Interpreting Globish

Globish is not enough global and a reduced version of English to totally skip the interpreter. More and more clients in business speak Globish. However, they do not speak a "standard" version of English. They rather speak simple English, simplified, stripped down, flaky and heavily tainted by their mother tongue version of English. Globish in this sense is first of all a mutual understanding that it is OK to speak English even awkwardly, even stripped of nuances. Despite this, an interpreter is required when various versions of Globish on both sides are too weird enough to allow for minimal understanding, or as is often the case in my experience, one top brass on either side can't even cope with Globish and needs to communicate with his mother tongue. Although English is a foreign language to me, listening and interpreting in a Globish environment offer challenges I am just starting to make sense of these days. Poor Globish is a bone asking to be beefed up with meat, otherwise, interpretation gets tougher as you struggle with the fact that what was said is a but a poor version of what could have been said in richer, more nuanced English. Interpreting from B to English is also challenged by two things. One is that using English that is not Globish sounds weird, in a sense, and raised the issue of knowing whether your listeners are OK with more standard English than their Globish, or do they feel annoyed at your arrogance to try and speak more "sophisticated" English? The second point is that listening and reacting to Globish for hours on may impact your own competence at English, making it substantially awkward to your ears, without any certainty that it sounds standard Globish enough to the listeners. Globish impact on interpretation. What a swell academic subject, n'est-ce pas?

The liaison layer

Where does the liaison thing plugs onto interpretation? Where do I draw the difference? I was asked this question yesterday by M., a long time not seen interpreter. We bumped into each other some 30 years ago, working in the same corporation, but at different production sites, both as interpreters. I was an almost total beginner. He was a little bit above and is now way above me in terms of pure interpretation. He does consec and simul as well. I do consec and liaison. He asked me about what that liaison stuff pointed at. I told him back that it was for instance related to assistance, instant in situ consultation on matters of helping the client better fit, better understand the interaction, better make the best of the communicative situation. It was about sustaining from the backstage the dialogue going on.

He asked for examples. I came with one. I described a very standard setting where the client would do the standard presentation of his wares. The subject is confidential and doesn't matter. It could be anything and any service. What matters is what came by the end of the presentation, following the polite exchange of thanks and you are welcome. For the client, the issue was : "So, what is the next step?". And the client asked something like that, and the interpreter translated. This was followed by a few seconds of uneasy silence from the other side. The liaison interpreter flashed a suggestion to his client to offer a suggestion to the other side.

Why did the interpreter moved that way?

- Because the conversation was stalled and would lead to nothing besides standard polite "we will think about it and contact you back later", or even some fuzzier answers.
- Because the interpreter took the risk of betting that the two people (they were two) on the opposite side of the table were low in the hierarchy and had no say and power of decision, therefore no experience of deciding and be proactive.
- Because the client was in no way able to conjecture about all this.
- Because the client wanted some hints and cues about "what's next". This was no empty social formula.

So in order to allow for something to happen that would be for the benefit of the client, the interpreter stepped in, not inside the conversation, but as a coach on the sideway. Offer a proposal in lines with your objectives, what you want to take home. The other side will cling on that as something to munch on and fill their blank stares. It worked, it unclogged the situation and allowed to move on to some possible next steps.

That's were the liaison layer is in full swing I belive, and that's where I dare disagree with the chapter about the role of the interpreter in the seminal "Liaison Interpreting - A Handbook", by A. Gentile and all. The sacro-saint neutrality would have meant that the void generated by the simple utterance : "What is the next step" would be left largely empty. Of course. The interpreter may be wrong. Maybe that waiting another two seconds may have been enough for the other side to come at long last with an answer. Maybe not.

This settled back interventionism is a key factor in defining deeper on what we talk about when we talk liaison interpreting. Simply stressing that liaison interpreting is about interpreting in usually small settings back and forth is but very partial view of what the job is, and what attitudes of the interpreters make the client tick and appreciate the help provided to make the communication more effective.

Liaising besides interpreting

A long past client of mine turned up the second time with the patriarch founder of the company, an elegant, slow speaking, slow walking gentleman helping himself with an incredibly massive cane. After the speeches unannounced and unprepared, I heard about the Japanese side's preparation for the welcome diner I was not to be part of. They had chosen a Japanese restaurant, something classical and sumptuous as seen on the pamphlet I was shown.
I inquired about the seats, anticipating the excruciating effort the elderly man would have to deploy, with helpers, to get inside the hollowed cramped space under the table, what with the lack of back support. Japanese cuisine is exquisite. Japanese traditional sitting is not. They hadn't thought about it and took action to get special sitting arrangement, that is, chairs.

Is this part of the service a business liaison interpreter must deliver? Yes.

Self-confidence for the freelance interpreter

Every new successful assignment is a proof of concept that your gears, the level and quality of your service more than justify your rates. But others always know better than you what is rational, what is "in the market". You get an offer from nowhere, cleanly wrapped up in a short burst. Two days accompanying someone for visiting a hightech show in Tokyo. Two days, 8 hours each, accompanying (that's where they start diluting the job's meaning). The two days budget is ¥50 000, "including your travel costs and lunch". I loved the last one. The low cost air travel company syndrome is infecting the whole fabric. Next, you'll be invited to bring your bento box.

You perfectly know that someone will take it, that job. There will be someone taking it for sure. That it is around one third of your rates doesn't matter. You cannot not care and not worry. So you flip the web sites again, you check the many agencies that now display in plain figures their rates. You see that you are still "in the market", taking into account that the agencies' rates are not what the interpreter will get. You notice again that yes, even for consecutive, they suggests to hire two interpreters once the assignment goes past 3 hours in a row. It makes you smile when you remember your longest track record, alone, 14 hours was it. A fuse blew at that time in the taxi back home - and wrenched guts - so you can't exactly remember. The praises were profuse that helped reduce the fatigue (not the contentment of having delivered, although everyone's mind was starting to melt down sometimes around the 11th hour).

The freelancer interpreter in search of serenity has a hard time finding it alone against the market who knows better than you, including many individuals active in your market. "I would have done for that rate", unleashes the traitor.

Any new assignment, and they are coming, will be a new wonderful shot in the arm, a good bolus of self-confidence, until it lasts when a hole in the agenda, no assignment until ... exemplifies how short that steroid of the mind's half-life is.

Self-confidence is first and foremost obtained as a result of controlling, that is containing the feeling of shame. Self-confidence is self-assurance, aplomb, firm standing, sure footing on the ground, knowing that outside blows and insinuations will have no hold. If you think this is tepid lip service, go and read Dynamics of Power by Gershen Kaufman and Lev Raphael. It is still pristine clear after almost 30 years following the first publication. You have seen them all, the irremovable top brasses suggesting you be more flexible; what do they know about flexibility? Cynicism? Yes, they excel.

The financial crunch is the perfect justification, the high Yen tops it all. But their ground is not yours.

Firming your ground, a never ending story, starts with disengaging while keeping low the despise back. From a mere ethical point of view, why would you go into the merry-go-around bandwagon of cynicism displayed by the other side?

The situation would even justify you simply display your minimum rates on your web site, contrary to the suggestions received in the past. After all, you set yourself a limit. Wouldn't it be easier to show the wares and save time with the off-the-tracks expectations coming from the rich third world, but not only from there?

Of course, I know and I have heard about interpreters who claim to stick to limits they hardly won't tell you the limit of. But you still can guess as you too are "in the market", the bracket being more less plus minus 30%. The demanding side, part of it, is "in for the market" you don't belong to.

This should make for a simple self-justification of where you stand, firmly, and build your self-confidence on top of it. An association of peers would come handy to build such through co-optation and professional communication but you know it won't happen. You have to be your own association, your own firm ground. That is one of the purpose of this blog.

A career track in and around business liaison interpreting

Registering keywords unde Google News like Interpreter our Interpreting yields back at times unexpected fishes, glimpses of unknown places, people and concerns, articles form local newspapers that are like fleeting apparitions, here now, forgotten the next minute.

I do not know Tracy Miller, nor West Michigan, nor even the BattleCreekEnquirer.com.

The new of Ms. Tracy Miller having been designated as the new executive director of the Japan-America Society of West Michigan would have skipped my attention if a summary of her career track had not been mentioned in the article.

The academics devising and pondering on the best practice and curriculum tailoring for a solid education in liaison interpreting for business should look into Ms. Miller résumé.

Here is a liaison interpreter - the expression is not mentioned but that's it - who went through various educational stages, including an MBA, and who is still active as an interpreter, besides doing translation and representing a Japanese company. It rings a bell with my own background. It tells about the advantage of having spent some time working as an in-house interpreter/translator. It tells a story about this core experience allowing to thrust oneself into freelancing - the dirty word with its flimsy connotation. Or better call it, independent professional. I am glad to hear about someone having pocketed an MBA and not joining back the corporate world as an employee. I am also glad to see Ms. Miller touted as representing a Japanese company in situ. It is a model track record and the perfect painting of a professional life into business liaison interpreter. Reverse engineering of this track record should give strong clues to the academics, hints that in order to design the launching pad, you should focus on the best case model already circling the professional orbit.

Back to the Nikkei podcast

I quit listening to the Kiku-Nikkei podcast when it switched to paid mode. I am back, and would argue that any advanced learner of the Japanese  language wanting to beef up competency at using sophisticated jargon in all realm of business invest in the monthly fee of 500 yens. For 20 minutes of voiced over readings of the Nikkei daily articles, it is a bargain. You get 20 minutes of content to shadow every business day. One noticeable thing that changed with the paid version is the speed, which is quite slow and very clearly spelled out. This makes for good prosody audio workbook. The tone, depending on the speaker of the day, can be North Korean like, or pretty much palatable, and I suspect that automaton voice of early this week got the ax for a more sympathetic human.

There is of course the argument that read aloud articles are not the way people talk in daily business. And this is true, but the purpose is not to develop business communication skill in a direct a manner. Daily life will take care of it. The true purpose is to strengthen the competence to heavily lace one's own speech with correct, specific vocabulary that makes the difference. In the context of interpretation, but also in the context of a liaison interpreter for business show of assurance and confidence, this is mandatory. Together with the web version of the Nikkei, this makes for a tremendously powerful, cheap quasi-manual of advanced Japanese for business at large.

Listening well

It is one thing to stress how listening well is the starting point of interpretation. But there are situations where listening is simply challenged by the conditions, that of the environment, that of the circumstances of the interpreter. I have been challenged this week more than ever by situations I have known to be challenging, dialog interpreting, impromptu, in noisy environments. The example of a noisy environment could be the toilet paper manufacturing factory we visited today, but a plant is a plant is a plant, and noise a matter of fact. En aparté, visiting a high end toilet paper factory is a humbling experience. The mother roll, a huge mega sized roll that will end-up sliced into "child rolls" is enough for the consumption of 10 humans during their whole life. Humbling experience indeed.

End of the aparté.

Much more challenging than the noisy plant is the noisy coffee shop, the dreadful local train where discussions à bâtons rompus require the intervention of the interpreter in most uncomfortable settings. I dreaded these while revising last week and was right to do so. Devoid of elephant's ears, loosing maybe the competence to focus and filter, dreading small voices that don't adapt to circumstances, the business liaison interpreting has been contemplating to apply hightech to an issue that hurts these days, literally.

After looking around for devices outside Japan, I am seriously considering acquiring in Japan the Panasonic hearing aid device ONWA (the blurb in English here is pathetic).

More on A.H. Birse

A.H. Birse and his Memoirs of an Interpreter is a history thick book full of many details and references to circumstances very specific and somewhat arcane despite the context, WWII, the big three conferences, etc.

There are two chapters that are specifically dealing with the profession and task of interpreting. Birse is a banker and a bilingual UK national. He is an above middle class gentleman, well versed and well traveled who happen to be brought into the war's maelstrom and apply to help his country as a duty. That's why he ends up interpreting between famous head of states, not out of interpreting vocation but out of duty.

You would not call Birse a great writer. He is not into this career. Yet, the two chapters directly dealing with interpretation are different. It doesn't come as a surprise that the book's back cover comes adorned with an an extract of the most thrilling part of the book, the one where he describes how he is brought into suddenly having to interpret between Churchill and Stalin. All of the sudden his style changes for the best. I have read that chapter many times now - Prime Minister's Interpreter - not only because it is thrilling, movie like at some points, and very moving, but because non-professional interpreter Birse goes through essentials factors surrounding the task of interpreting. He does so and more in the following chapter, The business of Interpreting, on purpose, while in the previous chapter everything that pertains to the task of interpreting is wrapped up in first class haunting narrative. I am unwrapping the gift now.

At the beginning of the chapter, Birse is in Moscow and the reader is showered with people's name and circumstances, some bouts at minor interpreting but nothing in terms of  "action". Then, something happens that makes the writing switch onto adventure mode :

"Theakstone was waiting for me with an urgent message : "the Ambassador wanted to speak to me on the telephone".

Assignments, or missions, starts the very moment there is a call of duty. The call triggers that special brewing in the head, the call of the mission. Managing the mind commotion should come as a strategy, that is, turning confusion into preparation. Birse is to deliver.

"the Embassy interpreter was ill and I was to replace him at Churchill's talk with Stalin that night ...."

Talk about a short notice assignment. Double the fees.

"I protested that I had had no experience of political talks, and that I should certainly be below the standard required ..."

Standard indeed. Our hero is shunning back from the call of adventure. A classic. Bilbo the Hobbit does so.

"I understood it was an order."

Remember, it's military stuff. Duty comes first, more than competences.

"The prospect of meeting two of the world's leaders at such a short notice, quite apart from the technical difficulties of interpreting a subject with which I was unacquainted, agitated me to a degree."

Describing to the self the agitation is also with Birse the very start of a process that is essential and should be performed in organized manner : anticipation, of what is at stake, of what can be feared, and of what can be used to nurture the comfort zone, the domain even tiny where one can with some aplomb murmur : "This at least, I can do it."

"But there was little time for reflection, and I resigned myself to the inevitable."

Buddhist like? Not yet. Or another way to brace. Anyway, things start moving, automobile way, as a car is sent to fetch Birse to Churchill's villa.

"During the drive I had tried to reason with myself."

The myself is a too, dichotomy, ying and yang. A perpetual dialogue. But effective reasoning comes with organized anticipation. Birse gets into that mode deeper. But first, he modifies the tension by manipulating the players to come.

"I determined to try to forget who these two men were, and act as if I were interpreting for two ordinary individuals."

Anticipation may start with a review of the gears one have, rather the incompleteness.

"I could not foresee what they would discuss, but so far, at least on army matters, I had never been at a loss."

Next, list what could happen based on matter of facts.

"I realized that the talk would probably concern problems of the highest importance, and I could only hope that they were not unduly impatient men and would not demand the impossible."

Reasoning based on the expectation for men, even head of states, to be reasonable.

"After all, I was only a substitute interpreter."

Pat the cheek of the trembling child inside.

Next comes ... anticipating, not what they may talk about, but what they look like.

"What would Churchill be like? Impossible to imagine, for I had not met anyone who had worked closely with him."

Unfortunately, Wikipedia was not around, yet.

"And Stalin? If he was the embodiment of the Soviet system, at least I knew something about it!"

I ate your bortch already, and know how it's cooked.

"Anyhow, I told myself, it would be thrilling to meet those two men, if only for a few minutes - something to write home about, the censorship permitting."

Birse starts anticipating the thrill of it all, starting with people, then, places.

"It would also be an achievement to get inside the Kremlin, for no one except diplomats on business or attending exceptional functions was permitted to enter."

To enter the magic castle. There's a dash of Tintin Reporter here, and the trembling child is now giggling, somewhat.

But now, the characters come on stage.

"Presently a broad, solid figure in a dressing-gown appeared in one of the doorways. Churchill!"

Theatrical.

"Major Birse? The Ambassador has spoken to me about you. You will interpret for me tonight. I shall be ready in a few minutes, and we will drive together to the Kremlin."

Remembering people's name and calling them by their names. A big step forward in powerful communication.

"A few minutes later, I was seated beside him in a large ZIS car, with a Russian chauffeur and the Prime Minister's detective sitting in front. As we drove out of the villa grounds, I could see a couple of cars with NKVD guards starting behind us. They escorted us all the way."

Most cinematographic part of the chapter. I can fantasize the moving scene, cartoon like (Belgian style), or Hitchcock. A short fatty Russian crosses the screen.

Next come the small talk, what can turn into real bonding between customer and interpreter.

"Churchill asked me whether I had met Stalin before. (...) He said that some of the previous talks had been rather tense, and that he now wanted to put Stalin into a better temper before he left Moscow."

Birse doesn't have to inquire about the purpose, what the client's want to take home by the end of the session, because Churchill just delivers.


Unwelcome ...

"Stalin was standing beside the writing table, looking glum and sulky I thought, and there was no smile of greeting in his face."

Birse doesn't conclude but just "thinks" that the look means "glum".

"I had my scribbling pad with me, with two or three sharpened pencils which I alway carried in my pocket, and I set these out in front of me ready, ready to begin."

Add to this a wireless connexion to the Internet for dictionnary query, a digital dictionnary (if no connexion), and who knows what more.

The glum side starts melting ...

"At first Stalin hardly ever looked up, seemingly absorbed in doodling, but one or twice during my translation he looked at me, the first time with no expression at all, but later something like a look of approval seemed to emerge, like the sun breaking through the dark clouds."

Churchill to his interpreter in between :

"Are you getting me across all right?
I replied that I thought I was, whereupon the said :
'I think you are doing very well.'"

The mystery of the client not knowing the language but feeling that he is gotten across.
On the other side, Spring is in full swing :

"By this time Stalin's face had lighted up and he had permitted himself an occasional smile ..."

To what extend the interpreter has been contributing to this shift of mind? Birse doesn't elaborate, but probably, something Birse like was causal to the ice melting, which was by the way Churchill's objective.

Now the glasses are being poured and everyone is getting more cordial. Churchill goes to the loo (only James Bond can afford not to be human) and Birse alone with Stalin and Molotov (that drink mix) for a while is bombarded with questions.

"Meanwhile both Stalin and Molotov, plied me with questions about myself, where I had learnt Russian, how many years I had spent in Russia ..."

The client comes back in the room ...

"When Churchill rejoined us, and heard my carrying on a conversation with them, he seemed a little bit perturbed, but I reassured him that I was only answering questions about my past."

The gift, the booster :

"As we were preparing to leave, Churchill turned to me and said :
'I am very pleased with you. In future I will want you always to interpret for me.'"

"Any fatigue I was feeling seemed to disappear in a flash, and I felt ready to continue for another seven hours if necessary."

Even for this single chapter, I is meaningful to read Memoirs of an Interpreter by A.H. Birse.