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 9 FEATURES you can prepare thoroughly. I was interpreting for [Congolese gynaecologist] Denis Mukwege, who works with women who have been sexually attacked, and I had no idea who he was – I hadn't been given a name. I came into the room and I said, 'Can we chat?' I was relieved that we could: he made a rather empassioned speech and if I'd had to do that without knowing anything about him it would have been quite difficult. TL How do you cope with distressing subjects? CK I have welled up a few times. Robert Menard from Reporters Sans Frontières was talking about losing his best friend who had been in hiding for three years in Algiers. His friend was desperate for pizza one night, went out and got shot straightaway. Menard was completely devastated telling that story. One cannot help but empathise. FDR We are mimics in a way: you sound excited, you sound upset, you sound sarcastic, like they do. TL Almost like actors… CK That's how we work, because we do a lot of work for the media and when you're working for television you've almost got to make the interpretation sound like a voiceover. But some colleagues have been taught to work in a sort of neutral way. Like a robot. FDR Like a machine. But we are neutral in so far as we give the same amount of ourselves to whoever. We don't choose to be dull with one and lively with another. TL What about with high-profile clients, such as heads of state. Do you give a bit extra? CK No. Neither Françoise or myself get fazed by people's standing; we just talk to them like anyone else. Once, Prince Andrew was explaining to Rashida Dati what he did and I said, 'Oh you sound like a travelling salesman!' It just came out and he actually agreed. TL When you're working for the royal family, what's the protocol? CK Most of the times I've interpreted for royalty it was when ambassadors were presenting their credentials. So you have to go with the ambassador to St James's Palace the day before and they're shown exactly what they have to do. The next day you go to Buckingham Palace in a 19th-century carriage – it's lined with silk and has decorations made of ivory. You can go down Park Lane the wrong way, you don't stop at traffic lights… But really, the Queen didn't need me at all. I was an insurance policy: she understood what was being said. TL And at meetings of heads of state, such as NATO or G20, what's the security like? CK Extremely tight. You have to send copies of your passport beforehand and photos. FDR You have to arrive hours in advance and you're stopped three times before reaching the booth. But then, at the G20, you could see Obama gliding in front of the booth and Berlusconi constantly on the phone. It is quite amusing being up close and personal with all these people. CK You can never get bored. We're doing a conference on immigration this week, next week an international transport conference and after that a conference for a major shopping retailer. We've been asked to do a meeting for the Department of Pensions, then we've got another media event. FDR You feel your brain is ticking the whole time. TL What are the biggest challenges linguistically? CK Jokes are impossible to translate. FDR You say, 'Laugh and if you're really interested come and see me at break time and I'll try to explain.' Proverbs also. I think it's amusing to think what the alternative is. Years ago there was a speaker who said 'the straw that breaks the camel's back'. In French, you say 'the drop of water that makes the vase overflow', but unfortunately the speaker carried on with his camel and there I was with a vase of water, so I had to quickly back-pedal and say, 'as they say in English…' So proverbs are tricky, sports are tricky too; try to explain the rules of cricket to French delegates. Sometimes you have to do a bit of cultural explanation. TL What about new jargon. How do you keep on top of that? CK You read a lot. I watch French television. You keep yourself informed. TL What about the set-up in the booths? What are some of the challenges? CK Sometimes you have to work in relay. For example if there is a Thai speaker you will have to listen to Thai-English interpretation and you will interpret from that. On a few occasions it has happened that this interpretation was dreadful, which in turn meant that we were unable to work particularly well into French. FDR Sometimes the people who are organising a conference are more interested in the look of the room, so they will put your booth behind a pillar because it doesn't look nice elsewhere. CK To work blind is horrible. Not seeing the speakers' facial expressions is the most awful way of working. It can also happen that we have to work from television screens and when someone new speaks the cameraman often forgets to move. FDR Once we start work, though, we don't make a fuss. We realise we're a service. We're not the star of the show. So we just get on with it. GOVERNMENT INSIGHTS Carine (l) and Françoise pose for a photo while working for the FCO at Lancaster House