Page 60 - Translation Journal July 2015
P. 60
hough the AIIC (the International Association of Conference Interpreters) Code of Professional Ethics does require organizers to
offer interpreters documents in sufficient time to prepare, some organizers might not be familiar with the professional requirements
or working conditions for interpreting, and would need subtle guidance. It is therefore the responsibility of the interpreter to send
polite reminders to them for drafts or finalized documents. Upon request, Ms. Hanna Hill Brunius, project coordinator for this training
programme, kindly sent the finalized lecture slides complied by Dr. Levin to the author by email one day before the workshop started.
As soon as the slides were received, the author promptly set down to updating the existing glossary and rationalizing the logic on
which the whole presentation is based, with the help of the knowledge structure already at work. And this is where the role exchange
of the interpreter starts to play its part: the interpreter pictures herself in the workshop setting, with 32 civil servants sitting in the lecture
room and Dr. Levin about to give his talk. She is thinking how Dr. Levin would start his presentation—maybe a self-introduction, but
the chance is slim, since he already met the participants on June 7 for a small discussion according to the course agend—-but she
decides to prepare for Dr. Levin’s bio anyway, in case he really picks it up. Then she closely studies each slide, identifying recurring
terms, unfamiliar terms, and terms that denote abstract concepts, while adding notes to help define and clarify each of them. This
is not a mechanical memorizing act; it is more of a learning process where layers of jargons are removed and a network of ideas is
revealed. “Legalism” for example, is translated as “司法性”, based on references available online and in the background papers. But
what exactly does it mean by “司法性”？It is a kind of ideology that is adopted by the Swedish judicial system but is now used more
often than not to describe the working style of the Swedish administrative system. Probing deeper into its meaning requires a curious
and concentrated attitude of the interpreter towards making sense of the word’s history, usage and its relations with the other key
words. The reason why this word is applied to public administration is that, according to Dr. Levin, for a long history, Swedish judicial
system and its administrative counterpart have been sharing a certain proportion of duties and obligations which are so overlapped
that the Swedish courts could be even regarded as part of the administrative apparatus, which is gradually seen as the extension
of the judicial system, whose spirit of independence without governmental interference is ardently upheld. Therefore, “legalism” is
applicable not only in courts, but also in all those court-like agencies, councils, and ministries, who follow the laws as rigorously as
the courts enforce the laws. This word appears twice on different slides. It first shows up as the third characteristic of Swedish pubic
administration, which is easy to understand with what has just been explained above; but it shows up again on the last part of the
slides, indicating its presence in the administrative system being challenged by the impact of the EU membership. What contributes
to this change? It keeps pushing the interpreter for more answers. In the end, the interpreter adds a very important piece of note to
the word in the glossary: “legalism” was once part of the system to epitomize the spirit of autonomy, but now it is affected as the EU
places high demands on coordination between civil servants and ministry officials. All might seem to end here. But the interpreter
quickly jumps onto another key term: “autonomy”, which is closely related to “legalism”. Apparently, these two words do not suggest
association. But her knowledge structure that was built earlier and the logic which the slides follow guide her to connect these
seemingly unrelated “dots” and form what the author likes to call a “mind-map”, a map on which all the destination-like terms involved
are orderly positioned, organically connected, readily made accessible by clearly defined routes. This “mind-map” is the running blood.
The interpreter is translating if she identifies “legalism” as “司法性” and isolates it from other words of potential relevance; but when
she approaches the term within the text of the “mind-map”, she is interpreting, in the sense of facilitating the understanding of esoteric
languages by making them re-connected to the popular minds, in whatever languages she is working from and into.
Another attempt the interpreter should also make to transform herself from a mere translator to a facilitator during preparation is to
request a pre-workshop briefing, preferably attended by the speaker, even if it is a very short one. It not only enhances the professional
image of the interpreter, but also helps improve interpreting performance. It may also be a good opportunity to remind Dr. Levin of
the need to provide to the interpreter a copy of any text that is to be read out during the workshop, and to agree on the appropriate
speaking speed for quality interpreting. Unfortunately, Dr. Levin was assigned by the university to engage in an important meeting in the
afternoon on the day before the workshop started. Thus the only period fit for the briefing was a small part of the lunch time, between
12:00pm to 12:20pm, just after the morning training session was over. The twenty-minute meeting, though as short as it seemed,
proved to be a valuable addition to the author’s preparation. He did not went through the slides though, given the constraint of time,
but he effectively answered some of the questions the author posed, and kindly reminded her of the article he had given out earlier to
the participants for preview, which much to the author’s surprise, happened to be one of the background papers she had researched
into in the early stage of preparation.
Finally, the interpreter also needs to check if the working conditions are well set up for the day. Working in the C.I. mode may not
require an extensive check on the setting of booths, consols, headsets, receivers, and so on as working in the S.I. mode does, but
“due diligence” still applies. The interpreter should make sure that she will be interpreting from a position from which she can clearly
hear the speaker and see the screen, that she has a working surface to support her notepads, documents and laptops, and that a
sound-tested microphone is provided, with spare batteries and a desktop stand with which it can be fixed in position. However, this
checkup was not performed at all, as the author assumed that a lecture room in a university would be undoubtedly well-equipped.
This overestimation later proved to be a careless, regrettable and inexcusable mistake the author would not afford to make again
next time around. There were no microphones in all the lecture rooms. The faculty do not even use one when they present their talks!
Microphones are only available in auditoriums or congregation halls. If the author had checked earlier, she could have brought her own
portable microphone system with her to Stockholm.
2.2 During the workshop
60 | Translation Journal - July 2015
offer interpreters documents in sufficient time to prepare, some organizers might not be familiar with the professional requirements
or working conditions for interpreting, and would need subtle guidance. It is therefore the responsibility of the interpreter to send
polite reminders to them for drafts or finalized documents. Upon request, Ms. Hanna Hill Brunius, project coordinator for this training
programme, kindly sent the finalized lecture slides complied by Dr. Levin to the author by email one day before the workshop started.
As soon as the slides were received, the author promptly set down to updating the existing glossary and rationalizing the logic on
which the whole presentation is based, with the help of the knowledge structure already at work. And this is where the role exchange
of the interpreter starts to play its part: the interpreter pictures herself in the workshop setting, with 32 civil servants sitting in the lecture
room and Dr. Levin about to give his talk. She is thinking how Dr. Levin would start his presentation—maybe a self-introduction, but
the chance is slim, since he already met the participants on June 7 for a small discussion according to the course agend—-but she
decides to prepare for Dr. Levin’s bio anyway, in case he really picks it up. Then she closely studies each slide, identifying recurring
terms, unfamiliar terms, and terms that denote abstract concepts, while adding notes to help define and clarify each of them. This
is not a mechanical memorizing act; it is more of a learning process where layers of jargons are removed and a network of ideas is
revealed. “Legalism” for example, is translated as “司法性”, based on references available online and in the background papers. But
what exactly does it mean by “司法性”？It is a kind of ideology that is adopted by the Swedish judicial system but is now used more
often than not to describe the working style of the Swedish administrative system. Probing deeper into its meaning requires a curious
and concentrated attitude of the interpreter towards making sense of the word’s history, usage and its relations with the other key
words. The reason why this word is applied to public administration is that, according to Dr. Levin, for a long history, Swedish judicial
system and its administrative counterpart have been sharing a certain proportion of duties and obligations which are so overlapped
that the Swedish courts could be even regarded as part of the administrative apparatus, which is gradually seen as the extension
of the judicial system, whose spirit of independence without governmental interference is ardently upheld. Therefore, “legalism” is
applicable not only in courts, but also in all those court-like agencies, councils, and ministries, who follow the laws as rigorously as
the courts enforce the laws. This word appears twice on different slides. It first shows up as the third characteristic of Swedish pubic
administration, which is easy to understand with what has just been explained above; but it shows up again on the last part of the
slides, indicating its presence in the administrative system being challenged by the impact of the EU membership. What contributes
to this change? It keeps pushing the interpreter for more answers. In the end, the interpreter adds a very important piece of note to
the word in the glossary: “legalism” was once part of the system to epitomize the spirit of autonomy, but now it is affected as the EU
places high demands on coordination between civil servants and ministry officials. All might seem to end here. But the interpreter
quickly jumps onto another key term: “autonomy”, which is closely related to “legalism”. Apparently, these two words do not suggest
association. But her knowledge structure that was built earlier and the logic which the slides follow guide her to connect these
seemingly unrelated “dots” and form what the author likes to call a “mind-map”, a map on which all the destination-like terms involved
are orderly positioned, organically connected, readily made accessible by clearly defined routes. This “mind-map” is the running blood.
The interpreter is translating if she identifies “legalism” as “司法性” and isolates it from other words of potential relevance; but when
she approaches the term within the text of the “mind-map”, she is interpreting, in the sense of facilitating the understanding of esoteric
languages by making them re-connected to the popular minds, in whatever languages she is working from and into.
Another attempt the interpreter should also make to transform herself from a mere translator to a facilitator during preparation is to
request a pre-workshop briefing, preferably attended by the speaker, even if it is a very short one. It not only enhances the professional
image of the interpreter, but also helps improve interpreting performance. It may also be a good opportunity to remind Dr. Levin of
the need to provide to the interpreter a copy of any text that is to be read out during the workshop, and to agree on the appropriate
speaking speed for quality interpreting. Unfortunately, Dr. Levin was assigned by the university to engage in an important meeting in the
afternoon on the day before the workshop started. Thus the only period fit for the briefing was a small part of the lunch time, between
12:00pm to 12:20pm, just after the morning training session was over. The twenty-minute meeting, though as short as it seemed,
proved to be a valuable addition to the author’s preparation. He did not went through the slides though, given the constraint of time,
but he effectively answered some of the questions the author posed, and kindly reminded her of the article he had given out earlier to
the participants for preview, which much to the author’s surprise, happened to be one of the background papers she had researched
into in the early stage of preparation.
Finally, the interpreter also needs to check if the working conditions are well set up for the day. Working in the C.I. mode may not
require an extensive check on the setting of booths, consols, headsets, receivers, and so on as working in the S.I. mode does, but
“due diligence” still applies. The interpreter should make sure that she will be interpreting from a position from which she can clearly
hear the speaker and see the screen, that she has a working surface to support her notepads, documents and laptops, and that a
sound-tested microphone is provided, with spare batteries and a desktop stand with which it can be fixed in position. However, this
checkup was not performed at all, as the author assumed that a lecture room in a university would be undoubtedly well-equipped.
This overestimation later proved to be a careless, regrettable and inexcusable mistake the author would not afford to make again
next time around. There were no microphones in all the lecture rooms. The faculty do not even use one when they present their talks!
Microphones are only available in auditoriums or congregation halls. If the author had checked earlier, she could have brought her own
portable microphone system with her to Stockholm.
2.2 During the workshop
60 | Translation Journal - July 2015
