FAQs

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Rock your Retour

L’Atelier du français B

English4terps (E4T)

Skills Accelerator

Trainersaide

Ebooks and ecourses

Miscellaneous

What is included in my Rock your Retour All-inclusive membership?

  • a weekly live class, in which I will give personal feedback to some of the participants on their work into English
  • weekly resources on the website, including posts looking at looking at terminology, idioms, pronunciation or syntax or a guided exercise or speech + suggestions on how to approach it
  • membership of a closed Facebook group to allow you to connect with fellow English retourists – perhaps you can schedule practice sessions? You can certainly ask questions.
  • a host of little bonuses, including tips about what’s hot in the news, cultural references, motivation and more!

What is included in my Rock your Retour Flex membership?

  • weekly resources on the website, including posts looking at looking at terminology, idioms, pronunciation or syntax or a guided exercise or speech + suggestions on how to approach it
  • membership of a closed Facebook group to allow you to connect with fellow English retourists – perhaps you can schedule practice sessions? You can certainly ask questions.
  • a host of little bonuses, including tips about what’s hot in the news, cultural references, motivation and more!
  • you will receive weekly invitations to live classes, which you can pay for separately (€15).
  • a dedicated page on the members’ site will allow you to book occasional coaching calls or feedback on audio files (this is entirely optional).

What languages do you cover?

Whatever your mother tongue, you are welcome in the group. The fact that I don’t understand your mother tongue doesn’t detract from my ability to give you meaningful feedback on your output in English. It’s important to understand that improving your retour doesn’t just depend on practising your interpreting from A>B, but also on your ability to produce idiomatic, fluent English. A lot of the work on your retour will be English>English, and for that, I don’t need to understand your mother tongue. If several members of the group share an A language, I will put you in touch, with your permission, so you can work together and set up practice sessions.

Having said all that, my language combination includes French, German and Greek, and I know a fair amount of Spanish and Italian, so you will get a different style of feedback if your mother tongue is one of these.

Do you only accept professional interpreters, or can students join Rock your Retour?

I am willing to accept both students and professional interpreters. Membership is also open both to existing retourists wishing to maintain their skills, and to those who are working on adding an English retour. Over the years that Rock your Retour has been in operation, the vast majority of participants have been professional interpreters, many of whom are AIIC members or accredited with the EU or UN institutions.

If I join Rock your Retour, will my English be good enough to work with an English B on the market? Will you sign my AIIC form?

Rock your Retour is intended as a form of CPD (continuing professional development) to help you maintain or improve your English retour. I cannot offer any guarantee as to how much progress you are likely to make, and membership of the site cannot be used as a form of certification or attestation that your English retour is good enough for the market.

I do not sign interpreters’ AIIC form on the basis of their membership of Rock your Retour.

How much time will I need to devote to Rock your Retour?

The short answer is that this depends entirely on you. You will get out of it what you put into it. Live classes are not compulsory, and the rest of the materials can be worked through at your own pace.

My own experience of developing a retour, however, is that ‘little and often’ is an important maxim. The materials I produce, plus the live class, will take you somewhere between 2 and 3 hours per week to look through, digest, and use as practice material.

How much personal feedback will I receive?

There is a big difference between a membership site and personal coaching. A membership site is essentially a vehicle for self-training. I can provide you with motivation, connections, suitable materials, and a lot of guidance, but I cannot give every member an hour’s worth of personal feedback every week. I’d rather be upfront about that than risk disappointing your expectations.

If that is what you are looking for, you would be better off with a coach. Feel free to contact me for a discovery call if you are interested.

However, I usually give personal feedback to three or four people at each live class. I may also have a few other cunning plans up my sleeve to give a little bit of extra feedback.

Don’t forget you can use the closed Facebook group to ask questions as well.

How do live classes work?

Live classes take place on Fridays. I offer several slots, in order to cater for most members’ availability and time zone. At the moment, live classes typically take place at 8.30 am and 5 pm UK time.

Please ensure that you are using a laptop or desktop computer and not a mobile device or tablet if you wish to perform during the class. If you are on a mobile device, you will be able to listen and see the speakers, as well as using the chat function, but you won’t be able to appear on screen. Please also ensure you have an up-to-date version of Chrome or Firefox installed, as well as Zoom.

You will receive an invitation to the live class and be asked to register, so I can see what mother tongues are represented and plan the class. During the class, several members will be asked to give a spontaneous or prepared speech in English or interpret a speech in consecutive or simultaneous, and I will give feedback. Other participants may also comment in the chat box.

Not every member will be able to perform at every class, but you can still learn a huge amount by coming along, trying the exercises, and listening to the feedback that others receive.

The class recording will be available afterwards in the members’ area of the site.

How will you tailor the content to members’ needs?

I will endeavour to take members’ suggestions in to account when preparing guided exercises, choosing topics, and finding source material.

If I have quite a large number of members, I will consider splitting  the live classes so that we have one group working on international institution-style material, perhaps with a view to taking an accreditation test, and another group for students working on basic skills and more general material.

I welcome suggestions from members about any aspects of vocabulary, syntax or current affairs they would like me to address in my teaching materials.

How can I get in touch with you?

Email me at info@theinterpretingcoach.com.

I will do my best to reply within 72 hours.

How much does Rock your Retour cost?

The regular price for RyR All-inclusive is €60 per month. RyR Flex costs €25 per month, + the cost of your add-ons (€15 for audio feedback, €60 for a coaching call).

Do you offer trial membership?

No, but if you would like a sneak peek at some of the materials before you decide to join, let me know and I’ll email you a couple of files or direct you to blog posts that contain similar content.

Is it possible to suspend membership (say, to go on holiday)? Is there a minimum tie-in period?

There is no minimum period for membership. You can cancel at any time, and restart at any time. You can also switch between RyR All-inclusive and RyR Flex at any time, so if you’re a member of RyR All-inclusive and you know you’re going to be too busy to attend all the live classes for the next month or so, you can switch to RyR Flex and only pay for the ones you attend (or none at all). You can do all of this yourself from the Dashboard.

What is your refund policy?

I do not offer refunds except when an unforeseen technical problem has made it impossible for you to access the membership site.

Please remember that you are free to cancel your membership at any time, or to switch from RyR All-inclusive to RyR Flex (and back).

Do you provide a certificate of membership?

Yes, you can download your own certificate of membership by access the Rock your Retour main page.

Que comprend notre offre “L’Atelier français B” (€200 pour 12 semaines)?

  • Une séance hebdomadaire de groupe en ligne. Nous aurons des conseils et commentaires individuels sur le rendu des participants. 
  • Des ressources pédagogiques hebdomadaires hebdomadaires sur les « secrets du français », donnant des clés supplémentaires sur le vocabulaire, la terminologie, les tournures idiomatiques et la syntaxe
  • Un exercice ou discours guidé et des suggestions pour s’y préparer chaque semaine.
  • L’accès à un groupe Facebook exclusif de collègues français B pour vous rencontrer, poser des questions techniques ou linguistiques et même prévoir des séances d’entraînement à part !
  • Une panoplie de bonus en lien avec l’actualité et les cultures francophones et des conseils pour rester motivé !

Quelles langues A ?

Toutes les langues A sont acceptées.

Bien que cette offre soit ouverte à tous et toutes, l’équipe de l’Atelier souhaite souligner que le travail d’une langue A vers un français B étant le plus efficace et le plus pertinent sur la plupart des marchés, c’est cette combinaison qui aura la priorité lors des séances en ligne. De plus, nous offrons un accompagnement qui ne s’apparente pas à une formation diplômante. Votre participation à l’Atelier vous permettra d’améliorer votre retour en français, mais ne garantit pas un retour utilisable lors d’une mission. 

Combien de retours vais-je recevoir ?

Si vous participez aux séances en ligne, vous aurez la possibilité d’interpréter « en direct » et de recevoir des retours de la part d’un ou d’une des membres de l’équipe (suivant le nombre de personnes présentes et de votre connexion internet). Nous pouvons donner des retours à toutes les personnes qui participent aux séances en ligne la plupart du temps. Si vous n’avez pas pu recevoir de retour lors de la séance d’entraînement, vous pouvez nous envoyer un fichier audio.

Vous pouvez également poser des questions dans le groupe Facebook.

L’Atelier est cependant pensé pour accompagner VOTRE travail. Si vous souhaitez recevoir des retours détaillés sur plusieurs discours par semaine, nous vous conseillons de contacter un coach.

Quel investissement de temps est nécessaire ?

Tout dépend de vous ! L’Atelier est un programme pensé pour accompagner VOTRE travail pour améliorer votre retour. Si vous participez à toutes les séances en ligne et faites l’ensemble des exercices suggéré chaque semaine, nous estimons un investissement de 2 à 3h par semaine. Mais plus vous vous investissez, meilleurs seront les résultats !

A quelle heure se tiennent les séances du lundi ? Combien de temps durent-elles ?

Cela dépend du nombre de participants ! En général les séances durent deux heures, parfois deux heures et demie. Nous essaierons de dresser une liste pour que vous sachiez à peu près quand ce sera votre tour. Au besoin, vous pouvez quitter la séance et revenir à l’heure prévue pour votre interprétation.

Y a-t-il un nombre minimum (ou maximum) de participants ?

Oui ! Si les participants sont trop nombreux, les séances d’entraînement sont trop longues. C’est pourquoi il y a un plafond pour le nombre de participants.

L’Atelier n’est rentable pour les trois formateurs qu’à partir d’un certain nombre de participants. Au cas où nous ne pouvions pas atteindre le nombre minimum de participants (25) et que vous étiez déjà inscrit, vous seriez bien sûr remboursé.

Skills Accelerator

Coming soon…

Trainersaide

Coming soon…

English4terps (E4T)

How long will I have access to the materials?

You will have on demand access for as long as the Interpreting Coach website continues to exist (this is generally known as ‘lifetime’ access).

My English is a B language. Is there any point buying E4T?

If your English is already very strong, E4T may not expand your vocabulary very much. However, you can use the materials to familiarise yourself with various accents and make sure you know the buzzwords for a particular topic.

There are also many ways to use E4T materials to enhance your English B:

– listen to one of the tailor-made speeches just before interpreting a speech from A>B, to make sure you have key vocabulary at your fingertips

– shadow a tailor-made speech to work on intonation

– use the speeches as source material for reformulation or simplification exercises

– use the materials as a source of useful phrases and idioms

– practise note-taking and interpreting from EN>EN

Who is E4T suitable for?

E4T is suitable for interpreters seeking to add English as a C language, or gain confidence and a greater depth of knowledge with an existing English C.

If you are hoping to turn an English C into a B, you will find the materials very useful as a source of vocabulary and ready-made phrases.

If you have an English B, you will also find the materials useful to help you activate relevant vocabulary. Where the materials lend themselves to it, we have suggested specific exercises for interpreters who have an English B (see above).

Who is E4T NOT suitable for?

E4T is NOT suitable for complete beginners. If you are only just beginning to learn English as a C language, the materials will be too advanced.

E4T is NOT suitable for interpreters whose A language is English.

Do you offer a version of E4T for interpreting schools to use as teaching materials?

We’re happy to discuss a package which would allow several trainers from an interpreting school to use the materials in class without infringing copyright.

Or you can purchase a licence to give a group of interpreting students access to the materials.

Please contact us at info@theinterpretingcoach.com for pricing, which is dependent on the number of trainers who you wish to have access, or the number of students in the cohort.

Tell me more about the cost.

Individual modules of E4T are priced at €50 each.

At the moment, modules are available to purchase individually, but we’ll be opening a subscription model in September. By subscribing on a monthly basis, you’ll be able to save a whopping €100 per year.

What’s the time commitment?

That’s up to you! You can pick and choose from the materials, or you can go through everything at your own pace. Each module contains between 30 and 60 minutes of video material, plus written and audio exercises. If you went through every exercise, including interpreting all the speeches and evaluating your performance, this would represent over 5 hours of learning time. Amazing value!

Does it matter what my A language is?

No! All the materials, exercises and explanations are in English. If you try out the interpreting exercises, it will be up to you to assess the quality of your own work into your A language! 🙂 Or you could work with a practice partner.

What’s your refund policy?

E4T modules contain digital material, so we do not offer refunds.

Ebooks and ecourses

Coming soon…

Miscellaneous

If you still have a question…

Please email me at info@theinterpretingcoach.com

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