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<\/a><\/div>\nA friend of mine went to a concert of her favourite band the other day and she told me how fantastic it was. \u00a0As she told me her experience there, I started to think about our job \u2013 interpreter \u2013 in terms of a singer, from a singer or concert\u2019s point of view. \u00a0I thought of many questions, such as<\/p>\n
\u201cCan you imagine a concert with no microphone?\u201d
\n\u201cCan you imagine a singer not knowing what to sing?\u201d
\n\u201cCan you imagine she wasn’t given the music or lyrics, either prior to the gig or even on the spot?\u201d
\n\u201cWhat if she was supposed to sing as she reads the lyrics as well as the music?\u201d
\n\u201cAnd she was expected to sing beautifully in such condition?\u201d<\/p>\n
I imagine, in most of the cases No would be the answer to all above questions. You simply wouldn\u2019t expect anything like that in a concert, would you?
\nInterpreters are different from singers, but shouldn\u2019t we all be respected equally? I mean above kind of things, equivalent things, happen to us frequently. Something of the sort one way or another all the time.<\/p>\n
You go to the venue for an interpreting assignment and discover there is no microphone in a conference room where there will be around 100 attendees and also several interpreters sitting beside them. \u00a0If no microphone is what you discover almost as soon as the conference starts\u2026 \u00a0What would it make you think? Or what would this tell you about the assignment?<\/p>\n
Let me summarise how it all started \u2013 don\u2019t forget it is one of the typical situations in our line of work. \u00a0One day, I received a call from an agency. \u00a0I never worked with them before, by the way, and they asked me if I could take on a conference assignment in 10 days. \u00a0The field was technology, and it was a large internal conference of a very large media corporation. \u00a0I had some qualification and experience in media field, so I told them I can make myself available but on one condition. \u00a0I emailed them describing the condition, I clearly stated that I need ALL the slide decks and hand outs from ALL the people presenting and\/or giving speeches BEFOREHAND. \u00a0If they fail to meet the condition, I could not accept the job and would cancel.<\/p>\n
The agency responded they agreed and sent me the agenda for the event. \u00a0A few days passed, I sent follow-up email to the agency \u2013 no progress. A week before the event, I tried sending a reminder to them \u2013 no progress. \u00a0Every day after that I sent slightly more assertive email to them, I restated that I will have to withdraw.<\/p>\n
They couldn’t provide any documents except the simple agenda but they couldn’t afford to be cancelled so they tried to come up with alternative solution. They asked one of the assigned interpreters who had worked for the same assignment for the past several years to meet with me. \u00a0So, we met up, the fellow interpreter told me about the end client and how it is usually. \u00a0It was helpful, in terms of comfort, but it couldn’t be too informative because the conference agenda is totally different each year.<\/p>\n
The first discovery about the assignment was a negative sign signifying \u2018bad organisation\u2019 often goes hand in hand with \u2018lack of understanding\u2019 of our profession and \u2018lack of appreciation\u2019 as if it\u2019s the cream on top. \u00a0Soon, we discovered there had been another Japanese interpreter that was booked but through a different route, and as far as they were concerned, it was a double booking, unnecessary cost. \u00a0The assignment was for 8-9 hours of chuchotage (whispering) each day, it was only practical and sensible to book two interpreters for each language combination but \u2013 no \u2013 they had had a number of global size conference every year, but they insisted on having only one interpreter for each language combination. \u00a0The agency told me no matter how many times they tried to convince their client that there should be two interpreters, they just wouldn’t listen, as if quality didn’t matter after all.<\/p>\n
I often hear that educating clients is pretty much part of our job. \u00a0Like many fellow interpreters, I suffer from and get frustrated with lack of knowledge, lack of understanding we find in our (end) clients. \u00a0It is true that they are who ultimately suffer from the consequence, however, it may not be as critical to them as it seems to us, interpreting professionals. \u00a0It seems to me as if there are different (hidden) agenda in having interpreters there for them.<\/p>\n
What they care the most sometimes seems as if it is to say that they provided interpreters for the attendees, they at least respected the importance of the language being available and they provided that, so they can\u2019t be blamed or held liable later on that \u201cbut I didn’t understand the language (and it is a discrimination)\u201d \u2013 yes, I am saying it seems as if our presence was used as a risk hedge.<\/p>\n
Lack of appreciation is a problem I often face. \u00a0I\u2019d like to think the Japanese (language) interpreter is the only one that exceptionally suffers from this, because I see many (end) clients or users who say things which shows how little they understand and how little respect they have towards our profession. \u00a0This tendency is not only prevalent among Anglophones but also Japanese speakers too.
\nBe it in Japan or in the UK, client with English almost non-existent or even fluent in English \u2013 surprisingly \u2013 it doesn’t make much difference when it comes to lack of appreciation in other words a lot of them seem to think it only takes to speak a few languages to do interpreting and it is a soon-be-obsolete occupation anyway…!?<\/p>\n
There is another issue, this is rather a very critical issue for corporations, much more relevant to companies than to ourselves in terms of impact should it be infringed, and that is confidentiality. \u00a0I think it is fair to say they actually don\u2019t want to need interpreters. \u00a0A lot of people feel bringing in interpreters is costing money to elongate their meetings. \u00a0In this kind of people\u2019s minds, it is something to avoid if they could. \u00a0They don\u2019t want to have to have interpreters, but they cannot take the risk to be held liable but their unspoken message is \u201cJapanese participants, learn English!\u201d \u00a0If that could be the case, then the penny drops, our quality of performance didn’t really matter, as long as they made the language available ostensibly.<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n
At the end of the day, it\u2019s not a matter of life and death like surgical operation done on themselves. Nor a matter that the performance could determine their course of life, it doesn’t affect their individual life like in a law suit – it usually doesn’t threaten their career if interpreters fail. \u00a0They would quite happily blame us for any problems or complaints in communication. \u00a0Is there a way to turn the tables?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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