Interviewing an Arabic & French Interpreter: Kind, Generous and Sophisticated Chafika Ben
Following the hugely popular interview of a Chinese Interpreter Bing Ling last week, today I am featuring another colleague, the charming Chafika Ben on my site. She will tell us why she loves being a professional interpreter, sharing snippets of her interesting life. It is my great pleasure to welcome her.
Chafika, can you please tell us how long you have worked as an interpreter, and why you decided to become one? Was it a conscious decision or did it happen without planning?
I have been working as an interpreter for the last 20 years. I decided to become one because I always loved languages and was good at them. I started learning French along with Arabic at the age of 7 so I have always been bilingual then I started learning English when I was 14 and I loved it.
What did you have to do to become a fully qualified interpreter?
BA in Translation and Interpreting , Algiers University
Post Graduate Diploma in Arabic English Translation at University of Westminster
Two Metropolitan Police test for Arabic and Algerian Languages
Other assessments with UKBA.
