Interpreting for non-interpreters

It takes time to realize the obvious. The majority of my students are not, and won't be interpreters. They come to the course because it is highlighted both as an introduction to consecutive/liaison interpretation, and also as an unconventional means to progress with their language study. "Using interpreters training method to progress in language learning" has been a catch phrase here for several years to sell books for non-interpreters looking for different approaches to reach the skies. Shadowing is a term rather commonly used in Japan in language learning. In other countries I know about, the word in its interpreting inception is virtually unknown outside interpreting schools.

Many of my students are requested from time to time to give a hand in interpreting because the boss is French and the level of Japanese too low for the too high requirements in standards of social and business interactions here. Most of the students feel awkward and even frightened at delivering under the scrutiny of colleagues they work with on a daily basis. Colleagues are quick to judge on language competences, and shame and scorn at who knows better than thee can reach high level here.

The failing interpreter - should it be stressed that it does happen - has the advantage to leave the place once the job is performed, and repeater patrons are in my experience an exception to the rule of a one shot assignment. In this sense, non-professionals being requested to act as defacto interpreters on the job are under more difficult scrutiny and stress than freelancers. And nobody nor any book I am aware of is taking care of them. Nor any school by the way. Interpretation schools train interpreters and not "just curious about interpreting who wants to give it a shot".

I believe they are missing a slot of juicy business here in Japan where the romance of interpretation is so strong. Polluted by TV and marketing - synonymous - the belief is strong "as seen on TV" that interpreters must be rubbing elbows with the powerful and famous, that is except for the majority who work with anonymous laymen (and women). The problem would-not-be interpreters are facing is the high cost of schools and the steep level required, what with, as a rule it seems, the sense of superiority of teachers who easily despise students for not being as perfect as they are.

I have an argument here with most professional interpreters who are as more competent as they are arrogant and vicious about others, professionals or beginners as well. I have had enough feedback of this trait over the years to believe that this is no anecdotal feature.

Repackaging interpretation for non-interpreters needing to professionally deal with situations where interpretation is required is an enticing project. Encouraging students is a requisite for the empathic trainer.

Anticipation in liaison and consecutive interpretation

Conference interpreting being the king, it comes as no surprise that the matter of anticipation seems not to be covered in anyway for consecutive and liaison, beyond stressing that anticipation is important. But what is anticipation in the setting of consecutive, delayed delivery? Anticipation may directly impact the action of note taking and the balance between note taking and focused listening, because good anticipation comes with nodding, "unsurprised" as if in waiting for the implicit to be turned explicit by the speaker.

In business settings, the conditions for anticipation to work is probably directly linked to the understanding of the setting, the dynamics of business being developed and expanded, pondered and discussed It is part knowledge of the subject and part on the spot of the understanding of the inner working or the dynamics at play. It is linked to the understanding of who does what for what. Very often, and especially in Japanese as the untold part of the discourse is often different, or felt to be different, difficulties arise when the interpreter who doesn't know what happen in a previous meeting stall on a piece of information where the load of implicit is too heavy. Reframing the setting by asking for a two word briefing on the subject is the standard strategy to deliver in liaison. In consecutive, of when liaison turns into consecutive, that is, utterances go past some length I have never measured, the timing of asking for clarification the spot is more delicate to manage but mandatory all the same. It should come at the end of the utterance and be swiftly managed forcibly by the interpreter so that the break into communication flow is not felt as a big hindrance, or worse, as a suggestion that the interpreter can't do her job. Attitude is essential then and the sheepish uneasy air of a beginner interpreter (including the never-ending beginner) is one to avoid at all cost. Stealth attitude and quick crunching of whatever bits of clarification the speaker may provide is a sure way to maintain, if not raise the degree of legitimization of the interpreter. As this is jolt down while thinking, and deemed very important to me at a time where interpretation must be delivered quicker than ever, I will try later and ponder more slowly and deeper on the strategic consequences of anticipation in liaison and consecutive as well, and how anticipation could be trained beyond stressing the importance of awareness toward it.