Downward spiral with interpretation

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

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.

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 :<

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...

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.

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"