Transcript Dear Speaker, You Are Going to Be Only as Good as Your

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
[email protected]
Types of
Interpreting
 Tour Guide
 General
Interpreting
 Conference
interpreting
 Broadcast
Interpreting
 Community
Interpreting
Medical Care
Methods of
Interpreting
 Consecutive
 Whispering
 Simultaneous
 RelaySimultaneous
 SemiSimultaneous
 Time-lag
Simultaneous
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…
1. Problems with input ――Didn’t really understand what’s
being said
2. Problems with output ――Poor ability to express in the
target language
3. 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.”
Even when doing Consecutive Interpretation,
UNDERSTANDING has to be
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
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
Crows are
black
White?!
Bald eagles are… ??
Kingfishers are…??
But it never works that way
Usually, the hardest jobs are given to starters
Tributyl-chlorostannane, Hexabutyl-distatannoxane,…
VS
Little Leo-chan and Ms Lucy
Murphy’s Law
Interpreters
(通訳者)
Interrupters
(妨害者)
THEY are to blame:
1. How can you expect me to interpret when I
cannot hear? (bad sound)
2. When I cannot see? (too dark, too far)
3. Maybe this is English? (very strong accent)
(Relay interpreting) *
Interpreters
(通訳者)
Interrupters
(妨害者)
THEY are to blame:
4. Speeding (Crack down on hot-rodders,
please!)
5. So many personal names, place names,
names of organizations…
6. If you are going to tell a joke, tell me
the joke beforehand .*
Interpreters
(通訳者)
Interrupters
(妨害者)
THEY are to blame:
7.
Puns and word plays should be
forbidden at international conferences
8. Sloppy sentences with no subject, no
verb, no…
9. Reading out a speech is generally a bad
idea. Non-communication.*
Interpreters
(通訳者)
Interrupters
(妨害者)
THEY are to blame:
10. Quoting from legal documents, laws,
treaties, contracts, etc
11. Providing no manuscript of the speech,
talking points, reference material
12. No briefing session. “He is such a busy
person we can’t possibly ask him to set
aside some time for briefing the
interpreters.”
Interpreters
(通訳者)
Interrupters
(妨害者)
THEY are to blame:
 “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.
WE are to blame:
1. Language proficiency lacking (Listening as well
as expressing )
2. Special Interpreting Skills lacking (Intensive
Listening / Quick Information Processing)
3. Analytical mind and overall comprehension
wanting
WE are to blame:
4. Lack of study and preparation
5. 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:
6. Lack of sleep, health problems, fatigue
7. Depressed / feeling low
CAREER DEVELOPMENT
1. Choose which fields you want to specialize
Medicine, pharmaceuticals, IT, computer, finance, business,
economics, politics, international relations, human rights,
environment, gender issues, etc
2. Devote yourself to study and preparation
CAREER DEVELOPMENT
3. Have courage to take risks
4. Do not be deterred by mistakes and
failures; use them so that “failing” does not
lead into “losing”
5. 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。