2017 月刊 / 第二十期本期主題 : 口筆譯之路 : 莫忘初衷, 永不放棄編輯的話

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1 本期主題 : 口筆譯之路 : 莫忘初衷, 永不放棄編輯的話

2 By Brian Tsai

3 To Interpret is to Give Back When most people think of interpreters, they think of large international conferences and forums such as those as the United Nations or the European Union. However, my first encounter with an interpreter wasn t in one of those settings. When I was young, my family and I migrated to the United Kingdom, to a small island called Jersey. My parents English was very limited: they could hold basic conversations and buy a pound of beef at the market, but not much more. Jersey is very small, about the size of Jinmen, and its narrow roads weren t designed for cars. There is a lot of agricultural machinery on those roads despite the width, so one must drive with caution. My mother was in the car on her way to pick us up from school when she came face to face with a plough on one of those roads. She stopped on the shoulder to wait for it to go by, abiding by the traffic rules. However, the driver of the plough didn t slow down as he passed and ended up not only scratching both vehicles from front to back but also knocking the sideview mirror clean off. The police was called and the other driver spoke with the officer. They filled in a form and asked my mother to sign, but she couldn t understand it. However, she thought, judging from the plough driver s angry gestures, that his account was more than likely not what had happened. The police officer called in an interpreter, who read out the contents of the form in Spanish. The official statement stated that my mother had been driving recklessly and had crashed into the plough, thus making her responsible for the repair in addition to the fine for not giving way. My mother was furious; I m sure she said more than a few things that the interpreter didn t end up translating. This example was just one of the many instances in which public service interpreters helped us and many like us. Other ways interpreters can help immigrants include: making going to the hospital much less of an ordeal, helping innocent people avoid conviction or deportation. People who have not lived abroad may not realize just how hard it can be to be an immigrant if they don t speak the language enough to protect themselves, defend themselves, seek help from the authorities, or insist on their basic rights. Ever since, I ve kept those kindnesses in mind. I would like to help other immigrants who need the same help that was extended to my family many years ago. That s why I think of learning interpreting as giving back and paying it forward. By Iago Valin

4 You Can Only Improve Yourself Some people wonder, what are necessary characteristics for a good interpreter? A good command of their working languages? A friendly personality and a passion for working with people? Or perhaps, a readiness to travel in order to complete a mission? Others wonder how we re trained; if we were born with an innate ability that only needs to be polished or whether we re put through the same sort of process required to turn a chunk of iron into a sword. In the GPTI program, aside from the expected lessons on note-taking, shadowing, and paraphrasing, we are also trained to become good speakers. In our first year, we re expected to do presentations on various important social issues and common speech topics. Our peers and teachers will nitpick on our delivery, grammar and content. We have also organized a mock conference where we got a taste of how it feels like to work as an interpreter and also what it feels like to host and speak at a formal event. In addition to taking classes, we also spend a lot of time practicing with our classmates, or on our own. We practice finding the point in a speech, speaking more concisely, eliminating fillers such as uh and um, and training ourselves to speak clearly and in a measured fashion that keeps the audience s attention. With that list, it may have become apparent that the list of traits initially mentioned is insufficient for those who want to become a professional interpreter; these traits are merely the basics.what are some other characteristics seen in professional interpreters? First, a thirst for knowledge. A wise teacher once said that the best part of being an interpreter is the fact that you are paid to learn. We often have to learn information about a subject in order to translate well. Therefore, it is important that interpreters keep an open mind and maintain a healthy curiosity towards the world. Second, resilience. An interpreter will need strong mental fortitude to keep calm in stressful situations. I have often had to force myself to take a deep breath, push forward, and finish the sentence in class, even when my mind went blank and I felt as I were about to faint. To learn interpretation is also learning how to deal with stress and one day maybe even falling in love with it. Third, a strong resolve and will to persevere no matter the obstacle. The path of interpretation is not always glamorous or pleasant. In moments of despair when you feel like you have screwed up terribly and humiliated yourself, or when you feel as if you will never make it professionally, it is important to be able to give yourself a hug, tell yourself that everything will be fine, and then carry on. Lastly, it is important to believe in yourself. Keeping the faith that you will improve as long as you are willing to dedicate yourself is key to continuing down this path. By Cristina Chuang

5 By Claire Peng

6 Everything I needed to know 2017 月刊 / 第二十期 There s a saying: you learn everything you need to know in kindergarten: how to share, how to say please and thank you, how to learn, and how to make friends. There are variations on what exactly you learn in kindergarten, but that s basically it. Since I didn t go to kindergarten, it s a good thing I took up interpreting as I m fairly certain learning interpreting is almost as useful as going to kindergarten. Almost, because if we re being honest, learning how to make friends and share edges out a lot of other skills in terms of utility and importance. My first real encounter with the importance of language came in elementary school. That event started me on the path of learning more languages and attempting to refine the skills I already had. A very nice lady had shown up in our class and asked us if any of us had been spanked. Raised to be honest, I decided to put up my hand even though I was one of very few who did. This was a mistake, by the way. Then she asked if it happened a lot. I raised my hand again. Mistake number two, for those keeping count. Then she asked if it hurt and if I cried. I said yes. Strike number three. All I remember was that they took me to one of the offices after that and had me look at lots of black splotches on paper. Then they had me play some games and draw some pictures. Finally, they asked me how I felt about my mother. A safe distance away from puberty and the dangerous effects of rebellious curiosity, I told them clearly that I loved my mother and she was the bestest mommy in the whole wide world of all time. My parents told me later that my hyperbolic statement might have been the only thing that stopped the authorities from immediately removing me from the house. Even so, I was kept under careful attention for months afterwards, just to make sure I wasn t lying. I painted a lot of bucolic homesteads before they stopped the mandatory art sessions. Prior to that whole mess, I had been playing interpreter for my mother because my English was better than hers, but not being able to communicate well never seemed like a big deal.i couldn t understand why my mother would sometimes insist that I speak for her when she was capable of muddling through.

After the Incident, the threat of being removed from my home and family drove home the consequences of not being able to speak in defense of yourself.

Knowing the rules and background is imperative to effective communication. How something is phrased can mean the difference between success and failure. 2. Silence is not an option. 3.

7 After the Incident, the threat of being removed from my home and family drove home the consequences of not being able to speak in defense of yourself. Now, I m learning interpretation in a more formal setting rather than blundering around on my own, but the take home lessons are the same: 1. Context matters. Knowing the rules and background is imperative to effective communication. How something is phrased can mean the difference between success and failure. 2. Silence is not an option. 3. As a corollary to the above: sometimes it doesn t matter what the words are so long as you get the message across. The skills I learned doing interpretation are ones that are fairly applicable throughout life, much like the ones purportedly taught in kindergarten. However, I d like to think that eventually they will benefit others as well as myself. By Katje Cheng

8 By Joey Chao

action movie. I got the feeling that he was not at my home for a friendly visit. He was standing in the cold, rubbing his hands together waiting for

action movie. I got the feeling that he was not at my home for a friendly visit. He was standing in the cold, rubbing his hands together waiting for WHY ME? HAL AMES It was 8:00 am, and I was sitting at my desk doing the things I do in the morning. I read my messages in my e-mail, and I read the newspaper to see if there were any new interesting stories.

2017 月刊 / 第二十 期 本期主題 : 口筆譯之路 : 莫忘初衷, 永不放棄 編輯的話

2017 月刊 / 第二十期本期主題 : 口筆譯之路 : 莫忘初衷, 永不放棄編輯的話