a.b. interpreting and translations

preparation is everything...

noreply@blogger.com (ab-linguistics) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 21:25:00 +0000

The client for this pharmaceutical conference sent all the presentations in advance. The interpreting team travelled out the day before the event and had the travel day upgraded to a full working day as there would be a briefing. There was another briefing in the morning of the following day and another final one at the end of it.

Part of the briefing was not strictly necessary as it covered aspects that interpreters know more about than the client. However, I for one was very happy to spend the extra time being prepared rather than just preparing on my own as nuances were explained, important messages emphasised, and terminology clarified.

The client was also very obliging in arranging internet access for us after we explained that the final presentation we received in the evening of the first day would not be much good as it was very technical if we couldn't prepare for it, which would involve accessing extremely useful and sometimes downright life-saving resources like dict.cc and linguee.com.

I felt very confident and at ease working for this client as I always knew what they said and what they intended to communicate with it. It made my - our - work so much easier. Sure, the client paid extra in terms of the full day instead of just travel and an hour over-time on the first conference day for the added briefing but I would argue that was not a punishment. Rather it was a good investment as their message would have well and truly hit home rather than having us struggle unprepared with the technical niceties of RA, if you know what I mean. ;-)

On top of that, as the meeting ended, everyone of the presenters and delegates received a glass of champagne. And so did the interpreting and technical team. I'm not saying that this should be a requirement but it surely makes me remember this particular client fondly, although extra work was involved.

Makes my day, this does...!

noreply@blogger.com (ab-linguistics) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 12:55:00 +0000

"I just wanted to say thank you to you and your interpreters for all of your help with our client's Summit earlier this week.

They were a pleasure to work with on-site and despite the interpreters commenting on our speakers talking nineteen to the dozen, they managed to keep up and do a great job.

I hope that we can work together soon on future projects.

Thanks again and kind regards,

Gareth"

Gareth Burke | Account Manager

Worldspanevents
Breathing life into your events

but you're not a professional are you...

noreply@blogger.com (ab-linguistics) — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 20:38:00 +0000

(edited 17 November 2010)

I have written about this strange phenomenon before. Although usually we get compliments from people who simply can't fathom how you can listen to someone and speak at the same time - and in two different languages, too - conference interpreters get asked things like the question in the title a fair bit, as well.

Only a few days ago I was told by a colleague from another language booth that one of the delegates had approached him and opened a conversation with that very question. Now, interpreters are as proud as any other professional of the work they do and of their quite unique skills, so opening a conversation like this is not going to win you an instant fan in the person it is addressed to.

It has to be said, the conference was a medical one. And in a way the assumption on the part of the delegate was right - we are not qualified - or professional - physicians. But then again, that is pretty obvious, as we are interpreters, highly trained and uniquely skilled linguistics professionals in our own right.

Anyway, just think about it: what medical doctor would be prepared to give up a doctor's income to work in an interpreting booth for rates that don't reflect his/her professional experience and have only gone up once* since the new millennium began (and are still a pittance in comparison to what a consultant takes home) plus spend a day or two extra on every job to prepare for it with mostly little or no help from the client (like presentations and background material) and travel to the venue without getting compensated for it? Didn't think so. That's why medical professionals work in clinics and hospitals, not in interpreting booths.

In short, it is a flawed perception that if someone is a lawyer or a deep-sea oil rig engineer or a thoracic surgeon and so on and knows a bit of Spanish, then that person would be a good interpreter. Even if that person knew how to work in the booth, that kind of interpreter would never earn enough to make a living as they would be locked into a small proportion of the work that we do in a year. Interpreting sadly doesn't pay enough to compensate the interpreter for being fully qualified as a linguist AND fully qualified in the subject matter of the particular event, and being limited to that subject matter and hence maybe 10 days of work in a year.

In fact, this actually illustrates another issue: the importance of preparation. Like barristers, interpreters work better, the better they are briefed. If the end client or production company or agency doesn't consider it necessary to ask for or provide conference papers and other relevant material well ahead of the conference, interpreters may involuntarily come across as unprofessional because they have been robbed of one essential part of their work, namely preparation. This is at least in the UK the most common complaint of colleagues. Nobody likes to do a bad job, but sometimes I feel like a runner sent out to win the Olympics with my feet tied together.

So this is a plea to end clients: if you want interpreters for your event to convey your message to foreign delegates, make sure you get your money's worth by allowing the interpreters to do their jobs well. Give them what they ask for, and accept that there is a reason for it, even if you don't understand it.

This final comment goes to the delegates: if you don't appreciate the hard work interpreters do for you, at least don't go offending them by implying they are somehow amateurs. Thank you.

* in the UK

Picture from the conference room at the Maritim Hotel in Berlin Friedrichstraße, September 2010.

some more feedback...

noreply@blogger.com (ab-linguistics) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:34:00 +0000

... from Livewire Productions about one job I was contracted to interpret:

"Firstly I just wanted to let you know that everything went extremely well during the TJX conference at Alton Towers.

The translators did their job brilliantly. The only issue we had related to the breakout session but that was more to do with the client than with us. We were informed that the breakout session would be one presenter, presenting to the delegates so we provided an ambient microphone and a static camera. In fact the delagates broke into groups and the ambient microphone just provided your translators with so much background noise that they found it hard to hear what conversations/presentations they were supposed to translate. However, they battled on manfully."

It's nice to be appreciated.

By the way, working mainly through agencies as we do, I have come across one problem: We often get delegates coming to the booth to thank us for our work but our agency rarely finds out, and we don't get the comments in writing so we could use them as references. After all, we are freelance, and we need recommendations like any other business. One agency I talked to about this told me that it was company policy NOT to pass positive comments on to the interpreters involved. I think this is fundamentally wrong. Just so you know.

having standards...

noreply@blogger.com (ab-linguistics) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 08:49:00 +0000

I had a rather heavy week recently, leaving Monday morning and coming back six flights later on Sunday evening. The two conference locations were in Eastern Europe. Both were an eye-opener in many respects but allow me to focus on one:

Interpreters sometimes have a reputation for being a bit diva-ish. While I have certainly met colleagues who deserve being called this, I believe it to be an unjustified prejudice on the whole.

In this particular case, after traveling for two whole days with connecting flights and working for three days with the inconvenience of having to be up extra early every morning for a transfer to the meeting venue, I went on to a Saturday conference - at the normal daily rate, no weekend special, I may add - in Croatia. I got up at 6am to catch the first of two flights and arrived 12 hours later after a particularly draining 3 1/2 hours on the motorway. And ended up in here.

Don't get me wrong, the room and the furniture were well-worn but spotless for all I could see. I had electricity and hot water whenever I needed them. Yet... the room reminded me of the one I shared at university. I don't mind staying in such places when I travel on a budget. In fact, I seek them out. But that is my choice, and I do it for the experience.

However, when I am contracted to do a mentally demanding and draining job, with all the additional stress factors of traveling long distances, and being unable to go home afterwards to relax the way I like to, at least I would like to have some basic comforts that would allow me to recharge my batteries.

Of course, this is not always possible, and I am willing to believe that this was one of those occasions. I also think that it wouldn't have been such an issue if I had traveled there from home and gone straight back, but it just so happened that I was already tired and pumped out when I arrived, and after a short night here as the latest point of reference:

We interpreters are occasionally accomodated in such places, and although I would never see this as the norm, it is impossible not to use such experiences as some kind of benchmark.

So I would like to say that a combination of having had an unusually hard week and the contrast between the very basic accomodations on the first and second jobs, interspersed with a night of luxury, was responsible for the complaints you may have heard from me...

some more compliments...

noreply@blogger.com (ab-linguistics) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:15:00 +0000

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank you and your team of interpreters for your support with the European Consultation Committee.

Without the invaluable support provided by your team this event would not have gone as smoothly as it has. Please pass on our thanks to them.”

Astra Zeneca, London 24-26 June 2009

"Just a quick e-mail to ask if you would be kind enough to pass on our thanks to Ute, Antje, Karmelin and Marta for all their hard work on Friday. They did a fantastic job for us and helped to make our European Sales Conference a resounding success.”

Russ Berrie, Southampton 19 June 2009

one major issue...

noreply@blogger.com (ab-linguistics) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:48:00 +0000

...at the job today was the way the brähler console, picture see previous post, works. Of the three buttons in the top right hand corner, A and C are usually set to English, B to the 'other' language, i.e. French, German, Spanish, etc. I am not quite clear why there are two buttons for the English channel when most, in fact, all other consoles make do with one button per out-going channel.

But never mind. The real issue with this console is that only one console can ever be on the English out-going channel, and on this particular job we have 10, 2 in every of the 5 booths. So if the colleague in the French booth just had to work into English and then hands over to the booth partner for the next 30 minutes and just switches her own microphone off, than that is fine with all other consoles I know. But noooooo..., not this one! If next the Spanish delegate needs to be interpreted into English, the Spanish interpreter will find that s/he can't switch on their microphone because the English channel is still blocked by the non-working French console.

It doesn't help that on this console, as opposed to the Philips model, there is no way of telling whether and if yes, by whom, the English channel is blocked.

Confusing? Imagine having to figure that out while you are interpreting, with your colleagues grimacing and gesticulating at you as nobody can hear you because oviously, your microphone isn't working, and the delegates start making light of it by saying: "The interpreter is apparently asleep." Nice, I'm sure.

So dear colleagues, if you work with this particular console, please IMMEDIATELY change your out-going channel back to your own language to unblock the English channel.

And dear technicians and team-leaders, please remind all interpreters of this peculiarity, at least until everyone has had some more experience with this just recently EU-approved new model, instead of shouting impatiently through the booth window.

how did I become an interpreter? - part 2

noreply@blogger.com (ab-linguistics) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 21:12:00 +0000

Just a little explanation on this console, another one in my collection of kit I've worked with. Note the Braille next to some of the buttons. Raises the question why blind interpreters would need to know the 'floor' and 'relay' and 'microphone' buttons but not the volume, frequencies, or even the channels they are listening to or going out on. Any ideas?

But let's continue with part two of my road to becoming an interpreter:

I went to extended secondary school in a specialist language class, meaning I continued Russian and French and learned English again, passed the entrance exam for the linguistics course at Leipzig university, and waited for the language combination I would be alloted by the system – no choice there, just 'Einsicht in die Notwendigkeit' (acceptance of necessity), as Friedrich Engels defined freedom. At an open day event that we'd all been invited back to university for, I was given Russian and Serbocroate. I was devastated, and probably realised for the first time that I wasn't into just any old languages. There was one girl who'd got a place in the English/French group but when it turned out that she didn't have the required entry level (a story in its own right), she was kicked out. After the session I walked up to the head of the faculty to ask her whether I couldn't have the place that had become available in the English/French group. She didn't promise anything but I left full of hope and proud of myself for having dared for the first time to take my destiny into my own hand, a big no-no in this socialist state.

Weeks later, when I retrieved our mail from the letter boxes in the communal hallway, I found a letter from Leipzig and opened it hastily. I hope I still have that letter somewhere as it changed my whole life. It said that due to unforeseen circumstances, a vacancy had turned up in the English/Spanish group, and they offered it to me! Needless to say, I was over the moon. We lived in the fourth floor in those days, no lift, but no lift could have been up those stairs faster than I was that day.

The rest is history, they say.

However, many years later, when I already lived in the UK, it turned out that there was another twist in this tale. On one occasion, when I told this story at a family party, mum finally came clean. She told me that actually, after the day when we were allocated languages, she had traveled to the university – she must have taken a day off work for it – to talk to the head of the faculty, who happened to be a woman. She pleaded with her from mother to mother, and in the end it was this visit that resulted in the late change of mind.

I have no idea why mum never told me this before. I always thought I got a raw deal from her in my teenage years as she was very strict with me, but looking back now, she was there for me when it mattered most, and she did more for me than I can ever thank her for.

Mum, I love you and admire you more than you can possibly imagine.

Oh, one of the girls who took evening English classes with me also became an interpreter. Isn't that funny? Especially when you consider how few places the three linguistics faculties in East Germany had.

I was thinking the other day...

noreply@blogger.com (ab-linguistics) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 21:42:00 +0000

... how did I become an interpreter?

Well, it's all my mother's fault. I don't mean that the way it sounds. I am very grateful to my mum for being very good at spotting my talents – or rather inclinations at first – and finding ways of fostering them.

I jumped around a lot in the kitchen to a folkloric music programme on the radio while mum tried to cook lunch on Saturdays. She spotted an article in the newspaper about a ballet group that was to be set up, took me along, and I loved it. Years later there was talk of sending me to the entrance exam for the Palucca ballet school in Dresden but we moved town a few months before the date. One example.

Mum was a pediatric nurse. She took me to hospital a lot when I was smaller, sometimes to cheer up children in the emergency room on the children's ward. I wanted to become a nurse like her, probably because I saw her be happy there, competent, decisive, respected – more so than at home, if I have to be honest.

Mum directed this wish into studying medicine due to my grades in school. In East German schools, Russian was the first foreign language at age 12. At 14 pupils had the option to add either French or English. The optional bit turned out to be somewhat academic as class schedules of the two classes in my year clashed, and to learn English – as mum had advised me to do for my future medical studies – I would have had to change to the other class.

I know it's a long-winded story but please bear with me.

I didn't want to change class as throughout my time in school, we had moved home every two years already, and this would have been my third change in friends, teacher etc. I simply didn't want to any more. So mum again did something for me that I really can't appreciate enough: she went to my head teacher and got permission from him for me to start English classes at age 13 in evening school, i.e. the adult education system. Frankly, who other than my mum would have come up with such an unconventional idea? Two other girls ('s parents) joined in, and so we three of us got the go-ahead. The condition was that our marks in other subjects wouldn't suffer, and so I learnt Russian, then English, and then French, as well.

At some point mum sat me down for a chat. As a medical doctor I would have to work long hours and be on call, and I had not the right temperament for this, she said. That sounds harsh but by that time I hadn't been getting the cuddly treatment for a few years, and besides, I knew that the assessment was honest and – what's more – spot-on. However, she said, I seemed to really enjoy those languages. I had to agree with her. So we explored the options. There was foreign language correspondent, which was basically a typist with language skills. No university degree needed for that. The two academic options were teacher and interpreter/translator, and I'd rather be dead than a teacher. The choice was clear.

tbc

terms of payment...

noreply@blogger.com (ab-linguistics) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 11:16:00 +0000

To give a balanced account of the assignment I was so vocal about a little over a month ago, let me add the news that I have just been paid, and the full amount that I have invoiced, too. I would like to officially say that I appreciate this very much, and it is going a long way to making me reassess my stance towards this particular client after the previous discussions we had.

It is a little bit later than a month since I sent the invoice but that is still within the industry norm in the UK. For information purposes, I have found that most translation and interpreting agencies will pay once you send a reminder. I send reminders four weeks after sending the invoice. Some agencies will pay (according to their own top's) at the end of the month following the month in which they received the invoice, so in a worst case scenario you'd have to wait 2 calendar months to get paid (if you so happen to invoice at the very beginning of a month). Even that is something I can live with as I will still have a fair idea as to when I will have this money in my account.

However, there are still the other agencies that pay when they feel like it. I stopped working for most of those as better, more reliable clients came along. At the end of the day, I cannot pay my bills with money that one day in the distant future will be mine and theoretically already has been for months. I have also always found chasing agencies for my pay a very disagreeable and humiliating exercise. Why would I have to go begging for money that I've earned? It's not charity to pay me, it's a contractual obligation. The analogy I like to use is this: I don't turn up to a conference the week after, either, do I?

To end on a positive note: there are agencies that actually pay before I ever get around to sending a reminder, usually around 2 to 3 weeks after the invoice date. Those are my favourites as my job for them is done once I send the invoice and enter all the final details in my big order book. I can then focus on my real work, which is interpreting and translating.

P.S.:

There is a (this is only my impression) little known piece of legislation called the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998, added to by the Late Payment of Commercial Debt Regulations 2002, which give every sole trader the right to charge statutory interest on late payments, whether or not this has been mentioned in the terms of business. I prefer to mention it anyway by having the following footer in all my invoices:

Payment terms:

Payment to be received within 28 calendar days, unless otherwise agreed.

In accordance with the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 and the Late Payment of Commercial Debts Regulations 2002, late payment incurs interest at the rate of 10,00% (reference rate 1 January to 30 June 2009 + 8%).

There is also a very useful internet resource for sole traders wishing to use this legislation. I use this interest calculator all the time as it makes it very easy to calculate the interest owed to you by keying in the relevant information.

The same website offers a table of the interest rates to be applied in the relevant 6 month period in an interest table.

Somewhere they also have templates of very official sounding letters you might wish to send to the accounting department of the tardy client. Just fill in the blanks with your details. Very helpful, although I have never used them.

Everything else I know about this legislation and how to apply it was found on the same website. I found it a great help to find out what statutory protection there actually is from clients who leave us high and dry financially.

My personal experience is that most clients won't pay the interest (although some have) but will pay up without much further undue delay. As such adding progressive interest to every reminder is a much more forceful argument than just sending the reminder on its own.

a question of psychology...

noreply@blogger.com (ab-linguistics) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 15:12:00 +0000

A question that has bothered me from time to time is that of the gender dominance in the profession of interpreting. No offence, guys, but most of us are women. At least here in Europe.

Having said this, let me please add that the 'bad' interpreters, at least in my personal experience, are as much male as female. So it can't be just about women being better at it.

My thoughts over time were as follows:

1. Women chat more, so they are better suited.

Not quite true as I myself was never much of a talker, more a listener. Although this evidently has changed as more than ten years into my professional career, a colleague and good friend told me she refers to me when talking to her husband as 'the one who can't shut up'. (?)

2. Women are natural multi-taskers, and listening, thinking, and speaking at the same time, never mind maybe asking the booth partner off-line what the hell the person has just been saying, is serious multi-tasking.

But I do have some German male colleagues, and I also know some male French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch... etc. interpreters who are right up there, too.*

3. Women are better at putting their own opinion second and repeating convincingly something they absolutely don't believe in. :-p

I think this one might actually hold some water. But I may be completely wrong, as I have used the cough-button countless times to give my own commentary to my colleague who was at those times most likely deeply involved in the newspaper the hotel provided in the morning and didn't really care. :-)

I think there may be some justification for a study into why at least in Europe, the profession is indeed female dominated. Even in East Germany, of the 10 students in my seminar group, only two were guys.

It might also be interesting to find out what the situation is like on other continents and whether there is a correlation, either positive or negative, to the position women hold in those societies...

* clients: If you need any recommendations, get in touch
colleagues: If you want me to mention you by name, let me know and make me a good offer. ;-)

a word of warning...

noreply@blogger.com (ab-linguistics) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 08:16:00 +0000

As everyone who works at the front end in the events industry, interpreters often stay away from home for the duration of a conference. Our accomodation is usually (in 99.853% of all cases*) booked and paid by the client. Still, more often than not I have been asked at the hotel reception to leave a credit card for any extras. The insistence on this varies depending on hotel and individual to the point of refusing to check me in.

Let me just explain why I am even talking about this: Although none of the following - touch wood - has happened to me personally, colleagues of mine have told horror stories of having complied with the request to leave their credit cards for incidentals only to find that contrary to contractual agreements, the client did not settle the bill for the interpreters, and the hotel consequently charged everything to the interpreters' credit cards.

The most extreme example was that of a German colleague (well, really she's Irish) working in the US at one particular event. As it happened, the end client (not the agency but the event organiser) defaulted on settling their bill, not just for the delegates' and interpreters' accomodation but meals and meeting room hire, as well. Which the hotel then kindly spread over the credit cards of the interpreters!

I have been a victim of credit card fraud which makes me cautious but I have so far not been wrongly charged by a hotel. Still, I don't give my credit cards at hotels as a matter of principle. As I said, the resistance against a refusal to part with a credit card when I don't expect to have any expenses goes as far as refusing to check me in, so I don't even argue anymore and just say that I don't have one, and that I was not aware of any law that would preclude non-credit card holders from staying in hotel rooms that someone else is paying for in the first place. And my client would not be very impressed if I didn't turn up for work the next day as a consequence of having to go back home. That earns me some funny looks, as if I were not a complete person without a credit card, but it works.

:-)

* This is a rough estimate.

unexpected follow-up to 'conflict of interest'...

noreply@blogger.com (ab-linguistics) — Tue, 05 May 2009 22:58:00 +0000

As feared, I was asked by the agency to lower or waive the fee for doing two interpreters' work on my own. After the agreed time had lapsed during which the agency was going to contact me to talk about the actual amount I would charge more (in principle a higher fee had been agreed by email), I simply sent an invoice charging twice the daily rate according to the simple principle that 1 plus 1 equals 2. A couple of days later I had a different person at the agency from the one who had booked me on the phone, asking me, as I said, to lower or waive the fee.

To cut things short, I insisted on the double pay but will in return not be booked by the agency again, although I did nothing but the most professional job I could under the circumstances, with that ungrateful lot somehow managing to turn me into the culpable party.

Here are a few of the (shortened) arguments subsequently going back and forth via email:

“Dear (agency)

I did my normal professional job - and on the client's request even more by working 2 hours on the first day in the afternoon to my colleague's 25 minutes and alone on the whole of the second day. I decided not to charge for the extended work on the first day as a gesture of goodwill to the agency and the client.

To be asked to lower or waive the fee for the day I worked alone at the client's request and in agreement with (agency project manager) teaches me a valuable lesson. If such emergencies occur again, I will simply stick with my contract and work as if I were part of a team of two unless and until I have the confirmation of the fee I will be paid for doing my colleague's work, as well.

It also teaches me that it doesn't pay to go out of my way for a first-time client in order to get more work from them on the strength of professionalism as in the end I am given the usual (agency) option of waiving the just fee for the work I did or not being given any more work. This is deplorable as I am your client, too.

(interpreter)”

“Hi (interpreter),

Please do not misunderstand us, we are very very grateful for your effort and help on this and we always try to keep a good relationship with our team of interpreters.

In this instance, it’s just a case of trying to best to keep our client happy and not jeopardise our future work with them as it has a knock on effect on everyone.

I do hope you understand, and I would like to stress that we are extremely thankful for your kind assistance.

(agency)”

“Dear (agency)

I understand your position. It is just that in most such cases the agency in the end tries to off-load most of the cost of things that go wrong onto the interpreters. This really does nothing to motivate interpreters to go the extra mile when required.

(interpreter)"

“Hi (interpreter),

Its not a case of working for free or anything like that. It would have been considerate on your part not to charge fully but maybe half.

However it has been brought to my attention that the client will not be compensating for this – what do you propose we do? As it’s a very difficult situation for us now.

(agency)”

“Dear (agency)

I have a contract with you with an agreed payment for an agreed service. I have gone way beyond that service by doing twice the amount of work to save this client for you, not for me. The only way I will get compensated for doing two persons' work is getting paid for two persons' work.

How you deal with clients who want one of your interpreters off the team and the other to work alone is not my business. How you deal with interpreters who get taken off the job at the client's request is also nothing to do with me. So please don't ask me what to do now.

If we talk about being considerate, then a thank you and an ACCEPTABLE offer from your side for my extremely professional conduct wouldn't have gone amiss.

(interpreter)”

conflict of interest....

noreply@blogger.com (ab-linguistics) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 21:41:00 +0000

I had a job abroad this week. Abroad is where you usually get to see other kit as in the UK most agencies seem to use the same equipment.

This time was no exception, and I worked with a new console again, the Bosch LBB 3222/04 Interpreter Desk, just for the breakout session. My only criticism is that it doesn't have a socket for the 3.5mm jack of my - by now obligatory - Bang & Olufsen earphones, and I'd left the adapter at home.

But this was not the really memorable bit about this particular conference. For the first time I heard complaints about my colleague and allowed him to be removed from the job, or rather, I stood by and didn't defend him. The funny thing is that there was nothing to defend as he was not doing a good job on the day. Still, I felt I had betrayed him.

This made me think about something. I am a good interpreter. I am not perfect, nobody is, but I am among the best in my language pair. (Why do I feel people will think I am arrogant when I say this? Why do I immediately feel the need to defend myself, even though it is the truth?)

Still, I have much less work than many of my colleagues. I've been trying to figure out why and have recently come to the conclusion that it's because I don't talk badly about my colleagues, even when maybe I should, for the best of the service we are contracted to provide, inform the agency of quality issues that I become aware of. At the same time I try to defend decent working conditions for interpreters in the face of persistent attempts to undermine them.

Conversely, I have been informed by a reliable source recently that several years ago I had been off the calling list of an agency that used to be one of my best clients because a colleague had said something about me, and without giving me the opportunity to respond to the allegations (whatever they might have been, although I can't think of anything), I just didn't get any calls from that agency for a couple of years. I do now, but I had to work my way back up from scratch through no fault of my own, and am not sure when someone else or the same person will slag me off again and to whom, effectively putting me out of work.

One other example for why agencies would cut interpreters loose: an interpreter goes to a conference where the client at the last minute replaces the booth and table microphones and all the kit with a tourguide system, consisting of battery-operated receivers for the delegates and a roving microphone for the interpreter who sits in the room, usually at the back (the worst place for hearing what he/she is supposed to interpret). This set-up is only suitable when the interpreter sits/stands/walks right next to the speaker or the group is very small. It doesn't work when 30 people want to speak... and rustle with paper... and pour water... and play with sweets wrappers... and stir their coffee... and speak with the back of their heads to the interpreter... you get the idea. So this colleague, who had told the agency in advance that the tourguide was not appropriate, had to ask the speakers several times to repeat themselves and explain why, only to get a call later from the agency that the client had complained about her attitude and would not work with her again. She got punished for the client trying to cut corners and the interpreting agency failing to do ITS job of advising the client what solution would be suited to their needs and what was never going to work.

As opposed to most other careers, it would seem that being a good interpreter is a real obstacle to moving up the ranks. Knowing your job well and making certain demands - yes, but in the interest of being able to provide a good to outstanding service instead of having to perform a totally preventable damage-limitation exercise caused by ignorance on part of the client AND sometimes the agency of what interpreting involves - seems to be an offence punishable by not being allowed to work.

It's an upside-down world...

modernity...

noreply@blogger.com (ab-linguistics) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 23:30:00 +0000

My colleague on this job, whom I would call a friend, told me not to take offence but she'd prefer not having to share it with me.

'It' was the console in our booth for this job. Having one console for the two interpreters that usually work together for each language is rare these days with the standard Philips and the slightly more modern Bosch DCN interpreter desks. (Maybe I should start photographing all the non-Philips and Bosch consoles I get to see for anyone who is interested in seeing the variety there is out there. Too geeky? Never mind.)

Having only one console is a little distracting as when I interpret, I don't want my colleague fiddling with MY console, which is unavoidable if we are working from the same one. This particular system was also at least in the configuration on this particular site rather prone to mobile phone interference, the bane of every conference interpreter (right up there with feedback from headphones hung around the neck at full blast while having the microphone open). It is usually louder than the audio from the speaker which has two effects:

a) the interpreter can't hear what is being said and hence can't interpret it, which defeats the purpose of having interpreters, and

b) damages the interpreter's hearing due to the very sudden and much higher decibels.

This is not really what I was going to write about but while I am at it: SWITCH MOBILE PHONES OFF when you are working with simultaneous interpreters. One more myth from the world of conference interpreting is that switching a phone to mute will somehow make it inaudible. This is not the case as every time the phone sends or receives a signal, it causes interference. Some mobiles these days are not as bad, but the worst culprits are the ever so popular Blackberries.

So let me repeat: switch your phones off. The interpreters do, and we are also running a business and expecting important calls or new bookings at any given moment. Still, our phones are off out of respect for ourselves, our colleagues, and you, the delegates. All we ask in return is that you make sure that we can do the job you have hired us for without any undue hindrance. Besides, texting and sending emails during a conference just shows how much you want to be there. Think about it...

unwind...

noreply@blogger.com (ab-linguistics) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 00:02:00 +0000

I grab a minute between a regular working day and my overtime assignment at dinner. It was just as well because although the dinner itself proved fairly harmless, nothing more than small-talk, there was a meeting of over an hour at the bar afterwards where I had to work properly again.

Quite often the brief from the client is to be available in case someone gets stuck, and that sounds pretty informal. However, if a delegate is permanently stuck, then a dinner turns into harder work than the actual day as normally only one interpreter gets booked for evening overtime.

Sometimes in such situations the request is: "Just let me know what it's about. I don't need to hear everything." I respectfully ignore this request as I am not usually expert enough on a company's situation or whatever the subject of the discussion is to trust myself to be able to edit out the redundant bits. Also, I don't have different interpreting quality levels I could use. I either do it well, or I don't do it at all...

what goes around, comes around...

noreply@blogger.com (ab-linguistics) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 12:34:00 +0000

Until about a year ago I did a repeat job for one particular end-client through an agency. The client was happy with our work on the handful of occasions we worked for them, and my booth colleague in particular went out of her way to secure this client for the agency.

Then there were a few problems, like the client confirming dates and at very short notice postponing them indefinitely but refusing to pay a cancellation fee. We were placed in a difficult position as most of us had turned down other work that coincided with the initial AND confirmed dates. Confirmed in the interpreting world is like a gentlemen's agreement, and if confirmed dates are cancelled, the cancellation fee is still usually paid without any argument. However, it's the agency's job to make sure the client understands this and is aware of the tiered cancellations fees that apply.

The norm is 50% of the agreed daily fee if the cancellation is announced less than 90 days but more than 30 days before the beginning of the assignment, 75% if 30 days or less but more than 15 days, and 100% if cancelled within 15 days of the beginning of the assignment.

This agency had obviously not done this and now wanted to avoid the wrath of the client being faced with this unexpected bill by nicely asking the interpreters to waive the cancellation fee (which we did not do, needless to say). Finally some dates came in for the postponed event which luckily the team was available for, only to have them postponed again! The third lot of dates conflicted with bookings of some of us, and eventually we stopped hearing from the agency, and the client was gone.

Throughout the year since then I gleaned from conversations with colleagues that the end-client was still having the same events, just through a different agency, and the team of interpreters had consequently been changed completely (one agency doesn't know who was on the job for another agency before, which can work both ways for the interpreters involved, as you will see...). This was a little disappointing as the delegates had reassured us on several occasions that they liked our work, that they would like to keep the same team etc.

Recently I was offered a job over several days (we interpreters love those for various reasons!), and after finding I was free on the dates in question and some initial instructions, I found out who the end-client was - let's just say, I am looking forward to the reunion!

So sometimes there is poetic justice, and interpreters who through no fault of their own lose work, sometimes get it back from someone else. Or maybe it's just that the pool of interpreters IS finite, so in the end it HAS to come back...

the need for a good scrub...

noreply@blogger.com (ab-linguistics) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 21:50:00 +0000

After a day sharing a ply-board and glass cubicle measuring roughly 1.60m x 1.60m x 2m with a colleague, I always head to the shower first. I can assure you, this has nothing to do with the colleague at all. Rather, the reason is that in such a limited environment (especially when the door needs to be kept shut), with someone talking non-stop for as long as the meeting goes on, the air gets very stale, and consequently my skin begins to feel sticky.

As you have probably guessed - or not (no deductions) - there is an ISO standard for mobile interpreting booths. It says:

"Booths shall be fitted with an effective ventilation system, ensuring complete renewal of the air at least seven times per hour, without causing harmful draughts on seated occupants. Where higher rates of air renewal can be obtained, they shall be adjustable within the booth.

Extractor fans in the ceiling should be powerful enough to meet the above requirements as soundlessly as possible."

The truth is that there is indeed a hole fitted in the 'ceiling' of the booth where the extractor fan should be sited. On only about 3 or so occasions in my career did the booth indeed have an extractor fan. The other truth is that even where the extractor fan is installed, the interpreters will switch it off while interpreting as it does make some noise which is distracting during a job as demanding in terms of concentration as ours.

So, all that is left to do is have a long shower... Although this is not very environmentally friendly, and I wouldn't have it at home. However, I am only human, and in hotels I sometimes do spend half an hour in the shower...

some client feedback this year so far...

noreply@blogger.com (ab-linguistics) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 11:55:00 +0000

It is rare in my job to get positive written feedback as people expect things to go well and usually only bother to write if something didn't, so I was particularly happy about these two references from the clients I worked for this month. A special thank you also to the agents who kindly passed the feedback on to me!

regarding the event in the last post:

"...thank you very much for booking the interpreters who did a stellar job."

Goethe-Institut London
organiser of the CLIL conference, 12/13 February 2009

for the assignment referred to here:

"Here some brief feedback on the two days - everything worked perfectly, our expectations have been fully met. A special thank you therefore to your colleague Ms Bormann (that's me)! We look forward to working with you again on other occasions."

Planungsbüro Meyerfeldt
Hamburg-based architectural planning office interviewing for a general contractor, 4/5 February 2009

it's not true...

noreply@blogger.com (ab-linguistics) — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 21:09:00 +0000

One of the most persistent myths about simultaneous or conference interpreting appears to be that this could not possibly be a full-time profession. How else is one supposed to explain questions like: "What do you normally do?" or "Do you do this all the time?"

To dispel the fog of disbelief: I spent four years at university preparing for exactly what I am doing now, and most of my colleagues spent several more years doing the same (I'll explain in a minute). I would not have done that for some part-time gig.

I know people mean well and probably really can't imagine when we accompany them for the two days they have an event, that this could be a full-time occupation. At the same time, nobody would doubt that the technicians who are on-site for just as long as ourselves are doing their regular job. I wonder how the people who ask this sort of thing would feel if they were doing their level best at work and somebody they'd never seen came up to them asking what their real job was.

To explain the rather short time I studied for the MA in Applied Linguistics I would have to say first of all that I got my degree in East Germany where university courses were laid out differently from on the other side of the Iron Curtain. For one, my degree saw me and my fellow students leave university with a 1st State Exam in translation and interpreting, which was an oddity in itself as it is customary for linguistics graduates to be either one or the other.

Enough for now, I'll tell more on another occasion, so check back if you are interested. If you take one thing from this post, please let it be this: provided the conference wasn't organised by some cowboys, the people talking animatedly (or not) and gesticulating (or not) in those funny cubicles at the back or side or sometimes even front of the room are consummate professionals and not some temps, and interpreters have feelings, too...

water, please...

noreply@blogger.com (ab-linguistics) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 22:21:00 +0000

I have just finished a two day job for a German architects' company interviewing companies who had put in an offer for the job of general contractor for the refurbishment of a posh flat in Sloanie land.

I worked on my own for 6 hours on both days, and the client was open enough for my requests for breaks, so that was not the problem. I had plenty of background material relevant to the job at hand to prepare, so no complaints there, either.

The real issue was that they had caterers bring in trays of sandwiches, some fruit, and two massive cans of tea and coffee each, but no water. Not the client's fault as the water had been ordered, just not delivered, just like the napkins and paper plates. But it's a great reminder of how important it is to provide people whose job it is to talk a lot on your behalf with something to lubricate their throats...

the tax man cometh...

noreply@blogger.com (ab-linguistics) — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 11:58:00 +0000

Yes, this time of the year has come and gone now, and once more I've lived to tell the tale...

nice to meet you...

noreply@blogger.com (ab-linguistics) — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 14:40:00 +0000

I and the colleagues in the French booth at a conference about cats in Portugal 2004

Let me use the first entry to introduce myself.

I am a conference interpreter and translator with an MA in linguistics from Leipzig University, the second oldest university in Germany, celebrating 600 years in 2009, and from one of the most prominent philology faculties in the country.

I graduated in 1990, at a time when you might appreciate things were very much in turmoil in the part of Germany that Leipzig is in. Although I had to accept one of three offers for work from the university for the first 3 years after my degree (to repay my debt to society for getting my studies paid for by the state), the contract with my future employer was annulled unilaterally with two months to go to my finals and the defence of my thesis.

Fortunately I had already applied to all UK universities with a German department and got lucky in Keele, Stoke-on-Trent, where I was to work for one academic year as lecturer for German. So, fresh out of university, I went right back to one, and I really enjoyed being on the teaching side of the seminar room.

However, I had never wanted to be a teacher. So after the year at Keele I went to London to begin my actual interpreting and translating career. It was difficult as, coming from a socialist country which didn't allow personal contacts with the 'capitalist' side of the Iron Curtain, I didn't have any letters of reference or recommendation that would have been meaningful to any future client of mine. But in time I did establish myself in the market after spending a useful 7 month stint as project manager at a small London translation agency where I learned some of the business basics.

I have now been working as a conference interpreter and translator for nearly 18 years. My professional exprience includes work for the BBC, at No. 10 Downing Street, the Houses of Parliament, Bloomberg TV, European Union meetings and conferences, European Works Council meetings, and conferences on pretty much any subject you could think of (off the top of my head I could name aerospace, pharmaceuticals, medical, agricultural machinery, climate change, town planning, sugar.... There is much more but let's finish on that sweet note.

I have started this blog in the first place obviously to introduce myself, but also to inform about the profession as a whole, to report some funny linguistic mishaps as and when they happen, and to bring you interesting bits of industry news as and where I find them...