Double blindness

Back to over the phone interpretation sessions, this time unrelated with clinical studies. There's an agent in-between that has not suggested the client to share with the interpreter the documents to be discussed over the phone. Phone itself creates blindness that has to be dealt with. The lack of common visual cues is increased by the lack of shared documents. So they are discussing on maps, plans and other business papers I have to make sense of visualized to make meaning transfer happen. There is no issue of confidentiality involved that might explain the systemic mishap. I have been through three sessions now with an increasingly better grasp at the issues at stake, but in double blindness. If you expect more efficiency from an OPI interpreter, think about sharing some documents.

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Race, gender and nationality

Race, gender and nationality of the interpreter are determining factors
And how could they no be so? The Migrant Information Centre of Eastern Melbourne has a piece of document flying around that plainly states in a chapter reading “What to do if a consumer refuses an Interpreter” the following : ” * reassure the client that they will have a choice of gender and nationality of the interpreter; they can even request a specific interpreter or have the full name of the interpreter”.

Of course, it might easily said that the document refers to a service - immigration interview - where nationality, race and genders do play an important part in the interaction and prejudices on both side of the communication loop. But do matters of race, genders and nationality are less or not important in other situations, and especially in business liaison interpreting? My experience tells me that with Japanese - and I assume and many languages - these factors are as important as in any other settings. The interpreter hidden in the booth is another story I have no experience to tell about. But liaison interpreting has shown me time and again that the dynamics at work are heavily modified by the above factors. I will try in further posts discussing more in details these issues, not in terms of the standard polemical fact that Japanese clients of interpretation service expect as a matter of fact to be catered by a Japanese national, Japanese looking interpreter. I will try instead to develop a strategic analysis of what those pregnant factors bring about in terms of communication objectives of clients, and why the clients should in the best of worlds take into considerations factors that go well beyond the almost mundane issue of language competency.

Regressing

Not totally off-topic but I would like to keep trace of the news that "All 104 foreign nurses who came to Japan in 2008 with aspirations of working failed the first national examination in February 2009." The culprit is not their medical competence they seem to have aplenty. But kanji, the almighty untouchable glorious sacred you name it Japanese language wealth of Chinese characters. There are less kanji in Japanese than in Chinese, but yet enough to occupy a huge chunk of time of compulsory education. Relying more and more on computers and keyboard input has a tremendous impact on kanji competence, mostly the writing of these, but as with video game impact on society, it is a tabou to raise the hypothesis that despite a touted +98% national literacy rate, a proportion of Japanese may not be immune to reading incompetence in daily life. It will take time, just like aids, just like anything foreign to be discovered. The strain that kanji pushes onto modern life is terrific. And the point is not to get rid of them, but make reading accessible for the sake of quicker meaning understanding. Newspapers, the popular kind, have been using larger fonts over the years to put less strain on the growing older eyes of readers. But those readers are assumed to suffer sight problems, not deciphering limitations. Except for the exceptional kanji rare or tricky enough that requires reading help in finer scripting, everything is based on the assumed literacy of the many. I must reckon myself that heavy use of computers and on-screen reading has taken a terrible toll on my competence to write kanji, not so much writing but remembering in the mind how a kanji looks like. I feel compassionate with foreign nurses who would be anyway competent reading and transmitting information otherwise.

"However, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry and the Japanese Nursing Association appear reluctant to change the exam. They believe the nurses should gain Japanese proficiency to the level where they can pass on patient details and work-related matters to coworkers."

The Japanese Nursing Association looks much like you WWII veteran associations with a lifelong free pass to Yasukuni shrine. This attitude that bodes nothing good to the society at large tells a story the majority don't want to hear about.

Build Up Your Business Credit

It is very important to build up your business credit scores to be able to avail of financial loans to fund your small business. In truth, small enterprises are now clamoring about for loans to improve their business by using the money for improvements, or purchasing inventory to meet consumer demands.

Building up your business credit takes a lot time and effort, and requires a paper works by the dozen. Here are some tips on how to get started in giving your business credit rating a healthy boost:

Set a business identity first

The first step in improving your business credit is to get one in the first place. This can be done by registering your business as an LLC or a corporation. Next you need to provide all the necessary paper works required by lenders such as legal document like business permits and licenses, financial statements, references, contracts, and so on.

You need to keep in mind that when you register your business as an independent entity, you need to have a fixed address of your business, as well as open lines of communication. (Note that P.O. Box is not acceptable as a business address)

You might also need to register your business in a credit agency so they can keep tabs on your credit ratings and scores. These organizations will act as reference when you apply for a financial loan that requires a valid credit report.

Building up your credit status will depend on the financial stability of your business as based on the financial documents during its operation. Also, prompt payments are a major issue when it comes to raising your credit status. Fail to pay on the date agreed; you get a negative score on your credit score if that happens.

You might also need to keep monitor credit card reports when they are delivered to you. Try to check for transactions that you did, or did not, make. If you spot an error, report it immediately to the corresponding agency. This will result to a higher credit rating.

Not leaving a call unanswered

I hate simply declining a job offer and not point the service buyer to someone I know who may provide it. It sounds trite and lame and who cares, but passing around jobs is less a matter of altruism, and more a strategic approach to create and develop a professional dynamics. Unfortunately, I don't know a lot of people in that industry, and even less I can easily cooptate based on the trust that the reverse service could happen. On top of that, allowing services to be delivered direct, without the too often useless intermediary of an agent is a kind of small victory each time. The interesting part of the request I passed along is that it was about simul interpretation which I do not provide. There is still very well entrenched the perspective that simul must be dealt with through an agent, but many examples I have heard about tell me another story. Not leaving a call unanswered, even if that crumb doesn't feed me any tangible benefit, is a strategic move not to let go down.

Bad Traits to Avoid If You Wish to Achieve Your Goals

A lot of people stay unsuccessful or have alternating experiences with success and failure, simply because they do not know that they have many bad traits. Bad traits pertain to habits and personal characteristics that ultimately lead to failure. Some of the things you've been so used to doing for several years may be the main reason why you struggle much.

The Basic Bad Habits

Laziness is one of the negative habits that a loser has. The worse thing is, lazy people usually do not want to get rid of the problem. If you want to achieve your goals, you need to understand the value of hard work and perseverance. Some of the greatest people in the world are known to work way more than those who did not leave a mark. The greats work longer hours, sleep less, eat less, wake up earlier and suffer more than anybody else. It takes sacrifice to reach your goals. The most important thing to know is that everything you have ever wanted is just outside your comfort zone.

Another bad habit that people have dealt with for several years is fear. They fear things and events without even trying. Some people are even afraid of success subconsciously in a way that they refute any opportunity that can make them great. Some people do not realize that they just do not or cannot handle the bigger responsibilities that achieved goals come with. You should understand that once you reach a certain goal, it can mean that the bar has just been raised for you to accomplish more.

Personal Bad Traits

Selfishness is a bad trait that you need to get rid of to achieve your goals. There are individuals who do not want to get help from others because they do not want to share their expected success. What's sad is that most of them do not actually reach their goals. There is so much joy and celebration for every success that can be shared between several individuals. There is even so much money in the world for everyone to stay rich. Even if you may be better off doing some things yourself, still you cannot do everything.

Habitual Developments to Achieve Your Goals

People may be successful or fail in their goals alternately, simply because they have not adopted the right habits that ultimately make winners. You can stay successful for life and achieve your goals, regardless of the type and challenges, by having the right mindset and attitude. Start building healthier habits for a well-rounded lifestyle you can be proud of.

Motivation Matters

Motivation is the first step in starting your quest towards your goal, as well as making sure that you stick to it no matter what. The best person who can motivate you for life should be yourself. Always visualize that you are a strong, capable and wilful individual who can achieve anything as long as you put in enough time, work and heart into it.

You can also find a support system that can motivate you should you lose steam alter on. Some of the best persons include your family, your best friend, your spouse and your kids. Having a partner can greatly help so that you can both inspire and push each other, when one is not feeling that good or lacks encouragement.

Progress and Review

Establish schedules to check your progress, using a calendar system. You can also include tools like a handwritten list, a PDA or a day planner. When setting goals, you need to be specific and include the deadlines for each objective and goal. You need to develop the plan over time as you go over and review the items carefully. Some items will have to be revised later on as you'll soon realize. The more important thing is that you stay on track and do not lose courage and motivation.

The borderline of liaison interpreting

This is a recurrent subject in this blog as many other articles are. There is a borderline in liaison interpreting. Many have stories or self-experience of adhoc liaison interpreters teaming with their clients and move away from interpretation to something called business. Interpretation was an activity to pay the bill at least while waiting for the opportunity to get out of it into a position usually perceived in the business world as large as of better status. The interpreter, always in-between, is a carriage wheel. An assistant-manager likes to consider herself as an actor, not a transmission gear. Self-respect in liaison interpreting. A subject for the future. But when the interpreter positions herself, in sense of claim, attitude an pro-active demeanor, as someone ready to deliver more than communication conduction, suggestions, offers may pop up in the off-duty conversation. "You should go into ..." is an explicit enough message that you competences are wasted in doing "only interpretation". Not only this perpetuates with some the potential uneasiness of presenting the self as "only an interpreter", but also entertains a possible secret wish to escape out of it all into "the real life". I witnessed such situation during a negotiation session where that other side there came with their own interpreter, a Japanese woman (no surprise), very much competent and actually graduated in a speciality (not interpretation at all) that was a perfect match to the scientific subject at stake. I don't remember the exact circumstances but during a chatty scene where the interpreters where part of the discussion and not only communication conducts, she was rightly praised by the other side on how she understood the complex subject and that she could be a valuable staff at their company. To which she expressed a longing indeed to consider an offer. It was not total standard niceties required by politeness and local formalities. It was genuine, and she was in substance saying that she would appreciate to get out of it all. The borderline is never far when you are not satisfied enough with status, social recognition and the likes. The call of the wild larger business world, that implicit condescendence down at the profession are major inhibitors seldom talked about. Professionalization also refers to restricted matters of self and societal esteem at large

Slowing down shadowing and the consequence of it

What is the point to do shadowing when you don't work in simultaneous? I pushed sideway the training for months, and when trying and get back at it these days, it shows how shadowing is an intense business you quickly get alien to once you pull back for a while. It is also the opportunity to reassess the value of slowdowning software I used to rely upon for a few months some years ago, before switching to real speed mode. Amazing X is by no means better on Mac than Audiolobe. Audiolobe has a sexier interface but poor control. Amazing X window is boring but functions are easier to use.

I still have to answer the question I asked a the beginning of this article. Shadowing is for tensing the muscle, sharpen the prosody, and focus more on the meaning. Directly, it does not benefit consec in a tangible way, but sharpness and rebound competence, especially being able to accelerate when requested by the situation benefit from sustained shadowing. Neurons pretty get dull after a time once you quit doing it. You start getting fatter, that is, duller to some extend. That's why I am progressively back at it.

Those other things and the intervening medium

Read in the Sydney Herald Morning web site, in the article "Credibility concerns prompt calls for interpreting training" :

"We can train them to do well those other things that do have an impact on the outcome".

The article refers to court interpreting.

"'Most barristers would form the view that a jury is likely to lose the impact of a witness it there's an intervening medium such as an interpreter.''

A catalogue of those other things, that is besides the words output, requires a big shift from language considerations into gestures, tone, speed, attitude and more, and the position, presence of the intervening medium. The attitudes of the intervening medium is also heavily culturally built and biased. It's just a feeling, nothing quantified or deeply thought about. In Japan, the communication dynamics in liaison interpreting is determined to an extend I assume to be large by the nationality of the interpreter and the rapport of nationality between the interpreter and her direct clients. It is by no means limited to Japan. But what is clear here at least is that Japanese at large are ill at ease and suspicious with an interpreter who is not Japanese. When they have a choice, they dismiss the non-Japanese interpreter. This single element defines the market. And when it is the foreign clients who come with their own interpreter, the nationality of that intervening medium is a major element that is to define the dynamics of interactions. Has anyone written about this?

Addendum:

Also read this corollary article : New research reveals the importance of accurate court interpreting

How these reflections should be extended to interpretation outside the court, into all the possible situations of liaison (community) interpreting? I am especially concerned here with business interpreting where there are outcomes and issues and consequences at stake too, with various degrees of severity.

Your mission starts now

As a business liaison interpreter and thanks to writing this blog as a way to focus and think, and also thanks to reading whatever academic paper is available around, it looks now obvious that an assignment does not start when interpreting is required, but prior to this.

I was thinking deep and clear about that fact while commuting the other day where I was to meet first time a new client and bring him to the meeting point with his local business partners. We were about to spend three days together, me as his hired interpreter. It may sound trite to highlight that the business relationship that had been mostly epistolary until the meeting was about to start the very moment I was to recognize him in the lobby and shake hands. The first contact and the following minutes spent to know each other are crucial and related with interpersonal skills. It is a time of trial when you are not especially comfortable meeting people first time. I am one of these uncomfortable lad. It can be done though. Nay, it must be done, and perfection is not required.

These first minutes should be dealt with strategy in mind, and not only as a time to try and get a good briefing before interpretation actually starts. In fact, granted the client doesn't engage right away into the matter at stake, and you have some time ahead, just don't jump asking questions about what's coming next. Instead, invest emotionally.

I called this moment in front of my students a few days ago a time for "emotional investment". Whether you will deal again with that customer or not is not an issue. Just walk the walk as if you are building a lasting relationship with a repater. You must create a good impression, a sense of your reliability, competence in navigating the space - this time moving by subway to another location or giving instructions to the taxi.

Besides covering the mundane like how was the trip, is it your first time coming in Japan, etc., I have found that whenever possible, asking questions about the town from where the client comes is a sure way to gain granular insights and please that person because evoking home usually feels good. Don't give a presentation on Japan, the Japanese. I did more than one time and it was wrong. Keep your answers short and smile, and whenever the focus falls on you the interpreter, don't keep it that way and progressively push it back to the client by asking questions.

Be reassuring, especially with clients who need to be reassured. Not all business travelers are comfortable ... with traveling, especially abroad. Be reassuring by deeds more than by words, help when the business card exchange happen. Ceremonials and formalism can generate stress with some clients, even with those who are not new to Japan. Being of help by doing, ushering, smoothing, that is, interfering to allow interaction beyond words to go smoothly, when smoothness is required, is one quality that is rewarded with much praise, even more than "pure linguistic" competences.

I could go on like that and break into more minute parts the interaction that is pre-assignmental. I will do it one day. In the meantime, all this that is learned the hard way by just doing it is vastly missing at least in the literature on interpretation outside the booth. Maybe they talk seriously and in depth about these many aspects of the job in schools, but it doesn't show outside school. That is why, the repetitious counsels like being good at social interaction without drilling down what is meant by this should be refrained from in the writing of professionals. If you do not intend to elaborate, don't mention the mundane. Because the mundane, mundane as it is needs to be drilled down to start being meaningful.

A late Happy New Year to my Customers

January 15th is the traditional deadline to wish a Happy New Year in Japan. Therefore, this post is not exactly late. Stories of business crunch, budget reduction, dwindling registrations already abound. It is therefore a good time to scrap communication budget, including hiring an interpreter when needed. I invite you not to use an interpreter. Just quit. Save money, save time. So long. Hasta luego. Ciao!

Still reading? OK. One more thing.

That "when needed" above is of variable value. In times of money pinch like these current times, the broken, if not pulverized to smithereen English (or French) of your counterparts in Japan may start appearing bearable, palatable or whatever taste you like it. We will do without that cost, that is, the interpreter.

Unfortunately, just like market research, there is no nice, clean and clear formula that demonstrates how much your company may be loosing through lousy communication. And lousy communication it is not just a matter of broken English.

They said yes! And back in your home country, nothing more happens until you come back to Japan and have again that "clarification meeting", the third in three years, to straighten bolts and nuts that were supposed to be iron locked. The reality is that those bolts didn't get loose. They were not there from day one, but their nodding what interpreted as an Obamaism : "yes we can".

And they did not, or just half of it.

I even had once a client where his Japanese counterpart was clearly upset at the fact that they were communicating through an interpreter for the first times in years. Gestures had their advantages, especially on one side of the interaction. Dilution of meaning was a strategy that broken English and semaphoric mimics allowed.

That is why despite the current crunch, I would advise you to think twice before you cut the interpreter's budget or reduce it so much you'll get what the money pay for. In doubt, hire an interpreter, a business, liaison interpreter at that.

Happy New Year and better business to Us All.

Finding a Business Analyst

There are times when a business starts to lose money and no-one is sure where the problem is located. Going over facts and figures only points to the bottom line. The bottom line continues to shrink. People start to get desperate. Strategies are planned and implemented to no avail. Tried and true measures are no longer working. It is time to call on the experts. The business analyst needs to be brought in. The problem is finding one who knows the company.

Finding a good business analyst is not as hard as everyone thinks. They are not the enemy. They are not some eerie creature sneaking around, lurking behind every corner. A good business analyst is a creative thinker. He or she is a motivational, aggressive team player. The business analyst can gather data and other pertinent information from management and other sources to determine what is the key problem.

A qualified business analyst may already exist in your organization. A member of the IT department could be the one who develops a project program designed to save the company money. This is some one capable of setting up a development team to think outside the box. You are looking for someone creative. You want someone who is not afraid of a vision. Someone with good communication skills is a must. Most projects fall short due to the lack of communication.

It is actually a benefit to choose someone in-house. He or she already knows the company. The business analyst will know the strong attributes as well as weaknesses of the company. Choosing someone from inside the organization means he or she will know the people involved. Camaraderie may already exist. This can make the gathering of information easier. The more easy it is to collect needed data and information, the more quickly a project scope can be developed.

Interpersonal skills for liaison interpreters

"Interpreters also must be trained in the interpersonal skills and methods needed to be effective coaches for the parents."

"Interpreters need excellent interpersonal skills. They must enjoy working constantly with people. And they must be mentally and physically ready to go from one job to another. "

"It is very helpful for a court interpreter to have good public speaking and interpersonal skills. "

"Other important traits for an interpreter include strong analytical skills, good interpersonal skills and a very sharp memory. "

"Develop good interpersonal skills as you are consistently dealing with people."

Interpersonal skills invariably as one of the many skills listed into the MustHave wallet of interpreters. But beyond being fingered at with the "should" and the "must" warning, you are essentially left with the assertiveness of the injunction, and nothing more. Usually one would expect something in the line of "what are interpersonal skills", and "how do you work on these". There seems to be plenty of books on that matter, but an objective based approach might save money for the books and help focus on the issues at stake based on personal experience, included "bad experience". More on this later.

Achieve Your Goals Immediately

Some people may think that goals have a definite timeline to accomplish. In part, this is true, but there are certainly ways on how you can hasten the process. You can achieve more great things by focusing on the current job and getting it done, without any compromise. Here are some guidelines from the experts that you can use yourself.

Step One: Forming a Team

Things can be accomplished more quickly if you rely on other people and assign tasks accordingly. When forming a team, it is important that you choose individuals whom you can trust and are truly competent in the fields you assign them to. Teams need to be supervised to ensure that you get the results you want. You can also create a hierarchy or create pairs so that one can look out for the other, thereby saving you time when reviewing work.

Forming a team gives you the benefit of practicing your leadership skills. You will find that later on, you also get to finish tasks more quickly alone, since you've already created an effective system that will provide a smoother flow of various jobs. Make sure you also get the appropriate number of people for the job, or else you risk having too many to watch over, wasting precious time in the process.

Going into presentation interpretation course

I may have the opportunity to start a course dedicated to hands-on training of interpretation of business presentations. Business presentations using a Powerpoint document displayed in front of an audience, usually small when visiting a company to pitch a service or a product is a standard situation for liaison interpreters. Based on some experience in my current course, it is also a situation that can be fairly well replicated very to close to the real thing in the classroom environment. I already wrote in the past that there are many ppt documents on the Internet, some you would expect not to be exposed in public, that can be exploited for such training based course. Ideally, such course would be alternately taught, or rather, monitored by a duo of trainers, each one native in language A and B. Schools here will not allow this to happen anytime soon, but I will compensate for too much focus on B to A with enrolling the listening part of students in a role playing set up where spontaneous questions and reactions are a requisite. Again, based on testing this approach with previous students, it has shown to be very easy to get spontaneous cooperation from students asking questions out of the blue, the fact that they have to ask questions in language A - Japanese - making them feel much comfortable. More tricks on playing with the audience may be required, like splitting it between an A natives group and an faked B-natives group, the B group being requested to ask questions to the presenter - myself - in B (French), and swapping roles between A and B groups in the middle of the course. This is the kind of course I would have liked to be participating in as a student but I am ending up delivering training in situations for which I have had no classroom training. It may be a common trait of many trainers.

Nikkei goes web based

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun will launch in April it web based version, offering full content and more. Information is scarce and nothing about prices. I would not be surprised the bill to stand high and a no price competition back door agreement with the other big dailies that will launch equivalent services. How the content will fit the needs for interpreting training and advanced Japanese learning is of major interest. How will audio and video content will be integrated in the offer if any?

8 Questions every Business Analyst Should Ask

It does not matter what project you are going to undertake. It is not important what industry you are going to be assessing. What is important is you know what you are going to do. You must as questions. You must find what it is the client wants. Presented is a list of obvious questions every good business analyst should know the answer to when starting a project.

1. What problem is this business having that you hope to solve by developing this project? It should be obvious as to why you would ask that question. If you do not understand what the problem is then you can not help to solve it. Also, when reading the project program it may not be clear as to what the client actually wants. The scope may only tell you what they would like to see happen. It could and often times is not focused on what the true issues are.

2. What is the business doing at present to alleviate or solve the issue? What has been tried in the past? You must understand what the client is doing in order to understand what must be done. You do not want to develop a project plan overview only to have someone tell you it has been tried. Listen to the customer. Find out what they have done. Ask questions while you are listening. On your toes brainstorming so to speak. Listen to what has not worked.

3. What inside resources will this project be utilizing? What outside resources will be necessary? You will want to determine where your help and team players are coming from. You may be familiar with most of the IT, but if the client wants to outsource it is a different game. You may have to make a list of external interactions. Define the company's strengths and weaknesses. This can be most advantageous.

4. Have you determined a vision for the project? The business analyst will compare this scope with the one he or she will develop to ensure consistencies and a parallel outlook. In other words make sure you are on the same path. This is sometimes easier said than done. Communication is the key to success with this question.