The events of people's everyday lives

"In the past, the primary focus of studies of interpreting has been on communication between groups of people with different languages and cultures at an international level. The present and the future are as much about communication between people of different languages and cultures within national borders and concerned with the events of people's everyday lives."

These are the starting lines of a new book, "Public Service Interpreting - The First Steps" by Ann Corsellis I am now reading. It's a good book, set in reality, especially that of the UK, that is pretty far away from Japan, although a similar book was published here a few month ago, also set in the nitty-gritty reality of life in the society. I am sorry business interpreting is such a matter of fact that it is out of the scope of any writing I am aware of, except maybe in academic circles, but even there, I doubt it is a matter of discussion altogether. It's a good book and it strikes a chord these days. Although not many, I do receive from time to time requests for interpreting by private persons in need of services that pertain to daily life. Someone called because there is a need to go together and open an account at a bank in Tokyo. To put things plain, the opportunity cost is too high to accept such assignments, unless the private person agrees to pay upfront my standard fees which are fees for corporations. There are volunteer interpreters of all kind, especially in the tourist guiding sector. I have met some, usually elderly people who relish in the opportunity to meet foreigners and use their foreign languages. The other side of the coin is to suggest and hire a beginner interpreter who will accept the opportunity to practice even if the money is short. Maybe I should consider this kind of activity into the old age. At the same time, while being in the market for money, I am not confident in certain cases to say no to certain requests, or I should set a special framework, something in the manner of "On Wednesdays, the barber shaves for free." Or rather "for less", because free interpreting, except for the exceptional, is not acceptable an option. It is a huge disservice to the profession; it spreads the word that interpreting is an occupational, philanthropic activity. There are very few reasons in rich countries where interpreting should be provided for nothing. If for something, that "something" could be defined as non-monetary, but not as "nothing". Also, my latest private person needing to go to the bank may be someone who would freeze at hearing my fees, but who is at the same time wealthy enough that shelling the amount would be, financially speaking, a non-event. I charge in any case a minimum of three hours in a row when dealing with corporations. Three hours means a short morning, from 9 am to lunch. A few weeks ago, someone called from the UK in need of a 30 minutes service in Tokyo, and was pissed of by my request. They don't teach the principle of opportunity cost at schools. That is the problem. Anyway, public or community interpreting in Tokyo will be a source of activity in the near future for the sheer growth of foreigners living here, that includes well-off foreigners as well. At last week's monthly meeting of the Forum AIIFJ, a embryonic trial at setting up one day an association of French-Japanese interpreter, a Japanese social worker briefly talked about a niche market she was considering in Tokyo, that is, taking care of elderly French people living in Tokyo. When thinking about it, it comes as a matter of fact, There will be a few hundred of such people in Tokyo in the future, probably historically more than any time back in the past. And that will make for a super tiny niche market of sort. Even if not practicing, thinking about public or community interpreting is setting light onto the reality of life.