Linguist Story
Every month in our newsletter, we get to know a bit more about one of our linguists. This month, we have a husband and wife team for you! José (Enti) Bracamonte and Susana (Marisú) Basagoitia both work as Spanish interpreters.
Tell us about the work you do for TLS
Enti: I do over-the-phone and face-to-face interpretation work. I was onboarded on the same day as my wife. We have always worked together (over 25 years now), so we were both very happy that The Language Shop accepted us. We are very grateful.
Marisú: I am an English/Spanish interpreter, and I very much enjoy helping TLS clients communicate with their service users. I mostly do telephone interpretation work, but I also enjoy helping people communicate through video calls and face-to-face.
What’s been your favourite project at TLS?
Enti: The conversations we are brought into are obviously important to the parties involved, so I approach them all with the same keen spirit of service. That said, beyond my honest desire to help others, also lies a selfish desire to learn and grow that can only be fulfilled with experience; therefore, every telephone call, every video call, every face-to-face conversation is important to me.
Marisú: Although I can’t say that I have any favourite projects, I do love working with people and helping in any way I can. I really do my best to facilitate communication by speaking calmly, clearly and carefully, finding the most appropriate words for the situation.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Enti: Before moving to the UK, I worked mainly as a conference interpreter for the International Law Enforcement Academy. Telephone interpreting is vastly different and it poses many new and interesting challenges.
Marisú: Every mode of interpreting comes with a standard set of challenges, but the one thing most people would probably never guess is visual input. A very big challenge for a conference interpreter who is making the switch to telephone interpreting is not being able to see the person who is speaking. Working without visual input requires you to adapt and use different skills.
Can you tell us about a time your work has made a difference to someone’s life?
Enti: My wife and I used to do lots of field work back in the day, when we first met, with volunteers and experts that sought to bring economic development to the most impoverished areas in El Salvador. Inevitably, there would sometimes be distrust among the local population. When suspicions ran high and tempers began to boil over, Marisú and I were always quick to help defuse the situation and to point out, as early as possible, the potential areas of conflict that might arise.
Marisú: Whether they ever become aware or not, interpreters always make a difference for the people they assist. A mother seeking help for her child, a solicitor wanting to help a client, a doctor trying to diagnose an ailment; there are tons of everyday-life examples where interpreters make a big difference in people’s lives. What I do is very rewarding and, although I sometimes don’t get to see the smiles, most of the time I get to hear them for sure. I can’t imagine doing anything else.
Tell us something interesting about you
Enti: I love dogs. I used to feed and help strays in the rural area I used to live in, before moving to the UK. Also, I am a hardcore heavy metal fan, and I have recently taken up cooking as a hobby—out of sheer necessity.
Marisú: My husband, José Enti, and I have worked together since 1997. Back in El Salvador, we both worked, for 15 years, as conference interpreters for the International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA), which provides training for judges, prosecutors, police officers, and other law enforcement officials from Latin America and the Caribbean. The ILEA instructors come from various US federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.
What are your ambitions for the next 12 months?
Enti: As a family, we are still trying to adapt to our new life in the UK, and there is lots of work that still needs to be done on that front. My main goal for now is to help my family get a proper foothold on which to build.
Marisú: I would like my family to be able to travel a little (husband, children, and grandchildren), which means increasing our household income, saving where we can and making a few healthy sacrifices (no sodas, no sweets, no junk food).
To learn more about Enti and Marisú, you can visit their website:
therandomfactor.com