Where liaison interpreters are thriving

I watched an NHK special Asia documentary about Thailand on Sunday. The boom days of Asia with Japanese corporations escaping possible death from the domestic dying markets,  and scrambling in Thailand and the surrounding countries is an ultra hot topic. And what comes with it is language barrier, that's one thing, but also and more than that, communication barrier, which is not the same as language barrier, but somewhat related though. Watching this too much dramatized documentary (that's how it feels when you usually don't watch TV), I noticed the interpreters blurred on the scenes of factory visits, on the job training, negotiation tables. It's a busy era for liaison interpreters and I kind of envy them.

But the most impressive scene of this documentary was the session where frustrated Thai technicians and frustrated Japanese engineers have a meeting to lay out bare the problems. "There is a problem of communication", says one. "The Japanese don't communicate well. Their explanations are fuzzy."

There is a special room in that factory, the room used by the Japanese engineers. They are alone in it and fuming. There is no interpreter by their side.

I am reminded of a similar situation, but that was in France a good 30 years ago. The Japanese engineers had a room of their own, they were the winners, having bought the ex-French company. They were coming and staying to change things. They were full of self-confidence, and there was a permanent interpreter in the room, outside the room, following their trails, sometimes leading proactively although still an amateur. One day, while tension was high in the company, a delegation came from Japan, quite a lot of people with a top brass. They crammed the room. A meeting was to begin, for Japanese only. I was in the room though. One new comer asked with suspicion about me, "What is he doing here?". The top resident engineer answered back : "Don't worry, he is one of us."

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Lionel Dersot
Language Interpretation for Business and Technology in Tokyo
Japan Liaison Agency and Business Support Services
Mobile : +81 90 6858 1106
Fax: +1 815 572-8300
lionel.dersot@japan-interpreters.com
Skype : lionelskp
http://www.lioneldersot.com
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