News from France

Met A. in Tokyo yesterday. A. is living in France. She does interpreting and teach Japanese. She contacted me in regards to the interpreter meeting of October. She is enthusiastic, she requested we meet, she agrees with my analysis of the deer situation of French Japanese interpretation, confirming that over there same as here, interpreters shun at getting in touch with each over. They are rocks, and usually feeble ones as in Japan. She is exactly how others should be. Open, thoughtful, willing to discuss, share, investigate, and try creating something. At the same time, I understand she does not exactly get what an online group is, and I have already suspected that many actually do not get the idea right. The Internet is a post-office cum reference tool, but the communication potential, the creative side of it all is lost and blank stares, a white or grey zone at best. The conversation was cheerful but the prospects are not. There's a casual strong suspicion down there that communicating among peers means danger, risk, just like here in Japan. Add to this in Japan the church like set-up where the top-notched interpreters like popes in their tiny realm high in the sky manage a small cast of sheepish priest passively waiting for the agencies to call and bestow them with opportunities to work. It's hopeless. There is a need for at least a dozen people like A. to start something. And it's pretty much out of reach. Everything that is discussed here, this monologue, should be discussed among peers. There should be no need nor even time for writing down a blog like this because enough opportunities for dialogue would make blogging redundant.