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Post by 🎄🌰🌰Yoosting on an open 🔥🎄 on Oct 20, 2016 16:45:50 GMT 9
I feel like this deserves a thread of its own, because perhaps other people experienced this as well: - Annoyed by the interpreting job I had to do just now for a medical equipment developer and our mayor. They provided their own interpreter, and wanted me to translate EN-JP to our mayor. Unfortunately their interpreter turned out to be 500 years old and hardly spoke English, resulting in a very dysfunctional meeting, and an impatient mayor trying to cut me off while I was trying to do a proper job. I feel this situation would've been a thousand times better if we'd just switched roles and done what we were best at. Now, I've done interpretation jobs for the mayor before, and he can be.. demanding and short. The problem with this is that showing confidence in your translations is important to give the 相手 the feeling that you've got it so they can relax as well. But the mayor acting the way he does really messes me up, because I don't get the time to give proper translations because he cuts me off/interrupts me/just goes 'はいはいはい'. This makes me try to interpret fast = worse quality, which ends up with him not approving of my performance. I feel like I've made progress, and with other interpreting jobs I usually do okay, I feel. Yet, with the mayor it's like this downward spiral, because he doesn't seem to take me or my work seriously, which ends up with him not asking me to interpret, inhibiting me from gaining the necessary experience. Has anyone had this kind of situation, and if yes, how do you break out of it?
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G-Rex
Dead Stargod
killed SAKAMOTO LYOMA with crappa sushi
hi
Posts: 7,198
CIR Experience: Former CIR
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Post by G-Rex on Oct 21, 2016 12:38:48 GMT 9
i've had a very similar experience.
difficult interpreting job, doing both J-E and E-J with the governor, and having him kinda nod and cut me off.
there is often limited time for these kind of meetings so time is really important. if you're taking a long time to interpret then that's maybe why. if you're getting these kinds of signals then try and focus on really really just boiling down the japanese translation into the absolute nucleus of what is being said. get rid of all the fluff and just get it out as quickly as possible, is what i have ended up trying to do.
i do this with whispering and other 同時 stuff too. your mayor probably has kind of a grasp of what is happening and your interpreting should be there to reinforce his understanding and just make sure he's got it. if there are points like "wow yeah there's no way he got that" then focus on those.
if he cuts you off though, just stop. that's it. that's your signal to stop and let him start talking again. for me, i have my page for notes and i smash a line on the page cutting off that section, and that acts like my reset button; whatever comes next is new and separate, so i just need to get ready for that. if he says he's got it, he's got it, and if it sounds like he ended up misunderstanding something later on, then that's on him, not on you. after all, he implied he didn't need your interpreting for that part.
it's really really important when doing 逐次通訳 to hit that reset button after every part. just take each bit as it comes, do it as best as you can, and just move on.
i really understand that feeling of getting increasingly flustered because you're doing a bad job, and getting caught in that 悪循環 is super unnerving, so try training/focusing on hitting that reset button.
tl;dr
1) try practicing condensing your japanese message, rather than conveying the whole issue as it was said. think in bullet points almost 2) don't forget that reset button 3) if all else fails, just call him a geoduck and resent him for not being kind to the interpreter
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Post by 🎄🌰🌰Yoosting on an open 🔥🎄 on Oct 21, 2016 15:42:00 GMT 9
Thanks for the great advice! I guess I didn't quite take the mayor's understanding of English into account as much as I should have, being too focused on making I've stated everything while remaining understandable. The reset sounds like something I'd definitely need to try out. I'll keep to proper, thorough interpretation for speeches and public business.
Honestly, it bothered the crap out of me yesterday, but coming into work this morning I got very positive feedback from both our dept and the 相手, so that was a big relief. Guess it might just be a thing with this mayor, there's a general tendency of walking on eggshells around him anyway around here.
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Post by momo black on Oct 24, 2016 12:56:10 GMT 9
Not sure how helpful this is as it's not advice so much as just something I was taught, but in the university interpreting course I took, one thing that was mentioned in a lot of studies was that 20 minutes is the max time an interpreter can perform while still giving quality interpretations, so if you feel yourself slipping as time goes by, even when you're trying your best, remember that some of that is just the limitations of the human brain. If the mayor is being a jerk and wearing you out faster, then that extra sucks, but again, does not mean you're lacking in ability.
Hope next time is better.
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G-Rex
Dead Stargod
killed SAKAMOTO LYOMA with crappa sushi
hi
Posts: 7,198
CIR Experience: Former CIR
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Post by G-Rex on Oct 24, 2016 13:31:46 GMT 9
momo black, does that not refer to simultaneous? cos wow who else has had one of those 14 hour interpreting days
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Post by momo black on Oct 24, 2016 13:42:00 GMT 9
I think it just refers to constant, i.e., without any chance to take a break. One article I read was saying how court interpreting is hindered when there is only one interpreter who has to be working the entire day straight, because there are hours between recesses. So 20 minutes might refer to the limit of simultaneous interpreting, but even with consecutive, there is similarly a limit (although 確かに it may be a bit longer than 20 minutes). It was advised in the article that for effective court interpreting there should be two to three interpreters working shifts in a relay.
So yeah 14 hour interpreting days are Not Ideal :<
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Post by Caic on Oct 24, 2016 14:02:45 GMT 9
yeah i lolled very much at 20 mins. i have had 14 hour interpreting days
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Post by CaptainSeery on Oct 24, 2016 14:05:53 GMT 9
Yeah, that 20 minutes is the number cited for simultaneous interpreting, which is a very different beast from 逐次.
But 逐次 can be super tiring as well. I've never done 14 hours but I've done close, and it's exhausting. And you do get worse and worse as time goes on...
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Post by Caic on Oct 24, 2016 14:07:20 GMT 9
ive never really done simultaneous. i dont think my brain works like that.
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Post by momo black on Oct 24, 2016 14:11:51 GMT 9
Of course 20 minutes isn't the max possible time even for simultaneous, so much as just the max for ~ideal~ interpreting before quality starts to degrade and errors start to increase. But yeah, basically all I meant to say was, time goes on and quality will naturally decrease no matter how good you are.
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Post by CaptainSeery on Oct 24, 2016 14:35:36 GMT 9
ive never really done simultaneous. i dont think my brain works like that. Me neither. The idea of it is very spoopy. I don't think I could do it at all well.
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Post by Shimanchu 2024 on Oct 24, 2016 15:29:26 GMT 9
Yeah, 逐次 can really suck when the person you're doing it for has no idea when they should stop talking to let you start interpreting
(Or, as is unfortunately the case most of the time, they are completely unaware of/have forgotten about you)
Sometimes you have to actually ask them to please stop, which requires boldness and is super hard for me.
Or, even though they should technically already be aware of it, actually walk up to them before the HYOKEI or whatever starts, and tell them "hey, I'm gonna be doing TIKUZI for you, so please stop after every couple of sentences or so"
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Post by miscreative on Oct 24, 2016 15:45:40 GMT 9
i tried simultaneous (well. whispering) once.
tried.
once.
well i guess there was a time i tried simultaneous interpreting of a guided tour where the guide had memorized the script and wanted to be done as fast a possible so rushed thru it and i could barely hear and it made me terrified for the 随行 i had to do there 2 weeks later.
spoiler: the 随行 was fine because the guide was an angel.
this is one of those things that i wish more people knew about. interpreting is tiring. and despite what many may assume we are not all perfect and magical. we are still human
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Post by momo black on Nov 7, 2016 13:54:00 GMT 9
Yeah, 逐次 can really suck when the person you're doing it for has no idea when they should stop talking to let you start interpreting
(Or, as is unfortunately the case most of the time, they are completely unaware of/have forgotten about you)
Sometimes you have to actually ask them to please stop, which requires boldness and is super hard for me.
Or, even though they should technically already be aware of it, actually walk up to them before the HYOKEI or whatever starts, and tell them "hey, I'm gonna be doing TIKUZI for you, so please stop after every couple of sentences or so" We were actually taught to do exactly this in the interpreting course I took. The assumption was that you would be interpreting in a pretty formal capacity, so ahead of time you would have to say like, "hey I am gonna be interpreting so please stop now and then, remember that I will be interpreting EVERYTHING you say, that I am impartial, and please address the other person and not me"
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Post by Shimanchu 2024 on Nov 7, 2016 14:03:47 GMT 9
Yeah, 逐次 can really suck when the person you're doing it for has no idea when they should stop talking to let you start interpreting
(Or, as is unfortunately the case most of the time, they are completely unaware of/have forgotten about you)
Sometimes you have to actually ask them to please stop, which requires boldness and is super hard for me.
Or, even though they should technically already be aware of it, actually walk up to them before the HYOKEI or whatever starts, and tell them "hey, I'm gonna be doing TIKUZI for you, so please stop after every couple of sentences or so" We were actually taught to do exactly this in the interpreting course I took. The assumption was that you would be interpreting in a pretty formal capacity, so ahead of time you would have to say like, "hey I am gonna be interpreting so please stop now and then, remember that I will be interpreting EVERYTHING you say, that I am impartial, and please address the other person and not me"
This sounds pretty good too.
How would you simply summarize the bolded above in Japanese when speaking to them?
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