tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2618029197139250711.post6877033895749084119..comments2024-03-25T03:02:08.418-07:00Comments on Translation Times: Interpreting Incomprehensible SpeakersJudy Jenner and Dagmar Jennerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15991071510108619107noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2618029197139250711.post-50704212338503657362017-05-23T14:05:14.246-07:002017-05-23T14:05:14.246-07:00@FSM: Sorry about the late response (super busy tr...@FSM: Sorry about the late response (super busy travel schedule) and thanks for your comment. Your approach is similar to @Ms Li Tin Chu (who commented above), and we very much like your approach of explaining to the listeners what is going on before going silent. Judy Jenner and Dagmar Jennerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15991071510108619107noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2618029197139250711.post-70788491094741459212017-05-23T14:02:44.020-07:002017-05-23T14:02:44.020-07:00@Ms Li Tin CHU: Thanks for reading and for comment...@Ms Li Tin CHU: Thanks for reading and for commenting! Ah yes, turning the microphone off is the last resort indeed, albeit a measure that will greatly affect precisely those people who are not at fault and who need our services in the first place: the listeners. And then of course one does not know how upset listeners will translate (pun intended) into action on behalf of the conference organizers to try to get the speaker to slow down. Lots of moving pieces indeed, especially in events with mobile booths and conference organizers who have not worked with interpreters much. We do think the microphone off rule works quite well at international organizations with permanent booths and direct (or at least easy) communication abilities with the speaker. And don't even get us started on speakers who read their speeches at breakneck speed! Our hats are off to you for trying to keep up.... And greetings from Vegas and Vienna. So lovely to have a commenter all the way from Taiwan!Judy Jenner and Dagmar Jennerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15991071510108619107noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2618029197139250711.post-16942294905850633862017-04-24T08:19:56.712-07:002017-04-24T08:19:56.712-07:00In case of unstranslatable speakers, the last reso...In case of unstranslatable speakers, the last resort is the "silence is golden" rule, but before shutting up I explain to the audience that the accent or both accent and machine-gun speed od the sepeakers delivery make the translation impossible.<br />FSM, POA, 25 e 26 e3 Jan de 2012https://www.blogger.com/profile/06095246344325606762noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2618029197139250711.post-74784441399698108722017-04-22T19:41:48.845-07:002017-04-22T19:41:48.845-07:00MIC OFF! the silence will attract the organizers t...MIC OFF! the silence will attract the organizers to come over to the booth for a session of good education from the interpreters!! I have applied this in my career, not too many times, of course, for incomprehensible speakers (clients in Taiwan love to ask Non-English speakers to speak English to save money because the EN-CH combination is the cheapest!) and machine-gun speed speakers (speakers who READ their speeches). Instead of burning up our brain in guesswork which might be wrong and cause confusion to the audience (besides the interpreters always get the blame), I prefer the "silence is gold" rule, and take advantage of educating the client. Hope this helps!! happy interpreting! Warm regards from Taiwan! Ms Li Tin CHUnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2618029197139250711.post-31918168349677892372017-04-12T16:58:13.837-07:002017-04-12T16:58:13.837-07:00@Ben: Yes, indeed. This sure was a breakdown on ma...@Ben: Yes, indeed. This sure was a breakdown on many levels, and we really feel for the Italian booth. An awful situation for sure. The reality is that in most conference interpreting situations that we've been in, no attention is paid, whatsoever, to whether the speakers are able to speak in a comprehensible way or not. Oftentimes -- in their defense -- many organizers have no idea (because they can be third parties) who the speakers are and don't really care that much as long as they show up and speak as agreed. This leaves interpreters in a very vulnerable position, holding the proverbial short end of the stick, and it's tough. You usually just have to do the best you can with what you've got, and most conference interpreters are very used to working with incomplete information, which is, of course, not a good situation to be in --but it's oftentimes the reality. <br /><br />In terms of interpreting Trump: where do we start? We wouldn't want to do it ourselves, but there are enough clips out there, at least, to help interpreters prepare (or at least try to prepare). We are not surprised that he is terribly difficult to interpret, and we think whoever interprets him should be very well-versed in American culture (pop culture, obscure references, etc.) and should probably have resided in the US for a while to really understand all the nuances. That said, there's a significant lack of substance in his speeches that is not too unfamiliar to interpreters who work with politicians on a regular basis, but his particular way of speaking certainly does present a challenge. Our hats are off to the interpreters who accept those assignments and make it work. Judy Jenner and Dagmar Jennerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15991071510108619107noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2618029197139250711.post-57648876140729694692017-04-12T08:56:30.581-07:002017-04-12T08:56:30.581-07:00What a challenging situation! This sounds like it ...What a challenging situation! This sounds like it was a breakdown in the responsibility of the organizers: it should be their responsibility to know who will be speaking and any idiosyncrasies about their speech. They either should have ensured that the interpreter they hired for him understood his dialect or asked him to speak in Hochdeutsch for the purposes of the conference. <br />I've read a lot about interpreters' difficulties working with Trump's speech, and am wondering what Dagy (and Judy!) think about that?Ben Karlhttp://bentranslates.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.com