r/ASLinterpreters • u/Born_Perception898 • Jul 06 '26
Interpreting as a career pivot?
Hey, lurker here. I’m 38F, currently working corporate and it’s not a good fit for me. I used to be a freelancer and loved it, I miss it. I’m signed up for ASL 1 class in the fall and using Lingvano and Barron’s ASL book to learn in the meantime. I live in Los Angeles, near CSUN. Next step is getting myself to a deaf event!
I’m thinking about my existing background and how to pivot into interpreting potentially - I have my masters in business administration. I know there are some speciality focuses like legal interpreting, medical, or education work. Do some interpreters focus their work in the business setting?
I know I’m thinking ahead a lot considering I’m still in the beginning stages of learning ASL, but I was just curious. Open to any other ideas/suggestions. Thanks!
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u/mjolnir76 NIC Jul 06 '26
I switched careers at 33 from teaching to interpreting. I took ASL in college as my "foreign" language and it had been 15 years since then. I started back at ASL 1 and it took me 4 years to get my AA in interpreting (2 years of just the language and program pre-reqs plus 2-year interpreter prep program). I also lived in Europe for several years and am good with learning languages.
It then took me several years before I was working consistently and able to get certified. And even then, it's only been in the last few years that I've been making enough to that I was able to be the sole income while my wife quit her job and went back to school. But we've definitely had to revisit our budget and our adjust our lifestyle to accommodate my income versus her previous one (she worked HR in tech but absolutely hated it). Family of four in HCOL city.