medical settings, however I have considered pursuing my SC:L in the future and adding legal interpreting to my repertoire.  Performing arts interpreting has long captivated my interest as well and is also a consideration.

While interpreters are incredibly fortunate to have a plethora of options available, playing to our individual strengths and weaknesses, we should generalize, before we specialize.  However, I do think specialization is the wave of the future and we will see specialist certificates in other areas of interpreting, in addition to legal and performing arts (which some interpreters hold & maintain, although the test is no longer offered).  Developing a new specialist certificate and test is a lengthy process, however I think we are seeing a push towards a medical specialist certificate.  While RID recognizes EIPA scores of 4.0+ as equivalent to certification, I would like to see the EIPA credential be added as specialist certificate to be held in addition to national certification.  More recently, VRS interpreting has emerged; although VRS interpreters still have to pull extra-linguistic knowledge from multiple disciplines, VRS interpreting is becoming a specialization as well, requiring specific skills, such as negotiating turn-taking from a remote location.

Additionl Standard Practices Papers and professional development opportunities for these growing specializations will be established as the field continues to evolve.  As individuals, we too will evolve, change, and specialize- carving out opportunities that accomodate the unique skills we bring to the table.