{"id":4837,"date":"2017-06-21T13:45:27","date_gmt":"2017-06-21T17:45:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/?p=4837"},"modified":"2018-11-05T18:25:05","modified_gmt":"2018-11-05T22:25:05","slug":"pency-tsai-the-trials-and-tribulations-of-a-community-interpreter-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/pency-tsai-the-trials-and-tribulations-of-a-community-interpreter-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Trials and Tribulations of a Community Interpreter: Conference Interpreting, here we go! \u2013 Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Pency Tsai<\/strong><\/h5>\n

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Here it is! Part 2 of \u201cThe Bird\u2019s\u201d venture into conference interpreting. We would love to hear from you on your own experiences delving into other venues of interpreting, so don\u2019t forget to leave your comment.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Read Part 1 here<\/a><\/p>\n

\"[Wooded<\/p>\n

Conference interpreting is an altogether different kind of beast.\u00a0 I still remember my first attempt at conference interpreting and how all the experience that I had accumulated up to that time went out the window the moment the mics were turned on. Sitting in that booth was nerve-wracking and I couldn’t keep up with the presenters.\u00a0 I blanked out.\u00a0 Thankfully I was saved by my colleague who took control of the situation and jumped in. I am forever grateful for his presence that day as it showcased his skill set that was vastly superior to my own. It was a humbling experience and to this day, I am still shaky when approaching that booth, traumatized as I was.\u00a0 A sense of helplessness overcame me then, as I struggled to pick up everything that was said; all the details, all the jargon, and even the industry’s inside jokes.\u00a0 I realized that day how much work I needed in order to survive in the conference interpreting game.\u00a0 First thing on the agenda: improve my simultaneous game.<\/p>\n

Since much of my work occurs in recorded environments, I am familiar with the consecutive interpreting format.\u00a0 This is the first hurdle that I encountered when treading in the conference world of interpreting.\u00a0 I did not have the confidence to match my consecutive work when placed in a simultaneous assignment.\u00a0 To overcome this, I took on every opportunity to work on my simultaneous skill-set.\u00a0 I familiarized myself with this type of interpreting but I still found myself intimidated when placed in a conference interpreting setting.<\/p>\n

Now, I recall attending a seminar where the guest speaker was a renowned conference interpreter.\u00a0 She was magnetic, with a presence and charm emanating from her as she effortlessly spoke about the experiences that shaped her into the respected professional who stood before us.\u00a0 She said two things that stood out that day.\u00a0 One was her comment that we interpreters are better known as interrupters — never has a truer statement been made.\u00a0 The second thing that has been etched into my mind is her suggestion for those who follow in her footsteps. Her tip for up-and-coming conference interpreters was to keep working at it and to be creative — don’t be afraid to fake it.\u00a0 It was something that I had heard from other successful conference interpreters.\u00a0 However, try as I might, I just couldn’t grasp the concept.\u00a0 I always came back to the same problem.\u00a0 My personal rules for interpreting stated that faithfulness to the original in terms of accuracy and completeness was always to be followed.\u00a0 That little voice in my head always reminded me not to stray from my rules.\u00a0 I made up these rules and I couldn’t change them now, even though I wanted to.\u00a0 That crazy little bird inside my head kept reinforcing these longtime unconscious habits.<\/p>\n

A couple of years ago, I stepped back into the booth and was prepared to work the floor again, eager to prove to myself that I could make it happen.\u00a0 As the clock ticked closer to the beginning of the conference, bad news arrived — my assigned partner would not be coming. Thankfully, the organizers had the foresight to bring in a local interpreter to the conference, a third interpreter who turned out to be a godsend. As I broached this individual about divvying up the workload, I hoped that she would be open to taking on the English-to-Mandarin part of the conference, as I had spent much of my prep time on the Mandarin-to-English interpretation.\u00a0 Karma has a funny way of showing how fair the universe is.\u00a0 My relief quickly turned to despair when my suggestion was rebuffed.\u00a0 The third interpreter was more of an escort interpreter and would not be partaking in the day’s ceremonies. I was on my own.<\/p>\n

You never know how great the human mind can be until it faces a crisis. To be honest, the seconds became minutes and the minutes became hours.\u00a0 Switching back and forth between languages and controlling the switchboard became second nature.\u00a0 Truth be told, yes, I forgot to switch the board a few times.\u00a0 I can also say that the interpretation was not exactly a work of art, but I survived and at the end of the day, the client was happy with the performance under the circumstances. The greatest relief was that nobody complained about my subpar (at least in my mind) rendition of the subject matter.\u00a0 This gave me the confidence to continue working at conferences, but the nerves still hit me when the word conference is mentioned.<\/p>\n

More recently, I made a small breakthrough when interpreting in a conference setting.\u00a0 But I’m going to leave everyone hanging and stop now as this column is getting a bit too long winded.\u00a0 Part 2 of this rant will finish where I left off.\u00a0 By then, many of us will have met and chatted in Miami at the ATA 56th Annual Conference.\u00a0 I’ll be able to share some insights from my more capable colleagues and maybe some new goofs from my own escapades.<\/p>\n

I’ll leave everyone with thoughts on some things that I found difficult during this ongoing journey from community interpreting to conference interpreting.<\/p>\n