Part three; the first day comes to a close!

After lunch we have a reshuffle of interpreters and so more introductions are made and much smiling is done. In the afternoon presentations are scheduled, they are presentations on the different projects that Solidarité are involved in. the first presentation gets underway and we are all lulled into a false sense of security as it seems very easy, we have the words projected on a wall and all we have to do is translate that and any additions they make. The stern looks of concentration leave our faces and a calm, peaceful expression took its place. As will all these things it was too good to be true, sure enough when the presentation stops the discussion starts, if we thought it was hard before it was now near impossible. People were all speaking at the same time or at different speeds and in different accents. This carries on for ten minutes, with us all trying furiously to follow the direction of the conversation and trying not to lose any of the important information whilst immediately translating it into English. This session slowly comes to an end and I look around at the other interpreters who either look like they are going to kill or as if they are going to pass out. Luckily there was not enough time for either of these to be acted upon as we had moved on to the next presentation. The next few presentations followed the same pattern but we were prepared this time and it slowly became easier to tune into the conversation a bit more. However none of us were expecting the next event, it was a presentation written and delivered in English . . . hallelujah! The next two were the same as well allowing at least a forty-five minute break for us! We knew this could not last forever and soon we were thrown back into the work. At six the end of the first day was signaled but there were still many more to come. To say this day was difficult would be an understatement. Let me put it this way, by 21:30 I was fast asleep.

To be continued . . .

Part two, the first morning

The first morning there were five of us which I imagine looked faintly ridiculous as there were only three interpretees, but seeing as we were all new at this we found comfort in the support. Most of the vocabulary was understandable and we were able to give decent translations but it was soon clear that there was something that we had not taken into account . . . the dreaded acronym. Yes you read it right, the acronyms that were spouting from various people’s mouths were coming at an alarming rate and we had no idea what any of them meant. Terms like PAD, RP, WASH, HH and many more were being used. All we could do was translate around the acronyms and just say the letters in French which was often met by completely baffled look as obviously the acronyms were not the same in English. Desperate looks passed between us all but we powered through. Soon a break was announced and we were momentarily released from our duty as half the conference went out to smoke. Luckily Basile stayed behind to ask us how it had gone. The looks of desperation in our eyes must have given him a clue that something was not right and we explained about the acronyms whilst apologizing for the fact that we had no idea what they meant. Basile laughed and calmly explained what each one was saying that it hadn’t occurred to them that we wouldn’t know their meaning as they were used all the time in the NGO world, he ended up apologizing to us. After the break, five much calmer interpreters rejoined the table and the second half of the morning got under way. The topic was the intranet, specifically the forum, which needed revising and above all needed the participation of more people within the company. They had been talking about this for roughly ten minutes and we in turn had been interpreting. Everyone seemed to understand and this was confirmed by the nodding that was happening around the table. Five more minutes pass and then Eh leans forward and asks me “what’s a forum?”.

To be continued . . .

Interpretation . . . harder than it sounds?

My job description was clear, I was to organise some interpreters to take part in a conference for Solidarité International. The specifications were that they had to be volunteers. So far so good an email around my university was all that sufficed and several people answered my call for help. In preparation glossaries, the timetable for the week, directions and instructions were handed out. Fully prepared we set out at 6.30 on Monday morning to find Basile (our contact at Solidarité) and the head quarters. We eventually found the head quarters where were greeted by a very nice individual although at this point nothing was explained to us. We were led into a waiting room where we sat calmly waiting for the infamous Basile to arrive. It did not strike us as odd that we were 5 unknown Anglophone girls sitting in the head quarters of a French NGO company but apparently it was as everyone who came in stared at us, which made us feel unbelievably comfortable ( I may have employed the use of sarcasm here)! Basile arrived and welcomed us to the head quarters, offered us several beverages and then once again we were left alone not really sure what to do. Eventually people started to migrate towards the door and Basile told us to follow as we were going to the conference room. We had no idea what to expect as we had not been given any information about the proceedings so once we arrived we waited patiently by the door so that if it was too difficult we could run away and start new lives as beggars. We were informed that there would be three Anglophones who we had to interpret for and that we would share a table with them at the front of the hall. We were asked to translate what we heard and whisper it to the three Anglophones. At this point we had not been introduced to them, hence the repetition of the three Anglophones, but Basile soon called us round and introductions were made. There was a woman from Kenya called Pennine, a woman from Zimbabwe called Dumi and man from Thailand called Eh. None of them were native English speakers so every so often we encountered comprehension problems. After croissants and beverages the conference got under way. Now I should add that all the interpreters were volunteers more importantly inexperienced volunteers who had never interpreted in their lives, including myself. We were thrown in the deep end hoping not to drown.

To be continued . . .