the interpreter

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7/14/2019 The Interpreter http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-interpreter-563109e3e2e2f 1/47 Life coaching: an interpreter’s experience In addition to my freelance interpreting career of more than twenty years, for some years now I have also been working as a personal coach. I wanted to make changes to my life, and had some coaching. Immediately, I was a believer! I then trained as a coach myself. It's a fascinating activity, in some ways similar to interpreting, and yet very different. Essentially, it's about change. Here, I set out what life coaching involves, and then tell you about some of the approaches used that might be stimulating to interpreters seeking some sort of change. Coaching, like interpreting, is often misunderstood. The most common idea is that coaching is a form of counselling, and therefore only for people "with problems". In fact, coaching focuses on the future, setting clear goals to achieve more or make big changes. A person needs to be psychologically and emotionally settled to engage in such a process, and most clients are already successful people who want more from life. Counselling addresses  primarily emotional issues and can involve unpicking the past in order to deal with pain and self-destructive habits. Another misconception is that a coach tells you what to do, or gives you advice. Essentially what a coach does is create a productive thinking space between two individuals, in which the clients can re-frame and develop their ideas and feelings about themselves. The coach is not a well-meaning friend, family member or manager, all figures who can tend to focus on advice and are convinced that they have the right solution to the issue. A coach often doesn't know much about the client's profession or life circumstances; they may come to discover a great deal through the coaching relationship, but that lack of knowledge provides the essential objectivity needed to focus on exploring the client's dilemmas, feelings, goals and obstacles. The core idea is that the clients have the answer to their own dilemma; if the coach empowers them to think better and facilitates that process, they will find that answer and many more  besides. So, how do we achieve change? The life coaching community focuses on self-awareness as the key to better performance and greater satisfaction. I would add self-belief to that. Anyone can improve their self-awareness, and can seek support in developing self-belief. Interpreters are no exception. Interpreting is a long-term career, with many years of study and training, so it is a lucky interpreter indeed who never experiences a desire for change at some point in their career. I've had many booth conversations about change, and could identify easily with most of them. I've also heard interpreting described as "the best job in the world" - not very reassuring if one is going through a mid-career crisis! So, what would a life coach suggest as an approach to each of the following interpreter dilemmas? I'd like to do something else - but I think I'm hooked on interpreting! I thought I was going to help people - but this feels so impersonal. I'd like to change - but I don't think I can do anything else. I thought freelance meant freedom - but I'm a slave to my diary! I love languages, but I feel strangely bored and frustrated.

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Page 1: The Interpreter

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Life coaching: an interpreter’s experience

In addition to my freelance interpreting career of more than twenty years, for some

years now I have also been working as a personal coach. I wanted to make

changes to my life, and had some coaching. Immediately, I was a believer! Ithen trained as a coach myself. It's a fascinating activity, in some ways similar

to interpreting, and yet very different.

Essentially, it's about change. Here, I set out what life coaching involves, and then tell youabout some of the approaches used that might be stimulating to interpreters seeking some sortof change.

Coaching, like interpreting, is often misunderstood. The most common idea is that coaching isa form of counselling, and therefore only for people "with problems". In fact, coachingfocuses on the future, setting clear goals to achieve more or make big changes. A person

needs to be psychologically and emotionally settled to engage in such a process, and mostclients are already successful people who want more from life. Counselling addresses

 primarily emotional issues and can involve unpicking the past in order to deal with pain andself-destructive habits.

Another misconception is that a coach tells you what to do, or gives you advice. Essentiallywhat a coach does is create a productive thinking space between two individuals, in which theclients can re-frame and develop their ideas and feelings about themselves. The coach is not awell-meaning friend, family member or manager, all figures who can tend to focus on adviceand are convinced that they have the right solution to the issue. A coach often doesn't knowmuch about the client's profession or life circumstances; they may come to discover a greatdeal through the coaching relationship, but that lack of knowledge provides the essentialobjectivity needed to focus on exploring the client's dilemmas, feelings, goals and obstacles.The core idea is that the clients have the answer to their own dilemma; if the coach empowersthem to think better and facilitates that process, they will find that answer and many more

 besides.

So, how do we achieve change? The life coaching community focuses on self-awareness asthe key to better performance and greater satisfaction. I would add self-belief to that. Anyonecan improve their self-awareness, and can seek support in developing self-belief. Interpretersare no exception. Interpreting is a long-term career, with many years of study and training, so

it is a lucky interpreter indeed who never experiences a desire for change at some point intheir career. I've had many booth conversations about change, and could identify easily withmost of them. I've also heard interpreting described as "the best job in the world" - not veryreassuring if one is going through a mid-career crisis! So, what would a life coach suggest asan approach to each of the following interpreter dilemmas?

• I'd like to do something else - but I think I'm hooked on interpreting!

• I thought I was going to help people - but this feels so impersonal.

• I'd like to change - but I don't think I can do anything else.

• I thought freelance meant freedom - but I'm a slave to my diary!

• I love languages, but I feel strangely bored and frustrated.

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When we think about what brought us to a given career path, we often focus on external factsand events - a particular teacher who inspired us, passing an exam, or a spell living abroad asa child. These are not unimportant, but there are so many other elements within us that haveled us to where we are now. They can be summed up as personality preferences, values,

 behaviours and habits. Life coaching will highlight all of these and ask a client to reflect on

them.

Psychometric tests help us gain an understanding of our personality preferences: the MyersBriggs Type Indicator (MBTI), for example, is widely used in corporate and Governmentcircles to help individuals understand themselves better and make the right choices. It's

 powerful stuff, ranging from our relationship with the rest of the world (extraversion vs.introversion), to how we like to take in information and how we make decisions. For aninterpreter, understanding the difference between extraversion and introversion (one of thefour main MBTI preferences) can be the key to understanding why we feel a strong desire to

 be more involved, have a higher profile or just be given the space to grapple with the puzzleof interpreting without interference. According to Myers and Briggs, an extrovert is someone

who gets their energy from the outside world, who likes to work out their ideas by talkingthem through, and who tends to have a broad level of interest in many subjects.

Recognise yourself? An introvert is someone who gets their energy from their internal world -their own thoughts, ideas, and aims. They benefit from time to reflect, work out problems byanalysing them alone and tend to have a deep interest in a few subjects. Could that be you?Being good at talking doesn't make you an extrovert, and enjoying analysis doesn't make youan introvert. Confused? Take the test yourself - available on the Internet - and find out how itrelates to you and your professional choices.

Our values are powerful forces, often deeply buried, but can be so important in helping usunderstand why we do what we do. If I ask a client what their values are, they'll probably saysomething like integrity, honesty and professionalism. When probed further, we find valueslike affiliation (the importance of being liked or accepted by others), ambition, competition,happiness, and success. I could add many more, such as making a difference, helping others,and personal growth, which I find many clients have not yet begun to fulfil. Interpreters areoften socially engaged and committed individuals, and for them the impersonal environmentof the large global conference circuit can be frustrating. Likewise, being part of a highlyspecialised profession can be frustrating if we are ambitious in a conventional sense. Theseare generalised examples, but all these feelings can be made more manageable when weunderstand where they come from. How do you think your professional role fits with your 

values?

The word "habit" conjures up biting one's nails or fiddling with a pen while talking. But "lifehabits" as I would call them have a profound effect. They can stop us from achieving our aimsand ambitions. If we take something we regard as a problem, or a personal defect, and decideto approach it as a habit such as nail-biting, we can achieve major breakthroughs. Diarymanagement is often a "problem" for the busy freelance interpreter - although it is great to bein demand, deciding to turn down work can seem an impossible task. We end up overworkedand frazzled, and with an underlying sense of powerlessness. The emotional effect of this can

 be very harmful. There are no doubt psychological causes (we were brought up to work hard,we fear competition), but sometimes choosing a different approach on a practical level, such

as managing the diary in a different way, blocking out time for holidays and actually bookingsomething up, or prioritising certain contracts can make a huge difference. This sounds

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obvious, but it's amazing how people can carry on burdened by their situation for years just because they've never tried to change a basic habit. On a more psychological level, thedamaging habit of failing to recognise one's own successes can be re-framed. There willalways be a colleague who has more working languages, or who did that speech so brilliantly,and we easily feel inadequate. In thinking about all these external factors, we don't take

enough time to mentally record our own successes and enjoy them. And yet it is not sodifficult to re-train our thought processes using simple exercises.

Our behaviour is also crucial to our self-concept - and to our perceived desire for change. It istriggered by external events, other people and by our own attitude. Spending some timeworking out what triggers us to behave in a certain way, whether it be another person, asituation or a feeling, can make all the difference to our experience of professional life. Lifecoaches often introduce clients to tools like Transactional Analysis (developed by Dr EricBerne), and Assertiveness Training to help them understand and modify their own behaviourswithout compromising their values and beliefs. One of the most helpful discoveries I madethrough having coaching myself was that you can't change other people, but you can change

your behaviour. Doing so can change everyone's reaction to you in turn, and radically alter your experience of life and work. It might make you realise that you don't want to give up"the perfect job" after all...

For many clients, awareness of the above elements is enough in itself to generate self-acceptance, and therefore increased confidence and satisfaction. With the help of a goodcoach, individuals can achieve much higher levels of confidence than they thought possible,and are then empowered to fulfil their dreams.

An ordinary week-end in the life of a

consultant interpreter

Danielle Grée gives us a glimpse into the minutiae of recruitment, the unexpected

headaches of the consultant interpreter who is asked to set up a team of 

interpreters at the last minute. Get a behind-the-scenes no-holds-barred look at

recruitment!

Thursday noon: contact

An ordinary phone call on a Thursday in mid-May: I am asked to set up a team of interpretersfor a conference on information technology on May 18 and 19 (two half days) in Madrid. Theconference will take place in English only, and the client needs interpretation into Spanish,Arabic and Portuguese. It is pointed out to me that the quote is "urgent". So true. The monthof May is THE peak season for interpreting, and the advance notice is slim...

Caution is of the essence: I plan to have 2 local interpreters for Spanish (you'd have to bereally unlucky not to find two Spanish interpreters in Madrid!) but tell the client that for Portuguese and Arabic the interpreters will most likely have to be "imported" (I don't saywhere from, but of course I'll get the best people from as close as I can). I draw up a budget,not including airfares for now.

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An hour later the client (a trusted PCO) receives the quote, which is in turn transmitted to hisown client.

Thursday evening: pre-recruitment:

I get down to work and put out an SOS to my usual contacts. Ever concerned with keepingcosts to a minimum (2 years at the IMF leave their mark!) I send a few e-mail messagesinquiring about interpreters' availability. I begin by contacting colleagues in Madrid who arespecialised in IT, then a few European secretariats and interpreters' groups that have memberswith Portuguese or Arabic. Next, I contact a handful of individual interpreters who appear tohave the right combination, essentially in Lisbon and Paris, and finally, a few colleagues andfriends who are not averse to helping (you know, the kind who don't mind making a few callsto check on colleagues' availability, who will pass on the name of a new graduate or tell youabout an ex-staff interpreter who has just rejoined the freelance market...).

The interpreter network has kicked in; I can go to bed with my mind at rest; tomorrow

morning will decide who are to be the lucky ones chosen for a trip to Madrid...

Friday: tachycardia

The next day, I am swamped with replies to my enquiries

• For Spanish, it's inconclusive: one colleague - fortunately an IT whiz - is still free; all

the other AIIC interpreters are busy. I find myself, at best, with half of a local booth.• The Secretariats tell me there is no one free with the combinations I am looking for.

Eureka! I am told there is an Arabic colleague miraculously free in Geneva, whom Iengage on the spot. I now have my second half booth.

•  Not only are the Arabic colleagues I have contacted all busy, but they express little

hope...FAO and Unesco are meeting that week, not to mention the Lockerbie trial...The news sinks in. On the Paris, Geneva and other fronts even the most noviceinterpreters are busy for one of the two days! (A young graduate calls me back, andstiffly informs me that he is unfortunately not free. After an entire month of Aprilspent at home idle, mine is the sixth offer he has received for the 19th of May. It is all Ican do to convince him that he is not the victim of a sordid plot, that all interpretersare exposed to this fate...)

• For Portuguese the picture is gloomier still! It happens to be Portugal's turn at the EU

 presidency, and the Portuguese Government is in a remarkable flurry of activity. Even

the European Commission has 2 teams in Lisbon, recruited some time ago, for May 18and 19! I am also informed that the WEU intends to meet in Lisbon and has contacteda number of interpreters (it's enough to turn you anti-militaristic again!) A sympatheticcolleague tells me he himself has hired 3 teams for a meeting of the private market inEvora, and generously shares his list of recruits (including those who were contacted

 but unavailable). I've killed 24 birds with one stone. But I still don't have even half aPortuguese booth...

Saturday morning: crisis unit

Things are serious. Thrift and the IMF be damned; I grab my fax and my phone to track down

the last idle souls... I cancel my tennis match.

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• For Spanish, I contact colleagues who teach in interpreting schools on the off chancethat there might be a promising - and hopefully competent - young graduate in Madrid.It would be a good opportunity to get him or her started.

• For Arabic, I ask one of the colleagues whose contract begins only on May 19 whether 

he might be able to be released from his contract that day (occasionally arrangements

can be made with certain chief interpreters who may not need all the interpreters theyhave recruited on a given day). Contacts with neighbouring (almost) countries having

 been to no avail, I range farther afield. I send a message to Cairo to know whether anyone is still free. At the same time I check timetables and fares for flights fromEgypt, and ask my local contact to be kind enough to do the same... Amadeus, Sabreand Xenia (no relation to the Internet; it's the poor thing at my travel agency whocaters to my needs) are put to the task...

• For Portuguese, as chance would have it I am well acquainted with the person who

recruits for the WEU, and venture to ask her whom she has contacted. She is willing totell me who is on her team, but points out that the meeting has unexpectedly beenlengthened by a day, and asks if I can pass on the names of colleagues who might be

free if I find any in my quest (how the tables are turned!). Frantically I ring up AIICmembers, associate members, retirees and young graduates in Lisbon, Porto andBraga...

As usual, message reception systems are as ingenious as they are varied: of course I amtreated to the cordial, phlegmatic voice of the interpreter who has given special attention tothe outgoing message on his or her answering machine; but also to the strident sound of thefax which was left connected to the phone; the exasperated voice of the colleague who doesn'tunderstand that I am trying to send a fax on her only telephone line and appears vaguelysuspicious of yet another obscene phone call; the foreign cleaning lady; the monolingualmother-in-law who happens to pick up the phone... In the middle of May, colleagues to befound sitting patiently by their telephones are few and far between.... I manage nevertheless toleave a good twenty messages.

Saturday afternoon: siesta time (or so I naïvely thought)....

Assuming that the Portuguese colleagues would respect this "time out" which is sacred to allSpanish natives and acclimatized incomers, I take the risk of lying down for a short nap. Alas!All are anxious to let me know that I must definitely look elsewhere. All those whom I knowand hold in high regard, or whom trusted colleagues have unhesitatingly recommended, areeither busy or leaving on holiday (how preposterous to take a vacation in May!). I am given

the names of non-AIIC interpreters who work regularly for the European Commission. Nosuccess. They in turn tell me how to get in touch with other individuals whom I have never heard of, and whose quality they won't vouch for. Even under the circumstances I decline tooffer such a technical conference to unknown interpreters who can offer no guarantees. I optto continue looking outside Portugal. Information technology can't be improvised... I send outanother SOS for Portuguese in Germany and Italy, and leave messages on the answeringmachines of people who have had the good taste to take a siesta...

Sunday: I had a dream ...

More calls. No one is free for the Madrid conference, with the exception of a young Spanish

graduate whose teachers recommend her effusively. Naturally she is delighted to engage inher first foray, particularly in the company of a colleague who is apparently prepared to brief 

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and assist her. All's well that ends well. The Spanish booth is now complete. Those extrahours of sleep lost this morning were well worth it.

Meanwhile, I receive the conference program by e-mail and am back on the phone asking theonly colleague recruited well in advance (that's how it feels... Friday seems so long ago!) for 

her e-mail address to send her this several-page document. An alarmed, incredulous voiceechoes: "e-mail???". By the stunned response you'd think I'd asked if she was catching aflying saucer to Madrid. My worst fears for a conference on information technology begin tosurface... I try to quell my doubts, reminding myself that some colleagues who pass out at thesight of blood perform brilliantly at medical conferences. I fax her the program and a shortglossary of my own.

So here I am with a full Spanish booth, half an Arabic booth (which, truth be told, is of littleuse if I can't complete it) and, for Portuguese, a long list of all the Portuguese-speakinginterpreters on the Iberian peninsula, which is probably worth its weight in gold, butunfortunately, they are all busy... I begin to dream about a centralised system of availability

management. Just imagine a database of all professional interpreters, an on-line timetablewhere they would enter their availability; a little search engine enabling me to see at a glancethe names of all the Portuguese or Arabic interpreters still free and yearning not to be?? Icould have had my siesta AND slept late this morning instead of finding myself on the brink of divorce...

Monday: Denouement....

 News from Cairo: a veteran colleague appears to be free, and willing to come all the way toMadrid! I ask him to hold on a few more hours for possible confirmation, the time it takes toverify the price of a ticket. The verdict is in. Amadeus, Sabre and Xenia are unanimous: US$1,580... Yikes! Let's hope the client will accept an airfare of this magnitude... but then, there isa price to pay for lack of foresight.

Amidst all this the news has gotten around, and two excellent Portuguese-speakinginterpreters from Geneva and Paris inform me they are available. Hurray! The Portuguese

 booth is complete.

Triumphant, I send an e-mail forthwith to the PCO to announce that I have succeeded againstall odds in setting up an expensive but proficient team. I am finally in a position to calculatetravel costs precisely and send in an exact quote. As I send this message and receive new

mail, I notice an e-mail from the PCO in my inbox; it informs me, in a tone I find franklycavalier, that for lack of participants their client has decided after all to cancel the Arabic andPortuguese booths... Only the Spanish booth remains.... And would I please send a newquote...

Sigh. I anticipate the battle to obtain compensation for colleagues hired more than 15 minutesago... A flash comes to mind of that young graduate who had the good sense not to gethimself replaced, because after all a bird in hand is worth two in the bush... I muse regretfullyabout my tennis match, my nap and my lost opportunity to sleep in ... I think that henceforth,on weekends the office will stay closed...

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Tenders for Conference Interpreting

Services

Need help to create effective tenders for conference interpreting services? Here are someuseful guidelines for international organisations, national administrations,

NGOs and private companies.

These guidelines are to help event organisers create effective tenders for conferenceinterpreting services. They have been devised by AIIC, the only worldwide association of conference interpreters.

The guidelines may be useful to international organisations, national administrations, NGOsand private companies.

The guidelines cover the supply of conference interpretation services. They don’t cover thesupply of interpretation equipment or written translation services.

Conference interpretation

Conference interpretation is a specialist profession which requires specialist post-graduatetraining. Most interpreters are self-employed freelancers. They are recruited individually for each event and are contracted in a number of ways:

• directly by the client

• indirectly by an international organisation

• through a consultant interpreter 

Consultant interpreters recruit teams of interpreters to meet the needs of a particular clientor event. They assess the language, interpreting and subject matter requirements beforechoosing the right interpreters for the job and offering a tailor-made solution to the client’sneeds. They take responsibility for the quality of the interpreters selected and for the work they perform

A consulting interpreter may be an individual freelance or may work in a small group withother interpreters.

Standards

There is no international agreed standard for conference interpreting. Professionalorganisations such as AIIC fill this gap by setting tough prerequisites for membership and

 providing guidelines such as shown here.

Selection criteria for interpreting services

The following criteria should be considered by an event organiser or contracting authoritywhen issuing a tender for interpreting services. (Download the pdf for more detail.)

Information required for submitting a tender

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Tenderers need to be given the following information:

•  place, number and dates of meetings

• subject matter 

• likely timetable

• type of interpretation required (simultaneous, consecutive)• languages that will be spoken at the meeting(s) and languages into which

interpretation is required.

If the dates and languages of meetings are not yet known, an outline agreement may still be possible.

Professional suitability

Interpreting is a demanding activity. The service provider must be an expert in interpretationand preferably a working interpreter who knows the recruited interpreters.

Professional associations such as AIIC set very strict admission standards for conferenceinterpreters. They also set similar standards for  consultant interpreters, which ensure their expertise and experience in selecting and recruiting teams of interpreters.

Economic and financial standing

Contracting authorities should be flexible in the proof of financial soundness they require.Consultant interpreters normally operate as sole traders or in small groups, and have variousforms of commercial and legal status. Different legal and accounting standards will apply

depending on where they are based.

Contractors should set no limits on subcontracting. The interpreting services provider normally has to recruit and subcontract self-employed freelancers for each language, possiblyfrom other countries.

Technical and/or professional ability

The tenderer should give evidence of their ability to provide a professional service in thefollowing areas:

• Consultancy services for conference interpreting, showing the number of interpreter-days delivered in the previous three years;

• Proof of membership of a reputable professional interpreters’ association (AIIC or equivalent).

• Detailed description of service provided (selection and organisation of interpreters);

• Description of the methods and infrastructure used to provide the service;

• Professional and academic qualifications and relevant experience of the consultant

interpreter and the proposed interpreters.

Quality assurance

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Even though there is no international quality standard for conference interpreting,membership of AIIC (or an equivalent) is the best guarantee of professional standards andquality.

AIIC membership is granted only after a stringent admission procedure akin to a certification

 process. The Association sets high standards of competence and professionalism for bothconsultant interpreters and individual interpreters.

Budget

A quote put forward by a tenderer ought to be broken down as follows (this is not anexhaustive list):

• Fees per day per interpreter 

• Management and handling fee

• Currency of quotation/tender 

• Terms of payment• Pay review clause (for contracts covering more than one year)

• Cancellation clause

Where interpreters have to travel away from home, the tender should include:

• Daily subsistence allowance

• Compensation for travel time

• Travel to and from venue (train/plane, class of travel etc.)

Conference interpreters are usually contracted by the day. Because of the tremendousconcentration required, interpreters work in teams of two or more per output language.

Interpreters’ fees include preparation time, as well as statutory taxes and social securitycontributions. The fees should cover the duration of the event (even when they are onstandby) as they cannot accept alternative work for these dates.

Local interpreters are usually given priority in recruitment, provided they have the requiredlanguages and level of skill. Where language combinations are not available locally, theservice provider may have to import some staff. The client should budget to cover this.

Contract award criteria

Conference interpreting is a demanding intellectual activity, and as such the lowest bid is notnecessarily the best. Judging a tender bid using the award criteria below will give best valuefor money:

Technical merit:

• Project proposal

• Relevant experience and references

• Client service and technical assistance

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Quality of the teams proposed:

• Interpreters’ training, qualifications and experience

• Membership of professional associations and/or accreditation by international

organisations

• Quality assurance system

Effectiveness of team composition

• Direct interpreting (not relay through another interpreted language)

•  Native speakers working into each language

Price

• Management cost

• Cost-effectiveness

Advice to students wishing to become

conference interpreters

You’re attracted to a career that would enable you to work with languages. You’ve

heard about conference interpreting but you’re not sure exactly what it

involves, what studies to pursue, or what opportunities may be available. Here

are some questions to consider, and some further information that may point

you toward finding your answers.

How can I study to become a conference interpreter?

• What do conference interpreters do?

• Can I be a professional conference interpreter without proper training?

• What will a conference interpretation training programme teach me?

• What kind of personal traits do I need to be a conference interpreter?

• Choosing a school: what should I look for?

• How can I prepare?

• Will a professional conference interpreter's lifestyle suit me?

• Will my languages be in demand when I have finished training and start looking for 

work?• Will I find work after training?

• What other questions should I ask before taking the plunge?

What do conference interpreters do?

Conference interpreters:

•  bridge the gap in all kinds of multilingual settings where speakers want to express

themselves in their own language and still understand one another (conferences,

negotiations, press briefings, seminars, depositions, TV broadcasts: you name it!)

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• do not do written translation: translators work with written texts, interpreters conveyideas orally

• do not just parrot: they convert ideas expressed in one language (the source language)

into another language (the target language) as smoothly and idiomatically as possible, preserving the meaning, tone and nuance of the original speaker 

• interpret "consecutively": i.e. the interpreter is in the same room as the participants,listening carefully to what is said, perhaps taking notes; when each speaker pauses, theinterpreter conveys the same message from source to target language

• interpret "simultaneously": i.e. the interpreters work in a team sitting in a soundproof 

 booth; they take turns conveying each speaker's ideas from source to target languagein real-time; the audience in the conference room listens through headsets

• interpret using "chuchotage" or "whispering": i.e. the interpreter is in the same room

as the participants providing a whispered interpretation in real-time to a small number of listeners

Can I be a professional conference interpreter without proper training?

Perhaps: some have managed it, some still do...

• the interpreters who provided the first simultaneous interpretation at the post-World

War II trials had to sink or swim: they had no choice but to train themselves, but youdon't have to reinvent the wheel!

• since the 1970s, interdisciplinary research has helped us better grasp the complex

 processes involved in interpreting and develop new and effective teaching methods• systematic training today is the surest route to expertise and successful practice in any

 profession•

many hours of effective practice with other trainees and with guidance fromexperienced teacher/practitioners is essential• AIIC promotes best practice in schools by surveying training programmes and

 providing hands-on support to teachers.

What will a conference interpretation training programme teach me?

To interpret ... or more specifically

• to understand what the speaker wants to say

• to grasp what lies behind the speaker's words

• to keep the message in context• to convey it consecutively or simultaneously

• to learn a special note-taking technique

• to practice concentration, discourse analysis and fast reaction

• to build useful glossaries

• to develop public speaking skills

• to prepare for different types of assignments

• to manage stressful situations

• to observe a code of conduct

• to prepare for entry into the profession

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What kind of personal traits do I need to be a conference interpreter?

These are some of the key skills that interpreters make use of at one time or another:

• a polished command of their own native language over a range of registers and

domains• a complete mastery of their non-native languages

• a familiarity with the cultures in the countries where their working languages are

spoken• a commitment to helping others communicate

• an interest in and understanding of current affairs, plus an insatiable curiosity

• world experience away from home and school and a broad general education

• good training (and usually at least an undergraduate university degree)

• the ability to concentrate and focus as a discussion unfolds

• a pleasant speaking voice

• a friendly, collegial attitude

• calm nerves, tact, judgment and a sense of humor 

• a willingness to adhere to rules of conduct (e.g. confidentiality)

Choosing a school: what should I look for?

• Choosing a school is one of the most important steps you will take on your path to

 becoming a trained conference interpreter. In order to assist you with your researchand decision-making, AIIC regularly contacts many schools worldwide which offer conference interpreting training programmes and asks them to respond to a series of questions; the last time the survey was conducted 178 schools were contacted. Theschools' answers are published on this website. For a variety of reasons (e.g.

curriculum in transition, incorrect contact address, etc.) some schools did not respondto the survey questionnaire. This means that, for the present, you may not find themlisted on the AIIC website.

• If you have not already done so, you might want to check out the online Directory of 

Schools. This Directory will provide you with basic information about any school thathas responded to the survey, and give you a link to its own website, if available.

• When comparing schools and training programmes, you might establish a list of 

specific criteria which are important to you (location, scholarship support, etc). Youmight also consult our guide to best practice in training and add some of theconsiderations below to your personal shopping list:

o Don't be in a hurry! Conference interpreters need to have accumulated quite a

 broad general knowledge as well as an excellent command of their languages(this is one profession where age is in our favor!).

o Spend some time living and studying or working where your languages are

spoken before applying to any training programme. The more you are familiar with the relevant cultural context, the stronger your understanding andexpression will be.

o Opt for a graduate training programme rather than an undergraduate

 programme. Graduate programmes assume that applicants have a solidcommand of the languages in their combination and can therefore focus moreon skill acquisition as well as advanced language enhancement and an

introduction to the theoretical basis of interpreting.

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o Don't be put off if the school you like best requires you to take an aptitude test!

This is intended to help both you and the teachers on the jury get a glimpse of your current abilities in order to assess your readiness to start the

 programme...and is nothing personal! In some countries, the local legislationdoes not permit aptitude testing.

o Take a look at the school's curriculum: Does the school provide any advice on career prospects?

Are the classes offered going to cover your specific training needs? Are classes designed and taught by practicing professional interpreters?

Do some of the teachers share your native language? Does the programme offer classes in both consecutive and

simultaneous interpreting?

Is there a class which explains professional practice (ethics etc.)? Do outsiders, especially potential employers, attend final exams?

o Final suggestion: you might consider the possibility of visiting one or more

schools and observing a couple of relevant classes. You might also arrange to

meet some of the instructors and speak to current students or graduates.

How can I prepare?

• Some things you can do to increase your chances of success before starting a training

 programme:o to enhance all of your languages, selectively and actively read, watch TV and

listen to radio in all your languageso expand your range of command of your native language

o go and live where your languages are spoken and immerse yourself in the

culture

o learn more about your planet and your immediate environmento increase your general knowledge

o follow international affairs

o learn to use a computer 

o learn to take care of yourself and to manage your stress well

o develop good study skills

o cultivate patience and the ability to integrate feedback 

o research your training options carefully

Will a professional conference interpreter's lifestyle suit me?

Try this self-quiz to test your preferences! (There are no wrong answers!)

Question Staff Freelance

Will I have to pass a test or competition to get work? yes probably

Will I have to develop my own competitive professional profile? no essential

Will I be responsible for finding my own work? no yes

Will I usually work for the same institution/s? yes your choice

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Can I work with agencies or a range of employers? unlikely yes

Will my employer schedule my workdays? yes no

May I decline assignments? not usually yes

Will I get a regular pay check? yes no

Will I get benefits? yes it depends

Will I have to assess my own tax liability? no yes

Can I live where I wish? doubtful yes

Will I have to travel extensively for work? notnecessarily

more likely

Will I have to travel for language enhancement? maybe maybe

Will I have in-house opportunities for career development andtraining?

often less likely

Will I need to belong to a professional network or association? preferable important

To find out more about the professional conference interpreter's lifestyle, check out VEGA.

Will my languages be in demand when I have finished training and amlooking for work?

• A very important question... and hard to predict!

o  plan your profile BEFORE you train: some combinations are more "useful"

and more portable than others; beware of a flavor-of-the-month push to add alanguage which is likely to dropped in the future

o the tsunami of English continues on its course, no doubt about it: English is

more widely used than ever, in all its permutations - and you probably want itin your language combination, specially if you plan to work on your localmarket

o your decision to work in-house for an international organisation or freelance

will probably affect your choice of languageso the good news: A recent study by the AIIC Staff Interpreters Committee shows

that, as the impact of staff changes and retirements becomes more serious,international institutions now are cooperating with schools to try to predictfuture training needs and cater to a changing kaleidoscope of interpreting needs

 If you are interested in working for an international organisation, visit their websites to find out more about their current and future staffing needs; see how often there is a competitive

exam for applicants with your language combination. Scroll down to find a list of organisations.

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Will I find work after training?

AIIC provides all kinds of advice and support for newly trained conference interpretersentering the profession, even offering you the chance to ask questions.

What other questions should I ask before taking the plunge?

The AIIC Training Committee will do its best to answer any specific questions you may have.Please post them on the message board below: we will try to help you find the answers.

See also:

• AIIC Directory of Schools

• Conference Interpreter Training Programmes: Best Practice

International Organisations

Africa - Americas - Asia - Europe

AFRICA

ADB (African Development Bank), AbidjanAfrican Training and Research Centre in Administration for Development, MoroccoAIPO (African Intellectual Property Organisation), CameroonArab Maghreb Union, MoroccoCOMESA (Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa), Zambia

ECA (Economic Commission for Africa), Addis-AbabaHABITAT (United Nations Division for Human Habitat), NairobiICTR  (International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda), Arusha and KigaliAU (African Union), Addis-AbabaUNEP (United Nations Environment Program), NairobiUNON (United Nations Office at Nairobi), Nairobi

AMERICAS

CBD (Convention on Biological Diversity), MontrealECLAC (Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean), Santiago de Chile

FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas), PanamaIDB (Inter-American Development Bank), Washington DC.ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation), MontrealIMF (International Monetary Fund), Washington DCMF (Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol), MontrealOAS (Organisation of American States), Washington DC.PAHO (Pan American Health Organisation), Washington DC.UNO (United Nations Organisation), New York World Bank , Washington DC.

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ASIA

ADB (Asian Development Bank), PhilippinesESCAP (Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific), Bangkok SPC (South Pacific Commission), Noumea

EUROPE

BIS (Bank for International Settlements), BaselCOE (Council of Europe), Strasbourg, CERN (European Organisation for Nuclear Research), GenevaCEU (Commission of the European Union), BrusselsCICR (International Red Cross Committee), GenevaECJ (European Court of Justice), LuxembourgEP (European Parliament), Luxembourg, Brussels and StrasbourgEPO (European Patent Office), MunichESA (European Space Agency), ParisEUROCONTROL, BrusselsFAO (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation), RomeIAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency), ViennaICDO (International Civil Defence Organisation), GenevaICC (International Criminal Court), The HagueICJ (International Court of Justice), The HagueICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia), The HagueIFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development), RomeIFRC (International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies), Geneva

ILO (International Labour Office), GenevaIMO (International Maritime Organisation), LondonINTERPOL (International Criminal Police Organisation), Lyon CedexIOC (International Olympic Committee), LausanneIOM (International Organisation for Migration), GenevaIPU (Inter-Parliamentary Union), GenevaITU (International Telecommunications Union), GenevaLatin Union, Paris

 NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation), BrusselsOECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development), ParisOPCW (Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons), The Hague

OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe), ViennaUNESCO (United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organisation), ParisUNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organisation), ViennaUNO (United Nations Organisation), Geneva, ViennaUPU (Universal Postal Union), BernWCO (World Customs Organisation), BrusselsWEU (Western European Union), Brussels, ParisWFP (World Food Programme), RomeWHO (World Health Organisation), GenevaWIPO (World Intellectual Property Organisation), GenevaWMO (World Meteorological Organisation), Geneva

WTO (World Tourism Organisation), MadridWTO (World Trade Organisation), Geneva

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People skillsThe busy linguist should play nicely.

There is an old adage that "people do business with people they like". It is obvious when youthink about it, but the recent French market survey has shown that we still persist in thinkingthat professional skills trump the ability to get on with people. It would appear they don't.

A number of years ago I organised interpreters for a product launch. It was a no-expense-spared event in a great venue. The interpreters arrived well after everyone else and wereshown to their booths. Within five minutes one had rushed out and accosted the first passer-byto complain there were no lamps in the booth. Passer-by gamely said he'd see what he coulddo. Yet he was one of Europe's top set designers going about his everyday business, not a

 person to be burdened with interpreters' problems.

I have sometimes thought such behaviour is caused by a kind of bottled-up stress. The needwe have for our comfort zone to be just as we want it with everything in its place. Toeveryone else it's a pain in the neck.

We Europeans tend to mock the American "have a nice day" routine, seeing it as a kind of rote vapidity that has lost all real meaning. But it does evince a positive attitude to life that is

like a breath of fresh air compared with Europe's occasional brusqueness. There is somethingenergizing about a can-do attitude.

Many years ago interpreters acquired the reputation of being difficult, stubborn and inflexible,and of variable competence. We no longer deserve these epithets, but stereotypes stick. Adegree of bloody-mindedness probably got AIIC off the ground in the first place but - as theysay - that was then and this is now.

We have to see ourselves as part of the overall team when working at an event like the car launch I talked about. We may stroll in at 11:00 but the carpenters, set designers, lightingexperts, sound technicians and caterers have been on site since 05:00. Their job is as

important as ours and they are as likely to be at the top of their trade as we are of ours. We

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clearly don't want the rest of the team to see us as the people who do the least work yet makethe most noise. Like the legendary empty vessels.

There is a lot of information on the Internet about soft skills. They can be summarised as being in a good mood, listening to people, welcoming feedback and seeing ourselves as part

of a team.

Here are some suggestions based on my own observations and hang-ups:

• Treat documents as a useful tool not a drug hit. In days gone by I would cringe at the

shrill tone in which interpreters demanded documents. Clearly we need them but thereare ways of saying so. Thanks to email we are now more likely to have too manydocuments than too few.

• Channel your queries through the team leader. If you need water, lamps, a pencil or 

some paper simply ask him or her to sort it out. Don't go out and bellyache at thetechnician or anyone within harpooning distance.

• Try and be upbeat and cheerful. If you feel anxious, miserable and grumpy consider that you may be in the wrong job.

• Keep your dealings with the organisers polite and businesslike. Accept that they do

not understand the intricacies of interpreting and use that as an opportunity to explainthings clearly to them - but only as much as they wish to absorb at that moment. I haveseen secretaries of meetings under a lot of pressure unable to escape the clutches of verbose interpreters - and too polite to say so. Stick to the essentials and go throughthe team leader.

• Turn up to the meeting in plenty of time. Interpreters can put themselves under 

 pressure by arriving just in time and of course that increases their stress levels and

makes them more likely to snap at innocent bystanders.• Flexibility is arguably an overused word, but it important in our dealings with clients.

If the whole team has worked well all day and refuses point blank to do the last 20minutes because it is beyond the official close, they will squander the goodwill they'vespent the day acquiring. The consultant interpreters can always factor in any overrunswhen quoting for the next meeting.

• We need to show our clients that we take their concerns seriously and that the

interpreters are part of the larger team.• Say hello to technicians when arriving and thank them before leaving - otherwise our 

only interaction with them is when we complain.

I am clearly not advocating that we give in to unreasonable demands. If however we haveestablished a community of interest with the client, our concerns will be taken seriously.

You don't get what you deserve. You get

what you negotiate.

I had the good fortune and good sense to attend AIIC's German Region sales workshop

in the days prior to the AIIC Private Market Sector meeting in Cologne,Germany in July. With nary a Teutonic anything, save some ancestry, in my

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quiver, I was curious to see how well I would navigate the waters of ze

fazerland.

The German Region showed such strong - yes, you guessed it - organisation that I found thestay not just pleasant and informative, but also easy. Seamless. This would not be the only

instance of the German Region members impressing me with their clean focus and effectivedrive.

German Region Council Member Angela Keil, member Klaus Ziegler, sales trainer Gunther Schlegel, and an exaltation of volunteer AIIC members and pre-candidates {providing fine,idiomatic German <> English interpretation (with AIIC subsidized booth and technician - ask and ye shall receive)} all joined forces to offer this 1.5 day long sales workshop. Oh, andMarkus Kowsky provided a restaurant review that, beyond the valuable content, was a

 pleasure to read for its clean, charming travel guide language.

The meeting was filled (but not overly so) with instruction, included some role-playing, and

offered abundant opportunity for brainstorming. In the end, and especially with participants sorich in talent and experience, the biggest success of a facilitator is and was to do just that:facilitate. The activities and exercises afforded us valuable exchanges that are easy for me tointegrate into my interface with clients and colleagues, new and old. An example might bestillustrate what magnificent fruit was born of our collective insight and acumen.

In one role-playing session, one group developed dialogues in which a client called aninterpreter to inform of its need to cut costs. Egad! In another group, an interpreter called aclient to inform of an increase in professional fees.

The business-minded mavens of the first group were impressive. In one of their scenarios, theconsultant interpreter, faced with the client's need to cut costs by 15%, determined that insteadof accepting a drop in professional fees, which is what the client had in mind, the client couldget the reduction sought by a combination of merging half-day sessions and providing enoughadvance notice to allow the consultant interpreter to arrange for cheaper airfare and evensearch for local interpreters, eliminating some travel expenses and per diems. Client got whatthey wanted and the consultant interpreter did not have to drop rates. Hats off.

The second group had a number of ideas on how to soften the blow of announcing a priceincrease to a client. Namely, start the conversation by asking the client for feedback on whatwent well that year and what could use some polishing, continue by informing the client of 

some new services that the consultant interpreter can offer (new language combinations, moreor new equipment or better deals by volume on equipment, referrals on discount travelservices, inter alia), and, if needed, offer a phasing in of the new fees schedule. Oneinterpreter uses yearlong contracts that require year-end review, so the client is not broadsided

 by the price hike. Another sends a holiday greeting card announcing the price hike and merelygoes ahead and bills the new rate, assuming silence to be consent. This interpreter claims tonot have had any objection at any time to this technique.

While both scenarios brought to light helpful techniques for tricky situations, it was a mergingof these two scenarios that, it occurs to me, reflected the true magic of the seminar's synergy.What would happen if a consultant interpreter brought these cost cutting ideas to the client?

Would this not generate strong client loyalty? As for our point of contact at the client'soffice...they get to go to the boss and explain that, working closely with the consultant

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interpreter, they found a way to cut costs, they get a raise, or a free massage, and we're their new best friend. So, we've just saved the client 15%. Is this not the ideal time to hit them witha 10% increase in our professional fees? They could hardly say no. You're still saving them5% and have shown them that you care about their bottom line. A win-win, methinks.

Many of the participants claimed to have signed on to the workshop in order to (further)develop tactics and, most particularly, the reflexes that we need to be nimble and effective inour negotiation. Our clients are given to reduce matters to a rather thin examination of cost.What can we do to address the matter of cost in way that highlights the myriad advantages of our product, and not merely the price tag? Indeed what are those advantages of our product?How do we get across to conference organisers that we are not the best line item in their 

 budget on which to save? That we should perhaps be higher than the procurement of softdrinks on their to-do list? That we are the critical inch? These and others were the questionswe sought to answer at the German Region's sales training event. We developed long lists of comparative advantages that we have as experienced members of a respected professionalassociation. We developed "objection workarounds," which clearly have marital and parental

applications.

Participants arrived and departed with varying amounts of tricks up their sleeves, but I think all would agree that we have a better understanding of the reflexes needed to negotiate thoseterms and conditions that allow us to provide the best possible product. We don't get what wedeserve. We get what we negotiate.

Confessions of a conference interpreter

I would love to start this article with the words “Hi, my name’s Michelle and I’m a

conference interpreter,” but I’m afraid that would prompt readers to want to

start patting me on the back consolingly and proffering tissues. Although, come

to think of it, maybe adopting a “True Confessions” tone in this article is not

such a bad idea, since it would fit quite nicely with the topic I plan to address:

professional identity as seen by a conference interpreter.

Many readers will recognise this topic as being related to the theme chosen for InterpretAmerica’s recent summit, which I used as inspiration. But instead of tackling thequestion of professional identity by looking at what a conference interpreter is, I have decidedthat it would be more interesting to address the question the other way around, and look 

 primarily at what a conference interpreter is not – or at least what I am not.

Only once I’ve come clean about all of the things I cannot do will I look at what it is exactlythat I do do for a living. After this, I will attempt to draw some conclusions for readers to takehome (hopefully this promise of a take-home message will encourage you to stick arounduntil the end!).

What I am not

 I am not a language teacher . Strangely enough, my passion for languages and my love of teaching have not come together to make me a good language teacher. I know, because I have

 been fortunate enough to have had many an excellent teacher over the years, and I can’t do

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what they do. I have never been able to come up with engaging, creative ways to explain theintricacies of a foreign language to learners.

Also, I simply don’t have the oodles of patience that a language teacher needs. I just have tolook at the earnest, eyes-not-rolling-to-the-heavens face of my Portuguese teacher, as she

happily explains to my thick self (for what is probably the seventeenth time) the difference between futuro do conjuntivo and infinitivo pessoal and why I can’t just use fizermos and fazermos interchangeably, to know that I can’t do that. For a language teacher, patience is

not a virtue, it’s a survival tactic.

 I am not a community interpreter . This is because, quite frankly, I’m quite sure no courtroomor hospital would have me. I am one of those conference interpreters with one “active”language (English) and several “passive” languages (French, German, Spanish, Dutch, andmaybe even Portuguese one day). I can only interpret into English from all of the other languages I speak, but not the other way around. A fat lot of use that is to anyone in acommunicative situation requiring someone to work both ways between two languages, as is

the case in community interpreting.

Besides, I don’t have the necessary training or certification to do this kind of specialised

work . Certification is one of the issues that was discussed at the InterpretAmerica summit,and it’s something I personally feel quite strongly about. There are different types of interpreting, and so there should ideally be different types of formal training and certificationfor each. I was fortunate enough to teach on a community interpreting course for someseasons several years back (there are some skills that overlap, relating to memory, consecutivenote-taking, language acquisition in specialised fields, etc.), and I saw all too well that the two

 professions are distinct – and that I wasn’t cut out for the other one.

 I am not a translator . I’m afraid to say missed that boat – or should I say, I was on it once, but then I disembarked twelve years ago to pursue a career in interpreting, and when I tried toget back on recently, I found the ship had weighed anchor and left the harbour!

As I see it, changes in the translation industry, largely due to globalization and in particular tothe advent of CAT tools, have completely revolutionized the translation landscape in the

decade or so that I’ve been away. If I were to want to be a full-time professional translator today, I would have to completely retrain in order to do so. I know this, because I have a reallive professional translator in my home, so I have first-hand insight into what the job entailsthese days.

My better half happily spends his days mind-melding with his TMs, his TagEditors, hisMultiTerms and whatever that other thing is called, while I just look over his shoulder inwonder. From time to time, he generously offers to initiate me into the wonderful world of Trados, Transit, Across, and all the other interestingly-named tools that today’s translatorscan’t live without, but I just shrug sheepishly and wonder how it all happened so fast.

I do still produce the occasional translation from time to time, but they tend to be for customers who are still stuck back in the 20th century like me – the ones who don’t demandclean and unclean versions of the file and who seem to agree that “sometime next week” is areasonable delivery deadline. I enjoy the intellectual rigor required to produce translations,

 but I can’t keep up with the professionals of today.

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 I am not an interpreting researcher . But how I wish I was! One thing is being able to do the job, and another thing is understanding why and how it gets done. Thanks to the excellentwork of interpreting researchers, we are steadily gaining insights into this. In my next life, I

will dedicate myself to research and love every minute of it . In this life, I will contentmyself with reading the results of others’ investigative pursuits.

 I am not a proofreader/editor . Wait a minute – yes, I am! This is actually one side job that Ihave found to be a perfect complement to working in the booth.

In the booth, you only get one crack at it (or as Franz Pöchhacker puts it, you have theopportunity to produce “a first and final rendition in another language … on the basis of aone-time presentation of an utterance in a source language”[1]). As a result, you often end theday feeling like it wasn’t quite right, or that at least if you’d had a second chance, you wouldhave done better (at least, I do).

When I am proofreading or editing texts written by others, on the other hand, I can give

myself two, three, or as many cracks at it as I want (I’ve already said I don’t work for customers with tight deadlines). I can reread and rework a text until I think it sounds justright. This is the perfect antidote to that end-of-day, not-quite-good-enough feeling Idescribed above, not to mention the ideal escape valve for the closet perfectionist in me  (the one I had to suppress in order to survive as a conference interpreter).

What I do do

If you were to ask my six-year-old son what his mommy does for a living, he would probablysay that a few times a month, I travel to a different city to go work in a meeting. He’d say I

spend most of the day in a glassed-in booth listening through a headset and talking into

a microphone. He’d say I help people who don’t speak the same language talk to each other about stuff. And you know, that pretty much sums it up, really. (If you were to ask my three-year-old daughter what her mommy does for a living, she would probably say I fly inairplanes and sleep in hotels a lot – also true.)

Of course, I could fill in the details for you, but there are already a number of very goodonline resources that do precisely that. For example, there are AIIC’s articles A day in the lifeof an interpreter  and How we work , which offer a pretty accurate idea of what we conferenceinterpreters do for a living.

Why and how I do it

So, by this point I have already confessed that I am not very creative or excessively patient. Ihave also admitted that I am not actively bilingual (don’t let my willingness to chitchat inseveral different languages fool you – I’m no good for interpreting into anything butEnglish!). I am also not very high-tech (again, the BlackBerry, blog, Facebook pages andTwitter accounts are just a smokescreen to hide my inner Luddite). What is left over that

makes me a good conference interpreter?

A good place to start might be my insatiable curiosity (the thing that makes me readnewspapers back to front and back again, thereby drawing curious stares from fellow travelers

in airports). And then there’s the fact that I thrive on stress and the resulting adrenaline rush(this always comes in handy when the going gets tough in the booth). I also love new

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challenges (although I tend to get bored quickly, so it’s a good thing I have to do a differentmeeting every week). I’m definitely a team player (indispensable in the booth, where you arealways working with one or more colleagues, but equally valuable in the dog-eat-doginterpreting market, where sticking together is often the only way to survive professionally).Oh, and I am a stickler for quality and high standards (ask my interpreting students and

they will assure you that I can wax very boring on this particular topic).

Bringing it all back home

This brings me to my take-home message for today. After all the time I have spent talkinghere about what I am and what I am not, you might think that my message will havesomething to do with what divides the different language professions. On the contrary: if anything, I feel that we have to focus on what unites us! Our different skill sets, aptitudesand specialisations should not be used as a pretext to divide and conquer.

The different groups of language professionals probably have much more in common than we

realize: our love of languages, a passion for what we do, and above all, our commitmentto quality and high standards. Deep down, we must also all be team players, becauseotherwise we wouldn’t have created so many different associations and groupings to defendour profession! The list is virtually endless. A quick check of the blogroll on Bootheando reveals no less than 36 different translation and interpreting associations – and that’s just aselection of what’s out there. The objectives of our associations, whatever form they maytake, are generally the same: to promote our profession, to ensure high quality and

working standards, and to support each other mutually as professionals.

But before I start getting all weepy and you have to go digging for the Kleenex again, let megive you that take-home message: this solidarity is not to be taken for granted, nor is it to beneglected. We language professionals have to continue to stick together, and we have tocontinue to work to achieve our common goals. Our professional future depends on it.

Freelance interpreters

Freelance conference interpreters are employed on a short-term basis. They work for

various clients in succession, depending on demand and their capabilities.

Freelance interpreters enjoy freedom and mobility, depending on their language

combination. Theoretically, they can organise their work as they like, accepting or rejectingthe jobs they are offered. Since they work for a wide variety of organisations, they cover many different subjects and work for many different kinds of people.

An interpreter's reputation depends on the quality of their work. Clients and other interpreters will call on an interpreter's services on the basis of this reputation, built up over time.

Different situations

When working for an organisation covered by an AIIC agreement, a freelance is usually

treated as a member of that organisation's staff (temporary agent or international official) for 

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the duration of their contract. The interpreter in this situation will not need to negotiate theterms of the contract.

When working outside the scope of such an agreement, interpreters negotiate mutuallyacceptable terms for their work (fees, expenses, travel, the interpreting team, working

conditions, working time, etc.), while respecting AIIC rules.

Freelances need to take care of their own pension and social security requirements andnational tax obligations. AIIC can however provide very useful advice in these areas.

 A few examples

A freelance interpreter based in Geneva with English, Spanish and Russian might work mainly for organisations within the United Nations family, and therefore at quite lengthyconferences (sometimes lasting several weeks) that are scheduled well in advance and oftentake place outside Geneva.

A freelance interpreter based in Brussels with 3 or 4 European Union languages mightwork mainly for the European Union institutions for short periods (under one week), often inBrussels.

A freelance interpreter based in Paris with only English and French might work for somemajor international organisations (Council of Europe, OECD, UNESCO) and the privatemarket (business, medical, technical or diplomatic meetings).

A freelance based in Seoul with Korean and English will work mainly for private clients

(corporations, broadcast media, associations, NGOs, etc.) and/or government bodies.

The Consultant Interpreter

Consultant interpreters, in addition to working as interpreters, offer conference

organisers a specialised service: recruiting and coordinating a team of 

interpreters.

Consultant interpreters are working interpreters who serve as a liaison between the conferenceorganiser and the team of interpreters. They recruit a team of interpreters by working

languages, subject matter, meeting location, and their knowledge of the interpreting market.

The role of the consultant interpreter is to provide the meeting organiser with high-qualityinterpretation services well-suited to the organisational needs of the meeting, while ensuringoptimal working conditions for the interpreters. This service is generally compensatedthrough consulting and management fees.

Although any interpreter may also work as a consultant interpreter, it should be noted thatworking as a consultant interpreter requires specialised skills and knowledge.

What consultant interpreters do :

1. Consultant interpreters have the necessary knowledge and connections to provide aquick and professional response to incoming interpreting requests.

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2. The consultant interpreter obtains as much information as possible about the meeting(active and passive languages, subject matter, date, venue, time, number of 

 participants, any planned recording of the interpretation) in order to determine the reallanguage needs of the meeting and provide an accurate price quote.

3. He/she ensures that that the meeting room is large enough for simultaneous

interpreting equipment and advises organisers on applicable ISO norms.4. Once the quote has been accepted, he/she obtains written confirmation from the

meeting organiser, such as a signed master contract with cancellation clauses, and thenoffers firm contracts to the interpreters.

5. When recruiting, consultant interpreters ensure that the team covers all requiredlanguages and take into account interpreter specialisations, as appropriate. The use of relay is kept to a minimum.

6. The consultant interpreter coordinates with the organiser to send all necessarydocuments to the interpreters, such as the agenda, minutes of previous meetings,

 prepared remarks, and session documents. He/she also obtains any existing glossariesand can organise briefing sessions for the interpreters if the meeting is technical.

7. If he/she is not a member of the team, the consultant interpreter can designate a teamleader who is fully acquainted with the arrangements and will report back after themeeting. Even when not present, the consultant interpreter stays informed to ensurethe meeting runs smoothly and is aware of any possible improvements for futuremeetings.

8. When members of the Association act as consultant interpreters they are bound by thestrictest secrecy, which is observed towards all persons and with regard to allinformation disclosed in the course of the practice of the profession at meetings notopen to the public.

Where interpreters work Conference interpreters serve the demand for high-quality interpretation services from

clients who need to be sure of perfect communication.

These clients may be private companies, associations, professional conference organisers,governments, international organisations, and so on. Depending on how often they need them,they may use the services of freelance interpreters on an ad hoc basis or may recruit staff interpreters, or both.

For example, an international professional association may have a single annual congresslasting one or two days for which it will recruit freelance interpreters. In contrast, theEuropean Commission interpreting service organises dozens of meetings in parallel every dayand has several hundred staff interpreters. It also recruits freelance interpreters to handle thewide fluctuations in the number of meetings taking place at any one time.

Freelance interpreters may be recruited directly by their clients, but the contract morefrequently passes through the mediation of professional conference organisers (PCO) and/or through the services of a consultant interpreter.

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Different markets, different places

The market for interpreting services is very different in different places. The Japanese market,for example, mainly requires interpretation to and from English and Japanese. In Brussels, theEuropean Institutions need interpreters with a larger number of passive languages. In some

cities, such as Paris, Brussels, Geneva, New York, Nairobi, and Tokyo, there are relativelylarge numbers of international conferences and other meetings, and a correspondingly largenumber of interpreters.

Conference interpreters are a rare commodity 

There are no more than a few hundred

conference interpreters in even the largest

of these cities, and only a few thousand inthe whole world. The structure of demand

for interpretation has changed over time,

but the demand is still there. Given its

linguistic diversity and historical

tradition, Europe is still the largestinterpreting market, but the requirements

in other parts of the world, particularly

Asia, are growi The Nuremberg trial

The War was over. An International Military Tribunal had been set up in Nuremberg to

try the leading Nazi war criminals. The Main Trial lasted from November 1945

until the verdicts on 30th September 1946 - and I was present during the last

four months.

After going to school in Berlin where I lived with my English parents until a few days beforethe German attack on Poland, I ended up in Switzerland where I saw out the war and spent mylast six years of formal education at French-speaking schools and universities.

In Nuremberg, the Trial was being conducted in English, French, Russian and German andwas using the novel and largely untried system of simultaneous interpretation. Due to thelength of the trial, some interpreters were leaving and had to be replaced. Monitors weredispatched to look for new talent. A test was organised at the Geneva University School of Interpreters which, to my surprise, I passed. We had learnt consecutive interpretation only and

to find myself speaking into a microphone at the same time that I was listening to adisembodied voice through earphones was thoroughly disconcerting.

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With the ink of my degree scarcely dry, I set out for Nuremberg. It was my first job and,though I did not know it at the time, also my biggest. I went into it with the innocententhusiasm of my 21 years, looking forward to the freedom from home, the glamour of aforeign assignment and the lure of the unknown. Four months later, the Trial over, I left: tenyears older, a great deal wiser, and, indeed, an interpreter.

En-route, I got lost near Frankfurt in a muddle of travel vouchers, curfews and non-existenttrains. When I did reach Nuremberg, I was billeted at the Grand Hotel where I was allowed toremain for the duration. I spent a week in the public gallery listening to the proceedings in theCourt Room. Then, after a brief test in the booth during a lunch-break, I was told I would bestarting in earnest the following day. I felt it was a matter of sink or swim. I swam.

The lay-out of the Court Room was simple and compact. The accused faced the judges, withassorted German counsel and court reporters in between. Our four booths were at right anglesand in very close proximity to the defendants. We could watch them and they often watchedus. Facing the interpreters were three sets of Prosecution tables which made up the fourth side

of the Court, with the Press and public beyond.

By today's sophisticated technical standards, the booths and the equipment were primitive.We sat in three-sided glass boxes open at the top. Because of the tight fit, it was impossible toleave the booths except during breaks when we would shuffle out in reverse order to the waywe had shuffled in. The earphones were clumsy things and each booth of three interpretershad to share one hand-held microphone which was passed to whoever was working from thelanguage just being spoken.

The system broke down quite frequently and the sound could be bad, but we learned toimprovise. Looking back, I am amazed how well we coped and how quickly we acquired thenew skills. One of the things we learnt to do fast and well was sight-reading. By the time I gotto Nuremberg, it was usual for untranslated prepared speeches to be given to us in writing,which was enormously helpful. Any misgivings I had about my ability to meet the challengewould vanish as soon as I walked into the booth, much like an actor shedding stage-frightwhen setting foot on the boards.

The monitors would keep a constant close watch on our performance and would tell us wherewe went wrong or how to improve our delivery. I was told to pitch my voice lower, which Idid. Ever since, I have been much aware of the quality of an interpreter's voice and wonder why our occasional screech-owls or excessive regional accents have not been brought to task.

We worked two days in a row and had the third day off. One team was on for 1 1/2 hours inthe morning and again for 1 1/2 hours in the afternoon. While a second team took over for theother half of the morning and afternoon, we would sit in a nearby room which was equippedwith ear-phones and where we could follow the proceedings in the Court. There it was that Ilistened to Lord Justice Lawrence handing down the sentences. The room was packed then,the atmosphere quite as tense and as solemn as in the Court Room itself.

The interpreters were, I think, quite a pleasant cosmopolitan lot; a mixture of ages andnationalities, professions and opinions - including several refugees and Jews.

Living amidst a sullen native population, in a town that was just a heap of rubble, wasstressful, as indeed was the never-ending recital of horrors in the Court Room. I learnt to

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ignore the first and overcame the strain in Court by concentrating on the work itself. I wasgreatly helped in this by the remarkable team spirit among the interpreters and by the closeand, as it turned out, life-long friendship with some of them. We let off steam dancing thenight away in the Marble Room of the Grand Hotel. We had a lot of fun, an indispensableantidote to the Court Room blues.

In Court, whatever our private thoughts, it was necessary to remain neutral when working.From being a blur of concentrated human malice the defendants, little by little, emerged asindividuals. One could even admire Goering for his intelligence and dignity and share hisopen contempt for the slimy Streicher. Kaltenbrunner scared me, he was so palpably evil. Theclosing speech Hess made left me in no doubt that he was completely mad. We all likedFritzsche who was only there as a substitute for his dead master Goebbels, and we were gladhe was acquitted.

After the verdicts and the ensuing release of tension, I had had enough of Nuremberg.Whereas I had been working from French into English at the Main Trial, I was supposed to

transfer to the German booth for the Subsequent Proceedings. I was rescued by the Chief Interpreter of UNESCO who selected me, along with a few others, to work at the FirstGeneral Conference in Paris (English/French consecutive). I was released from my

 Nuremberg contract and left.

I returned to Nuremberg recently. The town has been rebuilt, the scars of war no longer visible. The Court Room, after 54 years, seems smaller. A wall now partitions it where thefront of the public gallery had been. The large dock has been rebuilt for fewer defendants. Theoppressive dark wood panelling and heavy marble door frames remain, though, as does thesmall lift door at the back of the dock through which the Nazi leaders were daily brought toaccount. But I had no feeling of past personal involvement. The Nuremberg Trial had becomehistory.

Les interprètes

J’ai toujours aimé noter une situation amusante pour ne

 pas l’oublier, et pour en faire profiter les autres. Souventil est impossible de reproduire un moment vécu par desmots, le croquis s’impose. La cabine est un lieu uniqued’observation, tous les interprètes le savent. Dessiner encabine, ne paraît pas très professionnel à première vue,mais pour moi c’est une façon d’être créatif lorsque jerépète (du mieux que je peux et avec l’art de l’interprètecertes) ce que dit quelqu’un d’autre. J’ai illustré il y a sixans un ouvrage donnant des conseils aux orateurs, publiéen Allemagne sous le titre de « Laisser des traces en

 parlant ». J’ai réussi à l’époque à faire ajouter dans le

livre un chapitre sur les interprètes et à y faire citer l’AIIC…En novembre de l’année dernière, le cinquantenaire de l’AIIC a été célébré en

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Allemagne à Berlin, et pour l’occasion une petite exposition de 24 affiches de mes dessins(cette fois non pas sur les orateurs, mais sur les interprètes eux-mêmes) a été organisée. Denombreux collègues voulaient des photocopies, ce qui m’a donné l’idée de faire quelquechose d’utile avec ces dessins. Voilà comment est née l’idée de ce petit ouvrage qui comptera50 dessins, et qui sera vendu au profit du Fonds de solidarité de l’AIIC. Je remercie d’ores et

déjà le Conseil de l’AIIC pour sa décision généreuse : il co-financera pour moitiél’investissement nécessaire, et fait ainsi un don au Fonds de solidarité. Suivez l’exemple ! Leslégendes et les textes seront traduits et le livre paraîtra en anglais, français et allemand.

 

Business clients

'Business clients' is a general term, covering all clients for whom freelance interpreters

work except national/international governmental organisations.

When business clients need interpreters they will contact freelance interpreters. Interpretersoften prefer to call these clients the private market.

Which types of clients? 

Any body organising a meeting/conference may require interpreters. Clients may not comefrom the business community.

They may be associations, professional bodies, trade unions, NGOs etc. Or they may bebusinesses organising regular meetings, special conferences, or events such as productlaunches etc.

Consultant interpreters : an added value

Clients sometimes need interpreters only once. But sometimes they have regular meetings andwill ask an interpreter they know and have dealt with in the past to organise a team of interpreters for each event.

This interpreter will often be a consultant interpreter with experience in advising andrecruiting for clients.

These assignments are usually short, lasting only 2 or 3 days, or even less.

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One meeting a day 

Interpreters will not accept more than one meeting on the same day. Consequently, they will bill you for a full day. Even if you do not need their service for a whole day, AIIC interpreterswill spend time for you:

• They study the information you send them about your meeting, or research a subjectwith which they are unfamiliar.

• They will need time to reach the venue.

• A little extra time for a pre-meeting briefing of interpreters is always a good idea.

• The meeting may run over the agreed time.

How interpreters work 

Interpreting can be done in different ways, depending on the setting, how much time is

available, how many languages are used, and whether or not technology is

available.

Conference interpretation can be simultaneous, consecutive or, more rarely, whispered.

Simultaneous interpreting 

The interpreter sits in a booth, listens to the speaker in one language through headphones,and immediately speaks their interpretation into a microphone in another language.

The interpreting equipment transmits the interpretation to the headphones of listeners in themeeting room.

Simultaneous interpretation is appropriate in bilingual or multilingual meetings and has theadvantage of not lengthening the meeting. It encourages a lively discussion and morespontaneous contributions.

Simultaneous interpretation requires a high level of concentration, since the interpreter isdoing several things at once:

• listening and speaking,

• analysing the structure of what is being said in order to present the speaker's argument,• listening to his/her own interpretation to check for slips of the tongue.

Interpreters therefore take turns of about 30 minutes.

Consecutive interpreting 

The interpreter is in the same room as the speaker and follows their speech while taking

notes before presenting their interpretation.

Very long speeches may be broken up into parts, with interpretation after each part, but atrained interpreter is capable of consecutive interpretation of speeches several minutes long.

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This kind of interpretation is suitable for scientific and technical presentations given by asingle speaker, or in meetings where only a small number of languages are spoken, since itmakes the meeting longer.

Note taking is an essential part of consecutive interpreting. It involves committing to paper 

the logic and structure of the statement as an aid to memory, rather than recording everythingthat is said.

Whispered interpreting 

Whispered interpretation is essentially simultaneous interpreting without a booth. Theinterpreter sits very close to the listeners and provides a simultaneous interpretation in a quiet

voice. At least two interpreters take turns.

The practice is hard on the voice and appropriate only for short meetings.

Whispered interpreting is not recommended for more than two people. If severalinterpreters are working at the same time in the same room this can be as noisy and unpleasantfor the participants as it is inconvenient for the interpreters.

Related professions

Apart from AIIC's core business of conference interpreting, various other occupations

fall under the general heading of interpretation. These include sign

interpretation, social and medical interpretation, court interpretation, and

several others. A few distinctions need to be made.

Sign language interpreting 

Sign interpretation is used both in conference interpreting and in many of the other branchesof interpretation.

Learn more about the AIIC Sign Language Network (SLN)

Court interpreting 

Court and legal interpreters work in civil, criminal and administrative courts. In an ever-increasing number of countries people have a constitutional right to follow proceedings intheir own language.

At an international level several courts (the International Criminal Court, the InternationalCriminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda,etc.) have established specialised language services that make use of conference interpreters.

Learn more about court interpreting.

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Community interpreting 

People may call on interpreters to help them communicate with the authorities or official bodies – a role referred to as community interpreting.

Interpreters may assist contact between refugees and administrative services, between people in difficult situations and social workers, between patients and doctors or hospitalservices (medical interpretation, police services), and so on.

In this kind of interpretation, social, cultural and human factors all have a crucial part to play in the interpreting process, as do the interpreter's specialised knowledge and professionalethics.

Liaison interpreting 

Liaison interpreting refers to the activity of accompanying one or more people who do notspeak the language of a country and assisting them in a relatively informal context.

For example, this can be done by a hostess at a trade fair, a guide in a department store, or a member of staff in a large hotel.

Liaison interpreters usually interpret what is said sentence by sentence, which avoids theneed for special equipment and reduces the burden on their memory.

Interpreter-guides

'Interpreter-guide', 'accompanying guide', 'tourist guide' and similar terms refer to people inthe tourist trade who accompany individuals or groups, provide them with cultural, historicaland artistic information, and help them communicate with local people.

Interpreting in conflict zones

Military and civilian authorities involved in armed conflicts sometimes depend on linguistic

mediation with other parties to the conflict or with the civilian population , as may the journalists covering the conflict.

The people recruited as interpreters are not always appropriately trained or conscious of what will be required of them nor of the applicable ethical standards, and they or their families may be at risk.

AIIC has set up a specific project addressing the problems facing interpreters in conflictzones to raise awareness, both of the people concerned and of governments.

A day in the life of a conference interpreter

An illustration in three acts.

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ACT I

• The day usually begins the evening before when you make your final preparations and

lay out everything on your desk or dresser for the next morning or, if working awayfrom home, when you arrive at the hotel, check on colleagues and get the conferencedocuments. Set your own alarm clock wherever you are as hotel systems are not

always reliable.• Wake up, allow yourself one delicious stretch in bed and then hit the shower. Go easy

on the perfume/aftershave as you’ll be working in a confined space. Go down to breakfast and exchange the latest information with colleagues.

• Make sure you’ve got everything you need for the meeting: contract, city map, paper,

 pens and documents. Set out in good time if you don’t know your way around.• Buy a newspaper on the way to work – most interpreters are news junkies. You never 

know when a delegate will refer to a breaking story.• At work, locate the booths, greet colleagues and introduce yourself to the technician.

• Make sure you’re familiar with the equipment: turning the mike on and off, using the

cough button, operating the relays. Locate a discreet route to the toilets.•  Now concentrate: it’s not about words...

• Relax and take a deep breath before your turn on the mike.

ACT II

• Lunchtime. Thank the German booth for the excellent relay from Dutch. Take the

opportunity to disconnect. Some people enjoy having lunch with colleagues, other  prefer to be alone and escape into a book.

• Get some much-needed fresh air and gentle exercise by taking a walk.

• Clear up questions arising from the meeting with colleagues. Interpreting is team

work. Check your email.

ACT III

• Back to work. You have to sympathise with the first speaker after lunch, addressing

 post-prandial delegates. They call it the “graveyard slot”.• Listen, concentrate, think, and speak. Whilst speaking, listen, concentrate and think. A

challenging intellectual loop.• The meeting ends.

• Pack up.

• Say goodbye to your colleagues, thank the technician and the colleague who recruited

you.

• Get home safely.• Then enjoy some restorative silence to de-clutter your brain.

• Time to pack again, but will it be hot or cold where you’re going? Don’t forget your 

toilet bag or alarm clock this time.• Check your ticket, book a cab to the airport for the morning.

• Make sure you’ve got your conference file ready. And your keys, book, laptop, mobile

 phone. Leave a contact number for the family to reach you.

Epilogue

• So, what did they talk about in the meeting today?

You know I can’t tell you.• Is it a secret?

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• Well, it was a private meeting by invitation only. It was their business, nobody else’s.

• And who was there?

• Well, isn’t it your turn to get dinner?

Tips for beginners

What you need to know to make your first steps into the profession.

Potential employers and colleagues in your area need to know:

• that you have completed your training and you are available on the market;

• your precise language combination;

• how to contact you.

You cannot expect work to be handed to you on a silver platter, so it is up to you to take

the initiative:

• Make yourself known to the profession

• Develop sound professional practice

• Adhere to strict principles like all professional interpreters

• Understand your business

• Manage your career 

Know when to say yes and when to say no to job offers• Learn how to avoid unpleasant surprises

• Realise that you are not alone - AIIC is there to support you

Make yourself known

• To International Organisations worldwide where your languages are an asset

• To local employers as well as to interpreters’ groups and secretariats;

• To all colleagues (not just those who work into your language);

• Do not restrict yourself to your  part of the world.

Develop sound professional practice• Monitor your own performance: practice consecutive and work in a "dummy" booth

with colleagues;• Keep abreast of current affairs;

• Find out what interpreter   jargon means: option, firm offer, loss-of-earnings, relay,“pivot”;

• Develop good  booth manners;

• Always keep your diary up to date.

Adhere to strict principles like all professional interpreters

Conference interpreters are organised both nationally - often jointly with translators - andinternationally within AIIC.

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Since it was established in 1953, AIIC has established a Code of Ethics and ProfessionalStandards; it has also negotiated several Agreements with major International Organisationsand has published a wide range of checklists, research and advice for professionals and users.

Thanks to sustained efforts in favour of better  training for conference interpreters, AIIC has

 become the point of reference for all conference interpreting courses (university degrees andmasters alike).

Understand your business

The dynamics of meetings and conferences are basically the same, although the scale mayvary. You must bear in mind that a conference interpreter is part of a team.

Put simply, an interpreter’s task is to ensure accurate and efficient communication across

language barriers. Yet every conference involves the interaction of several factors. Ameeting is successful when all the different players work effectively together.

Freelance interpreters usually require an individual contract for each job outlining assignmentdetails and laying down working and financial conditions. Individual contracts are binding onclients and interpreters and are essential to ensure that the event runs smoothly.

Forewarned is forearmed: when you work for the first time for International Organisationsspecific tips and data concerning them may help you find your way

Suggested reading: First Contract Series

Manage your career 

A career in the interpreting profession does not follow a linear path nor does it advance bygradual promotion as in academic life or public service.

The world of conferences is made up of different markets:

• Private national market: companies, government agencies;

• Private international market: international trade associations, multinational companies,

television, international sporting events;• Institutional International market: International Organisations, NGOs.

What are your options?

Depending on your language combination, where you live and your personal preferences, youcan choose to work as a freelance or as a staff interpreter with an organisation.

To gain access to these markets you should:

• Leverage the contacts you have developed through training

• Get in touch with consultant interpreters in your region who recruit teams and make

yourself known to local interpreter groups• Introduce yourself to colleagues who have your language combination

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• Contact the language service of international organisations that require your languagecombination, including the EU, the UN and UN agencies.

Once established and with a few years of practice under your belt, you may decide to becomea consultant interpreter yourself. Consultant interpreters recruit teams of interpreters for a

variety of customers on the private market. Experience, common sense, people skills and business acumen are required. The work calls for quick reactions, a rapid mind, a keen senseof business ethics and high level professionalism. You will need a firm grasp on what goesinto organising an event (preparing quotations and contracts, dealing with the legal andtechnical issues) to get started as a consultant interpreter.

 Suggested reading:

• An ordinary weekend in the life of a consultant interpreter 

• What your consultant interpreter needs to know

• SOS: consultant interpreter adrift

Know when to say yes and when to say no to job offers

First step:

• Consider the information you have been given or been asked to provide.

• Call a more senior colleague for advice.

Second step:

Respond to an enquiry as soon as you can.

Factors in deciding whether to take up an offer or not:

• Are you are available?

• Does your language combination match the assignment's?

• Are the conditions on offer acceptable?

Alarm bells should ring if:

•  No employment contract is provided;

• The composition of the team is inadequate - languages are not correctly covered, teamstrength does not correspond to workload, or the organiser is evasive when askedquestions about other team members;

• The working conditions leave to be desired: no documents to prepare the conference,

inadequate fees, no daily subsistence allowance when working away from home, nodistinction between working and travel days, sub-standard booths or technicalequipment

Check our list of routine questions to help you make the right decision when offered work, beit from a known or unknown source.

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Learn how to avoid unpleasant surprises

It is quite natural for beginners to want to work as much as possible and accommodatewhoever asked you. But willingness to compromise on working conditions can work againstyou in the long run.

Unless you are really alert to the potential pitfalls, many things can go wrong, for instance:

• You find yourself doing simultaneous alone for the whole morning or even the whole

day;• You are expected to work from/into languages that are not part of your language

combination;• Booths are partitioned by curtains with no proper sound insulation;

• Booths face the wall with a single TV monitor for all booths showing the conference

 proceedings;•  No technicians are available on site;

• There is just no interpretation booth but you are expected to work in the technician’s

 booth next to lighting controls and sound mixing equipment;• Unfortunately the list goes on...

Interpreting in sub-standard working conditions can be a very nasty and off-puttingexperience. Conference interpretation requires extreme concentration and poor conditions willinevitably impact your performance. You are by no means the first person to have beencaught out by a dodgy job offer. When in doubt ALWAYS seek advice from an experiencedcolleague!

Realise that you are not alone - AIIC is there to support you

The quality of your performance depends both on how good you are AND on the conditionsin which you work.

It is useful to be knowledgeable about the congress industry in both the domestic andinternational private markets, international organisations and the colleagues you work with.This is why AIIC's networking role is so valuable.

AIIC - the International Association of Conference Interpreters - was founded in 1953 whenconference interpreting was a fledgling profession. Today AIIC has over 2,600 members in

more than 80 countries. Membership of this professional body indicates the interpreter’scommitment to professional standards and business-like approach to the job.

If you are considering membership, AIIC interpreters will be happy to offer advice andsupport.

What AIIC does

AIIC is the only internationally recognised association of conference interpreters.

AIIC represents the whole profession. Over the years it has established itself as a point of reference for the whole interpreter community, clients and and users of interpretation services.

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Since1953, AIIC has set standards for the profession in several areas: working conditions,interpreter training and simultaneous interpretation equipment.

The standards apply to the United Nations, the European Union and almost all inter-governmental organisations where conference interpretation is used. AIIC also negotiates

remuneration and other monetary conditions with international organisations worldwide on behalf of all freelance interpreters, members and non members alike.

AIIC has several codes of best practices, which apply particularly to work on the private (non-institutional) market. They help promote working conditions for professional conferenceinterpreters and ensure high standards and professionalism throughout. They cover matterssuch as:

• Health

•  New technologies

• Training

• Business ethics• Copyright

AIIC also publishes advice and recommendations for conference organisers, monitorstechnical issues and helps with checklists for meeting rooms and guidelines for speakers.

AIIC conducts surveys on various aspects of the profession, undertakes research projects inthe area of training, and strives to raise awareness for professional standards.

AIIC is at the forefront in the following areas:

• Conference interpreter  training and training of trainers

• Multidisciplinary research on cognitive processes

• Refresher courses for practising professionals

• Drafting standards for simultaneous interpretation equipment

• Securing the definition and recognition of the profession via a UNESCO

Recommendation.• Promoting the profession at international events

Wherever you live, there will be AIIC interpreters near you. Locally AIIC members haveestablished relations with other organisations that represent the profession at a national level

(unions, associations of translators and interpreters).

You need not enter this profession unaccompanied. AIIC members are there to ease your earlycareer steps and to help you develop professional standards. Membership shows your commitment to your chosen profession.

How to join

• CACL Guide for Applicants

• AIIC basic texts

• AIIC application forms

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Conference interpreting

The modern practice of conference interpretation is usually considered to date from the

Nuremberg trials of 1945-1946. But throughout history people of different

languages and cultures have made use of interpretation to communicate with

and understand each other.

Interpreters have always been involved in the development of international trade and culturalexchange.

But it was only towards the end of the 19th century, with the appearance of the first

international organisations and of regular conferences, that some people were able to makea living as interpreters.

With the emergence of simultaneous interpretation in the middle of the 20th century the profession developed considerably and was shaped accordingly.

Conference interpretation is conveying a message spoken in one language into another. It is practised at international summits, professional seminars, and bilateral or multilateralmeetings of heads of State and Government.

Conference interpreters also work at meetings between chief executives, social and unionrepresentatives, at congresses and meetings, and so on.

The skills of the conference interpreter 

Interpreters must have complete mastery of their working languages, including an excellent

command of their native language. They need an immediate grasp of their passive languagesand a well-developed capacity to express themselves in their own language..

Another essential requirement is a good mind. Interpreters need

• a good level of general education,

• a lively and flexible intellect,

• analytic capacity,

• the ability to put themselves in the minds of the people for whom they are interpreting.

They also need:

• to be able to concentrate,

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• have a good memory,

• have a pleasant voice and good diction,

•  be physically and mentally robust.

Interpreters need to be willing to travel, since their work often takes them a long way from

home.

Rigour and professional confidentiality 

Finally, whether they are freelance or staff, interpreters always have to deliver.

They have to be rigorous, not only in terms of getting the message across, but also in their everyday professional practice.

A professional conference interpreter is

always well-prepared, is never late (even

if the conference participants are), and

above all has an absolute obligation to

respect professional confidentiality.

Interpreting is not translating

Interpreters are often referred to as "translators" and people are not always aware of 

the difference between the two professions. How are they different?

An interpreter works with spoken words in a particular context, conveying a message fromone language to another, while translation refers to the activity of transferring a written textfrom one language to another.

 Neither is simply replacing the words of one language by those of another, and there aresimilarities in the intellectual effort required. But there are significant differences betweeninterpreting and translating.

The spoken word 

Interpretation is spoken, translation is written. Interpretation therefore makes use of  particular linguistic resources: the original speaker's ideas are transmitted as spoken words,with a particular rhythm and intonation, making use of rhetorical devices and gestures.

Time constraints

Interpretation is carried out in real time (simultaneously) or very close to it (consecutively).

The interpreter has no time to refer to the written resources available to translators. Thismakes preparation before each assignment all the more essential for an interpreter.

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Another constraint is the extreme speed at which the interpreter has to receive, understand,manage, and reconstruct information. A translator may translate 2000-3000 words a day,while an interpreter has to keep up with around 150 words a minute.

The context of communication

In interpretation communication is immediate, involving an interaction between speakers,listeners, and interpreters. In translation there is always a gap between the writing of a text byan author and its reception by the readers.

Apart from this, translators often spend a long time working on one text, while interpreters,often working in a team, are faced with people speaking and communicating right now.

Interpretation is therefore not so much a linguistic profession as an information andcommunication profession.

International organisations

The major international organisations regularly recruit conference interpreters, who

may work as permanent members of staff or as freelances on an ad hoc basis.

International organisations recruiting interpreters are generally found in major cities aroundthe world.

Recruitment procedures vary from organisation to organisation, as do the required language

combinations and the subjects dealt with. Here are a few of them:

United Nations Organisation (UN) New York, Geneva, Vienna, Nairobi...and some of itsSpecialised Agencies:

• International Labour Organisation (ILO) Geneva

• Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Rome

• UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Paris

• World Health Organisation (WHO) Geneva

• International Court of Justice (ICJ) The Hague

• International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) The Hague

• International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) Arusha• International Maritime Organisation (IMO) London

Some European organisations:

• Council of Europe (CE) Strasbourg

• Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) Luxembourg

• European Commission (EC) Brussels

• European Parliament (EP) Brussels, Strasbourg, Luxembourg

• European Patent Office (EPO) Munich

•  North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Brussels

Some other international Organisations:

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• International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (of which the InternationalCommittee (ICRC)- is based in Geneva)

• International Olympic Committee (IOC)

• Group of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (ACP) Brussels

• African Union (AU) Addis Ababa

• Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Paris• South African Development Community (SADC) Gaborone

• Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Singapore

• Free Trade Area of the Americas

• Mercosur Montevideo

AIIC has negotiated collective agreements with many major international organisations,governing working hours, working conditions, travelling conditions and remuneration for freelance interpreters.

Government

Interpreters work for many government bodies and services. They may find a career or

temporary work with presidential offices, ministries, parliaments, courts, the

armed services and, increasingly, with many other government services at local

level.

Governements•  National Parliaments

•  National Courts of Law

•  National Armed Services

• Government services

Governments

Governments employ both staff and freelance interpreters. Presidential offices and ministriesof foreign affairs, for example, will always have some staff interpreters on hand covering themajor groups of world languages.

They are generally bilingual and work either at their home ministries or travel with the

minister and delegations.

Obviously these interpreters must meet high professional standards, linguistically andethically. They serve the 'diplomatic corps'.

Freelances will be employed if there are not enough staff interpreters for given languages.

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National parliaments

 National parliaments may also employ staff and freelance interpreters. The bilingual CanadianParliament, for example, is a major employer.

National courts of law 

 National courts of law employ interpreters temporarily for specific cases, but rarely staff interpreters. They help to ensure that justice and the human rights of defendants are upheld.

National armed services

 National armed services require interpreters, particularly when they are deployed abroad.Some will be members of the forces. Mostly, however, they will be employed temporarily as freelances, often locally, and are not usually professional interpreters. This is a dangerous

area of work.

Government services

All kinds of government services are increasingly calling on interpreters to help them in their relations with community groups who may not speak or understand the national languagewell (such as immigrants).

These are generally freelance interpreters, called community interpreters who may not be professional interpreters. They have a great role to play in smoothing out cultural obstacles

to communication as well as the linguistic ones.

Community interpreters work in hospitals, for administrative departments etc. according toneed.

A video film on conference interpreters

On the occasion of the UN's fiftieth anniversary, Evelyn Moggio-Ortiz (AIIC) had the idea of  producing a video film on "The interpreters: a historical perspective". She obtainedsponsorship for the production from Philips, the UN 50th Anniversary, AIIC and the FrenchGovernment. Evelyn is the film's executive producer and creator. The production wascommissioned to Euro-Pacific Film and Video Productions, represented by Mr DavidCalderwood, Producer and Director. Evelyn established a research working group composedof interpreters of the six booths in the UN headquarters. It has carried out all the research, allthe translations and voice-overs.

The film gives a historical perspective of how the profession developed from the League of  Nations to present day. It is aimed at the public at large, with the dual purpose of educatingabout the profession and providing a historical perspective of the UN. To this end, more than60 interpreters of all generations were interviewed in New York, Paris and Geneva, as well asambassadors and other users of interpretation services.

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The video is produced in the six UN official languages (English, French, Spanish, Russian,Chinese and Arabic). The UN Department of Public Information will distribute it to the UNinformation offices worldwide. It is an official part of the UN's fiftieth anniversarycelebration.

A tripartite contract was signed by AIIC, Philips and the United Nations. AIIC retains thecopyrights and will also receive copy of all the material used that went into the production,some 30 hours worth of interviews. An excellent starting point for the archives.

VHS (PAL and/or NTSC) copies are available from the Secretariat at the price of CHF 20.-(postage incl.).

DVD copies are available at the price of CHF 35,- (postage incl.).

Staff interpreters

Staff interpreters are temporary or permanent employees of national or international

organisations.

Staff interpreters have relative stability in their work:

• a regular income,

• accrue pension rights

• assurance against health and accident risks

•  possible other benefits

Less freedom than freelance interpreters? 

Staff interpreters have only one employer, in contrast to freelance interpreters. They thus willnot have the same freedom as a freelance to plan their own time or to choose the meetings

they do.

 About staff interpreters employers

A large variety of organisations employ staff interpreters:

• the United Nations and its Specialised Agencies,• the Institutions of the European Union, the Council of Europe, the OECD, NATO,

• the WTO, the ICC,

• the parliaments and governments of some multilingual countries

 About staff interpreters' recruitment 

Those organisations usually recruit staff interpreters through open competitions.

AIIC regularly publishes a list of job vacancies.

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AIIC staff members must fulfil their

obligations to their organisation as well as

respecting AIIC principles, as set out in

the AIIC Staff Interpreters' Charter.

Working languages

There is a difference between understanding and speaking a language. This difference

lies at the heart of how interpreters classify their working languages.

As well as speaking their mother tongue perfectly, conference interpreters perfectlyunderstand one or more other languages and the culture that lies behind them. They may notspeak all of those languages equally well.

Even in their mother tongue people sometimes have the feeling that they 'cannot find the rightword' to express themselves. In a foreign language this is even harder. It is obviously essentialfor an interpreter to be able 'to find the right word' in all circumstances, even under stress.

How do we classify our working languages? 

Interpreters must be able to transpose a message from one language to another very quickly, particularly in simultaneous interpretation, which is very fast. They must understand quickly,think quickly and speak fluently.

Interpreters are able to express themselves better and more fluently in some languages than inothers.

• The languages they speak fluently are called their 'active' languages.• Those, which they understand perfectly but do not speak so fluently, are called their 

'passive' languages.

 A, B, C languages

Interpreters' working languages are classified in three categories - A, B, C:

• The 'A' language is the interpreter's mother tongue (or its strict equivalent) into

which they work from all their other working languages in both consecutive andsimultaneous interpretation.

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It is the language they speak best, and in which they can easily express even complicatedideas. It is therefore an active language for the interpreter.

• A 'B' language is a language in which the interpreter is perfectly fluent, but is not a

mother tongue. An interpreter can work into this language from one or several of their 

other working languages, but may prefer to do so in only one mode of interpretation,either consecutive or simultaneous (often in 'consecutive' because it's not so fast). It isalso considered an active language for the interpreter.

• A 'C' language is one which the interpreter understands perfectly but into which

they do not work. They will interpret from this (these) language(s) into their activelanguages. It is therefore a passive language for the interpreter.

How this applies to a conference setting 

An individual conference or meeting has its own active and passive languages. The languages

spoken by participants will be active languages of the conference and those they listen tothrough interpreters will be passive languages of the conference.

So, if you're organising a conference with interpreters, you will be asked which are the activeand which are the passive languages of the conference, i.e. which languages are likely to bespoken by participants and which will need to be interpreted into one or several other languages for the other participants to listen to.

The team of interpreters will be organised so that their working languages correspond to your requirements. This can be a complicated business, especially if there are many languages

involved, so it's best to ask a consultant interpreter to help you.

'the Whisperers': a journey into the world

of interpreters

Since 2002 AIIC has been in touch with filmmakers David Bernet and Christian Beetzregarding a film about interpreters. "The Whisperers" seeks to reveal the

essential qualities that conference interpreters seem to possess, and to portray

the day-to-day working life of interpreters by approaching the subject from

various angles. And now we are about to get a chance to see it!

In a 2003 interview with Communicate, David Bernet said: “The point of a documentary filmis to show the viewers things that are not absolutely normal and don’t enter into their usualfield of vision. We promoted this project on the grounds that interpreters are often verycolourful characters and, to a certain extent, inhabit a world of their own which can be madeaccessible by a film of this kind.”

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Mr. Bernet thought about making a documentary on interpreters for quite some time beforefinally finding the right opportunity. And he seems to have acquired some insights and

 perhaps even some affinity for them. “What I very much admire in interpreters - speaking at avery general level now - is their unending curiosity, their boundless thirst for knowledge andthe almost painful precision of their work, as it appears to the observer. But without a doubt

all interpreters love talking. That certainly seems to me to be linked with the profession. Someof our interviewees have described this spontaneity of communication as a “déformation

 professionnelle”. That may be so. But quite frankly I find it very endearing.”

The 80-minute version of the now-completed film will be unveiled at the Kölner Filmhaus inCologne at 12h00 Sunday 28 August 2005, and at the Hackesche Höfe in Berlin at 20h00 onthe 29th of the same month.

The 60 minute small-screen version will be premiered on German channel WDR Friday 2 September 2005 at 23h20.

ARTE Television will showcase the French/German television version at 17h50 on 22October 2005 as part of a theme program dedicated to language matters under the title

 BABYLONISCHES SPRACHVERGNÜGEN . It currently looks like an interview with AIICmember Edgar Weiser will also be aired as part of the special. Check the ARTE website asthe date approaches.

In the coming months other channels are scheduled to broadcast the film in Switzerland,Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Sweden and Latvia. Sometime this autumn a DVD version,available to AIIC members at a discount, will be out.