The Linguist

The Linguist 52,1

The Linguist is a languages magazine for professional linguists, translators, interpreters, language professionals, language teachers, trainers, students and academics with articles on translation, interpreting, business, government, technology

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Vol/52 No/1 2013 FEBRUARY/MARCH The Linguist 7 FEATURES require certain standards of travel and accommodation it is because these conditions are essential in order to be able to work properly. CK Flying does add an extra strain. Tonight, for example, we're landing in Malta at 12.30am, we'll be at our hotel probably at 1.30 and we have to be at the conference centre tomorrow morning at 8.15, which of course for us is 7.15. FDR Flying can take its toll so you have to make it as pleasant as you can. We only ever take hand luggage, we've got a lounge pass and that has transformed travelling for us. The job is seasonal: May/June/July is insane. You could easily have three bookings for the same day. CK There was one summer when we were travelling for 10 weeks on the trot. TL It sounds exhausting. How do you cope? FDR To be in this profession you've got to be relaxed and not easily fazed – you need to be healthy. CK The great thing with simultaneous interpreting is that you always work from a soundproof booth, which means that for the duration of the conference you have your own environment, almost like a cocoon, where you can make yourself comfortable. It is much harder doing consecutive; it is more tiring and demanding. FDR Yesterday we were working for the G6. We were interpreting at a dinner and sat just behind our ministers, whispering. Of course, when they want to speak we have to do consecutive interpreting, and we feel – and are – much more exposed. CK Yet when you're in a booth the delegates are hardly aware of your presence. FDR They just think they've got really sophisticated headphones! [Laughs] CK Françoise had Rachida Dati [then French Minister of Justice] buttering sandwiches for her once, because she felt it was so appalling having the interpreter sitting behind her! FDR Of course I couldn't use the bread because if I'd started munching… So, thank god, the waiter came to collect the plate. CK At a conference, the first half hour is always the most difficult because you have to attune yourself to the various speakers and recall all the new vocabulary that you have acquired especially for that meeting. FDR What I find more stressful is when we work with lawyers. We're far more exposed, often they speak very good French themselves. Legal vocabulary is very specific. Carine Kennedy and Françoise Delas- Reisz count the Queen, the Pope, and numerous politicians and heads of state among their clients. We invited them to share their experiences with TL readers, and Carine invited us into her home for tea, biscuits and a very candid interview. The Linguist: You've been working as conference interpreters for 25 years, why did you start working together? Carine Kennedy: It's a tough profession so it's essential to work with someone you get on with. Françoise Delas-Reisz: The job in itself is extremely demanding so you can only work for 20 minutes to half an hour until your colleague takes over, and it is essential that during your 'off' time you have a real break, but at the same time stay alert, just in case. CK And we help each other automatically. I know if Françoise is struggling for a word and she knows if I am. It is also true in our private life: When we speak to each other we don't even have to finish the sentence. But if we speak to our partners, we have to dot the i's and cross the t's [laughs]. FDR The conversation becomes very esoteric because I start, she carries on… CK We have the same interests, so when we are at a conference abroad, if we have any spare time we will naturally spend it together visiting museums (or, more often, shopping). I recall a conference we did in the Seychelles and we were in our swimsuits most of the time. But that sort of assignment occurs once in a blue moon. FDR Interpreters sometimes have a reputation for being divas. However if we In conversation with high-level conference interpreters Françoise Delas-Reisz and Carine Kennedy Never a dull day SNAPSHOTS Françoise finds time for sightseeing on an assignment in Florence (top); and Carine interprets for David Cameron at a meeting with Nicolas Sarkozy (above)

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