2.2. Don’ts of a Translator/Interpreter

There are definite ways which none of the interpreters/translators is allowed to apply while performing:

• don’t give your opinion, unless of course you are asked;

• don’t put forth your ideas or agenda while performing;

• don’t interrupt the speaker in case of misunderstanding, etc.,, at least try to do it as little as possible;

• do not draw attention to yourself either by unusually loud (low, trembling) voice, broken language or inappropriate clothing;

• don’t stop speaking (interpreting) when arguments arise. Don’t exclude the one you are assigned to, from the conversation (i.e., a debate brakes out between several people and so you just wait until it is finished – excluding your client from involvement);

• don’t stay in the profession if it brings disappointment and dissatisfaction. Sometimes we make mistakes, applying for the wrong job, when interpretation turns to be not our calling. The best way-out is to correct a mistake and leave the job;

• don’t stop learning. Vocabulary is learned with practice opportunity and a desire to improve. But heart attitude is what undergirds it;

• don’t take a job that compromises you or your beliefs. You and your reputation are on the line. For example, if the client is corruptible, sells illegal products, conducts dishonest business, etc., choose to have nothing in common with it;

• don’t overcharge thinking you have a client in a desperate spot;

• don’t overestimate or underestimate your worth.

The interpreter, especially simultaneous one, should know about his right to have a rest through regular intervals. He is good in interpretation only for 20 minutes, then his skills diminish as his attention decreases dramatically. He needs a break, because the symptoms of being tired are vivid: he begins to hesitate, makes simple mistakes, picks at his clothes, his eyes start to stare questioningly and he becomes blank, starts to stammer and apologize that he missed the point or thought. Don’t make a big deal over it – he just needs someone to replace him by some other interpreter or have a rest. A responsible client will recognize the difficulty of the task of interpreting, and not require unreasonable expectations. Five hour meetings are unreasonable. It is analogous to asking a 100 meter sprinter who has just won the race to keep sprinting until someone tells him to stop. Interpreters need to rest and they need to speak up when this is not recognized.

2.3. Working with English-speaking Clients

The person who hires an interpreter first and foremost requires:

• a voice for him – the one who speaks his words, his way with his meanings;

• honesty and faithfulness;

• being on time, accurate and diligent;

• confidentiality – which is a requirement in many fields, e.g., in the world of high fashion, competitive corporation mergers, etc.;

• preparation ahead of time. If the speaker has a manuscript with many technical terms ask for a copy to preview and begin getting comfortable with it. Don’t be looking up words on the client’s time – if at all possible;

• eagerness to learn and help;

• being dressed appropriately for the job without bright make-up or obscene very casual outfit,;

• being fresh and rested – tainted, smelling body, unbecoming appearance are absolutely inadmissible;

• speed, which implies high performance, a limited accent, expertise. A very intelligent individual to convey the message is wanted;

• fluidity – going with the flow, and fluency – large vocabulary with knowing jargon and nuances plus familiarity with words common to his profession and work;

• word of mouth recommendations (references) following a good performance often land the best of jobs.

The job of interpreter is highly competitive and highly sought after, so it is good for you to meet all of these requirements. You should have the heart to want to be the best, not in a competitive way, comparing yourself with another, but in a way of doing the best that you can do.

An interpreter is often like a surgeon’s assistant in surgery. The patient pays the surgeon for services. The patient never meets the assistant. He is unseen – the one who makes the surgery possible by supporting the surgeon’s needs. So is an interpreter – unseen and often relatively unthanked, but there to support the speaker in any way needed, in order to make the speaker’s message clear to the audience. If the client walks as he speaks you should walk with him. If he gestures as he speaks you gesture, too. If he raises his voice, you raise yours. If the client is sitting – you sit beside him so you hear clearly, and if he needs to say something to you in private, he may easily turn and do so. You should speak at the correct volume, keeping your head up and projecting your voice to your audience. You don’t speak over client’s voice, but after his voice if it is a step-by-step translation. If it is a synchronous interpretation – speak almost in parallel. But in both cases it is not a shouting match. When you go blank – and you will – just ask the client to please repeat for you. Interpreting is like an acting job: you do as you see your client do.

When you know you are in trouble:

• when the client says to you, “What are they saying?”

• when you and your client’s personalities clash (he is angry and curses a lot);

• the job expectations are unrealistic. You are expected to interpret for eight hours without break or during your break they give you other assignments;

• when you go blank, and the audience looks rather strange at you and so does the client;

• client speaks much and the interpreter speaks little. The audience recognizes they are not being told very important information or that it is truncated. The audience will get frustrated and eventually angry.

Music is more than notes on a paper – it is the heart of the performer attached to the notes that makes it beautiful. Interpreting/translating is more than words spoken for another – it is words directed and spent as intended for one who can not do it himself, exactly the way he would do it if he had the language skills to do so. You have a gift to offer another who gives you a position of honour and trust, the power of his voice. Use your gifts wisely.

Translators are one other thing: business people. Never forget this. If you are a translator, then you are in business. This means you have to take care of invoicing, accounts, equipment decisions and purchases, taxes, negotiations, and marketing. Unfortunately, it seems that the very qualities which make a good translator are those that make a poor negotiator or marketer.

How to overcome this oxymoron (combination of incompatible, opposite notions: religious freedom, to be alone together, doomed to life, etc.)? One, force yourself to market, even when you don’t want to. Say, I’m going to send 100 letters to agencies this week; I’m going to call my top five clients and chew the cud with them; I’m going to do my taxes before eleven thirty on April 15. You are in business, and don’t forget it. You should be facilitators, too. It means that you should be eager to do many other kinds of work, not only translation, such as find the best hotel or first-class apartment to settle your foreign clients, to book tickets, to accompany them to different restaurants or parties, to hold informative and interesting informal talks, arrange appointments with establishments and persons involved, make calls to resolve the issues, etc.

Also, it helps if you make sure to remind your clients that you are in business. Translators want to be treated as professionals, and therefore, they have to behave as professionals.

Above all, a translator is a bridge. You are standing between two people or organizations, one which created the material and the other which wants to see it. You are their solution to this most intractable problem. Remember, it’s the information age, and there’s lots of information out there in lots of languages and translators are the ones who bring this most precious commodity to the people who want it.