63: A Life of Action in Two Languages

Discover Your Talent–Do What You Love

Don Hutcheson

Entrepreneur, Turningpoints, Self-improvement, Careers, Business, Career, Education, Inspirational, Inspiring, Entrepreneurs

5 • 618 Ratings

🗓️ 29 July 2015

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Helen Duffy, as a bilingual court interpreter based in her hometown of Providence, Rhode Island, uses the fluency in Spanish which she developed in Managua, Nicaragua while teaching English to university students in the war-torn country. Born to activist parents, she learned early how to navigate controversy and dissent. Armed with only a B.S. degree in English, Helen plunged herself into learning Spanish on the job in Nicaragua. The nation was engaged in a major literacy campaign, and there was also a thirst among college students for learning English. She spent 20 years teaching English as a second language.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello world. Welcome to discover your talent, do what you love. I'm creator and host Don Hutchison.
0:17.7	Every day I interview someone from around the world who has discovered her talents
0:22.2	to do work she loves to create a life of success, satisfaction, and freedom. Today, I'm delighted
0:29.2	to bring you our featured guest, Helen Duffy. Hello, Helen. Hi, Don. Glad to have you with us.
0:36.9	Helen, are you using your talents doing work that you love?
0:39.3	Yes, I sure am, Don.
0:41.3	Good.
0:42.3	We want to hear the whole story.
0:43.3	Helen Duffy says she was born to talk.
0:46.3	As a court interpreter, she speaks Spanish and English, sometimes for hours without stopping,
0:53.3	in the Rhode Island State Courts, but she still
0:56.1	comes home smiling. After 20 years of teaching English as a second language, beginning in
1:01.9	Nicaragua, she traded the classroom for the courtroom and has been happily talking for
1:07.5	living there for the last 10 years. I love that bio, Helen.
1:11.6	So take it from there and tell us what you're up to now that lights your fire.
1:16.6	Well, I just finished organizing for my fellow court interpreters,
1:21.6	a series of professional development classes.
1:24.6	We have recently taken on more than 60 cases a month in workers' compensation.
1:31.3	So that presents a new challenge for us because it's not legal vocabulary only. It's also medical vocabulary.
1:38.3	So we have to do continuing education credits every year and I just finished organizing a series of three classes on the vocabulary, the law,
1:48.5	and the language of workers' compensation.
1:50.5	We had a lawyer come talk to us.
	...

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