One can compare a professional interpreter to a professional musician or an athlete. One has to constantly work on his or her skills in order to enhance the performance. Interpreter's skills go way beyond knowledge of two or more languages. Beside deep understanding of at least two cultures and a specific subject, a professional needs a broad general knowledge, stamina, stress resilience. These are some of the areas an interpreter has to constantly work on and professional development seminars are a very good tool for that.
This year I enrolled in the Cambridge Conference Interpretation Course - that was a truly enriching experience! Two fully packed weeks of workshops, practice units (even under a heavy rain while interpreting a guided tour of Cambridge Colleges), exchange with like-minded colleagues, studying and then again practicing let me push my limits and further develop my linguistic abilities.
So now I am happy and look forward to applying all I have learned there while working with my clients!
