Family matters

Consecutive can take place in an unlimited number of settings where simul will never reign anytime soon. In business meetings - some are performed using simul though - in the streets of Bagdad, in a hospital or at the home of a family the interpreter was called in. It happened to me the other day and it was the first time. The settings was divorce, not a joyful matter, not a complicated one too as very few legal wordings were involved. But emotionally speaking, it was no kid's game. I am used to be a confident of sort to strangers who need someone to talk to about matters they ache with. It started at school, and it's going on. You simply cannot turn away from the situation, unless you set a strict rule that you don't meet the client prior and after the session. Liaison interpreting may need extra task of accompaniment of the client. It was just what happened, and divorce in international weddings here being, as anything that strains couple relationships, a matter of communication, or more exactly the lack of it, I was avidly grilled before and after the session by the client about anything Japan, all the more that when it comes to communication in Japan from the point of view of a Westerner, I could already write a book about that matter. During the session of course, the interpreter delivers and must keep as neutral as possible, which means first trying and control emotion at bay, in a situation oozing with emotion, strain and tensed episodes. The interpreter must also limit the interactions with the participants, although he is called for opinions at time. Being a transmitter of meanings and culture put you in the seat of the guy with extra-knowledge. It is a deep an fascinating experience, also an exhausting one. Even with the homey comfort of nice house somewhere outside Tokyo, with drinks and cakes available, I delivered a good three hours non-stop in emotionally heated setting. One thing they don't teach you at language school is non-language communication and the reading of body gestures and faces. It is an aggravating fact and should be requisite in advanced language training. Being upset is simply not played in Japan the way it is somewhere else, and I had plenty of time to observe the show of faces, grins, slightly changing voice pitches that were telling a story not popping up as words. From that point of view, my client was totally - of course - uncultured, and the reverse was true. It was an exposure of gaps between two cultures, gaps that were incidently at the very core of the divorce matter. The cultured interpreter is strongly enticed to intervene beyond interpreting, and it is an issue that violently questions the neutrality of the job. Exhausted as I was, I hinted to the client that I will have to call it quit sometimes soon as we were getting into the late evening hours and the dialogue was an endless circle. It helped try and bring it to an unsatisfactory conclusion, and the role of the interpreter here, when the client under massive emotion is simply not able to manage the conversation, is a big question mark that can't be shoved aside. It is humanly exhausting, emotionally absolutely not neutral even if I was aware enough to keep things at bay with myself. If the call for another similar task come anytime soon, I will positively answer to it, because the situations are an open book they don't sell in bookshops.