2interpreters

Zak the Alien.Addition to previous post.

schlafdorf — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 18:55:36 +0200

Zak the Alien.
Addition to previous post.

Machine Interpretation

schlafdorf — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 01:58:00 +0200

Machine translation has always been a pretty good laugh for every translator and interpreter, right? Seems like we professionals are not the only ones making fun of good old Google and Bing. And still, technology is getting more and more important for our work. In translation, the usage of CAT-tools (computer-assisted translation) has become ubiquitous. In the field of interpreting there are no functional CAI-tools - so far.

The issue of translating and interpreting with help of technology is gaining attention. We can see conferences around the world focusing on this issue, i.e. Localization World, the North American Summit on Interpreting, the CIUTI Forum or the BDÜ International Conference, just to name a few. Particularly the North American Summit on Interpreting is providing us with new and meaningful insights on the topic. If you’re interested, I can recommend the Keynote address given at the 2nd NASI (video).

“Interpreters will never be replaced by technology. They will be replaced by interpreters who use technology.” - Bill Wood at the 2nd NASI

„The interpreter won’t be replaced by computers, but he will have to rely increasingly on auxiliaries“ Juhani Lönnroth, Director General of the Directorate-General for Translation of the European Commission, at the BDÜ International Conference 2012

According to the prediction of futurist Ray Kurzweil, spoken language translation would be common by the year 2019 and computers will reach human levels of translation by 2029, he says, adding: “It all depends on the level of quality you’re looking for.” True words. However, he does not believe that technology will replace humans at any point and sees a bright future for the language industry in general.

Also Vincent Buck, via aiic.net, points out that “spoken language is far more complex than written text. Significant progress has been made on voice recognition, but current technology is still very a long way from being able to replace a human interpreter.” Whether his assessment will be correct or not - time will show. Voice recognition, though, is a crucial prerequisite for any future interpreting technology aka machine interpreting. The recorded voice is transformed into written text and then translated automatically, relying on machine translation. The translated text is then read aloud by some computer-generated voice (think of your satnav). Machine translation and machine interpreting are therefore two sides of the same coin.

Few may actually know that is was the U.S. military who fostered research and development of voice recognition technology. Speech-to-speech translation systems were (are?) regarded as essential for real progress in battle zones, as i.e. in Afghanistan. There simply weren’t enough interpreters available (and also, it is rather dangerous for the interpreter, cf. previous post). IBM was conducting research on the MASTOR speech-to-speech translation system, stating in one of it’s publications (rather defining down): “More recently, we have further broadened our experience and efforts to very rapidly develop systems for under-studied languages, such as regional dialects of Arabic. The intent of this program is to provide language support to military, medical and humanitarian personnel during operations in foreign territories, (…)”. While the IBM’s work was eventually limited to research, VOXTEC actually developed a handheld speech-to-speech translation device, called Phraselator. Also in this case, no obvious connection to the U.S. military: “Whether our systems are helping an Armed Forces service member carry out a mission, a law enforcement officer maintain control in a crisis situation, or a construction superintendent relay key safety instructions, Voxtec leads the way in overcoming today’s language barriers with real-world solutions.”. [1]

Next in line was the Japanese electronic manufacturer NEC with it’s Tele Scouter, a device that can safely be described as a proto-type of Google Glass. Originally intended to work as a speech-to-text translation technology for forces in the field, according to the latest announcement on Tele Scouter, it seems not to incorporate this ability anymore.

The next big step was done by the Japanese telecommunications operator NTT docomo, when it released it’s Mobile Interpretation Service on one of their mobile phones. This was achieved by integrating a range of existing technologies such as voice recognition, machine translation, and voice synthesis. Even though the accuracy of the interpretation was not 100% satisfying, it was the first example of user-ready machine interpretation. Others followed, and with their high-quality voice recognition technology the newest iPhones further boosted these developments. The Google Translate App can be used as a speech-to-speech interpreting software, with pretty accurate results (of course, we are speaking of very simple sentences). On of Google’s competitors is SpeechTrans. I think we all agree that this technology is more or less without importance for our work, nonetheless, here’s a review. Summary: “its utility in a real-time conversation is extremely limited.”

We will see how many more years will go by and how many more apps will be programmed until machine interpreting will threaten our profession. Speaking of threats: Lately there have been doubts regarding the professional standards of a technology-incorporating interpreting service provider in the blogo- and twittersphere. I am not entirely sure, what Bill Wood was refering to, when he stated that interpreters will get replaced by “interpreters, who use technology” - but he probably didn’t mean Bableverse or Verbalize It. Phone interpreting is already quite awkward when it is done right - it can hardly imagine it getting better when it is done by non-professionals (just imagine all the “hello, are you still there?”).

Phone interpreting is just one type of remote interpreting (RI). Remote interpreting is employed in EU level sessions, as well as in community interpreting. It is a rather new development our profession has to adjust to. In Switzerland, the Federal Office of Public Health installed a “National Telephone Interpreting Service” three years ago in order to facilitate foreigners’ access to medical institutions. Even though I am slightly worried about the work conditions of the assigned interpreters, it is, after all, for a good cause.

Remote interpreting is also gaining importance in the shape of video conferences and phone conferences. This is more likely one of the above-mentioned technologies the interpreter of the future is going to use (think of global warming and fewer flights for businessmen). I am glad that with support from the EU and AIIC some research has already been conducted on the subject and some first recommendations concerning the work conditions have been made by Roziner and Shlesinger: “it is recommended that they [the interpreters] be provided with a suitable technological set-up (improved displays, particularly the panoramic display), appropriate environmental conditions (lighting, prevention of glare and dazzle etc.), [and] reasonable working conditions (shorter shifts, longer breaks between workdays)” [2]. Also, a Code for the use of new technologies in conference interpretation has been published by AIIC (read it, it’s pretty cool).

Nonetheless, we should not forget that it is still preferable for an interpreter to be on site, if possible. Why? Because: Psychological studies have concluded, that more than 65% of the information exchanged during a face-to-face interaction is expressed through nonverbal means [3]. And a large amount of this information is influenced and formed by the speaker’s cultural background. Cultural differences and elements can cause difficulties for successful communication and “these difficulties can increase with the increasing perceived distance between the two cultures”, as read in Al-Zahran [4]. The interpreter is, after all, an intercultural mediator, not just a language transmitting humanoid entity.

In conclusion, the impact of new technology on interpreting might not be as acute and profound as one might have feared. There are other subjects, such as the on-going professionalization and specialization, that are more pressing.

A language transmitting humanoid entity

[1] Svenja Hemmerlein, Frederica Pisano and Benedikt Weissenburger. “Dolmetschen und neue Technologien”. In: Dörte Andres, Martina Behr (Hg.). “Interpretes Mundi - Deuter der Welt”. Martin Meidenbauer Verlag. 2011.

[2] Ilan Roziner and Miriam Shlesinger. “Much ado about something remote. Stress and performance in remote interpreting”. In: Interpreting 12:2 (2010), 214–247. John Benjamins Publishing.

[3] A. Guye-Vuillème et al. “Nonverbal communication interface for collaborative virtual environments”. In: Virtual Reality, 1999, Volume 4, Issue 1, pp 49-59.

[4] Aladdin al-Zahran. “The Consecutive Conference Interpreter as Intercultural Mediator: A Cognitive-Pragmatic Approach to the Interpreter’s Role”. Doctoral Thesis. European Studies Research Institute (ESRI) School of Languages University of Salford, Salford, UK. 2007.

by J. Mermod

"Sie fürchten die Rache der Taliban: Ehemalige Übersetzer der Bundeswehr haben vor dem Feldlager in..."

schlafdorf — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 19:08:26 +0100

“Sie fürchten die Rache der Taliban: Ehemalige Übersetzer der Bundeswehr haben vor dem Feldlager in Kundus protestiert und um Ausreise oder Asyl in Deutschland gebeten.”

- Feldlager Kundus: “Die Bundeswehr hat uns alleine gelassen” | Politik | ZEIT ONLINE

A call for childrearing interpreters

tryade — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 23:00:32 +0100

by M. Haldimann

We are all interpreters, and we love our job. We love our languages, our glossaries, our tools and notes. Every so often, we love to hate a horrible speaker or the booth manners of our colleague. As much as I love my job, though, I also consider it a means to an end. It allows me to earn a living and soon enough, as I hope, to pursue my dreams in life.

Forgive me for making this introduction sound so defensive. I’d like you to understand why I won’t write about difficult terms, crazy interpreting settings and the latest useful apps on our blog this year. As a newbie in our line of work I always feel that I lack the experience and authority to contribute more than opinion to most issues in the interpreting blogosphere. I didn’t expect it either, but setting up shop as freelance interpreter in Germany is a pretty straightforward affair (aka dull puzzle of administrative processes). Besides, when I had work to do, I was too busy to write, and when I didn’t I was too busy looking for more work. Of course, I could bore you with how I go about my bookkeeping around this time of year, but frankly, the satirical part of my mind, which I usually dispatch to write about dull stuff, is completely preoccupied with keeping the rest of my mind from falling asleep over all the numbers.

Long story short, my topic this year has nothing to do with the joys of entrepreneurship in interpreting. Instead, I’d like to learn more about interpreters with children, about interpreting moms and dads, about people who earn the money for diapers and schoolbooks working as interpreters.

My motives are purely self-serving. Sooner or later, I want to be an interpreting dad, too. What I don’t want to be is completely clueless about what this means in practice. Isn’t it fascinating how I have harbored this fundamental wish to start my own family and to have children for so long without thinking once about whether it is compatible with the particularities of my career choice? (Thanks, Michelle, for the heads-up: Why Interpreters Make the Best Parents).

Don’t get me wrong, I have a set of very clear ideas of how it should be. They are mostly inspired by how my parents brought us up at home, and I’ll be more than happy to disclose them in the course of the project. But first, I’d like to turn to the community of fellow interpreters, whose insights and advice I have come to appreciate so much. Brace yourselves for a number of unorthodox and rather personal questions.

For those of you with kids: Are you freelance or employed? How did/do you manage childcare during the different stages of your children’s development? What does your spouse do? How do you share household and family duties?

To all our childless colleagues, please help me with the statistics: How many interpreting dads do you know? Do you know any couples with children where both partners work as interpreters?

These questions are still fairly general, of course, and at the moment, I have no idea where this project is going. I’m simply making some room in my heart by throwing this out there hoping one of you will throw back a juicy lead I can follow for further posts. In the meantime, it’s back to bookkeeping, my least favorite thing about working as a freelancer. But it’s all a means to an end, and before long and with your support I will pursue my dreams working the job I love.

Portable Wisdom | The Freelancery

schlafdorf — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 16:50:00 +0100

Portable Wisdom | The Freelancery:

Happy Holidays, dear readers!

We hope you all could take some days off and enjoy the holiday season. Eventhough this is a time most often spent with family and friends, it is also an opportunity to look back on the past year and take stock of one’s achievements as an interpreter & freelancer. The next year lies ahead, we have survived the Mayan apocalypse and are full of enthusiasm for 2013. If you have some time to spare, you should read the excellent PDF-book from Walt Kania (thefreelancery.com). Walt regularly writes about freelancing issues and how to tackle them. His handbook is full of tips and tricks and will most certainly give you new ideas for your interpreting/translation business for the year ahead.

A lucky and successful Year from 2interpreters!

"The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official..."

schlafdorf — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 00:01:31 +0100

“

The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby
English will be the official language of the European Union

(Rather than German, which was the other possibility).

As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that
English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5-
year phase-in plan that would become known as “Euro-English”.

In the first year, “s” will replace the soft “c”. Sertainly, this
will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard “c” will be
dropped in favour of “k”. This should klear up konfusion, and
keyboards kan have one less letter.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the
troublesome “ph” will be replaced with “f”. This will make words like
fotograf 20% shorter.

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be
expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are
possible.Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters
which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling.Also, al wil agre
that the horibl mes of the silent “e” in the languag is disgrasful
and it should go away.

By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing “th”
with “z” and “w” with “v”.

During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary “o” kan be dropd from vords
kontaining “ou” and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensibl
riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil
find it ezi TU understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil
finali kum tru.

Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas.

”

- The Brussels Journal (2006) “If Zis Mad You Smil, Pleas Pas On to Oza Pepl”. http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/1606

Diese Initiative des BDÜ verdient Lob. Natürlich verrät uns das...

tryade — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 15:57:55 +0100

Diese Initiative des BDÜ verdient Lob. Natürlich verrät uns das Video nichts Neues, dennoch bietet es an sich eine aussagekräftige Referenz und einige gute Argumente für und gegen GoogleTranslate.

Clarissa's Blog

schlafdorf — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 01:20:28 +0100

Clarissa's Blog:

Just a short shout-out for Clarissa’s blog. As a means of introduction let me quote from her newest entry: “You know how some people get a new boyfriend or girlfriend and just fall off the face of the Earth? Well, ladies and gents, it’s about time I explained my prolonged absence by going public with my new relationship. Allow me to introduce you to the apparent love of my life: Interpreting School. “

Sounds familiar.

Interpreters in Brussels

schlafdorf — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 13:37:55 +0200

Interpreters in Brussels:

Federica Mamini asked us to promote her practice group in Brussels - of course we will!

She says about this project:

Dear all, welcome to the Interpreters in Brussels group!! I am looking for some dedicated interpreting professionals to set up a practice group in order to keep up with simultaneous and consecutive interpreting exercises and get some peer feedback. Ideally, the language combinations would be Italian, English, Spanish, French and German. I believe this could be a good networking opportunity and it could indeed benefit our performance! So, if you are based in Brussels and interested in improving your interpreting techniques and sharing best practices, you are more than welcome to post your comments here! We will soon organise an opening meeting! I look forward to meeting you very soon!!

Moyamoya

schlafdorf — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 20:55:02 +0200

‘I’m not suited for interpreting, I’m not skilled enough, I will never enter a booth again, I will stop immediately.’

That’s what Yonehara Mari told herself the first time she entered a booth and interpreted simultaneously between Russian and Japanese. She would grow to be one of the most famous interpreters in the history of Japan.

‘Mari, you’re struggling because you’re tying to interpret every word. Just interpret what you understand’, her mentor told her. She did as she was told and it worked out fine. According to Mari, this was a moment of enlightenment to her.

This really is the key to interpreting. Not to get too distracted by expressions, not sticking to words.

「しかし、単語が誕生する瞬間を思い出してほしいのです。単語があわれる瞬間というのは、なにかこう言いたいことが出てくる。それをなんと言ったら良いのかわからない。この心や頭の状態。悲しいとか、それともハンバーグが食べたいとかもやもやとしたものが、いろいろある。言葉が出てくるためにはまずそのもやもやが必要なのです。まず概念があって、その概念を例えば日本語とか、アメリカ人なら英語とか、ロシア人ならロシア語のコードにしていく。そして、コードにしたものを声に乗せて音に出すとか、文字にして表現していくわけです。」*

Because words are nothing more than a means to express a feeling. A feeling or a thought, an uncertain something one wants to express. Yonehara uses the Japanese word “moyamoya”, which describes something like “a dim, indistinct feeling or a fuzzy, blurred mind (think of steam or smoke) with a feeling of unresolvedness”. In order to feel resolved, we, as humans, try to express our inner cloud of indistinct feelings by the means of sound, i.e. words. Words are encoded expressions of our inner fuzziness. Like a code which our fellow humans can decipher.

According to Yonehara, if in interpreting one is just focussing on the end product, the uttered words, one will never be able to interpret. Instead, we as interpreters, need to focus on the speaker’s moyamoya, grasp the speaker’s intention, decipher not just the meaning of, but the sense behind their words. We need to try not to adhere to their words, trying to interpret every single one of them, ending up in some sort of simultaneous machine translation. Just listen to their words and try to see through them, catch a sight of the real moyamoya behind them. Don’t listen - decipher the sound you hear. These are two different things. Once deciphered, choose a different encoding language and put the message out there. In your own words.

Yonehara’s perspective is very intriguing, not least because it resembles very much Seleskovich & Lederer’s “théorie du sense” of deverbalisation, which is very well known amongst Western interpreters.

There are three steps to the interpretation process:
1) merging elements of linguistic meaning with extra-linguistic knowledge to obtain sense;
2) deverbalizing that sense as it emerges; and
3) spontaneously expressing this sense linguistically

[…] sense is not the same thing as the sum of the linguistic meanings of individual words and sentences: sense emerges as these units of linguistic meaning are merged with prior knowledge, and this merging process unfolds in actual communication. (Seleskovich, Lederer 1996: 79).

I do not know, whether Yonehara had ever heard of the “théorie du sense”, but her instincitve depiction of what interpreting feels like hits the nail on the head.

*As read in 米原万里著「愛の法則」pp. 181f

by J. Mermod

7 Free Education Websites You Don't Want to Miss (via Goodnet)

schlafdorf — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 17:38:24 +0200

7 Free Education Websites You Don't Want to Miss (via Goodnet)

Das Gehirn mehrsprachiger Kinder bleibt länger flexibel - NZZ.ch

schlafdorf — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 20:58:06 +0200

Das Gehirn mehrsprachiger Kinder bleibt länger flexibel - NZZ.ch:

Schon im ersten Lebensjahr prägt das sprachliche Umfeld das Gehirn von Kindern. Forscher untersuchen, inwiefern sich das langfristig auf die Sprachfertigkeit auswirkt.

Stimmt's?: Ist die Gebärdensprache international einheitlich?

schlafdorf — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 10:56:44 +0200

Stimmt's?: Ist die Gebärdensprache international einheitlich?:

via DIE ZEIT Online

Multilingual thesaurus by Cedefop (for free)

schlafdorf — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 21:42:44 +0200

Multilingual thesaurus by Cedefop (for free):

This publication, which is available online in pdf form free of charge, is a selection of 1207 terms and concepts which appear frequently in literature related to European vocational education and training (VET) research and policy. This tool forms the basis of the full-fledged online thesaurus Cedefop is currently preparing. Rather than having the full features of a thesaurus, the synopsis allows for a quick navigation by language, term and topic. Each term/concept is presented in 11 languages: Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, and Swedish. Topics covered include skills needs and shortages, lifelong learning, vocational education and training policy, assessment and certification of learning outcomes, recognition of certificates and diplomas, and vocational guidance.

Found via uepo.de

Kommunikations-Ökonomie: Sprachbarrieren kosten Unternehmen Geld // Native language, spoken language, translation and trade

schlafdorf — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 11:38:44 +0200

Kommunikations-Ökonomie: Sprachbarrieren kosten Unternehmen Geld // Native language, spoken language, translation and trade:

„Die Fähigkeit, direkt miteinander zu kommunizieren, ist im internationalen Handel ein entscheidender Faktor“, schreiben die zwei Ökonomen Jaques Mélitz (Heriot-Watt-Universität) und Farid Toubal (Universität Angers) in einer jetzt veröffentlichten Studie, für die sie die Auswirkungen von Sprachunterschieden auf den globalen Handel untersucht haben. (…)

Sprachgrenzen zu überwinden, sei für Unternehmen ein teures Wagnis, sind die Forscher daher überzeugt. Eine aktuelle Studie der privaten Londoner „Economist Intelligence Unit“ und des Sprachlernanbieters Education First bestätigt diese These: Fast die Hälfte der 572 befragten Manager aus internationalen Unternehmen gab dabei an, durch Kommunikationsprobleme mit ausländischen Geschäftspartnern bereits Geld verloren zu haben.

Den vollen Artikel lesen sie hier.

"The Special Eurobarometer (386) survey on Europeans and their Languages was carried out in spring..."

schlafdorf — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 17:33:00 +0200

“

The Special Eurobarometer (386) survey on Europeans and their Languages was carried out in spring 2012.

The most widely spoken mother tongue is German (16%), followed by Italian and English (13% each), French (12%), then Spanish and Polish (8% each).

The five most widely spoken foreign languages remain English (38%), French (12%), German (11%), Spanish (7%) and Russian (5%).

For the first time, attitudes to the role of translation in health and safety, education, job seeking, information and leisure activities such as films and reading were also explored.

Previous Eurobarometer surveys on languages were carried out for the Commission in 2001 and 2005.”

”

- EUROPA - Press Releases - Eurobarometer: 98% say language learning is good for their children, but tests highlight skills gap

(via TJC_Translation)

Liaison Interpreting vs. Community Interpreting

schlafdorf — Sun, 27 May 2012 18:23:00 +0200

by J. Mermod

In Session 16 of The Interpreting Journal Club (#IntJC) there was some confusion regarding the exact definition of Liaison Interpreting and in particular, it’s distinction from Community Interpreting (for some reason I always spell liaison wrong, so glad there’s autocorrect).

As you may know, the Journal Club takes place on Twitter, and is like an open chat forum with participants from all over the world, most of them interpreters themselves. The discussions are usually held in English.

My mother tongue is German, and in German there is no specific term for Liaison Interpreting. I can only guess, but this is probably the same case in other languages too. First, I had to look up the meaning of “liaison”, which is obviously of French origin (and to me sounds terrible when pronounced English, but well…). Collins defines “liaison” as

communication and contact between groups or units
of or relating to liaison between groups or units ⇒ a liaison officer
a secretive or adulterous sexual relationship
one who acts as an agent between parties; intermediary
the relationship between military units necessary to ensure unity of purpose
some weird phonological meaning
any thickening for soups, sauces, etc, such as egg yolks or cream

Meaning seven is my personal favorite. What a wonderful image for the intermediary work of an interpreter!

Okay, now I know what liaison means. When having a look at the thesaurus entry it gets clear that liaison is just a fancier word for “intermediary”, “contact” or “go-between”.

So what about the definition of liaison interpreting?

No, I did not mean brain fingerprinting. Its so ridiculous that the dictionary would suggest misinterpret! So mean!

But it doesn’t matter. The other day I came across the doctoral thesis of Kristina Mullamaa. She conducted an ethnographic study of liaison interprets in Estonia (read it here). She introduces the reader to the following book:

Adolfo Gentile, Uldis Ozolins and Mary Vasilakakos’ (1996) “Liaison Interpreting – a Handbook” analyses the role and tasks of liaison interpreters. They try to describe the role of interpreters by and for practitioners and suggest some principles of good practice. They also outline what they call the future “norms” in this domain of interpreting. According to the authors the book functions as “a pioneer” in its attempt to “make the work of liaison interpreters more under- standable both to those they work with and to the interpreters themselves” (ibid.: 4). (Mullamaa 2006:36)

Gentile et al provide the following definition for liaison interpreting:

Liaison interpreting is the name given to the genre of interpreting where the interpreting is performed in two language directions by the same person. […] Liaison interpreting is widely used where two or more interlocutors do not share a language and where the interpreter must be present in order to bridge the communication gap. Typically these are situations where the acquiring or giving of information is based on exchanges between interlocutors which produce a resolution of some problem or lead to a decision, a diagnosis or generally improved understanding between interlocutors. These interlocutors are ipso facto the clients of the interpreter (ibid.: 17–18).

As factors “which distinguish liaison interpreting from conference interpreting”, the following are given:

* the physical proximity of interpreter and clients;

* an information gap between the clients;

* a likely status differential between the clients;

* the necessity to interpret into both language directions;

* working as an individual and not as part of the team (ibid.: 18).

[…] The authors point to the cultural and social differences between the primary parties which interpreters should bear in mind both at the macro- and micro level of analysis. They also remind the reader about the potential differences between the clients’ “cultural inheritance, life experience and relative status”.

(via Mullamaa 2006:37)

In their definition, Gentile et al include community-level settings like the visit to a doctor in the portfolio of a Liaison Interpreter. In my understanding, this is rather the working environment of a Community Interpreter. They also treat Conference Interpreting as if there was only Simultaneous Interpreting, thus the physical proximity. The information gap is nothing peculiar to LI settings, the same goes for working into both languages and working by oneself - in my opinion this is no clear distinction to any other form of interpreting.

In the discussion in the Interpreting Journal Club two more explanations were mentioned: one by Global Connects and one by a US-based conference interpreter. The latter emphasizes that in Liaison Interpreting the interpreter works into his B and that there is just one interpreter working with just two languages. As we know, working into one’s B is common practice in Europe for Conference Interpreters as well (at least in Germany). Working alone with two parties isn’t something exclusive to Liaison in general. This can also be occur in a conference setting and it certainly common in Community Interpreting. As for the explanation given by Global Connects, it is more clear-cut, since it focuses on Group Liaison Interpreting. In their wording, the Liaison Interpreting setting is “a type of consecutive face-to-face interpreting used where a small group of people requires an interpreter”. In their emphasis the distinction to a Conference Interpreting setting lies in the fact that the participants (clients) want to (or have to) walk around and therefore Simultaneous Interpreting (SI) is no option. They also mention that groups are generally rather small, so Liaison Interpreting is preferable - but in my opinion, this can also be the case in a conference setting where you do SI or whispering for one delegate or so. But in general I like the idea of Liaison Interpreting being highly flexible, also in terms of moving from one place to another.

So what about Community Interpreting? Margareta Bowen quoted a definition in an article she wrote for the AIIC Bulletin:

“The community interpreter has a very different role and responsibilities from a commercial or conference interpreter. She is responsible for enabling professional and client, with very different backgrounds and perceptions and in an unequal relationship of power and knowledge, to communicate to their mutual satisfaction.” (via Bowen 2000)

If I get this right, the definition itself is from 1984, but allegedly still applies today. Maybe it is just me, but this definition is far from satisfactory. It’s really vague. And it is defining something by saying what it isn’t - lexicographers would go mad looking at it. Then there’s this one by “The Critical Link: Interpreters in the Community” (1995):

Community Interpreting enables people who are not fluent speakers of the official language(s) of the country to communicate with the providers of public services so as to facilitate full and equal access to legal, health, education, government, and social services (via Pöchhacker 2000: 37)

So Community Interpreters exclusively work in hospitals? This is getting weirder and weirder… Let’s take a look at a third definition (a real one this time):

1) Community interpreters primarily serve to ensure access to public services, and are therefore likely to work in institutional settings;

2) they are more apt to be interpreting dialogue-like interactions than speeches;

3) they routinely interpret into and out of both or all of their working languages;

4) the presence of the community interpreter is much more noticeable in the communication process than is that of the conference interpreter;

5) a great many languages, many of them minority languages that are not the language of government in any country, are interpreted at the community level, unlike the limited number of languages of international diplomacy and commerce handled by conference and escort interpreters; and

6) community interpreters are often viewed as advocates or “cultural brokers” who go beyond the traditional neutral role of the interpreter.

(taken from Roberts, Roda. “Community Interpreting Today and Tomorrow,” in Peter Krawutschke, ed. Proceedings of the 35th Annual Conference of the American Translators Association. Medford, NJ: Learned Information, 1994, pp. 127-138) (via Mikkelson 2004)

Now this is a satisfying definition. I have nothing more to add. Except maybe:

Other terms have been used to describe this activity. In the United Kingdom, for example, “public service interpreting” is the preferred term; while in Canada, “cultural interpreting” is often used. Other designations include “dialogue interpreting” and “ad hoc interpreting.” “Community interpreting” seems to be the term most widely accepted in the literature, however (ibid).

In his 2008 publication in the book “Crossing borders in Community Interpreting” Pöchhacker writes about interpreting as mediation, where he elaborates on the German word “Sprachmittler” (“language mediator”) and its deviation “Sprach- und Kulturmittler” (“language and culture mediator”). Even though the German word sound rather uncool and old-fashioned, it is actually much more appropriate for describing what an interpreter does - it’s not just translating words from A to B, no, it is transmitting an information from one language into another and simultaneously mediating culturally between two parties.

By accepting this definition as a basis for all types of interpreting (conference, community, liaison, court, sign language etc.), the distinction between them can be achieved by emphasizing each type’s important, distinctive features: intrasocial vs. international; degree of status differential; degree of prestige; being practically invisible vs. being a third party; working environment; specialization; and so on. But the cultural mediation and linguistic transmittance (also both ways) itself is nothing exclusive to Liaison or Community Interpreting, but is just as much a central part of every Conference Interpreter’s daily work.

***

Lionel Dersot writes on his experience as a Liaison Interpreter: read here.

Further reading: Mikkelson, Holly (2010). “Interpreting is Interpreting – Or Is IT?”. AIIC Bulletin, Winter 2010.

BMWi Behörden- und Formularwegweiser

schlafdorf — Wed, 23 May 2012 14:25:30 +0200

BMWi Behörden- und Formularwegweiser:

(via BMWi Wegweiser)

Sie stehen am Anfang Ihrer Existenzgründung oder sind bereits erfolgreicher Unternehmer?
Sie fragen sich, welche Behörden Sie aufsuchen müssen, welche Formalitäten zu erledigen sind und wo Sie qualifizierte Ansprechpartner finden können?

Kein Problem!
Der Behörden-und Formularwegweiser leitet Sie Schritt für Schritt durch die einzelnen Behördengänge und Formalitäten. Hier finden Sie alle relevanten Informationen zu Ämtern, Öffnungszeiten, Versicherungen, Gebühren und vieles mehr!

The Interview: Amanda Galsworthy

schlafdorf — Fri, 18 May 2012 02:14:22 +0200

The Interview: Amanda Galsworthy:

President Sarkozy’s official interpreter Amanda Galsworthy on the secrets of her trade.

The Quality Super Hero

schlafdorf — Tue, 15 May 2012 18:59:00 +0200

When I reminisce on my time as a student of conference interpreting, think of all those weeks and months of intense studying, of brushing up my language skills and trying to shorten my décalage, get more accurate and faster, there is one question, or should I say ‘doubt’, that permanently stuck in my mind.

Doubt: Am I good enough yet?

I guess it is only natural to question one’s abilities over and over, constantly trying to get better and better, in the language of nerdy gamers: to level up and kill the next stage boss. To get better equipment (like a better sword with +10 speed and a cloak with +10 better language skills). I get these new equipment either by killing stage bosses (semester exams), by farming (in my practice group) or by solving quests (classes). One day I will be able to kill the game boss (final exam). Then I will get the super reward (my diploma).

Welcome to my view of the world…

Unfortunately, in real life it is never that easy to tell whether your skills advanced or not. It is only by looking back that you realize the progress you made. You see the path you’ve come. You can see your starting point, way back there. But you can’t tell whether you’re just halfway to the goal or whether you’re really close to it. Why? Because it’s not clear where to path is leading to, where your goal actually is. You can see your fellow students walking along the same path, some in front of you, some behind you, but all of them somewhat at the same level. You’ve heard that your teachers are a little further on. You can spot the mighty castle of AIIC on the horizon; the towers of the SCIC fortress. Are they as far away as it seems?

Could someone please tell me which level I’m on? Am I on level 100 yet?

Could someone please assess me?

Would you please assess my interpreting performance? Yes, you would! Great! Thanks!

Okay, here is my interpretation: “ご来場の皆様。ご清聴ありがとうございました。”

What do you think? Could’ve been better? Intonation wasn’t that good? Good fluency of delivery? 3 out of 4? What about the consistency with the original and the completeness of my performance? What’s exactly the difference you ask? Well… I guess this is just your personal opinion.

It is not easy to rate an interpretation performance. Was it good or bad? Did you like it or not? I can give you my personal opinion to that question - but that’s just it. A very subjective impression. And there is nothing bad about that. Conference interpreters get often compared to professional musicians; there are many similarities between the two professions in terms of training, skill acquisition and performance, maybe even personality traits. Many interpreters play an instrument. And they have another peculiarity in common: their ‘product’ is evanescent (unless you record it). It is meant for the moment. There are few (if any) other services with that special touch to it. If you think about it, there are quite a few analogies: everyone can play an instrument. Getting on stage. Perform in front of people. Perform at community-level (marriage) and global level (philharmonic orchestra). Hard to assess its quality.

Here’s a task for you: go to a philharmonic concert. Listen to the first violin. Rate him.

It should be obvious that, since you are no expert in violinists, your opinion probably won’t be very qualified (no offense). And still, it’s you who is paying for it, so it better be damn good. It will be a difficult task for the violinist to please every single listener in the audience - but there’s an intersection of the users’ expectations. This is what we call ‘user expectancy norms’.

Every coin has two sides: in this case this is the ‘professional norm’. This norm encompasses the expectations and standards professionals set to themselves as a group. In Interpreting Studies, there is research on these two topics.

For us conference interpreters, this ‘professional norm’ is of uttermost importance. This is our quality standard. This is our gut feeling. It is the intersection (and/or sum) of all practitioners and researchers expectations of a good interpretation:

“Quality can, for example, be seen as the fulfilment of quality standards (Déjean Le Féal 1990: 155); the result of an (adequate) strategic process (Kalina 1998; Riccardi 2003: 257); a norm-abiding action (Shlesinger 1997: 124; Garzone 2002: 116); an ethical duty (Kurz 1998: 392); the satisfaction of customers’ expectations (Schmitt 1998; Zauberga 2001: 279); the balance of actual service minus expected service (Kurz 2003: 17); or an interactively constructed concept (Bot 2003: 40)” (Grbic 2008)

After all, it is relevant who assesses whom where how. There are many variables, diverging expectations.

”[…] it poses a serious dilemma that, despite considerable research efforts, there is still no model for assessing the quality of interpreting, either in class, at the end of the training period (examinations) or in the authentic conference situation […]. As long as there is no agreement on what quality is and how it can be measured, it is difficult to imagine how tests can ascertain whether an individual will at some future point be able to provide such quality.” (Kalina 2000:13)

I am back on my path with the castles and fortresses on the horizon. I still don’t know how far the way ahead is. But I know, that my teachers and colleagues have confidence in me, that I am going to make it to the castle. Or at least, that I am walking in the right direction.

***

Our friend Michelle was so kind to share the quality criteria from the EMCI at the University of La Laguna here.

If you want to read more on ‘norms’, read Elisabet Tiselius’ case study here. Find her blog here.

by J. Mermod