The position of the liaison interpreter in the business interaction between two sides is an interesting vista to observe how things are happening, or not. What is needed to be able to observe is to work with repeaters so that each new meeting in Tokyo after a lapse of several weeks or months is an opportunity for the interpreter to understand how communication went on since the last meeting while the interpreter was not, naturally, part of the loop. It is when the interpreter gets anointed as one of the team that liaison interpreting veers into the territory of strategic helper, if not yet some sort of local agent. It is a surprise to see though how much, with SMEs, the time between two visits to Japan is often a void of voice based communication. Epistolary means is mainstream. It leaves traces and traceability. But is it efficient? Face to face meeting should sandwich a healthy dose of over the phone or video conference based follow up and touch base contacts to check how things are moving, or not. Simply, it doesn't work like that for the regular customers I have. There are always promises of remote follow up by email, hints at possibly using the service of the interpreter to translate, and most of the time, as far as I can judge, much about nothing happens. People and corporations are busy, and distance cannot be shorten that much. Communication means are available but the mind is distant. Email, and the speed of it rules, and plays as a charming break with flowery introductions to the main part, at least in Japanese email letters (messages is a rude term). Not only the world is not flat, and the needs for business interpreting is here to stay, but speed is so much lacking that it puts in doubt at times the willingness on both sides to pursue just that, business that is.
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