The Linguist

14 The Linguist Vol/64 No/2 ciol.org.uk/thelinguist FEATURES Could linguists become influencers like people in other fields? Jonathan Downie tries to widen his social media reach While YouTube has made stars of engineers, scientists, artists, food experts, and even people who video themselves unboxing things, language professionals have not done so well. Sure, there are channels on language learning, some on linguistics, and even one or two on interpreting and translation, but these are hardly taking the world by storm. I wondered why. And then it hit me. Look at any channel on translation and interpreting and one thing is clear: we are making videos for people who are already like us. Search for 'conference interpreting' and, apart from a couple of videos from Wired, you will find videos made by interpreters (or trainers) for interpreters. And the presentation style is very professional but not very engaging for those outside our world. I decided to try something different. Inspired by Will Flannery, an ophthalmologist posting funny short videos on the US healthcare system under the name of Dr Glaucomflecken, I decided to start making my own shorts of less than 60 seconds covering the realities of interpreting, with some humour mixed in. I posted them to my Integrity_Languages Instagram feed and my Inside Interpreting and Multilingual Church YouTube channels. Here's what I found. CONTENT CREATION ISN'T EASY The first thing I found was that having a constant stream of ideas is hard. For every day when I can reel off four video ideas before the kids are out of their pyjamas, there are others where my ideas pile consists of notes like 'something to do with pastry' or 'some speakers are annoying sometimes'. The reality is that even a one-minute video takes time to script, set up, edit, and then re-edit when I realise I said the wrong word. Initially, I decided to release a short video every week, no matter what. That hasn't happened. From flu to norovirus, and from needing mental health days to being short of ideas, I haven't kept to my schedule. Just finding a quiet time and space to record can be tricky when you have young children. Another factor is that some ideas don't work in short form. I recently made a much longer video, of around 17 minutes, on a revolution that happened in interpreting in the 1990s. I cannot do justice to that in 60 seconds but I can take the time to get it right. THE ALGORITHM MAKES NO SENSE I have learnt one hard lesson. I have videos that took hours of planning and detailed editing. Largely, those videos have done poorly. Yesterday, I recorded a video on the way back from taking a toddler to the park. The sound was basic, the framing was strange, there was no real script, and it was only 17 seconds long. As I write, that video has been viewed over 1,300 times. I have no explanation for that. I have played with thumbnails, altered titles, looked to follow on from video ideas that worked, and even tried some clickbait. None of those things seems to make much difference. Algorithms are odd and don't so much reward effort as they reward consistency. But that makes things better for us. You never know who will see your videos. While it would be nice to say that being on YouTube had led to a large sponsorship deal and a new career, that isn't my story. My biggest aims were simply to bring the realities of interpreting to YouTube in an entertaining way, and to reach people who might not know much about it. It turns out that I might be succeeding at that. Alongside comments from fellow interpreters, I have comments where people have told their stories of being roped into interpreting or of relying on interpreters. Others have commented on how important and skilful interpreters are. I have even had discussions with people who think human interpreting is dying. People interested in studying interpreting have said that the videos have inspired them. I might think I am just making silly videos about interpreters' greatest fears ("I'd like to begin my keynote speech with a joke") or entertaining things to say during sound checks ("to reduce carbon emissions, Vin Diesel is to be renamed Vin Solar Power"). But it turns out that I am helping people see interpreting in a new light, creating space for them to tell their stories, and prompting monolinguals to think differently about careers in languages. It's not quite worldwide reach, but it's an important start. I can pin my value to the vagaries of the algorithm or I can keep trying and keep creating, knowing my videos are helping people, even just a few. VIDEO MADE THE LANGUAGE STAR?

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