unexpected revelations from the fields
In my opinion, it is here, in this twilight zone adjacent to the translation itself, that the translator provides important added value to the business. If the teaser is a success, then welcome to the cat.
In Russian, to separate one type of translation from another, we use the adjectives: written and oral. There are two different words in English. Written translation – translationand the translator is translator. Oral translation – interpretationand the interpreter is interpreter. The first dictionary meaning of interpretation is interpretation, and it turns out that an interpreter is an interpreter, a person trying to correctly interpret other people’s thoughts, ideas, emotions, although in fairness it should be said that a translator does the same thing.
When I first started interpreting, especially the first few years, it was difficult for a number of reasons:
1. Interpreting is a practical skill and needs to be practiced first.
2. When interpreting, everything happens instantly or almost instantly: there is no time to think at all.
3. It’s not easy to cope with nerves, and the less experience the translator has, the more nervous it becomes. Of course, I’m still worried now, but just a little bit, about five minutes before the start of the meeting, otherwise I won’t have enough nerves.
4. Always, even after careful preparation, study of materials, etc., there are too many unknowns: who will come to the meeting, with what intentions (sometimes the participant clearly wants to disrupt the meeting), at what level everyone speaks English and Russian, etc.
5. There is always a risk of not understanding or not hearing what a foreigner is saying: due to the accent, speed of speech, habit of muttering under one’s breath, and simply because you are seeing a person for the first time and need to somehow quickly get used to someone else's way of speaking, get used to an unfamiliar voice.
6. Speakers, including Russian speakers, can forget about the presence of an interpreter, go into details, and it will be quite problematic to make out something in this jungle, much less translate it.
It took me a certain number of years, tough meetings, conflict negotiations to understand that, in addition to the main value that an interpreter provides at a meeting, i.e. In addition to the correct translation itself, there is something else that stands nearby and exists unspoken in nature. Let's lift the veil of secrecy – what added value does an interpreter bring?
Psychologist: “a strong replacement player”
Let's take a football analogy as an example. The coach put eleven players on the field, but the long bench also gives him confidence in his own abilities. If the match gets out of control and it is necessary to urgently win back, the coach will bring fresh forces into the battle, and proven, experienced players who will be able to turn the tide of the game and ensure the desired result. Maybe the coach will not use substitutions, but the very knowledge that he has such an opportunity gives him confidence and allows him to feel, and therefore act, much calmer and ultimately more effective.
Often an interpreter is called not to translate, but to provide support for the speaker. The speaker, plus or minus, speaks English, has been preparing for the meeting for a long time, has memorized the presentation and his speech by heart, but is afraid of not being able to cope at a critical moment: what if he forgets a word, speaks slowly and in the wrong way, or simply runs into the notorious language barrier. The translator sits next to you, can remain silent throughout the meeting, occasionally suggest something, and it would seem why he is needed here. Nevertheless, the speaker speaks confidently and speaks well, because behind him sits a professional who at any moment, no matter how critical it may be, will go out onto the field and return the game to the right direction. Feeling supported, the speaker calms down and the meeting goes off with a bang. He himself worked as a psychologist more than once: “he didn’t bother me with strict morals, he slightly scolded me for pranks and took me for walks in the Summer Garden.” So if a translator doesn’t seem to do anything at a meeting, it doesn’t mean that he isn’t needed there. It could be quite the opposite.
Typist-stenographer: “Sorry, I’m taking notes”
Standard practice: the speaker uttered a thought, usually two or three sentences, and immediately, without leaving the cash register, the translator says the same thing only in a different language. However, this is not always the case. Sometimes colleagues, to put it mildly, get carried away and in an absolutely justified desire to express an idea, they speak to the end not for two or three sentences, but for two or three minutes. The more complex the topic of the conversation, that is, the proposed technical solution or the specifics of the project, the more likely such a scenario is. And so the interpreter gives a summary of the two-minute statement, almost in bullet points, sometimes even earning well-deserved applause. We are all human and nothing human is alien to us, including the thirst for worldly fame and a small passion for theatrical effects, just like Professor Moriarty. But seriously, such a stenographically accurate translation helps all participants in the meeting not to miss anything and, again, feel much calmer and more relaxed from the knowledge that the situation is under control and even if something suddenly spills out, the translator will not miss it and will translate everything normally . A calm atmosphere at a difficult meeting is already half the success, if not more.
Moderator: “I’ll put in my five cents now”
Not a single public discussion is complete without a moderator. Sometimes another equally copied English word “facilitator” flashes through. Essentially, this is a person called upon to control the course of the conversation, the time allotted for it (that is, timing) and do a bunch of other useful and not always obvious things. That is, the average person, for example, does not notice the efforts of the moderator, but for some reason the meeting turned out to be interesting, ended on time and everyone managed to say everything they wanted.
The translator is never a moderator. It's not his job, but sometimes he has to moderate. When there are fifteen people at a meeting, someone always tries to jump out of line and insert their two cents right here and now, or, on the contrary, like a first grader, modestly raises their hand while sitting on the last desk and waits for the teacher, in the sense of being more aggressive and impudent colleagues will notice his impulse and desire to participate in the conversation. As a translator, in addition to the translation itself, I had to shut up and interrupt some, give the floor to others, notice the raised hands of others, and after the next translated passage, do not forget to loudly announce that, three minutes ago, Semyon Semyonich raised his hand and let’s, Colleagues, let's give him the floor.
The work of a moderator is thin ice, especially if you also have to translate at the same time. You need to understand in advance of the meeting who the decision-maker is, who is the most important and important at the meeting, or, as I usually ask my colleagues: “who should be happy with my transfer at the end of the meeting.” And then, tenderly keeping this secret knowledge in the heart, translate and moderate accordingly.
Peacemaker: “but you won’t fight”
Not all meetings are easy and relaxed; more often the opposite is true. Participants in the meeting, even being employees of the same company (and, perhaps, precisely because of this very fact), may hate each other. Literally every word spoken begins to infuriate them, even if a colleague makes quite sound, adequate arguments. If the participants decided in advance to once again fight hard and disrupt the meeting, then who can stop them? An interpreter can do just that, because our brother’s mission is to make everyone understand each other, and then force everyone to peace, even if they don’t want to.
When discussing important terms of the contract, especially money and deadlines, the project manager, in the heat of the conversation, may not restrain himself and say what he really thinks, that is, say with choice Russian obscenities. Of course, if there were Russian-speaking partners at the meeting, the manager would not have allowed himself to do this, but foreigners do not understand Russian language and can only guess from the speaker’s facial expressions how close he takes to his heart the offer to knock off another couple of percents from the final cost of the multimillion-dollar contract. And the translator dresses this arrow-straight thought in decent clothes a la “we are deeply concerned about this and would kindly appreciate if you could instantly step in and contribute so that this urgent issue could be addressed as soon as practically possible.”
It’s another matter when the degree of hostility is so high that they try to shut up the opponent when he hasn’t even had time to really open his mouth. There is absolutely no way here without a translator. More than once I was invited to translate for a meeting where almost all the participants spoke English quite tolerably, but they needed a buffer, a demilitarized zone in the form of a peacekeeper translator. After all, the hated counterpart is tempted to interrupt, and what is the point of interrupting the translator, since he is only translating, that is, he is not expressing his own opinion, but conveying someone else’s, and what is most important is what has just been voiced in full to everyone. This is how everyone speaks calmly in their native language, without fear of being interrupted mid-sentence, not being heard to the end, or immediately being bombarded with counterarguments, and the translator (that is, me) then translates it all. At such moments I feel like postman Pechkin from the cartoon “Prostokvashino”. Remember how Sharik and Matroskin quarreled, stopped talking to each other and sent parcels through Pechkin.
Once, a participant placed a landmine directly into the meeting program, deliberately inserting an obviously impossible item there. The meeting is scheduled for an hour, but this one point, that is, demonstrating the loading of the entire catalog of repair objects into the system, requires at least an hour and a half. And already at the meeting he began to blame his opponents, saying that you didn’t prepare, didn’t read the cover letter in the invitation to the meeting, etc. etc. The situation has become heated to the limit, all parties are emotional. My heart sensed that you won’t be satisfied with translation alone and that drastic measures must be taken. As a result, understanding the essence of the conflict and seeing a way out of the impasse, I apologized to my Russian-speaking colleagues for the fact that now, without translation into Russian, I would have a little heart-to-heart talk with their foreign counterpart. On my part, it was utter impudence, of course, utter, but for some reason then a clear inner feeling arose that it was necessary to do exactly this and no other way. After ten minutes of conversation in the language of Shakespeare and Abramovich, we managed to steer into a constructive direction: in the end, we agreed that the problematic item could be completed after the meeting, and we found time and resources for this. And so it turned out that the wolves were fed and the sheep were safe, and for me personally this was precisely the added value that I, as an interpreter, brought to the business that day, although all this actually had very little to do with the skill of consecutive interpreting .
I write about my translation routine in an IT company, both in the field of translation and in the field of interpretation, in telegram channel “X-ren will translate”the name of which, by the way, quite accurately reflects what I actually have to do every day.
What functions, besides your main job responsibilities, did you have to perform as part of your job? Share in the comments!
