Dear Speaker, You Are Going to Be Only as Good as Your Interpreter, So Please…

Dear Speaker,You Are Going to Be Only as Good as Your Interpreter,So Please… November 2013 Toronto Canada Akiko Shinoda Conference Interpreter Tokyo Japan aswkiki@y6.dion.ne.jp

Types of Interpreting Methods of Interpreting • Consecutive • General Interpreting • Whispering • Simultaneous • Conference interpreting • Relay-Simultaneous • Broadcast Interpreting • Semi-Simultaneous • Community Interpreting Medical Care • Time-lag Simultaneous Tour Guide

INTERPRETING: WHAT IT ENTAILS ＊Understanding what’s being said （Input) ――　Only half the job done ＊Rendering what you’ve understood into good, adult target language (Output) Only when you can do both can you be an interpreter.

INTERPRETING: WHAT IT ENTAILS • In other words, • Failing to do a good job, because… • Problems with input ――Didn’t really understand what’s being said • Problems with output ――Poor ability to express in the target language • Lack of knowledge about the subject matter

You didn’t really understand, because…You were not listening properly In everyday life, we all tend to be sloppy listeners But in an interpreting situation, you have to be a most rigorous listener

Intensive Listening / Active Listening ―― the most important and fundamental training • Not just listening to the words, but listening for the meaning • Constructing Meaning / Information （意味付け／情報化）out of the words you are hearing,in the same ORDER and at the same SPEED as the speaker

SLASH LISTENING / SLASH READING In a thought-provoking article / in the New York Times / last year, /Ｎ.Kato, /a professor of literature, / suggested / that Japan had entered / a “post-growth era” / in which the illusion of limitless expansion / had given way / to something more profound…

SLASH LISTENING / SLASH READING He sounded a little like Walter Berglund, / the heroic crank of Jonathan Frazen’s Freedom, / who argues / that growth in a mature economy, / like that in a mature organism, / is not healthy / but cancerous. “Japan doesn’t need to be No 2 in the world, nor No 5 or 15,” Prof Kato wrote. “It’s time to look to more important things.”

Simultaneous & Automatic • In the case of Simultaneous Interpretation, EXPRESSING (output) has to be Automatic also No “searching” for the right word • A delay by a split second decides the outcome (瞬間の勝負) Gymnastics on the bar Monkeys in the zoo Even when doing Consecutive Interpretation, UNDERSTANDING has to be

KNOWLEDGE- ASSISTED COMPREHENSION For beginner-interpreters who have not yet fully acquired the habit of Intensive Listening, Assignments in the fields of familiar topics will help, because what they missed catching (ie, information, meaning…) may be supplemented by Knowledge.

KNOWLEDGE- ASSISTED COMPREHENSION • Knowledge can fill the gap in understanding black Crows are White?! Bald eagles are… ?? Kingfishers are…??

Usually, the hardest jobs are given to starters Tributyl-chlorostannane, Hexabutyl-distatannoxane,… VS Little Leo-chan and Ms Lucy Murphy’s Law But it never works that way

Interpreters (通訳者) Interrupters(妨害者) • How can you expect me to interpret when I cannot hear? (bad sound) • When I cannot see? (too dark, too far) • Maybe this is English? (very strong accent) (Relay interpreting) * THEY are to blame:

Interpreters (通訳者) Interrupters(妨害者) • Speeding (Crack down on hot-rodders, please!) • So many personal names, place names, names of organizations… • If you are going to tell a joke, tell me the joke beforehand .* THEY are to blame:

Interpreters (通訳者) Interrupters(妨害者) • Puns and word plays should be forbidden at international conferences • Sloppy sentences with no subject, no verb, no… • Reading out a speech is generally a bad idea. Non-communication.* THEY are to blame:

Interpreters (通訳者) Interrupters(妨害者) • Quoting from legal documents, laws, treaties, contracts, etc • Providing no manuscript of the speech, talking points, reference material • No briefing session. “He is such a busy person we can’t possibly ask him to set aside some time for briefing the interpreters.” THEY are to blame:

Interpreters (通訳者) Interrupters(妨害者) • “You are going to be only as good as your interpreter, so please…” • If you get praise for doing a good interpreting job, it is mostly because the speaker was doing a good job. THEY are to blame:

WE are to blame: • Language proficiency lacking (Listening as well as expressing ) • Special Interpreting Skills lacking (Intensive Listening / Quick Information Processing) • Analytical mind and overall comprehension wanting

WE are to blame: • Lack of study and preparation • Lack of intelligence and liberal arts education Bible, Qur’an?, Shakespeare, poems, famous historical speeches, Latin(terra incognito…) Haiku, yojijukugo(明鏡止水、我田引水)、 proverbs(馬の耳に念仏)

WE are to blame: External Memory (dictionary) vs Internal Memory Must enrich your Internal Memory

WE are to blame: • Lack of sleep, health problems, fatigue • Depressed / feeling low

CAREER DEVELOPMENT Choose which fields you want to specialize Medicine, pharmaceuticals, IT, computer, finance, business, economics, politics, international relations, human rights, environment, gender issues, etc Devote yourself to study and preparation

CAREER DEVELOPMENT Have courage to take risks Do not be deterred by mistakes and failures; use them so that “failing” does not lead into “losing” This can be done only by giving a good “aftercare service” (review lessons) to the work you‘ve failed to do well

Luck is where preparation meets opportunity (運も実力のうち)

REWARDS (通訳冥利) Keeping up with the times and reporting on the latest move （We got him!） Coming into contact with world’s top-class thinkers / with various different ideas and thought patterns Hearing and translating inspirational speeches

REWARDS (通訳冥利) Meeting Wonderful Personalities Getting eyes and mind opened to the world Becoming interested in communication Changing myself

“Thank you for being me, but mostly for being you.” 私になってくれてありがとう。でもそれ以上に、あなたであってくれてありがとう。

Dear Speaker, You Are Going to Be Only as Good as Your Interpreter, So Please…