Interpretation And Foreign Language Narration Tips For Businesses And Libraries
"Even when you can fluently speak a foreign language, some occasions require the services of an interpreter," I used to tell prospective clients when I worked for a "translation" company.
During marketing brainstorming sessions or difficult negotiations, an interpreter can give a librarian additional time to develop an appropriate response as well as give you clues about what your foreign-language speaking colleagues or library customers may be communicating through
nonverbal communication, which is specific to each culture.
When librarians are not native speakers of a foreign language and must orally present legally binding material or information on a bond impart to a ample audience, it may be better for them to note this information in English with U.N.-style simultaneous translation. Edwin Reischauer, for instance, always used an interpreter for his public speeches in Japan while he was
ambassador there - despite speaking Japanese fluently.
The following tips on interpretation and foreign-language narration or dubbing, a related sub-genre of interpretation, will foster successful work relationships between you and your
interpreter.
Simultaneous vs. Consecutive Interpretation
There are two types of interpretation: simultaneous and consecutive. Simultaneous interpreters orally convert a message while a speaker is talking - like they do at the United Nations. Audience members wear headphones while the interpreters work in teams in specially equipped booths. In consecutive interpretation, the speaker pauses and waits for the interpreter to orally convert a message. Consecutive interpretation typically takes set at negotiations.
Interpreter References, Credentials, & Education
As for translation, there is no national certification in the U.S. for interpreters. The typical plot to evaluate interpreters or agencies providing interpreters is to request a list of previous assignments and client recommendations. Sometimes, due to confidentiality issues, it may be difficult to net references from all clients.
Marsha Bindel, who has worked as the head of translation and interpretation services for a communications firm and who is a member of the Société Française de Traducteurs, notes that librarians should look for interpreters who can contain composure under pressure. She emphasized in our interview, "For consecutive interpreters, aside from possessing truly bilingual speaking skills, class, diplomacy, tact and confidentiality are required. It is not always easy to ask speakers to bewitch a breath, so you can translate or ask that only one person instruct at a
time."
In business, matching a consecutive interpreter of appropriate educational, class or gender status to your representative is an important selection criterion for interpreters. Librarians often do not have this option, but should be aware of the impact that their interpreter has on different cultural groups. For further information, see "Sociological and Cultural Considerations" on the next page.
Marsha Bindel had the following advice for selecting simultaneous interpreters:
"For simultaneous interpretation, I advise thorough training in specialized schools. Simultaneous interpreters must be capable of ingesting broad amounts of knowledge in extremely short periods of time. Not everyone is agreeable of listening to one language and speaking in another. For this reason, training is essential. "Unlike consecutive interpreters, they must follow the flow and have absolutely no way of slowing people down or requesting that only one person speak at a time. They must, therefore, be capable of mental editing while they are speaking and this, too, is a learned skill."
In California, the Monterey Institute of International Studies (www.miis.edu) provides training for interpreters at the graduate level.
Freelance vs. Agency Translators
Interpreters often gain experience working for agencies and, then, work as freelance interpreters so they can retain all of their fees and command higher pay rates. The American Translators Association (www.atanet.org) offers a referral service for consecutive and simultaneous interpreters and for agencies that provide these services. The organization does not offer an
interpretation certification exam, but does offer a translation (written word conversions from one language to another) certification to its members.
The Geneva-based International Association of Conference Interpreters (AIIC, www.aiic.net) has more than 2,700 interpreter members who live in all parts of the world. They offer a referral directory, provide guidelines for interpreter working conditions and state a code of working ethics.
It is worthwhile to tag that the best interpreters often reserve their schedules one year in advance. These interpreters are the ones that you find by word-of-mouth. They are usually very experienced and knowledgeable in clear areas and will be expensive to employ.
Two international language companies can also provide you with interpretation services: Berlitz (www.berlitz.com) and Inlingua (www.inlinguausa.com). Local firms can also favorably compete in terms of fees, especially if you do not have to sail in an interpreter.
Fees for interpreters depend on their experience, knowledge and training, as well as the complexity of your assignment. As the client, librarians should gaze competing bids. When seeking bids, though, make sure you get breakdowns of what you are paying for so you can compare apples with apples and oranges with oranges. A low bid, for example, might list travel for the interpreter separately. Due to the scarcity of qualified interpreters, especially for Asian languages, payment schedules vary.
Interpretation Work Processes
As pointed out earlier in this article, consecutive interpreters wait for speakers to stop speaking and then translate. The consecutive interpreter takes notes and may ask to clarify points before translating.
Simultaneous interpreters work in booths in groups of teams. Gill Upton notes in his article "Mind Your Languages" that "Japanese, Korean, or Chinese interpreters have a far higher per day rate than any of the European languages (Upton, 1999). This is due to the different structure of their languages. In Japanese, for instance, the words follow a "subject-object-verb" order whereas in English we a expend a "subject-verb-object" structure. A Japanese interpreter has to wait for the speaker to finish an entire sentence before he or she can begin interpreting, which puts him or her behind a sentence during the speech.
Upton (1999) further notes that "Asian language interpreters tend to work three to a booth rather than two of their European counterparts. The standard doubling up is because the intense concentration need to do their job reduces their work time to 20-minute shifts." Ideally, simultaneous interpreters should see both the audience and the speakers to pick up on nonverbal
communication clues as well as interpret the verbal speech. Audience members should receive translated written instructions on how to operate the headsets (Upton, 1999).
Most importantly, consecutive and simultaneous interpreters should receive background materials prior to the day of translation, so that they can clarify jargon and organizational terms. Remember that your audience will view your interpreters as part ofyour team, especially if you are doing consecutive interpretations during negotiations.
Simultaneous Interpretation Equipment
Simultaneous translation booths measure 6 feet by 8feet. You need to rent booths and assemble them if your facility does not have them. Not every city has interpretation booths available for rent, in which case you will have to pay for their transport and for the staff to assemble and manage them. If booking a conference room, you have to take the size of the booths into consideration. A 100-person conference actually needs space for 130 people to accommodate interpretation booths (Upton, 1999).
For the headsets, you need someone to hand them out and to legend for them all in an orderly fashion. Asking attendees to mark out headsets might offend some audience members, but may help in accounting for them.
Role of the Interpreter
Deborah Hwa-Froelich and Carol E. Westby give an excellent explanation and chart of what kinds of role an interpreter can bear for your library in their article "Considerations When Working with Interpreters" ( Hwa-Froelich and Westby, 2003). Deciding the role the interpreter is to play before the staunch interpretation will allow your library organization and the interpreter to work most effectively together.
Hwa-Froelich and Westby account for three main interpreter roles:
Neutral Interpreter - conveys messages, but has no relationship with participants. Examples of this type of interpreter would be U.N. interpreters and court interpreters.
"Manager" or "Incremental Interventionist" - ensures that messages are conveyed and asks parties if they have understood the translated message. Interpreters in this situation form share of your organization's team and ideally your library staff has learned how to work with the interpreter (stopping to allow the interpreter to talk, not talking all at once and providing the interpreter with background materials so he/she can accurately interpret jargon and organizational terms among others).
Embedded interpreters - convey messages and picture members of your target audience's cultural/linguistic community, maintaining the roles and social rules of your target audience. Governments, religious organizations and cultural groupings usually utilize these types of interpreters.
Deciding which role you wish the interpreter to play for your library organization helps prevent putting your interpreter in an awkward position where they might misrepresent or miscommunicate information about your library.
Sociological and Cultural Considerations
When President Carter went to Poland in 1977, his American interpreter translated his wish to "understand your desires for the future" as "desiring the Polish people carnally." Educational and social background play a key role in how your interpreter words your phrases. Both of these factors will come into play as you field potential interpreter candidates.
Gender and age often figure into the hiring decisions of interpreters in international business, as corporations survey to successfully assimilate into the business culture of a particular country. A retired businessman can function better than a young woman in some cultures as an interpreter, whereas a young woman serves better in others. As librarians we have to be aware of how our choices in choosing an interpreter reflect upon our institutions.
Implications for Foreign Language Narration
Sound is added to a film by means of time codes that match speech to image frame. Foreign language narration or film dubbing requires a cross-cultural adaptation not only for using appropriate idiomatic dialogue, but also for fitting dialogue into the time codes. The differing word order of German, for example, and the length of some of its words mean that the script has to be rewritten, especially because verbs in German appear at the end of a sentence; this situation makes it easy for dialogue not to match actions if the script is not adapted.
Foreign-Language Talent Considerations for Narrations
Speaking a foreign language doe not make a person a professional narrator. Voice quality and accent are important. Your library organization should always ask for recorded voice samples and have them evaluated by a native speaker, if possible, before hiring a narrator. Equally important is hiring a foreign-language director who can let the narrator(s) concentrate on narrating and not worry about production issues.
Conclusion
Librarians should decide what role they would like interpreters to play in representing the library. Once you do this, educate your staff about how to work with an interpreter. Make sure to provide the interpreter with background material so they will know how to translate jargon and organizational terms.
Librarians should make sure they listen to recorded voice samples before choosing talent for foreign-language narrations. Preferably, a native speaker should help your library evaluate sigh quality and accent.
Sources
Bindel, Marsha. French-to-English translator and former Head of Translation &
Interpretation Services for a communications firm. marsha.bindel@wanadoo.fr
Hwa-Froelich, Deborah A. and Carol E. Westby. (2003). "Considerations when Working
with Interpreters." Communication Disorders Quarterly. V24 i2.
Upton, Gill. (1999). "Mind your Languages." Marketing.
Société Française de Traducteurs, www.sft.fr
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Filed under Language Translation Equipment by on Feb 1st, 2012. 
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