Mastering Japanese Fukushima

Fukushima is not only here to stay, but it could turn into a source of revenues for interpreters. Key words may be decontamination and decommissioning. It may be great time to start being confident first with media and official speech about the Fukushima situation by performing focused shadowing, that includes script and video based shadowing from the sources. The effort can be sustained by trying not to read and listen to everything around, but instead focus on two sources to start with that will tremendously help getting wet and more at daily Fukushima report jargon and figures of speech. I am actually looking for equivalent, single or dual resources for English and French.

Let's start here with Japanese. I recommend and I am using for the start being the two following resources that are, unfortunately for the situation at large, but fortunately for language services delivery preparation, growing on a daily basis. These are choked full with the technical and political jargon that must be mastered to go further deeper into potential customers' needs.

First is the NHK online news web site where past up to current newscaster's scripts from March 12 (why not 11.3?) are listed on this page.   There are not enough video clips inserted but you can gain rather quickly an ease at delivering standard media speech on Fukushima by reading aloud everything available, and shadowing the few video clips scattered along. Thanks to redundancy of vocabulary complement+verb blocks that are, especially for verbs coming in the end of the sentence in Japanese, a conundrum and key at proficiency for non-native learners and users of the Japanese language. Redundancy is good.

Parallel to this is the collection of Yukio Edano, the current cool and well articulated chief cabinet secretary press briefings, both with scripts and the link attached to the video, starting here in March 11. The connexion may be slow. As you can bet, you are not alone querying the Prime Minister web site.

I would recommend not get astray and click away to other resources. There are plenty of these, but focusing on these two to start with may be the best competence growth strategy.

Not flying and the fear of flying

As a normal consequence of the unimaginable, work is at extremely low ebb level. When you depend on incomers to Japan for business, and the recommendation all over is "refrain going to Japan", this easily explains that. Except from the fixing and interpreting demand from news media to whom I do not cater to, things have dried up. One of the consequences is the fear of loosing ground, loosing competences, acquiring fear of flying by the lack of opportunities to fly.  Or is this mostly an issue pertaining to simultaneous?

Today is the reopening of the Institut Franco-Japonais, which means the start of my weekly course on business interpretation in situ. I will have to check readiness (and the possible lack of) new students this evening to tackle difficult subject, first from an emotional point of view. But as far as subjects are concerned, there is a huge choice between technical presentations of the situation at Fukushima and I already found a public Powerpoint document in French that is still hot. BCP, crisis management, professional legitimacy recovery, stress management in the corporation, but also anything related to the marketing of first-aid goods are among the subjects that are ripe enough to be tackled with.

Debriefing preparation

Thank you to all the kind words and support, in this blog as well as in private message.

Although the experience was a short one, I have decided to try and make use of it by inviting the other 9 or so volunteers to participate to a debriefing. I hoped I could carry over it in April but schedules are in a mess and business as usual more than ever a wishful hope for the future. Of course, as time goes by, the memory of what happened is already being diluted and warped by perception, by thriving for normality.

The idea yest is still to do one-to-one interviews of each volunteers who are non-professional interpreters, asking them questions about their experience. The following is a framework of the interview I am intending to conduct. I already sent the original in French to the participants in order to have them read it and maybe fix in their mind a few things they may forget in the meantime until I interview them granted they accept. Here is a poor translation of the questionnaire framework. I am no scholar and have no knowledge of field research or whatever.  There are substantially many understatement related to conditions that the people to be interviewed know because there were present there. I cannot inform and explain the background in public. I would appreciate any observations.

Interview framework

Your previous experience of interpreting

- Have you had any previous experience of acting as an interpreter?
- If so, what was the context, professional, on a regular basis or from time to time?
- Have you had any experience of working as an interpreter or else in a crisis, risky situation?
- Have you had any training related to rescue activity?
- Have you had any previous experience of natural disaster situation?

Perception of your role before arriving on the spot

- How did you expect your role and action to be before arriving on the spot?
- Did it differ from what you expected?

During your stay in Sendai camp, did you effectively go with rescuers to the destroyed area?

- If yes, were you requested to do interpretation?
- With whom (local authorities, victims, people living in the area)?
- Did you discuss, without interpretation request, directly with anyone on the spot?

How much did the situation impact your interpreting performance?

- The material, climatic situation.
- The emotional situation.

Did you feel difficulties pertaining to matters of vocabulary?

- Did you bring vocabulary aids with you?
- Did you bring note taking tools?

How would you judge the preliminary briefing explaining your role and mission?

How would you judge the understanding of your role at the beginning of the mission by the people supposed to use you as an interpreter?

How things could be make better, hoping there is no next time, to have you get more prepared.

- From the point of view of prior briefing
- From the point of view of being made of better use by the interpreters users
- From the point of view of being identified as an interpreter.

What is your opinio about the need to receive psychological aid after the mission?