Your man in Tokyo, or Havana

The liaison officer, our man in Havana. It starts with the convenience of using that young local lad who speaks the language, who is local, here, that is, there. He is sympathetic. He seems to communicate well, that is less in terms of linguistic competence than in terms of bonding competence. For the businessmen who have disregarded using an interpreter, relying instead on physical descriptive language (go fingers) pointing at things, using drastically reduced and oversimplified English, our man in Havana (was it Tokyo) smoothens and enriches the interaction. He leaves a trail of good feeling after the meetings are over. The businessmen feel the interaction was richer than ever. They go back to their country and back to the slow process of spotty exchanges of email with their local partners. The momentum locally felt has loosed steam.

During their stay(s), they discussed with the interpreter many times. He has shown opinions, he has made suggestions in the mist of deliberations. He has shown self-confidence, has offered on the spot alternative ways to push forward the discussion. He has absolutely not shown what you read in books, that is, neutrality. The clients have been all the more grateful for him not being neutral. He has been an interpreter and a counsultant and a facilitator, switching caps on the spot, demonstrating deftness at anticipation and fitting the requisite of the situations, that is, what he felt as the requisite to benefit his clients.

This interpreter is hardly defined and described in the literature. Even the liaison interpreter - an almost pure linguistic agent - doesn't look like him. He belongs more to the burly local guide tracing the way through the steppes of the last of the Mohican.

This interpreter is at risk of overdoing, stealing the show, self-confidence being a slippery slope to bragging being cleverer than his client. He must not only monitor the situation, but monitor his play on the stage. The less experienced he is, the more he risks to forget that his job is still that of a conduct. How much of showmanship will be needed massively depends on the client's style, but also the level of specialization of the client, and also the human relations between the members of the team being his clients. A single traveling businessman will not behave the way a group with a leader does. You don't read about this in the books, except in theater plays or vaudeville.