Entrepreneurial Linguist Workshops in Europe

In Utrecht, the Netherlands.

It's official: Judy and her Entrepreneurial Linguist workshops will come to Europe again this summer -- in August and September, to be precise. While we are still working on finalizing dates, we are already talking to some associations in several countries about coming to their neck of the woods to share what we know with their linguists. There are several workshops to choose from, including Lessons from Business School: The Entrepreneurial Linguist, Pricing Strategies for Translators and Interpreters, 10 Habits of Highly Successful Interpreters and Translators, No Pain, No Gain: Active Marketing to Direct Clients, Web 2.0 for Entrepreneurial Linguists, etc. Judy can also customize a keynote speech for you. Have a look at her workshops here.

We will admit that we are a bit behind schedule in terms of setting our schedule in stone this year (it's been a crazy/busy year thus far), but the good news is that your association/organization still has plenty of time to get in touch with Judy for a late summer workshop! Judy has had the pleasure of giving workshops and classes in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Ireland, Scotland, etc. These are usually a lot of fun, and it's great to meet colleagues and connect with new friends! Some workshops have included once-in-a-lifetime adventures, such learning the Scottish wedding dance. See you in Europe?

You Don't Need an Interpreter!

Those who interpret in community and court settings will probably be quite familiar with this interesting species: the person who does not really need an interpreter, but who requests one (and is certainly mostly entitled to one) anyway. We've never personally seen this happen in conference interpreting settings (or at least we don't find out, but we have heard of conference attendees who get a headset to listen to the interpreting just to see if it's good). Those who DNRNAIs (=do not really need an interpreter) can present a wide variety of potential challenges, and it also makes for an interesting interpreting assignment. Here's our take on how and why this happens and how to deal with it.

The first thing to keep in mind is that the interpreter is there to interpret and has not been retained to give an expert opinion of the person's ability (or lack thereof) to speak the language. Many times, attorneys, especially during highly contentions civil depositions, will try to pull the interpreter into the argument, asking him or her to "tell us if the deponent (the person who has requested an interpreter) speaks _________." When we are in that situation, we politely say that we are not qualified to give an on-the-spot language ability assessment  nor has it been agreed upon which criteria or scale should be used. Our advice: don't give an opinion. While you may have some insight into the person's language ability, you are probably not qualified to give an expert opinion, so you should not. Stick to your role.

Who needs an interpreter?

Now that it's probably been established that the interpreter should stay (after much bickering between attorneys or other parties), the tough part starts. For example: it is probably quite true that the person in question (the DNRNAI person) understands the source language quite well. That means that the DNRNAI person doesn't really need an interpreter to understand the question, but does need one to answer, as he or she is simply not that strong in the second language -- understanding is always easier than speaking. There are a variety of reasons for requesting an interpreter when you don't truly need one (again, there's a lot of debate as to who needs an interpreter):

• For tactical advantages in court. We've seen this a lot during divorce and custody proceedings. Sometimes things are so contentious that the parties don't want to leave anything to chance, even though they can communicate in English with their attorneys just fine. However, once proceedings start, the parties (or party) do want an interpreter, many times in the hopes that court interpreters will simplify or explain the proceedings to them, which of course we cannot.
• As a security blanket. Some parties just want an interpreter present in case they don't understand something and request the interpreter to be on stand-by. Usually the other party loudly protests this and demands that the interpreter either interpret everything or nothing. Of course everyone knows things will take a lot longer with an interpreter, which is why occasionally attorneys will kindly suggest sending the interpreter home. Again, as the interpreter, we don't chime in. We sit there, looking pretty (if we can), smile, and let the parties sort it out. 
• Because they can. Depending on the state, the jurisdiction and the type of case, people have a well-established right to an interpreter (Civil Rights Act of 1964, etc.), so many times people just want their interpreter, period. Sometimes, this can get a bit odd. Judy has interpreted for well-known business owners who've lived and worked in the United States for years, yet want an interpreter for their native language (Spanish), which is no longer their dominant language. The problem: when you interpret correctly into their native language, they oftentimes don't understand it, because English is really their dominant language. Still, they insist on answering in half-English, half-Spanish. We just keep calm and carry on.

Now, during the actual proceedings, DNRNAI persons will routinely NOT wait for the question to be interpreted, since they understand it just fine in English. They will start answering the question in their foreign language immediately, even while the interpreter is still rendering the (unnecessary on all fronts) interpretation. Usually, their counsel will instruct them to let the interpreter finish, but that rarely works (in our experience). One must be prepared for hours of constantly being interrupted. This also really confuses the court reporter, and it's one of the big problems of interpreting for someone who doesn't need an interpreter. In addition, their attorney will usually instruct them to answer exclusively in their native language and let the interpreter do the job. The problem with that is that they are no longer fully fluent in their native language and thus speak Spanglish, Denglish, etc., which is of course also challenging  on all fronts, especially since they use many terms incorrectly.

As you can see, interpreting for people who don't really need an interpreter (DNRNAI persons) is full of potential landmines, but somehow, we manage to enable communication without too many problems. What's your experience? We'd love to hear about it. 

Client of the Month

A few weeks ago, Judy had just sat down to eat her all-organic kale salad when she got a call (of course, fork was in mid-air). It was a frantic client, asking if she could come interpret at a deposition. Now. Always eager to help a client, Judy left the kale salad sitting on the table, threw her hair into a less-than-perfect ponytail, changed from yoga pants into a suit, put on lipstick in the car and drove the 3 miles to the client's office. Time elapsed between phone call and arrival: 13 minutes. Not bad. Lunch was a bag of chips in the car. The client was truly stunned that Judy showed up so quickly (living down the street and being familiar with the law firm helps), and was very grateful. For this project, the court reporting firm hired Judy, and these guys are really, really nice.

We found out how nice they are when they paid their invoice within a few days and also included a Starbucks gift certificate with a handwritten note thanking Judy for her assistance. How nice is that? We are grateful to have wonderful clients who go above and beyond -- we would have been happy with just the check, but the small gift certificate is a truly lovely gesture.

What's the nicest thing a client has done for you? We'd love to hear about it!

AIIC Event: Austrian Culture and Language

This announcement comes courtesy of AIIC, the International Association of Conference Interpreters. This prestigious association is co-organizing this event with UNIVERSITAS Austria Interpreters' and Translator's Association, of which Dagy is the secretary general.

The Albertina museum in Vienna. With horses.

A few years ago (in 2009, to be exact) the two organizations teamed up to provide a multi-day refresher course on all things Austrian culture. The Austrian language and the wonderful peculiarities of Austria may be a mystery to many who have German as a "C" language, and AIIC and UNIVERSITAS are here to help. This event  is back by popular demand, but its still in its planning phases, so don't buy your tickets to Vienna yet. If you are interested, please have a look at the AIIC events page (information available only in German). Please note that this is not an interpreting workshop. Rather, the course will focus on Austrian culture, specific language issues, politics, art, food, society, etc. Here's a link to the 2009 program.

Austria at its best.

The course will be held in Vienna, Austria, from July 8th through July 12th. The organizers need at least 20 participants to hold this event. If you are interested or have any questions, please e-mail Alexander Zigo at office@zigo.at before February 15, 2013. The course costs EUR 650 for AIIC members and EUR 800 for non-members. Course registration will close on April 30, 2013. 

It's all Greek to Me!

Roughly a year and a half ago, Dagy decided to take a few Greek lessons, with no goal in mind except wanting to be able to order her Greek coffee in Greek when in Greece (a country she adores and likes to visit). Also, an EU interpreter friend had recommended looking into a new language before taking the accreditation test for freelance conference interpreters, as this might impress the jury (it sure did!). Read on to learn about Dagy's Greek learning adventure.

Αλεξάνδρα and Ντάγκι in class.

Initially, I had no intention of going beyond the very basics. I struggled to learn the alphabet and threw a fit or two until I finally got those lower case, upper case and handwritten letters straight. At some point, my ambition kicked in and on New Year’s Eve, I decided on a very ambitious long-term project: reaching a level of Greek that would allow me to interpret from Greek into German at the European Union by early 2017. That’s four years down the road. It might sound like a daunting task, but it’s certainly doable. “Adding” new languages is the new normal for interpreters, both freelance and staff, at the institutions of the European Union, where I am a freelance conference interpreter. After all, relay interpreting can be frustrating. It's a process that's frequently used in conference interpreting sessions for languages of lesser diffusion, say, if there's no Greek->German interpreter available, speeches are interpreted into English and then into German, resulting in a delay for all parties. And since all of us have learned languages in the past, why not add another? I know a lot of interpreters who have added languages and it takes them about four years on average. This project will certainly require a high level of self-discipline and dedication, both of which I have in abundance (probably because I was a serious athlete in my previous life). Even though I have a lot of other things on my plate (running our business, translating, interpreting, serving as the Secretary General of my professional association UNIVERSITAS Austria, working out, reading books etc.), I think I can do it.

Now, how am I doing it? For the time being, I am still a slightly advanced beginner. I've taken two summer courses and one full semester course, all of them at beginner level, since no others were offered. While it’s a small group, not everybody is learning at the same pace and I felt I needed to take it to the next level if I was to get past Πού μένεις; (where do you live?) and Τι κάνεις; (how are you?) soon. So I asked the excellent teacher, Athens-born Alexandra (Αλεξάνδρα in Greek), to give me private lessons. Together, we will focus on what interpreters need most: understanding complex speeches. That will involve a lot of listening comprehension exercises, numbers and tons of vocabulary, after we get past the grammar basics, that is. In addition, I listen to Greek talk radio every day as well as to EU plenary sessions and committee meetings to hear high-level Greek. Unlike just six months ago, I do understand a few words here and there. The great part about starting out with a new language is the fantastic progress you see at the beginning. I’m also looking into taking an intensive course at a language school in Athens that comes highly recommended by a fellow EU interpreter who learned her Greek there. I also purchased a few comic books in Athens last September and hope to be able to read them soon. I sometimes venture to Greek news sites to practice my reading skills (albeit without understanding).

Wish me luck! My significant other, Tommy, said that he’s we willing to buy a small summer house on a Greek island if I pass the EU accreditation exam for Greek in 2017. We are so on!

Interpreting Blunder of the Month

No interpreting awards for Judy today. 

We really enjoy poking fun at our own mistakes, so here's Judy's interpreting blunder of the month. Ready?

During all formal legal proceedings, it's appropriate to address everyone formally when speaking Spanish. As opposed to English, in Spanish we have the informal pronoun "tú" and the formal ''usted," which are both used for the second person singular (you). Now, there are no real hard rules on this, but when in doubt, it's best to address anyone formally in any business setting, unless you are talking to friends, colleagues or children. Judy's unofficial rule of thumb is to address every person who appears to be older than 12 formally. Thus far, this strategy has worked quite well.

However, a few weeks ago, Judy was called to a deposition to assist a young girl. Given Judy's estimate of the girl's age, she addressed her informally, which did not seem to bother the girl in the least. Everything was going smoothly until the deposing attorney asked for the deponent's date of birth, which is quite common during some civil depositions. With one short answer from the deponent, everything changed. 

Attorney: "What's your date of birth?''

Judy interprets: "¿Cuál es tu fecha de nacimiento?"

Deponent: "'14 de julio de 1975.''

Judy interprets: ''July 14th, 1975.''

Judy (internal dialogue): Holy cow! This deponent is older than I am! I can't believe I have been addressing her informally. She sure doesn't look like she will be 38 this year! How disrespectful of me.  Grr. Where can I find a hole to hide in? Ah, there is no hole. I must soldier on. This stinks. Is this deposition over? Oh no, it just started. 

Needless to say, Judy was absolutely mortified, but no one else seemed to notice. Lesson learned: no more guessing deponent's ages. Just default to the formal way of address and stick to that -- it's just safer. Now, it would have been great to find out what skin cream the deponent uses, but alas, court interpreters don't get to ask questions about skin care routines, so we don't know. It's probably just genes. Final lesson: good thing Judy never worked as a bouncer at a bar.

Free Online Ivy League Classes Through edX

Judy at Harvard, 2011. 

You might wonder if there's some sort of catch here. We assure you: there is not. This program has been widely publicized, universally praised and is hugely popular, and for those of you who are not yet familiar with edX, here's a short summary. A few years ago, top-notch Ivy League (and other) universities got together to revolutionize education and to allow every student on the globe with an internet connection to take classes at some of the world's best universities. These classes are called MOOCs (massive online open classes). The pilot started with just a few highly technical classes, but has since expanded. There are several platforms, including EdX (an initiative by the venerable Harvard University and MIT) and Coursera, which offers more than 200 courses, including Natural Language Processing, which sounds fascinating.

Some classes can be started whenever the student desires, while others run on a set schedule. Some require intense work and participation, while others are more flexible and less time-consuming. Have a look at the individual classes offered. Upon successful completion of the course (meaning earning a passing grade), students are issued a certificate of completion by the university that offered the class. For instance,  if you took a Harvard class through edX, the certificate will say HarvardX. We don't know about you, but we've always wanted a document that has our name and Harvard's on it. 

We are thinking about enrolling in at least one class this spring. Here are the edX classes that have piqued our interest:

• Justice (Harvard)
• The Ancient Greek Hero (Harvard)
• The Challenges of Global Poverty (MIT)

It does sound a bit too good to be true, doesn't it? Well, it's the next big thing in education, and if we see any potential downside to this fantastic program (remember we have not yet taken any classes) for linguists, it's that most of these classes are quite heavy on science and technology (which the sci-tech translators will love). Some of these classes, such as Artificial Intelligence, have a long list of prerequisites and are truly intended for those with a strong background in math and statistics. 

So there you have it: free online Ivy League classes. How's that for professional development? 

Miss Venezuela, Use Your Interpreter

Interpreters work in many high-profile situations, including some you would never have thought of, including the International Space Station (as eloquently explained in our favorite book of 2012, Found in Translation) and yes, international beauty pageants. Objectification of women aside, these popular events are televised all over the world, and we could not really think of a more nerve-wrecking interpreting assignment than being on stage interpreting the famous question (and response) for a Miss Universe finalist. The Miss Universe organization hires a small army of highly qualified interpreters to assist the contestants throughout the competition. Usually Miss Universe is held in an exotic location, but unfortunately for the US-based interpreters, the 2012 competition was held in Vegas, which isn't bad, but it can't compete with Brazil or Thailand.

Now that we've told you about the great Miss Universe interpreters (one of whom Judy had the pleasure of meeting), you will be surprised to know that Miss Venezuela (usually a very strong contender for winner or runner-up) decided not to use her interpreter, who was right there on stage with her (and correctly interpreted the question). Instead, she waits for the question to be interpreted into Spanish, but then proceeds to answer it in broken English. Only she knows why she chose to do this, but the result is quite cringe-inducing.

The question was: "If you could make a new law, what would it be? And explain why."

The transcribed answer was (courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter): "I think that any leys [Spanish for "laws"] there are in Constitution or in life, are already made. I think that we should have, uh, a straight way to go in our similar, or, eh, in our lives as is this. For example, I'm a surfer, and I think that the best wave that I can take is the wave that I wait for it. So please do our only, eh, law that we can do. Thank you Vegas!"

Not surprisingly, this answer earned Miss Venezuela zero points. Somehow, she was still able to come in third. The lesson? Interpreters can save your life, avoid war, prevent you from getting falsely convicted, and they can help you win an international beauty pageant. Miss USA was this year's winner. 

We'd Like to Pay More, Please

It's all about the money. Or is it?

A few weeks ago, we received a pair of quite puzzling phone calls from two of our favorite clients. We've tried to transcribe the gist of both conversations here. We've added some lines for comedic effect, but the point of the conversations has been left intact. We are on very friendly terms with both clients and our conversations are usually quite casual.

Client: Hi Judy, thanks for the holiday chocolates.  I am eating them right now. No calories, right? Just like you said on the card?

Judy: You got it! No calories. Happy holidays. What can I do for you?

Client (making munching sounds): Oh, you know, we are a pretty big client of yours.

Judy (stomach dropping, quick to answer): Of course you are! We are so grateful for your business. That's why you get chocolates.

Client: Glad to hear. We think you are awesome, too, but we really have to talk about what we are spending with Twin Translations.

Judy (fearing the worst): Sure. Looks like you are working on your 2013 budget. Is it tight?

Client: Yes, I am working on the budget. It's taking forever. What do you mean by tight?

Judy (telling herself to grab the bull by the horns): Well, I mentioned the tight budget because you are calling a vendor to get a lower rate.

Client (laughing): Oh, I am sorry. You misunderstood! I was just reviewing the rates of what we pay for services that I think are essential to our business, and I don't think you make enough. We would like to pay you some more. So have a look at our current contract and change the number on the per-word rate.

Judy (cannot believe her good luck): Oh wow, yes, of course. I am sorry, I almost fell out of my chair. I thought you would be asking me to lower our rates. And yes, certainly, I will adjust the rate and send the contract back to you.

Client: Great. Just come up with a new number that you feel comfortable with and send it my way. Happy holidays!

Judy: Thank you so much, will do. Happy holidays to you as well. It's a pleasure to do business with you.

Client: By the way -- I just recommended you to a friend. I told her you guys were great, professional and very affordable!

Judy (baffled): Thanks so much for the referral. We really appreciate it. Have a great day!

Client: Talk to you soon.

Our thoughts:
1) Christmas miracles do happen.
2) Things aren't always what they seem.
3) It's important to hear people out.
4) We've been called a lot of things, but never affordable.
5) Looks like we've done a good job at convincing our client of our value.
6) We should raise our prices across the board.
7) We have the world's best clients.

We'd love to hear your thoughts, dear readers!

Book of the Month: The 5-Minute Linguist

A few months ago, a wonderful little book found its way to our mailbox. Now, we receive many books from authors who request reviews of their work for this blog as well as our German-language book review blog, but this particular package contained no note. We called the usual suspects. They are friends and family who have the fantastic habit of buying books for us when they find something they think we would like. But no, it was not them. Intrigued, we started reading The 5-Minute Linguist: Bite-sized Essays on Language and Languages, edited by E.M. Rickerson and Barry Hilton (second edition). After the first essay, we were hooked.

A few weeks later, the mystery was solved with Kevin Hendzel, a well-known veteran of the translation industry and the author of one of the essays, revealed that he was the mysterious sender. Kevin has held a number of high-profile positions in our industry, including the one of spokesperson for the American Translators Association and chief Russian translator for the White House (US-Russia Presidential Hotline). Impressive credentials indeed. By the way: have a look at his interesting blog.

Originally conceived as a series of five-minute segments on language and everything related to language on venerable NPR (National Public Radio), this book gives you bite-sized and easy-to-read information on a variety of topics that would take you hours to look up elsewhere. Most essays are no longer than three pages, and each is written by an undisputed expert in the field. It is quite a feat that this book manages to unite the world's foremost experts on so many relatively narrow topics, and what they all share is the (quite rare) ability to clearly explain complex subject in a way that non-linguistics doctoral students can understand and remember. While we are voracious readers of fiction in our four languages, we read significantly less non-fiction, because much of it can be a drag, even though there are, of course, some gems. Many writers on language do come across as terribly pedantic bores who constantly try to outsmart and impress the reader with their knowledge and expertise, which are not attractive traits. Rest assured that this book is the opposite. While it's clear that the 5-Minute Linguist is written by high-level experts, it's accessible,  fun to read, and more then anything: it's addictive. The book's own description is quite accurate:  it's more fireside chats than college textbook.

We both read the book within a matter of days, and we'd initially started marking our favorite essays my drawing  a star next to the name of the essay in the table of contents. We soon stopped this practice, as essentially every essay has a star next to it. However, here is a brief overview of some of our favorites:

• How many languages are there in the world? This is a good question that, for some reason, comes up quite frequently in conversation when we get asked what we do for a living. Now we have a truly intelligent (and short!) answer.
• What are lingua francas?
• How many kinds of writing systems are there?
• What causes foreign accents?
• Did German almost become the language of the United States?
• What happens if you are raised without language?
• Where did English come from?
• Is Latin really dead?
• What's Gullah?
• Whatever happened to Esperanto?
• Do you have to be a masochist to study Chinese? Short answer for native speakers of English: yes.
• Can you make a living loving languages? This is should be required reading at translation programs.
• Why do we need translators if we have dictionaries? Written by Kevin Hendzel, this insightful essay might be our favorite. Try to memorize it and recite it the next time you get this question at a cocktail party. 

This book might make for good reading material for Judy's Intro to Translation class at UC-San Diego, and there's no doubt that the 5-Minute Linguist makes for a great gift for friends, family, clients and colleagues. We had originally planned on keeping the book next to our desks and thought about reading one essay a week or so, but we devoured the entire book in a few days, and almost fought about it (we only had one copy). This might very well be our second favorite book of the year about language (first place: Found in Translation), as it covers a wide variety of topics, is superbly written and highly insightful. We learned something on every page, and so will you. It was also great to see that we actually retained some of the new information we learned quite well. When asked about creoles and pidgins at a recent party, we think we gave a coherent answer. If this book is not yet on your Christmas list, it's time to add it now. Happy reading!