About Us
BILINGUAL CITIZEN
There is a saying in the interpreting world... just like having two hands does not make one a piano player, neither does knowing two languages make one an interpreter.
Interpretation (oral translation) requires extensive technical training and practice. Knowing more than one language is only the first step. Bilingual Citizen was founded with the purpose of eliminating language barriers by providing interpretation and translation services of the highest quality by skilled interpreters who not only have native fluency in their working languages, but are trained and experienced in their craft. The goal is to provide an interpretation that is a mirror image of the original; for communication to flow as if the language barrier did not exist.
Our interpreters are highly-qualified, certified, and have devoted a lot of their time and careers to ensuring that interpreting as a profession continues to reach the high standards of excellence promoted by our predecessors at the Nuremberg trials. We've worked closely with leading pioneers in the field such as the renown Dr. Roseann Dueñas Gonzalez who devoted her career to making sure the public and private sectors have access to quality interpretation services by developing certification exams and programs with the final goal of ending the days when people just assume that being bilingual to any degree, makes a person a good interpreter.
OUR MISSION
Providing the most precise interpreting services following the standards of practice and ethical cannons of the profession.
OUR VISION
Providing not only the best quality interpretation possible for our clients, but to train new generations of interpreters so they can develop the skills and resourcefulness necessary to confront the challenges of on-the-spot interpretation while adhering to the high standards of excellence of the profession.
OUR MAIN PRINCIPLE
Ensuring that communication between people who speak different languages is accurate and precise, without additions, omissions or distortions. For the communication of ideas to flow as if there were no language barrier.
YVETTE CITIZEN, M.Ed, Federally Certified U.S. Court Interpreter
Yvette Citizen holds a Master's degree in Bilingual and Multicultural Education. After serving for many years as a Federal Pretrial Services Officer in Tucson, Yvette joined the faculty in the Translation and Interpretation Department at the University of Veracruz in Mexico where she taught a variety of courses, including English and Spanish Comparative Grammar, History of Mexican Immigration to the U. S., and Translation and Interpretation.
From 2003 to 2010, she served as a staff interpreter for the U. S. District Court in Tucson, Arizona. Yvette is currently a freelance translator and conference interpreter and works for numerous clients in legal, medical, business, and educational arenas.
She has interpreted for Nobel Laureate Rigoberta Menchu, Dr. Deepak Chopra, Dr. Wayne Dyer, and many others. Yvette has been a faculty member of the University of Arizona's prestigious Agnese Haury Institute of Court Interpretation for 12 years. She has also helped develop interpreter testing instruments and training curriculum for the University of Arizona National Center for Interpretation (NCI), and has taught a large number of aspiring and practicing interpreters who attend the NCI’s beginning and advanced legal, medical, and educational skill building seminars conducted year round. Yvette thoroughly enjoys transmitting her knowledge of interpreting skills to others.
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Testimonial from the Field
“I want to take this opportunity to comment on what an extraordinary court interpreter Yvette Citizen is. She is a gifted interpreter, who translates with ease. She is very respectful in court. She has a trait which I greatly appreciate--she is so unobtrusive that it is possible to almost forget that translation services are being given.”
~ John Roll, U.S. District Judge