Interpreting | Translation
Interpreting
You require interpreting services for the following scenarios:
- Meeting a foreign partner:
A liaison interpreter works without equipment and will enable you to easily converse with a representative.
- Planning a meeting hosting foreigners:
For an informal meeting conducted in two working languages, the interpreter may use portable equipment (transmitter and earphones) to increase speed and efficiency without added costs. Two interpreters are required for meetings lasting for more than one hour.
- Planning a conference lasting one or more days:
Simultaneous interpreting is absolutely essential for this type of conference. To provide perfectly transparent interpreting, sound-proof booths are set up to isolate interpreters, and earphones are given to participants so that they may listen to conferences proceedings in their language of choice. A technician is required to manage sound.
Two interpreters per language are required and take turns every 20 minutes.
- Planning an official conference:
You may use simultaneous or consecutive interpreting if the duration of the conference permits it. This method of interpreting lengthens the time required for interpreting; however, it may provide for more eloquent, polished interpreted messages when an exceptional interpreter is used.
ou are preparing a multi-lingual conference:
- Consider the equipment required for simultaneous interpreting:
Contained within a briefcase used to recharge headsets, each transmitter operates on HF with frequencies of 1 or 2, which provides a very useful level of interactivity for bilingual meetings consisting of up to fifty people.
- Prepare conference with interpreters:
In the extent that it is possible, a client should provide interpreters with as much documentation as they can so that interpreters may prepare for simultaneous interpreting: when working in a booth, the interpreter does not have sufficient time to look up words or think extensively about a concept. Interpreters should be informed about topics discussed during the conference to seek out the appropriate terminology.
Source language speakers who read their material must provide a written copy to interpreters: we read faster than we talk.
Films and video clips will only be translated if they can be viewed by interpreters prior to the conference.
Source language speakers must talk into a microphone; otherwise interpreting is impossible.
Different methods of interpreting:
- Consecutive interpreting:
Consecutive interpreting is a mode in which the interpreter begins their interpretation of a complete message after the speaker has stopped producing the source utterance. During the source utterance, the interpreter takes notes which will later help him/her accurately communicate the message in its entirety in another language.
The duration of interpreted messages can vary from one minute to 15, even 30 minutes. On average, interpreters will provide interpretations of source utterances every 5-10 minutes. In this way the audience does not grow tired, and the interpreter is able to work with well-structured sections of material which help create a smooth flow.
Notes by an interpreter are not taken in shorthand: there is no “note-taking system” that exists for consecutive interpreting. Each interpreter takes notes with his or her own personal method and may be unable to read notes taken by a colleague. Notes are a short summary of what has been said and help the interpreter maintain a flow of developed reasoning. They consist of a few keywords and sequences of arguments. Interpreters take note of and translate what they understand, and not what they hear.
- Simultaneous interpretation:
Simultaneous interpreting takes place in a clear sound-proof booth in which the interpreter renders the message of the source language speaker in the target language and interprets it simultaneously into a microphone.
Listeners hear the interpreted message through earphones linked to receptor that allows them to select their language and adjust the volume. The simultaneous method significantly cuts down on time required for interpretation compared to the consecutive method, yet sometimes will produce a less eloquently formulated target message.
We will conclude the presentation of different methods of interpretation by discussing whispered and “bidule” interpreting:
- Whispered interpreting, as its same suggests, is when an interpreter whispers his/her interpretation into the ear of a person or to a very small spread out group. With a group that is too large, whispered interpretation can quickly become “shouted” interpretation. It is a form of simultaneous interpretation, but is done without any equipment.
- “Bidule” interpreting refers to a simplified method in which portable equipment is used. The interpreter uses only a microphone and sometimes headphones. It is done without a booth. Bidule interpreting is essentially whispered interpreting done for a slightly larger group of listeners.
Translation
Understanding translation:
To understand the field of translation, we must first recognize the fact that there is nothing more complex than language, thus making translation an inherently complex art. To translate is to transport an idea from one language to another. Even though machine translation is helpful for understanding the overall gist of a document, it cannot produce an acceptable translation.
Bilingualism is a state of being, while translation is a learned skill: Speaking a foreign language “fluently” and translating it properly is as different as someone who knows how to count and someone who is an accountant.
Translators can only and should only translate into their native language, with very few exceptions.
The role of a translation agency is to ensure that a translator is suited to take on to a specific project within the stated deadlines and budget. Prices for agencies can vary greatly from excessively high prices that stem from unnecessary overhead costs, to low prices which are the result of amateur work or illegal labor practices, often one and the same. Since it is sometimes impossible to evaluate the quality of a translation in an unknown language for an end user, agencies choose to work with trusted service providers who can provide quality translation within the deadline.
Translation as written expression:
When speaking a foreign language, small errors are permissible as long as one is able to be understood. Written expression, however, is much less forgiving. Although English is the international language, non-native English speakers will take in two times less information from a text as compared to when they read texts written in their native language.
Interpretation as oral expression:
Interpreting is the oral rendition of utterances from one language into another that strives to be as accurate as possible. Several different methods of interpreting exist: simultaneous, consecutive and whispered, for example.
Each is used according to the type of conference, available resources, allotted time and number of listeners.
Sworn translation:
A sworn translation is an official translation that has been signed by a translator affiliated with the French court system. Translators sign translations and original source texts by affixing their seal and signature to documents. A sworn translation is a document that is considered to be true to the original by an administrative body. It is important to remember that translators are harder to place when producing sworn translations of documents, and that the translation process will take longer than with non-sworn translations. In France, sworn translators can only translate documents with French as the source or target language.
Confidentiality:
All professional freelance and in-house translators are subject to the strictest secrecy.
