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Brand the Interpreter
What if La Malinche—the Indigenous woman who famously served as interpreter and advisor to Hernán Cortés during the Spanish conquest of Mexico—could share her stories? Imagine the insights and experiences she could offer about the power of language and navigating the complexities of two worlds. That’s the spirit behind the Brand the Interpreter Podcast!
Hosted by Mireya Pérez, an interpreter and personal brand advocate, this podcast gives today’s interpreters a platform to share their own fascinating stories, challenges, and triumphs. Each episode pulls back the curtain on the world of interpreting, from navigating high-stakes conversations to facilitating cross-cultural understanding, offering listeners a glimpse into the lives of the professionals who bring meaning across languages.
Whether you’re an interpreter, a bilingual professional, or simply curious about the magic that happens behind the scenes, Brand the Interpreter immerses you in the stories of language professionals making an impact every day. It’s more than just a podcast—it’s a celebration of language, connection, and the vital human element that makes communication possible.
Join us to explore how the power of language, driven by human connection, shapes understanding, opens new worlds, and transforms perspectives, revealing the deeper truths that unite us all.
Brand the Interpreter
The Dark Side of Interpreting: Insights on human trafficking with Richard Aviles
Our latest podcast episode brings you the extraordinary interpreter story of Richard Avilés, a man whose journey from the stunning beaches of Puerto Rico, to the freezing winters of Missouri, to serving as a military policeman is nothing short of inspiring. His tale is one of resilience, transformation, and the power of language. Richard's life began in Puerto Rico, where he enjoyed the simple pleasures of island life, taking the beach for granted until he moved to Missouri. The transition from the tropical warmth of Puerto Rico to the icy cold of Missouri was just one of the significant shifts in Richard's life. His journey from homelessness to a military life is a testament to his resilience and adaptability.
Richard's fascinating journey took another turn when he became an interpreter. His linguistic skills, honed from a young age, played an instrumental role in the military, often landing him unique assignments. Richard's story highlights the significant role language can play in our lives, from communication to shaping careers and aiding in crucial missions.
The podcast episode takes a sobering turn when we delve into the realm of human trafficking. Richard shares his experiences aiding in cases as an interpreter, highlighting the stark realities that often go unseen. His work in exposing these extreme situations brings to light the harsh realities of life that many of us are oblivious to.
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Are you an independent interpreter or translator wishing to promote your product, training or service that is specifically targeted for language professionals and have been unsure where to market it? Consider an ad on Brand the Interpreter To find out more about how to promote your product, training or service specifically for language professionals. On the Brand the Interpreter podcast. Check out the episode of notes. Welcome back language professionals to another episode of the Brand the Interpreter podcast, where I share your stories about our profession. Thank you for joining me today. I'm going to take this opportunity to remind anyone that has not had the chance to go on over to your favorite podcasting platform to rate and review the show that if you've ever had the opportunity to listen to something and have really enjoyed it, or the podcast has somehow been your companion in a drive and you really enjoy the guests on the show, that you please head on over, take one to two minutes of your time and rate and review the show. It means a lot to me personally, but of course it does a lot for the show and the analytics, and just getting the word out that this show exists for any language professional around the world so that they're able to come across it, I would really truly sincerely appreciate it. Remind your colleagues to do the same as well For today's episode. I'd like to give a fair warning that the content of today's episode may be sensitive in nature to some listeners, so listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 1:Imagine for a moment that you've made the decision that you're going to create your own language services company so that you may freelance and provide interpreting services in your area. One night in the middle of the night, you get a phone call from a local church. When you pick up, the person on the other end frantically tells you that they have a young girl there and that they don't understand what she's saying. When they put the young girl on the phone, all you hear is help me, they're trying to sell me. This scenario actually took place and this story belongs to an interpreter by the name of Richard Aviles who, after taking that one phone call in the middle of the night, became a human trafficking interpreter for the next three years, and today he joins the brandy interpreter guest list to share his impactful interpreting stories with you. So, without further ado, please welcome Richard Aviles to the show. Richard, it's a pleasure to have you on the show. Thank you for being here.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me. Like I've told you before, I listen to your show regularly and I'm actually very excited to be here.
Speaker 1:Oh, I'm happy to hear, I'm excited to share the crazy stories that I'm about to get into or we're about to get into. But with your panel and me, I'll definitely be very in tune to what you're going to share.
Speaker 2:I appreciate that. I appreciate that a lot Not a lot of people really take the time to sit down and talk in as in-depth as you have. Probably out of the couple thousand interviews I've done, you're probably the most in-depth person. For the pre-meeting at least, you're very in-depth. Well, thank you. More than most people.
Speaker 1:Yeah, thank you, richard. Yeah, and I think it's definitely important to share this particular side. I did put in a disclaimer at the beginning just so that people are aware of the sensitive nature of this particular episode, but I do feel that it is important to to get the stories out there and for people to just know what actually exists and then, and then, of course, on the side of the interpreter, what is going on. So that's all we're going to say right at the beginning. You'll have to wait until we get to that point. All right, richard, because first and foremost, let's get to know Richard, the individual. Richard, you grew up, were you born and raised in Puerto Rico. Tell us what a fond childhood memory of yours is from out there.
Speaker 2:My favorite memory of Puerto Rico. I didn't realize it until I'm going to move this a little closer because I don't like how it's sounding. I didn't realize this memory Actually, you said that before and I was in my head, thinking, trying to think what memory was my fondest one, because no one's ever asked me that. But I think the most fond memory that I have of Puerto Rico didn't hit me until I got married four years ago, and it was the fact that I grew up in an island that was surrounded by the ocean and we could just throw a rock and go to the beach, whereas I live in Missouri now and that's not a thing, and I took that for granted until I married my wife and we were.
Speaker 2:You know how it is when I don't know if you're married or if you have a significant other, but you know how it is when you're sharing stories of high school or growing up with other people and people come from different cultures, people come from different backgrounds and we were at a family event and they're like yeah, when I used to cut class in high school, we'd go riding bikes and this, richard, what would you do? I'd go surf. And everybody just looked at me like what do you mean? You'd go surf. I go, well, puerto Rico's, 100 by 32.
Speaker 2:So you know, I was an out of sea. Well, just throw a rock, cut class and I'd go surfing the beaches right there. Like, right, you can see it from the school and that's probably like the thing that I I've come to discover. That's like so beautiful that like you don't really appreciate what you have. But I had at that moment, because it's like I've been living here for 15, 16 years at you know, at that point in my life and now I'm 36 and I'm like man I really took that for granted. That's honestly like my fondest memory.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no kidding, absolutely. I think, especially looking back at our childhood, like you said, in the moment we're not really thinking about. You know, let me appreciate what I have, of course, right, it's not until we're looking back and realize, like man, I had a good like at least, at least in the setting. It was definitely a good place, I absolutely agree. After a while, you, you ended up leaving the, leaving Puerto Rico and coming into the States because you joined the military. Is that correct? Yeah, yeah, talk to us a little bit about that.
Speaker 2:Most people don't know this about me, but I was homeless for a little bit. Me and my family, we clash heads a lot and, you know, ignorant teenager, I ended up homeless for a little bit and my grandparents ended up, you know, picking me up and my grandfather told me he's like you need to do something with your life and you need to do something that's productive, meaningful and that you're going to look back and you're going to love. So I went job hunting and one day I was in the number two highway, number two, and I'm walking and it's scorching hot and this car pulls up and he goes hey man, do you need a ride? And I was like in my head, I'm like, well, the worst that happens is I get kidnapped. So I was like, yeah, so I jump in the car and this gentleman had like a nice pole of his name was he's my little gal.
Speaker 2:At that time he was a staff sergeant in the military, which is pretty up there, and he's like talking to me for a few minutes and we're talking in English and Spanish and he goes hey man, if you ever need a real job, here's my card. And he hands me his business card and he was an army recruiter, and six months after that I shipped out January 8 of 2008, right after, right after, because we celebrate three holy kings in Puerto Rico. So I shipped out as a 31 Bravo, which is what's called your MOS. Your MOS is your military occupation specialty, and I was a 31 Bravo or 31 B, which means I was a military policeman. That's what I went in as, and it was a little shocking because I had never lived outside of Puerto Rico, so I had never experienced anything below 65 degrees, and my reporting duty station was Fort Leonardwood, missouri. Are you familiarized with Missouri by any chance? No, not at all.
Speaker 1:Okay, let me let me.
Speaker 2:Let me break this down. Missouri, being a meteorologist. Meteorologist in Missouri is probably the easiest job ever, because it could rain, snow, and then be 100 degrees, and then it snows again and then we're all back to it again. And now here's the thing in the winter it gets cold, so I reported January 8. It was 17 degrees, no gracias.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know what happens when a Puerto Rican guy steps out and breathes that air. You pass out, you go straight down is what happens. So I'm coming out of the bus. You know they're, they're doing what they call the shark attack, is just where they're screaming at you and they're trying to see how you react, and stress is what they're doing. And I'm like, you know, my grandfather helped me train for for the military, so it was, you know, expected right. And I step out the bus and as soon as I step, I went to, I went to breathe and I panicked because I was like, oh, I, that's not enough air, like I'm breathing through a straw, and I started panicking and it was like a panic attack and I started going like this and then I just went out and I wake up and like a couple of drill sergeants are on me. And they're so screaming at you Like they don't care, they're like he could be dead. Yeah, yeah, why are you falling out of formation? It's just like oh my God.
Speaker 2:So I come to and the drill sergeant says he's like it's a private, private, get up. And I'm like yes, sergeant. He's like where are you from? I was like Puerto Rico. He's like what part of New York is that? I'm like Puerto Rico. And he's like what city? I'm like I don't see.
Speaker 2:Well, and another drill sergeant comes by and he starts talking to me in Spanish and he goes the only two at it. Where are you from? I go. I don't see what Puerto Rico. He goes. Have you ever left the island? I go. No, he goes, there's no way. He's like why is your English this good? And I'm like I was trained as an interpreter in my high school and I've known English since I was like five. And he's like is that your first language? I go, no, spanish is my first language. He like starts scratching at his ego Stop, so you speak two languages this fluently. And I was like so do you? But he had like this what do you Like? Yeah, which is how people in the Midwest expect Hispanic people to that, you know, you know, like this Um, true thing, true thing. Yeah, we're going to get into it.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So that's where, that's where, where I went into the military. Now, if you want specifics on that, you can tell me whatever you want. But you can ask me whatever you'd like, but that's how I joined the army the US Army, in 2008.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, you mentioned just a little bit that you actually had some interpreter training in high school, which here in the states is very rare, if not non-existent, in high school at least. So talk to us a little bit about that. For you Like, what was that like for you? How did that come to be?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so when, uh and this is actually a question that a lot of interpreters asked me, how is it that I got trained so? And you even said that's very unorthodox, but it's like, you understand, like the ethics you understand translation interpretation site translation continuous simultaneous. What ended up happening was when, um, when I went to school, I went to what was called back then a commercial business high school and it was called the Abelardo Martinez. It's called Amo, right, it's in Arecibo. It's like a small little college right next to the UPR, which is the University of Puerto Rico in Arecibo. So my mother had gone there, my grandmother had gone there, many people in my family had gone there.
Speaker 2:What it is basically is you go in there and you have to be part of FBLA or you have to be part of a group. You have to be part of a uh, you have to represent the school in certain events, right? Or you have to donate your time to help around the school and like help with certain things. Like you it's. You have to be very active, like there is no messing around and you have to be in a business suit, like that is one of the things that differentiated that that high school was. You had to be in a navy blue top and navy blue bottoms, white and or khaki shirt and then either blue, black or red tie red if you were in a leadership position, black or blue if you were if you were not in a leadership position. And when I went to take the entrance exam, uh, my family was very nervous because that high school was right next to where my mother worked, that uh, which my mother worked in in the courts. She was a stenographer. So I go in and you know we do the tests and we do everything and I would always do the English portion and I would do my worst in it. And the reason for that was because English was very easy for me, because at that point, without realizing it, I had been doing site translations because I had read like a couple of books and stuff like that. And growing up, my dad always made me carry like a little notebook and if I didn't know a word I would go look it up back home the definition and how to utilize it, right to have context.
Speaker 2:And this, this English teacher, who I've actually asked her and she would rather remain nameless, but she was she starts talking to me like this, like we're talking Like yeah, this and that, and she's switching back and forth and she'd be like so, question that, the guando since when? And I'd answer like in English and Spanish. And she like sits back and she goes. So clearly you have a very good understanding of English and Spanish. Clearly you've either lived in the States or you just know how to like not have an accent or emulate an accent. She goes have you ever do you know what an interpreter is? And I'm like no, she goes okay. And she like looks at me and my dad is behind me.
Speaker 2:Right, unknown fact, my dad is a retired 30 year cop. My dad did 20 years of deep narcotic work in Puerto Rico. Yeah, most, most people don't know this. If you go to Google right now and you type in special agent, the first thing that pop up that's my dad. When, when I was reporting to basic in January eight, he was picking up 450 keys of Coke off this dude that was trying to get it on the island. So that's, that's to give you context of how terrifying my father is right.
Speaker 2:This teacher goes so clearly. You understand English. She goes how long have you been failing the English portion on purpose and why? And I looked at her and I looked at my dad and all I see is my dad just leans in and like looks at me. And I just look back and I'm like I just don't want to read Moby Dick and I don't want to read all these other dumb books that just they don't interest me. And the teacher's like all right, where you gonna? You're gonna, you're gonna be in my English class until you leave here.
Speaker 2:And we get in the car and my dad goes. He goes like this, he's like driving. He goes how long you've been failing the test? And I was like since middle school he goes, okay, and like the whole drive home, I'm like please let a meteor hit us, please let the rapture begin, please let a car hit us. And I'm the sole survivor, you know, because I know when I get home I'm a hero, like oh hey, you know la chancla. So we get home. We got a call, like on our way home. I never forget my mom got the call. My mommy was so excited we, you know they took him and my dad, I think the excitement like overshadowed his anger, you know so, yeah.
Speaker 2:So then, throughout, for three years, what she did was is I, everybody was doing like this is a noun, and this is the past tense, and this is the present tense, and this is the future tense, and this is the verb, and I'm in the back taking news articles and translating them. It was me and this other girl who me and her were were we've been best friends since we were like 11 years old, named Lauren Lauren Torres Barreto, and we were. We both would do the same thing because we went to school since we were 11, we were together. So we, we were in the back like translating stuff, and then, like the first time I translated an article I never forget it was a news article about some sort of like political thing that happened or whatever.
Speaker 2:And what ends up happening is that I didn't know how to translate like the word of Republican Democrat non-voter voting ID, like a bunch of terms that I just didn't really understand and I just like in my mind, I was like, okay, if I don't know the term on my first draft, then I'm just going to write it as is an underline, right, cause this was like before computers, and it took me two weeks to translate two paragraphs cause she kept no, that's wrong, no, that's wrong. And at one point. I remember walking back, cause I would walk back and it'd be like this I should have just taken the classes I should have, I should have just not failed the test, and this would have been so much easier and and I was just so mad. But then after like two weeks she goes okay, this is how you're going to break down something. And what she did was she was like okay, I'm going to do this.
Speaker 2:And what she did was is very smart, which I now do with my kid is she said okay, bring me a magazine of something you like and it has to be in English. And you know, I've been reading. I was like a little kid so I had like mountains of book and my grandfather had a in his house. He had a library that was probably a twice the size of this studio, so it was about like a 20 by 20, probably like a big square, and I like I got this. You know, I'm sorry, and I bring back a game pro magazine which did they don't exist anymore. And when I bring it back, she goes okay, so what do you want to talk about? So what she did also was she would make us present about it in in English and in Spanish and for two years every day, that's all I would do.
Speaker 2:Eventually, that turned into I got my first paid gig, where I had gotten second place at improvised oratory, which I competed every year to represent the school, and what happened was the first place had to, she had won like a math competition or something and I got called by the mayor, which I have the letter for for participating as an interpreter La Dengue Pañola, I have to show that to you. That said, thank you so much for representing the island. And tada, tada, tada, and what ended up happening was is the? The trip was to Florida, to Disney, and I stayed at the Swannin Dolphin and the gig was is that I had to stay with the teachers at all times because I was going to be interpreting for them and I was like super excited because I got a check for $500. And it was a seven day trip and I did not realize that I was going to have to interpret the whole day and I'm like interpreting instead of enjoying Walt Disney World dude.
Speaker 2:So yeah, so I, I, that was like my first paid gig, which I didn't realize how huge that was until many, like 10, 15 years later, after that happened, like how big that was and honestly, it wasn't. I didn't realize any of that until I I started teaching with trans interpreting and I spoke with Edgar and Edgar's like bro, I've never met someone that's done that, that's not a thing. I go and I showed him pictures. I had those pictures of me. You see me with, like, with a notebook, going like this, and then there's people in front of me and then you see pictures of me in a suit in this hotel and there's someone behind me and I'm like this. So that was my, my, my experience in Puerto Rico, growing up to to become sort of like this unorthodox, weird interpreter that stands in front of you today.
Speaker 1:Yeah that you were doing little. Did you know escort interpreting right? Escort in the in the positive sense, like you know the individuals, professionals that are going around interpreting for other professionals. That's so funny at such a young age. Did you end up having to utilize your language abilities when you were in the military as an interpreter, or did that come after you got out?
Speaker 2:So I'll I'll explain this to a lot of people, because a lot of people think that I was an interpreter in the military. Right In the army, you have an MOS, a military occupational specialty for interpreters. At the time that I had gone in, if you wanted to have a ASI additional skill identifier, you had to take a test called the Defense Language Proficiency Test, the DLPT. So I took that in 2010, because what happened with me was I and you'll I don't know. I don't know if you'll get this, but I know most, most of your listeners will I had a lot of culture shock because in Puerto Rico, they don't really teach you about American history. They don't teach you, they don't really cover world history. The it's very um, business focus and like we're going to talk about the history of the island and we're going to teach you English and Spanish and you're going to read Don Quixote, you're going to read this and you're going to learn all of these things, but history wasn't a big thing. So when I ended up in the army, I was like I didn't realize. I didn't realize. By the way, I want to make this very clear before anything, because I think this will make the story a little more understandable.
Speaker 2:I didn't realize at the time that interpreting was something I could do for a living. I just looked at it as something that was like this is a great skill to have because I can mess with people, and but I didn't realize also the huge cultural gap that I had because people would talk to me about. Well, let's talk about World War II. I go okay, we invaded, we went to Germany because they were doing bad things. We went all the way through here and then we messed them up, yeah, but there's other things that happen that are also great importance, right, um, which you know you, we talk about from the military perspective. Uh, sergeant, uh Major Audie Murphy, who is one of the highest decorated individuals during World War II, who was also a musician and an actor, where he made a movie of how he got his Medal of Honor. Have you, have you ever seen this?
Speaker 1:No, I don't.
Speaker 2:So Audie Murphy was. I'll just tell you this and move on from there, so you don't get too surprised. Audie Murphy held back a battalion size element of Nazis by himself and ranked over a hundred kills in a week. The Nazis would not move past the town that he was holding because they thought that it was a company size element. A company in the military is 130 people, right, a hundred plus people. A battalion is that six to eight times he was covered in a. He was in a tower covered in ammunition and he had a little hole where he'd peek and every time he'd see one and he'd just take him and then he moved to the other side. So the sound they couldn't identify the sound. They moved to the other side and he ping him and they were like there's like a hundred people there. No, it was just one man. Crazy, that's it.
Speaker 2:So that was like part of like the history that I had to learn. So to me I was on a power curve and when you're a soldier, taking a language test is the furthest thing from your list of priorities. Sure, until it becomes an asset, because what happens is in the military. You'll hear, this mission comes first. So my mission was to train up to go to war, which I graduated basic training in May, like the end of May of 08, june 25th of 08. I was in Iraq. So what ends up happening is, like I said, remember mission first, right.
Speaker 2:So I get a call one morning at about 03 hours and they say well, we have a family that doesn't speak English. I think they speak Spanish. They're scared, we have multiple patrol vehicles surrounding them. I'm like all right, I'll get on my merry four point of contact. I get dressed and I go draw my weapon. I get basically at this point like I'm activated, like I'm going to go work, you know, and I get to work, I splash my face with cold water to wake up, snore to Red Bull or whatever the energy drink at that time was, and I got there.
Speaker 2:And when I got there, what happened was is that this, this man, had essentially defecated himself and he was scared to go in because he thought people were going to go in and they were from Mexico. They had come here to see their son because Fort Leonardwood is a base where it's, it's a training base, so people can come in and go to see the training areas and stuff. There are certain parts you can't go, you'll get arrested. But people, people go there every week to see people graduate basic training in AIT, right, advanced individual training. So I basically told him I'm like you know it's three in the morning, I know there's nothing open and he's just he's in tears and he started hyperventilating a little bit and I just put my hand on him and I said you know, stay here.
Speaker 2:I got the patrol car and I went back to my barracks room and I remember I had like pants from when I was bigger, so I kind of size them up, I go. He's about like a size 36. And I went back, gave him the pants they're second, you know he changed his pants and he gave me like a hug and I had my weapons. So, like instinctively, I put my hands on his hip and he, like, he like immediately understood, like he backed up and he's like muchas gracias, you know. And I was like, yeah, man, like it's no problem, and the very next day I get called to see the company commander.
Speaker 2:He goes you know, heard a rumor that you helped some people and I was like at first I thought, oh, I'm going to get in trouble because I went to my barracks room in a patrol car, so I thought I was going to get in trouble for that. And he goes, you're going to go take the language test. So I got that done and then after that, like I got the ASI for it, I got the additional skill identifier for it, and that was that. That was like my first certificate without you know realizing it. And yeah, it really. It really changed my my perspective on how important having another languages Because you know, you grew up in port, I grew up in Puerto Rico everybody had to know English and Spanish, so I just took that for granted. But man, I'm older now and the first thing that comes to my mind is I can see so many more memes than everybody else.
Speaker 1:That was like my introduction to like, okay, like I have, I have something here, you know the Orange County Department of Education is proud to host their seventh annual interpreters and translators conference September 29th and 30th at the Hilton Orange County Costa Mesa in Costa Mesa, california. This conference promotes the incredible work of interpreters and translators, bilingual persons and staff tasked with providing language access in schools and in the community. Know your path. Each step matters. To ensure language access is this year's theme and main focus. Conference sessions and engagements will respond to the core belief that language access is a foundational part of an inclusive and culturally responsive educational ecosystem. Participants will delve into unique opportunities to acquire and refine their skills, learn tips and strategies to enhance their professional practices, keep up to date with the latest trends, laws and expectations, and explore the use of diverse platforms and tools that can streamline their language service efforts.
Speaker 1:Language access is a priority in public education and, as interpreters and translators working in the K-12 system are more visible than ever, becoming a substantial part of every educational encounter, it is imperative to professionalize the field through continuous improvement, training, growth and networking.
Speaker 1:The Orange County Department of Education Language Services team is at the forefront of providing these professional learning opportunities and experiences for its interpreters, translators, bilingual staff, school administrators and community liaisons, and is committed to communicating across cultures to provide meaningful language access to their families, students and the communities they serve. Join them this fall at the 2023 interpreters and translators conference to continue your professional learning and networking. Registration is now open. So head on over to the episode notes to find out more about the interpreters and translators conference hosted by the Orange County Department of Education's Language Services division, taking place September 29th and 30th. Hope to see you there. Language Ninja Solutions became basically the interpreting agency, if you could call it right, like an interpreting agency for Missouri. This led you to being, basically, if somebody were to search you up, they would be able to find Language Ninja Solutions online and be able to give you a call, and in fact, that is what ended up happening one night, correct Walk us through that story of this first case.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're going to get into how you even ended up with this topic of interpreting for human trafficking cases. So yeah, share with us that story, Would you Richard?
Speaker 2:So I started Language Ninja Solutions in 2017. Obviously, for tax purposes, I'm going to cover this with some of my thumb man and I it's. I'm still waiting to make money out of it. I'm still still waiting, but I'll share. I'll share a lot more here with you, just because, number one, you'll understand a lot of where I'm coming from, and number two, I.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of this stuff that I've never told in my courses and I've had people ask me before and I'm pretty skeptical because I don't want to sound negative, but I think there's an old saying in Puerto Rico el que anda con la velada anda con Dios. He who tells the truth walks with God. You know, and what ended up happening was when I started language Ninja. First of all, the reason I started it was because I got injured. I got my neck injured in jujitsu I don't think I told you this last time we talked. I had a Called cervical stenosis, so for my medical interpreters, you know how bad that is. And what was happening was was I would lock like this, my neck and I would pass out like I would black out, and it was because my spine had a. It was almost. It was starting to fuse is what was happening, and it was because of A lot of. It was because of damage that I did in the military, because we ended up I thought it was jujitsu and what ended up happening was I had a bunch of MRIs and X-rays from my time in the service and when we started looking at them, you could see that it was getting worse and it was fine. In 2008, 2009, it looked way worse and then 2011, they did another one and it looked even worse, but it just didn't bother me because I was always working out and always going. So I just never, like I had neck pain and I had like pain in the tip of my fingers, right, but I was like, ah, that's normal because I'm always working out. No, no, that's not supposed to happen, by the way, it is not.
Speaker 2:So I started my business because I couldn't do jujitsu anymore and I was like really depressed about that and my friend, lucas Walker, gave me the advice like you should start a language business. Like I think a lot of people could benefit from that, and I had taught like people's kids Spanish before and I had done like some translation for people before where they were like, hey, I need this, and I had my stuff from the military so I still kept up with it. What I used to do is I would find companies that were teaching and I would just go pay for their courses while I was in the military, because I was like, oh, I'm making this much money, the military is not going to teach me, but I can take these courses online. I'm like, oh, this is so cool. So I would just throw like 50, 100, $200 on a course and every month I just take something. I remember one month I took like guns in Spanish and I was like, oh, I didn't know this, how you call that in Spanish. One month I took ethics in legal interpreting and that's where I realized that the beauty of legal interpreting is you stay neutral. And that comes really easy for me because I have the discipline to just stare at you and say something, and that comes from the military. So in the military you have to like have a stupid high level of like discipline, and when I mean stupid, I mean stupid to the point where I've done 18, 20 mile ruck marches, where I've lost the skin on my feet and I still finished in my time Like that level of discipline.
Speaker 2:So when I started my business, I was like, okay, I'm going to be on the phone all the time, I'm going to do this and I'm going to do that, and that works for a little bit, you know, for a little bit. But you also have to understand like I was. I had started the business. I had just broken up with someone that I've been in a relationship for about eight years, so I was like the new single business guy, right, and I had this fancy skill that not a lot of people would see. So I would just charge people like people would send me something and I'd be like, oh, that'll be two, three dollars, that'll be five dollars, that'll be $10, which, if you're listening to this right now, this is yeah, that's not the way to do it Like that's like some fiber stuff right there. That's the stuff that people who put things through Google Translate do. But I didn't know better. I just didn't understand, because I didn't understand marketing. I didn't understand how to make a market assessment of my skills and I hate to say this, most interpreters don't, they just don't. And that's okay if you don't, because what happens is when you start looking at what other people do and now that we have all this data, you learn how to do that.
Speaker 2:So eventually, one night in I think it was around December or November of 2017, 2017, 2018, because that was around the time that I got my first case until 2021. So I get a call one morning and around two, one, one to three o'clock in the morning, early hours, and it was on my business phone and I run outside and immediately I it was a church and they said we have a person here that is speaking in Spanish, but we're not understanding what she's saying and she's she's very neurotic and I was like, all right, cool, he's like go ahead and work, can you interpret? Can you explain to us? And the whole time they're like can you, can you interpret? Can you tell us? And I'm like I said okay, calm down. You know, calm down. I got this like out of curiosity. How did you find me?
Speaker 2:Now, a lot of people when I tell that story, they go. You know, you didn't know at the time that that was a human trafficking victim. That's a selfish question to ask. Well, here's the thing, and I explain this every time that someone says that what I was doing was I was trying to deviate his attention, because when someone's going. If you say something that takes them out of it, they stop and their brain goes into like a moment of shock where they calm down. That's why you'll see me like to break the tension. What I do with people is I'll tell a joke, right, but I'll take the joke really far and that way I know they'll laugh and then they reset and they calm down. So that's why I asked him that because he calmed down. He goes. Oh well, we found you on Google and you were like the first option.
Speaker 2:When I put in Spanish translator, I was like perfect, go ahead and put her on. And this girl she starts screaming and I never forget she goes. They're trying to sell me, help me. And I immediately like I knew I knew what she was talking about, because you take a lot of classes in the military about human trafficking and stuff, and my first experience with human trafficking prior to this have been in Iraq, which we can talk about here in a little bit. So I immediately was like okay, everybody go ahead and pause, you need to call the police. And I said it just like this I never forget you need to call the police. Here's my information, here's my name, here's my driver's license number, because I know that the cops are going to want to run my information. I know that because, as a policeman, that's the first thing I would do. Let me run this dude's information. That way, if an attorney or someone wants to know later on, boom, here it is. You don't have to do that. But, like me, being in the position that I was, I knew that's what they would want and I go. If you need anything, just let me know and I hang up and immediately I'm like the first thought that I had was that's a subpoena, like that's a subpoena. So I went and grabbed my notebook at this time. I took a screenshot of the call because I'm like I know I'm going to get a subpoena for that, so I know that they're going to ask for all these specifics.
Speaker 2:What ends up happening is I get a call a couple of hours later. I get woken up again and it's the cops. They go hey, we heard that you're this person and we need someone right now and you have to sign all this paperwork, you need to give us your rates. And I'm like, yeah, he goes and just start billing us now. We need you here now. So I started driving and on the drive there I was like how much am I going to charge? Like I wasn't even thinking of oh my God, there's this. Because at that time I they had told me they're like we have this girl that's speaking Spanish, we need you to. We have this kid that's in here speaking Spanish, that we need you. And I was like man, google is on, google is on fire. There I got two cases. This is dope, because I hadn't asked them where were they at? So I didn't know where, where that call came from. I just saw 573, missouri. Let's go, what's up? And it's on my business line.
Speaker 2:So I get there and you know they, I go through they, they search or whatever, and they take me to the interrogation room and the girl starts talking and I recognize her voice and I said let me stop you. Right there I go. I have to inform you that I believe I interpreted for this person at at this point it's like seven o'clock in the morning and I go, I believe I interpreted this person and I pull up my notebook and I interpret at this hour, at this hour it was from this phone number and they go all right, give us a minute. And they come back and they say that's the phone number of the church. They go yes, this is, this is the person you interpret it for. They go. Is that an issue? I go? It's not an issue for me, I'm just letting you know. Like that way it's easy for you when you take your notes. That's the same guy. So I interpreted and she pretty much told us.
Speaker 2:Like her, her mom had Pedro Collote to to take her from Colombia to Texas, I'm sorry, to Mexico. When they got to Mexico they kidnapped her and the mom had to pay a Collote again. But what the mom realized was that the Collote just threw her in the desert and like gave her a map and like here you go. And he did that with a bunch of people and like a bunch of people like died on the way here and she made it. And then what she did was is to get here, was she had memorized her mom's address and what she did was is she got to the detention facility and she lied about where she was supposed to go and she had memorized the address.
Speaker 2:And then what she did was is she like went when they she got out somehow of the detention facility. She got out and she went and just stole like a couple of things and then pick, pocketed money from some people and then she got in a Greyhound bus and when she got on the Greyhound bus she, you know, they didn't ask for an idea or anything, she just got in and she was 14 at the time. So she just got in, no one asked, and she's like, oh, missouri, okay, and then she just hitchhiked to get to her parents. And I never forget I left that and I was like that was rough, that was that was just wild, like that was just wild. And after that it snowballed because that police department told the attorneys, the attorneys told other attorneys, paralegals, whole paralegals, and then I was the guy that was like the human trafficking interpreter, like I was that guy.
Speaker 1:You had mentioned earlier in the conversation, richard, that your first human trafficking experience was actually while you were still in the military right Out in Iraq. And for those of us that don't fully understand what human trafficking entails and potentially even think of human trafficking as only one thing or one component Like, for instance, before you taught me better, I understood human trafficking as sexual, sexual human trafficking. But there are other types of human trafficking which you mind sharing a bit more information about that so that we understand sort of get a general understanding of what these two words together could actually mean.
Speaker 2:So, if I'm, if I'm understanding correctly, your question is what are either the, the levels or phases that, or the types of trafficking that someone can can experience right?
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Okay. So when, when I went to war in 2008, one of the biggest things that they were doing was they were getting kids to do things to us, right, one of the things that they would do is they would give kids like fake AKs and have the kids go, ah, and the kids don't know, because a lot of those kids were excited for us to be there, some weren't, and you had to be really careful and like there were a lot of times that we took chances because we were like no one wants to shoot a kid. Man Like I'll, I'll, I'll be the one to say it out loud you don't want to be the guy to shoot a kid. I have friends that, unfortunately, have had to make that decision. I have a friend who he lost one of his buddies. They got in a firefight and they didn't realize it was children, because it's in the middle of the night and they're just seeing rounds coming and they got night vision and they're engaging and he hesitated and his buddy got hit and then he he had to take care of the situation, unfortunately, and it's really hard what it does to you when you deal with kids, and this is why, when I talk about these things. I tell people that it's not for everybody and it's okay to say that. Some people tell me that it's arrogance, but I don't think that people understand that I'm trying to save you from you seeing something that you're not going to be able to unsee and people think that because you, you're desensitized because you watch things on TV. No, no, no, you're not. No, you're not. I've had doctors. Doctors tell me that human trafficking is something that happens on Liam Neeson movies.
Speaker 2:What happened in Iraq is we had a situation where we had a. We had a couple of our Iraqi police get killed. What my mission, what my company's mission in Iraq was the 463rd military police company was to do what's called PTT police transitioning training. Essentially, what that means is we go into the country, we gather up with the locals, we get with local police, local military, and we teach them how to be cops. We teach them how to go serve a warrant, why you shouldn't hit a house before nine o'clock, before nine o'clock at night or after five o'clock in the morning. That's prayer time. Let's be respectful of our enemies to an extent, but it's also smart to get someone while they're sleeping, because it's harder. It's harder for people to to react when, when they first wake up, right. So what ended up happening is in Iraq, the same way how in the States, things are divided through counties, right, they're divided through Mahalas. Except for you to get through certain Mahalas the time that I was there you had to have an ID. Right, you had to have your Gencia. So what ends up happening is one night we will go through.
Speaker 2:Our routine was we go through checkpoints, we check the warrants, we find it, we check what bolos we have, be on the lookouts, like a lot of times you'll get a when you go on a. So when you go on a mission in Iraq, you have a list of things, right, you go two hours before and you do pre drills. Okay, if we get shot at from the left side and we take contact, what do we do? If the third person gets hit? What do we do If the driver goes down? What do we do If the car keeps going? What do we do If the fire suppression system goes out? What do we do If we're taking fire and the gunner goes out? Who's going to return fire? What's a priority Casualty, evacuation or returning fire? Well, you got to stop the threat. So you go through that every single day and then you go into your mission briefing and on your mission briefing everybody has to know what's going on. You have to know what routes we're going to take. What routes are we going to take if we take fire, what's going to make us return back RP if we have certain casualties, how to do a nine line meta back, how to be able to take fire and return fire, where to return fire, how to set up a line of fire or a line of assault, and all these things. We had to teach them that.
Speaker 2:What ends up happening one night is we go early in the morning and we go to one of our checkpoints and I get out and I had, like a weird smell. It was just a weird smell as I started approaching the checkpoint and the smell just stuck with me. And when I pulled, I immediately when I smelled something I don't know what it was to this day I can't explain it to you but when I smell that, I immediately like went up. And when you see someone pull their weapon up, everybody has a job. If you're left, you're going to check my flank. If you're to my right, you're going to check my flank. If you're to my left. You're going to aim at whatever I'm aiming and you're going to flank him, so that way, in case he tries to run away, if you're in the back, you're going to make sure and look around. If you're in a gun, you're going to do something.
Speaker 2:And we found two of our Iraqi police dead. They've been shot in the head, assassination style, for a week. This kept happening and we lost a couple of people, a couple Iraqi police, and one day we kind of just figured out like, oh, we're finding the bodies during these hours, so that means that that person is coming in and out of the village and they just don't want anyone to see them. So you have something that's called an MO right, a modus operandi, and what that means is that at the time we knew that the people who did that, who didn't want to be seen, were people who were like assassins, like they were guys that they were. They were hit men, basically for Al Qaeda.
Speaker 2:One morning we got lucky and I'm out checking IDs and I'm going down the line and I see a kid like a kid behind the wheel, which you don't really see, and the kids just staring at me. I don't know what it was. But when I saw him he had his hands on the wheel and I went, I go, I'll be be. And he like went from here to like here and as soon as he went like that, I came up and I started coming up and I was like all I said was I got one. And Sergeant Charles comes from the other side and I walk up to him and I'm like, immediately, as soon as I see his hand, I see I see something shiny because I got, I got this close to him and I see him stop and he's like looking at me. And when I saw him stop, I saw a gun and I was like gun. But you know, looking back, it could have been a detonator. You know it could. He could have just been rigid like ah, here you go. You know. Um, yeah, thinking back on it now. So we pick him up. It's just a kid man, it's, it's a freaking kid.
Speaker 2:And I noticed like I had him in my truck because I had an extra person. So we needed we needed a gun on him, because we found AK 47 rounds on him, we found Semtex, we found multiple Gen C is multiple passports, which. That's the the giver right there. Multiple passports. That was the scary one because it's like why? And the whole time the protocol is you don't talk, you don't talk and you cover their face because you don't want them to see everybody.
Speaker 2:So, like, as soon as we cuffed them, we we kept them on the car and at that point we decided, like we're going to bag and tie. So bag and tie means we're going to, we're going to take him somewhere else and he doesn't need to see where he's going. And when you look at his hands, his hands had like, if you see my hands, you see all this right here and you see the calluses right here. So that comes from holding a gun a lot of times and that also comes from jujitsu and fighting. Like you don't get calluses and messed up fingers like that just because you've done something to that. I kind of realized it and I, I, I told, uh, I told Pittman, jared Pittman in the back, I go yo, dude, like don't, don't take your eye off him. So Pittman just sat right next to him and pulled his gun and just stared at him and had the gun right here the whole time, cause they were more scared of of handguns than they were of long guns, for some reason. And Pittman. Pittman said in English is like if you move, we're going to have to redecorate the car, so please don't make me clean you up. And he like looked at him and like didn't say anything.
Speaker 2:We get to the detention facility, they process him, they're checking him and then we sit, uh, when they're at the interrogation room and there's a, a warrant officer that comes in and he was the interrogator and they're talking. They're talking and they go in and they're talking to him in English and he's just looking at them like stone cold. And the guys come out and they say I think he speaks English. And he goes. Well, he hasn't spoken the whole time, but he hasn't talked, he hasn't said anything, and he goes he speaks English, I'm going to try something. So he goes back in and he goes you know, this just isn't working. Let's just throw him in with Jen Popp and just let him have his way. He's, you know, he's like 14, 15.
Speaker 2:And as soon as he said that, the kid went like this and he goes you speak English. He goes, stop playing with me. And immediately the kid, like, started talking. He's like ah, you know, all praise to you know their God. And he's like I'm here to commit martyr against America and, like you, you see these things in videos, but when you see it, live it, it it just like you really realize, like, oh, there are people who are, like, there are people who will take things that far. You know, there are people in this world.
Speaker 2:And he explained that when he was 14, he went to a camp. They took him from his village and he was the oldest, so they took him from this village and they taught him how to shoot from like a young age. And he he was basically he admitted to to like killing our IPs. But we already knew because we had the gun powder as a new, the gun, the gun, ballistics and stuff like that We'd done. You know the people who do that they had done that and they'd given us the information. Like, yeah, this is where this is.
Speaker 2:And it was terrifying, man, because what most people don't understand is that that's child trafficking. What that's called is child war. Trafficking is what that's called and that happens in this world. That's happening right now in India, that's happening right now in Afghanistan, it's happening right now in Iraq, it's happening in Africa, it's happening in places in central and South America where they take kids and they basically indoctrinate them into some sort of extreme behavior. I mean, you know, I told you about the kid that was from Mara Salvatrucha and he was 13. He was just 13 and he had already killed people because they took him from his house and they were like we need the oldest kid, and you know that's that's called right there Child soldier is what that's called, and it's it's one of the the types of human trafficking that you have, right. So you have child trafficking, sex trafficking, servitude right, or indefinite servitude also, which is like debt or forced labor. You have Oregon trafficking and then you have child, child sold, child, child soldiers, right.
Speaker 2:What people don't understand is that all of those things have the same, the same processes to get to it right, like when we talk about human trafficking. People don't understand what human trafficking is. It's actions plus means plus purpose equals trafficking. Your actions by recruiting, harboring, transporting, hiding, you know, patronizing, abusing, moving, recruiting that's the process. Right For the means of, by the means of force, coercing, abusing, you know any other bad thing coercing right, with the purpose of either a commercial sex act or a labor or service of some sort. That's it. That's the two things that you can, you can put them to that equals human trafficking.
Speaker 2:When you have all of those three things combined and I, when I teach it right, I teach it like a math formula. I teach it like either process means ends right Equals trafficking, or actions means purpose equals trafficking. That's what human trafficking is. That's why I tell people like the probability that you've ran into someone that's done that is higher than you think, higher, way higher than you think. The problem is is that we don't look around. You know, we just don't look around. That's hopefully that answers your, your trafficking question and your your question about Iraq, because that, yeah, I've never told that story so in depth. I appreciate that.
Speaker 1:No, I think that it's important that we understand that, that, while many of us, our mind goes to one specific category for human trafficking, what it all involves and, of course, these experiences that you encountered along the way and ultimately becoming what would be your main focus with interpreting for years yeah, about, yeah, about three years every day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, every day. So one of the things that I realize is interpreting. Interpreting helped me understand my trauma right, because as an interpreter, you listen, you process, you analyze and then you command, right. The problem that I came to realize is that I put myself in so many traumatic things that I became so desensitized that when I would see things, I would just act normal, whereas most people would would would just probably puke or be like oh, I don't want to talk about this, you know, and it was interpreting that helped me, because I realized like, okay, where is this coming from? Why am I feeling like this?
Speaker 2:And this is where it's difficult, because you have to like excuse my French, you can't bullshit yourself, right, like your mental health is kind of like interpreting. This is why every class that I teach, I do a 10 minute speech on mental health. I don't care if people don't like it, I really will wipe my. If you don't want to buy the class, I don't care. But every single class that you take of mine all nine of them there is at least 10 minutes of me talking about mental health, because no one tells interpreters hey man, you could get PTSD from this. Hey, man, you could get imposter syndrome from this. This is what you should. You know, this is what it looks like.
Speaker 2:So what I realized with my mental health is I did the same thing I do with an interpretation. Okay, why, what am I going to do? Well, why? Why, where can this go? Or, okay, well, why am I thinking like this? Well, where can this thought process lead me? Does this thought process help me? Okay, then I need to stop. And then what I learned through therapy is just because you're feeling a certain way doesn't mean that you have to react on it. And that's the number one thing that, like I learned through therapy and through jujitsu, is don't react Emotionally and make a permanent decision on a temporary feeling. So that's the number one thing that I came to learn through interpreting. Because, just like in jujitsu, right, like if I get upset because someone's messing with me and I overextend my hand and I get armbar, well, that's on me.
Speaker 2:That also means that there's times that I just don't want to be around people. You know, like I just don't, I don't, I don't want to Be around people. I don't, you know, I have. I like to say that my wife is my emotional support animal because she, I Could have the crappiest day ever and I go hang out with my wife and it's awesome. And now that I'm a dad, it's even more awesome because I have to two people that I can give a lot, of, a lot of love to and just be there for them too.
Speaker 2:But that's how, how I deal, at least, with my mental health and that's why I'm so so big on it. Because you know, man, I'm I deal with veterans a lot that they on a weekly basis. Man, there's someone that's having a Breakdown, you know, and I'm there to like just calm them down, and that's the thing is like as an interpreter. You know, like I told you earlier, I was telling you earlier when they called, like, how'd you hear about me? Oh, oh, well, on Google, perfect, all right, let's go. Because you have to be. You have to be that calm in the storm man, especially as an interpreter, because a Good interpreter and a good and I'll put it to you this way I think that a good interpreter that makes a good business person is someone who can explain our job in a way that a five-year-old could understand it. And and it's also a lot of trust, because I have to trust that what you're saying is truthful. I have no idea of what you're saying is truthful.
Speaker 1:One of the things that I really appreciate, richard, about your story is the fact that, included with all this, I Want I'm gonna use the word dark, because I feel like these things come from a, from a really dark place, and you have to Be able to have Some sort of thick skin, you know to for lack of a better word to be able to to even show up for these types of assignments, and I know that you mentioned that Three years may seem like a, like a short period of time, but I think, with such a Dark and heavy type of topic and on a daily basis, it probably felt like forever for you. And here I'm just guessing right, like, yeah, like an intern.
Speaker 2:No, you're right, You're. No one's ever. No one's ever figured that out. Like normally, people just make the comment like, oh, it's three years. What could you learn in three years? And let me tell you something If you give me a day, I could probably be pretty good at something. If you give me six months, I'm gonna be pretty damn good at it. You give me a year or more, like good luck, bro, I'll learn or know everything that I need to know and I'll be able to like share that wisdom with other people, because it's it's just a matter of having focus. That's it. It's just a matter of having focused. Like everything is like that, and Unfortunately, I wish my paychecks would have reflected that, but you know.
Speaker 1:That's a whole other part of it. Yeah, these conversations, each type of assignments, one thing, and then the pays a whole other thing, but that's that's throughout the whole industry.
Speaker 1:You know that, that's definitely a complaint that everyone that everyone has. But what I was gonna say is that I appreciate the fact that I miss the conversations. You are dropping these. You know little nuggets of very important information that, if we're not paying attention, we're missing.
Speaker 1:Richard is talking about, you know, the the mental health aspect that, although we do try to cover during interpreting, training and stuff like that, perhaps it's not in in as depth as as it should be. He spoke about relying on jujitsu and he spoke about therapy, and he talked about being surrounded by good people, by good friends, by individuals such as, for instance, one of them being his wife. That he's that you're able to surround yourself. We with with these individuals to support you as you go along. Of course, each, each thing, I think it with its own separate thing, right, with its own separate assistance, because it's not, like you know, you could rely on necessarily your wife to support you throughout the journey, completely. I think that at some point you get to, it's gonna take care of one thing, the therapy will take care of another, and knowing that you have a supportive spouse that understands the work and the stress behind it is is also going to help you.
Speaker 1:So, in combination, but the key thing here being that Richard has mentioned the fact that mental health is important and that he's taking, has taken, actionable steps to be able to Sort of support, support that journey right, because it's it's just such a and I don't even know what, what word to describe it as other than dark. And then, in when we had our pre-session, I called you an orthodox interpreter because it's like you. You have you have aspects of the interpreting business and training, obviously, but, come on, how much are you going to be able to say? The interpreter needs clarification, or you know, would you please pause for the interpreter be able to render?
Speaker 2:but it's like In these types of cases, I mean you can't, yeah, you can't, you, you, uh, I tell you. I'll tell you one story and I actually haven't told this one. I had a Family of like a few kids that half of them had been. I had a few, but this one specifically, I never forget. This girl had just met her sister and her sister had been trafficked all the way from Central America. And we're in a meeting. When we got her to a safe house and we did all this other stuff, and I get called and we go, we get a transport to go to the safe house and all this other stuff.
Speaker 2:What ends up happening is that the, the siblings are there because they had removed them from the home, and the girl is there and she's like really nervous. You know, she's never met these kids. She's she was like I think like 11 or 12, something like that, and and we get there and this little girl was like six or seven and the oldest tells the story, like in front of all the kids, like how she got to the US, you know, and it's, it's brutal, it's brutal. And she, she tells the story and this little girl just sit in the corner going like this and the attorney goes a gardening a light, him goes hey, you know, this is your sister. You know any questions? Are you excited? You know, do you have any? If she feels scared or anything? And you know, do you feel scared that that could happen to you? And the little girl goes.
Speaker 2:No, I live in America and everybody started laughing and I was the only one in the room that kind of just looked at her and looked at everybody. I'm like I don't find this funny, like I don't know how you're laughing about that. Like I literally and dude, you've heard me, I've said some messed up jokes to you before like I've said to you some jokes that you're like, oh, my god, I can't believe I laughed but like that's just one of those things that it's like it's contextual. Right, comedy is contextual. So to me, like I heard that and everybody laughs and I kind of just sat there and I go, wow, what a way to just Say, uh, yeah, fuck, that, that's not my problem at such a young age. But at the same time, man, like you look at that situation and those kids where they were removed, and you're like, well, yeah, that that goes to to show you know, and guess what? Well, everybody was laughing. I had to stay there and just bite my lip because I couldn't say anything.
Speaker 2:I'll give you another one. I'm in court and this this attorney asks the. It was a. It was a drug case and they had made this dude was selling drugs to kids and His wife flipped on him. Okay, a flip basically means that she should side. She was with him and then she went to the cops One way or another. They had told her that he was cheating on her with the courier and they had text messages. Text messages have you ever done a phone dump? Have you were translated like a phone dump. You know what that is.
Speaker 1:And I I know what it is, but I've never had to translate a phone dump, no they are the most fun and best paid jobs ever, because you have to translate Everything right.
Speaker 2:So I'm gonna be real honest to you. I have never seen so many pics in my life until I started getting phone dumps. It is wild to me the amount of Genital pictures that people send. Do you know what this woman said when they put her on the stand and His attorney was like she was in on it? We're gonna discredit her.
Speaker 2:The first question he asked was why did you go to the cops? You were involved in this. Oh, okay, you said for a la policia who said I'm going to get this, though, and she looked at him. She went Okay, no, I spago and I'm in court. And I heard that and my eyes went like this and I immediately went, because he cheated on me and and I had to like, compose myself Because it was such a mic drop moment that even me I was like oh, you have nothing else, that, you have nothing else. You're gonna try to discredit her and it's not gonna work now, because she's told you why and it's a valid reason. Oh, bro, they, they, they ended up.
Speaker 2:Um, it was there was a plea. They made a plea deal Because because the attorney realized like I know we're screwed, screwed like you cheated on. You didn't tell me that and you know, you know how it is. You're in court and you hear, as the interpreter you know you go in is yeah, I'm gonna tell me you cheated on your wife. I know, just one time, you know, I don't know how they have access to that because they have your phone tap, monwell.
Speaker 2:You know, like I'm just, I'm just like saying, like those things, and then you just go home and you're like dude. I remember I don't know if this happens to you I remember coming back, oh oh, from like cases and stuff and I would sit outside and I'd have like a drink or like I'd smoke a cigar. That's like my thing. And I remember one time I went to a party and someone was like Complaining about how they needed new clothes and how they needed to get like this done for the house. And I got so mad because I looked at her and I wanted to say, like there's people that don't even have water and you're bitching about your clothes, like Really. And that's when I realized like I got an issue, like I gotta, I gotta get help.
Speaker 1:Cuz, I was like I shouldn't be.
Speaker 2:I shouldn't be mad about that. Why am I mad about that? Like that lady doesn't know that I had a shit day, like, but that's. That's some of the things that happened.
Speaker 1:It's just no, I could. I could only imagine situations like that, and of course you know you, you have so many wild stories. But yeah, I could. In my mind I'm seeing myself in something like that and probably going oh we know when, when it's going down in my mind, but as the interpreter, you know poker face.
Speaker 2:Can I share? Can I share with you this? And and we actually did an episode on On my podcast where we talked about my cases and my wife shared this when I first started dating my wife, I was heavy. Like I had probably like 30, 40 active cases at that time. You know what I told my wife, my girlfriend, at that time what do you do for a living? I'm an interpreter. Oh, for the schools, absolutely. My phone would ring at one o'clock in the morning and I would have to leave the room and she's like, well, I go, I go. I. Well, I also have the law enforcement. Uh, because the PD would use me like if they had a traffic stop or something and they needed like assistance. They call. So that's how I got away with that. But you know, you, that can only happen so many times. Before a woman goes, how the hell does he have to leave in the middle of the night? He's a school interpreter.
Speaker 2:So one day in it was February 14th, uh, we were on a dating, we were actually dating at that point and I get a call and I can't. I can't remember because I get a confused, but she remembers it was either Uh, one where the mom was sleeping with the dad in the parking lot, or oh, no, no, no, I remember it was. We called this the jerry springer case. We had a woman that her, she had a, she had a kid, and she just would not give us like the father she would give. We had done 12 DNA tests on her and what the social worker would do is they would call and tell them that person's not the father. And one day they did that and I'm in the car with her and they're like richard, I need you right now. We, we got to fix this and I'm like I got someone in the car. They go, they can sign an NDA and they just call the lady and they go and when it comes to that, just like jerry springer, just jerry springer, me day, yet just like that.
Speaker 2:And when it comes to that person's not the father and this is when I almost pooped myself I hear in the background go. I hear in the background go, and then the phone hangs up and I'm sitting there and the first thing that I thought was oh my god, I just heard somebody get killed, like that was the first thing I heard, because it was the dude, it was the voice. I recognized the voice. It was the voice of the dude that she had been dating at that time and I was like, oh no, so my, my girlfriend at that time. She goes, okay, what's going on? Like, what do you do for a living? This doesn't make sense.
Speaker 2:So at that point I took her back home, had her sign an NDA and yeah, and I married this person married me, by the way and I I had like my notebook and I just let her look through my notes and I was like this is what I do. This is why I've been like in the middle of the night sometimes I have to go and I come back and I just sit outside and I smoke a cigar and I don't talk. This is why sometimes when we go out, I just like I just space out when I'm reading through my notes and stuff like that. And the first thing she did was she just hugged me and she goes that's so badass. And yeah, she stayed around and she stayed around.
Speaker 2:Yeah, she did, she did she. Um, yeah, she, she stuck around man.
Speaker 1:I, like I know that whoever's listening is also stuck around thanks to the stories that you've been sharing, but of course, you know our episode does have to come to an end eventually, sadly, even though I know you've got so many more stories. However, I will leave it up to the audience to connect with you, to be able to Continue sharing these stories, because, of course, you have your own training program now that you also share, in addition to your own podcast and just your own social media platforms. So the last thing, couple last things I'd like to ask you, the first one being if someone I don't know why, but perhaps after listening to this episode is interested somehow and being able to Become part of this particular area or specialization of interpreting, what would you recommend to them in terms of what they need to to do, to prepare, maybe mentally prepare or whatever else you might, you might want to recommend, but what would be your recommendation if someone says I want to get started in something like this? Where would they begin? What should they do?
Speaker 2:I think there's. There's a few things that they could do. First of all, they have to be really good at a language. So I highly recommend season interpreters to volunteer their time. There's different organizations, like raices. There's a couple human trafficking organizations in Minnesota that they need help right now. The names elude me, but if you Google Minnesota Advocacy attorneys for human trafficking or Minnesota human trafficking places, there's a ton of those places that I know for a fact I'm in touch with a couple of them still that they they need, they need help, you know, and all you got to do is just if you can volunteer like a few hours, do that right.
Speaker 2:The other thing is you have to be like a pretty good seasoned interpreter. You have to be and when I mean season, to me what a seasoned interpreter is is someone that either Understands or has a specialty in like legal or medical Preferably medical, in my opinion, because there's gonna be a lot of slang and a lot of language. There's gonna be a lot of slang and a lot of terms that you're gonna you're gonna hear right, the medical portion of it. I always say medical interpreters are amazing. I, I don't. I don't do well Watching body parts and stuff and I don't understand enough to even like go. It's too much for me to study Versus the the, the return that I'll have. The third thing you should do is you should try to read as much as you can about that topic.
Speaker 2:I Offer a class to trans interpreting that. I would dare say it's probably one of the best classes out there, not because I put it together, but because this is what people have said. I Think that there's way more things that I could add to the class, but people also have to understand is you have me for three hours, and it's never three hours, because when we get done with a class, I always stick around for a little bit, because people either want to talk to me about something they want to talk to me about interpreting, they want to talk to me about mentoring. They want to talk to me about something that I said on the podcast. They want to talk to me about a joke that I saw online that I said, or they just want to ask me if I'm single, which that that happens. No joke media that that has happened and it's very awkward because Because guess who, guess who one of my moderators is for the class.
Speaker 1:Why be?
Speaker 2:So guess who see that message. Guess who sees that message first? Sometimes it's my wife, because I'm I'm teaching. My wife is sitting next just looking at the questions and going Question, right, yeah, you know, I got it again. Then they have. They have their own people. I just say here, so I don't have to look at the questions, I can just go here and teach and tada da, and they're like question this is an important one, okay, but it's to trans interpreting. I'm actually teaching at August 19th For three hours in, I think, in the early afternoon. It'll be. I think it's 89 right now it's either 89 or 100 for for three hours with me. And then the other thing is is this is the best piece of business advice that I learned from the 1 million cups, and It'll be four things. I said three to be four. Talk to someone who's done it at a high level and then just ask them. That's the best thing you can do. I, unfortunately, have never met another interpreter that has done even a quarter of the cases that I've done. So I had to kind of like build a blueprint for me to figure it out, and One of the biggest things that I can tell interpreters is keep good notes.
Speaker 2:Like don't scribble, don't be like, if you're gonna scribble because you need to like scribble, right, have a separate notebook for that. But have a notebook with good notes. Who, what, when, where, how, why, that's it, that's all you need to put. What time was it? Who was there? What happened? When did it happen? Did anything else happen? How did it happen? When, who, what, when, where, how, why, and you know why were you there? The why could be. I was there because this company called me and they sent me. Perfect.
Speaker 2:Now I have something that I can trace, because you're gonna realize, man, as you get older and you've been doing it for a while that those notes you. You can learn a lot from it. You can learn a lot, a lot, a lot from it. And you can also start to see like oh, I have a problem with this, why do I have a problem with that, why do I feel like this? Oh, so this is when this started to bother me.
Speaker 2:And then you can go to your therapist or you can talk it out with a good friend and be like man, I feel like this and it's like oh well, this is why you're seeing something that most people should feel that way, and Most people just don't, because they're either too scared of their brains, can't comprehend that this is something that could happen. So that's where I recommend everyone have a good set of language skills, be a seasoned interpreter, have a specialty that you can Take courses at the same time and find someone who's doing it in your, in your field. Find someone who's done it and just ask them and listen. I'm more available than people think. You would be amazed how available I am nowadays.
Speaker 1:But try me. Richard, I for one sincerely appreciate your time and your willingness to come on this platform to share your stories. The last question I have for you before we conclude today's episode is where can our listeners find out more about you and the work that you do?
Speaker 2:You can go to transinterpretingcom and get the human trafficking class. You can go to Richard of Elis on Facebook, which is the only one that has like the weird pokeball on the hand and stuff like that and it has my language and angel logo on the shirt. It's like a drawing. You can go to Instagram and its language underscore, ninja. And If you want to know anything about me honestly, you can either message transinterpreting through info at transinterpretingcom or you can message me directly. If you just want to talk on on Facebook or On Instagram, and then you can reach out to me at R, as in Romeo a, as in alpha B, as in boy DEL 440, at gmailcom. And if you want to hear wild things that I say, you can listen to the the Rico podcast and everywhere that you can download, but it's the only Rico podcast that you'll see my face on. But that's pretty much where you can access me. And if you're in Missouri, come see me do comedy.
Speaker 1:Just don't go during the winter.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, no, do not go during the winter. No god, no, it's rough, it's rough.
