As we got talking for this interview, Karen shared some of the story of how she got interested in languages and why she sees them as important for work and life.  Then we get down to the meaty advice about translator training options, the importance of networking, in-house versus freelance or agency work, the value of specialisation and the impact of computer aided translations….

GP: What’s your current translation role?

KR: I have been working from home as a freelance translator now for 10 years. About 99% of my work is through agencies, and perhaps two-thirds of them are based in Germany or Austria.  This is mainly because higher rates are more acceptable there, but I’m trying to change the balance slightly now, with Brexit approaching. My main working language is German, although I do occasionally work on small Russian projects. I tend to work on my own, but I have collaborated once or twice with other translators on larger projects (through an agency or agent). I’m currently participating in one of these with one other colleague to translate a German textbook.

With Karen (second from right) and other language enthusiasts at a London meetup

GP: Before you went into translation, what was your language background?

KR: My grandparents were a great inspiration.  My granddad spoke some German and Italian.  My nan spoke French and Spanish. They did some language study as school children.  There’s also a family legend the my grandad’s interest was sparked by some logbooks from a German U-Boot that his father is supposed to have helped capture.  Both grandparents really got to grips with languages in retirement, though. 

They used to travel to Europe each year on holiday. When I was 10, Granddad started teaching me some German. He would bring me back books from the Trödelmärkte (flea markets) that we would read together. In 1990, my grandparents went to explore the former German Democratic Republic (communist East Germany) and stayed in a Pension (B&B) run by a family who had a daughter two years older than me. Sandra and I became penfriends.  We’ve been friends ever since. I was even her Trauzeugin (wedding witness/bridesmaid).

I studied German and French at secondary school (aged 11 to 16).  By aged sixteen I had the language bug and I started teaching myself Russian. Aged 16 to 18 I studied German, Geography and Business Studies for the “A-Level” school leaving exams.  I also did a Russian “GSCE” (less advanced exam), as I’d started teaching myself the language.  There was a former Prisoner of War camp in my village.  I became acquainted with one of the daughters of the former Hungarian PoWs who’d stayed on and she started to teach me Hungarian.

After my A-Levels I had no idea what I wanted to do. All I knew is that I wanted to do was use my languages and learn more. So I went to Warwick University to study German.  As I knew I didn’t want to pull apart literature for several years, I did a combined German and Business degree. I’m very glad I chose this.  The business studies have been a major help in running my own business.

For the second half of my degree “year abroad” in Germany, I did a placement as an assistant in the marketing department of a company in Germany that made medical support devices such as stockings and prosthetic limbs.  The vocabulary that I picked up as a result certainly amused my friends. This period did the most for my German, as I also moved into a WG (shared flat) with four native speakers.

GP: What were your first steps after university?

KR: After university I still had no idea what I wanted to do, apart from use my languages. I tried various graduate schemes, but I’m not really the corporate type. So I went home and found a job at Lansing Linde.  This was former British forklift truck manufacturer that had been taken over by a German company eight years previously. I worked as a Bilingual PA for nearly two years and used my German there occasionally. 

My next job was a customer services administrator for a company that did backup solutions. I would log calls, order parts, arrange for engineers to go to site, etc.  Occasionally I’d have to translate service reports and emails.  Other times I had to help on phone calls as our engineers spoke no foreign languages and sometimes our German/Austrian/Swiss guys weren’t confident in their spoken English.

I travelled to Germany once to help liaise with the customer on a particularly tricky case. Another time I managed to go to Hungary for a week to help out when we moved our repair centre to the country.  Things had gone a bit pear-shaped. My Hungarian wasn’t fluent, but the fact that I knew some and could interact a bit was helpful when all the rest of the team were monolingual Brits and Americans.

I wouldn’t say I was particularly good at languages.  I think the main thing that has made the difference to me was the ability to see what the skill had given my grandparents, what it has given me (including my friend Sandra) and seeing that languages were a real thing and not just something in a textbook. 

I’ve also seen the power of language learning in understanding other cultures and healing rifts.

On the course of their travels, my granddad even made friends with a German who had been firing on him during the Second World War when he was working as an aircraft mechanic somewhere in Italy.  My nan was bombed out in the war and lost a lot of things.  She should have been quite resentful of Germany, but she loved the place and the people.

GP: What attracted you to train as a translator?

KR: A career as a translator was never actually presented to me as an option. However, I always enjoyed translation classes at university.  I enjoyed translating the commodity reports at Linde, and the other translation work in my second company. 

While at Linde, I came across the Chartered Institute of Linguists and started going to many of their events. They have four divisions: education, translating, interpreting, and business/government/professional.  If you’re not from the UK, be sure to check out equivalent bodies where you are.  In the USA, for example, there’s the American Translators’ Association.  There’s also an international body, the International Federation of Translators.  

I found out about the Chartered Institute of Lingists’ Diploma in Translation (DipTrans) and took a distance learning preparation course for it at London’s City University. 

At this point I had no specific plan to become a translator, but I thought the exam was interesting and would be useful whatever I decided to do. 

Unfortunately it took me the full five years to pass it, possibly because I hadn’t really had enough experience at that point. It is a notoriously tough exam. 

GP: Where did you train?  

KR: I did look into doing a post graduate “master’s” degree (MA), as my networking at CIoL events showed that this was a common option. However, I’d had enough of academia. I did not want to write about translation theory, I wanted to translate! I also thought at the time that the MA was a far more expensive option, although after the various resits of the DipTrans, it probably worked out about the same.

There are various resources available (depending of course on the langauge combination).  These include past papers, examiner reports and a handbook.  You can train for it alone but I found the City Uni distance course very helpful.  On that, you submit ten translations per trimester for review and discussion.

I actually never stop training. I learn new words and concepts every day at work. I’m always reading around my subjects in my source languages and in English, and taking webinars, going on training courses run by the ITI, CIoL, the Bunderverband der Dolmetscher und Übersetzer (the German equivalent) and courses and events in the industries I translate in.  

Given that I work at home, networking is also important.  Talking to others in the business is the equivalent of those “watercooler” moments in a corporate office, where you get top pick up tips and to let of steam.

Working with other translators is way to learn solutions to tricky language or business problems and can be an eye-opener to new techniques. 

I also do editing jobs for some agency clients.  This involves reviewing translations by other translators.  It’s another way to learn how to improve your own technique.  Rather than paying for training, you’re being paid! 

GP: Did the  qualification you took meet your expectations and what tips would you have for people chosing a course or a qualification?

KR: The Chartered Institute of Lingists’ Diploma in Translation does have a reputation for being difficult.  

In some ways it is unrealistic.  You are not allowed any internet connection at all.  Yet, in real life, I could not do my job without it. 

Still, I am planning on sitting the exam for Russian.  It’ll be a real personal challenge and source of motivation and focus for my private study.

One thing I have heard about MAs – from various sources – is that they often have too much focus on the theory, and not enough on the practical side of working as a freelance translator.  There often still seems to be very little in a typical MA on software, Computer Aided Translation (“CAT”) tools, translation memory, corpora software (text databases) or using machine translation and almost nothing on the practical business skills required.

However,  there are different shades of MA and I hear that these days they are taking these things into consideration more. There are plenty of ways these days to supplement the course to make good anything missing from your MA if you want to.

Definitely get involved in the translation community, as well. 

On proz.com there are various “powwows” (meetups) and translators are always happy to talk for hours about languages and translation (as you can tell!). 

Go to events run by the professional bodies and software companies, and check out groups on Facebook and the discussion forums on proz.

There are also many blogs out there offering tips, trick and insights.

GP: What about the decision to set up your own translation business?  

KR: I finally took the leap after eight years of working in non-translator roles offices. I’d been reading around the subject long enough, and now had enough commercial knowledge thanks to my previous jobs to go it alone with a career as a translator. 

However, like most people, I needed the push rather than taking the leap myself.

After a company takeover, my role changed and I really hated my job. Nothing else appealed, as by this point I was so jaded by the whole corporate thing. 

So I found a temporary contract for six months, editing reports at a marketing company (another useful experience), while I tried to set up and build up my business.

I went to various networking events for small businesses, and while no-one knows what a translator does, it was helpful for the support, encouragement and general business knowledge.

Mission control: Karen’s workspace

GP: Did it take long to get enough clients and do you still have to work hard at the business/marketing aspect?

KR: I had already been ‘on the scene’ for a while and had been networking quietly.  So,  when I mentioned to people what I was planning, I was given two or three referrals.  That gave me a foot in the door at a couple of agencies.

My previous positions were also a help, because I was able to say I’d worked in industries X, Y and Z using both English German.

I registered on proz.com. This has a bad reputation among some in the community as a bottom-feeder environment, and if you participate in the bidding, it can be (the jobs going to the lowest bidder or the first to respond). 

However, proz is a resource that even reputable agencies use to expand their database of translators, and a lot of my work has come from there.

As a full member of Chartered Institute of Linguists and Institute of Translation and Interpreting and I’m listed in their registers and potential clients can find me there.  

I may also be lucky in my combination of languages and specialist subjects (supply chain and logistics, sustainability and renewables, production and operations management, automation technology, building technologies).  There are fewer of us around for some combinations. 

I think French/Italian/Spanish translators can have a harder job…and not many people enjoy translating technical texts or manuals.

When starting out, it is good to be prepared to work over weekends and holiday periods, when more experienced translators are away. Agencies are always pushed at these periods and it is a chance to make your mark. 

However, don’t get into the trap of offering low rates because you are a beginner.  This has a bad effect on the industry in general, because it pushes everyone’s rates down.  It does you as an individual no good, either. It usually means you are taken on by the penny-pinchers who are not very enjoyable to work with. It is very difficult to up your rates over time (even for inflation sometimes), meaning you have to find new clients prepared to pay higher rates.  When you start out, your rate will work out at less per hour anyway because you inexperience means you spend more time researching and checking everything. There is no need to make this worse.

Don’t forget, though, that from the beginning you should be charging higher rates for urgent work which you have to do urgently in the evening or over the weekend.

GP: Are there any pitfalls you’d want to flag for new translators wanting to go in-house/work freelance/set up a business?  

KR: There are very few in-house translation departments today, so competition is fierce for jobs in them. 

Working as a project manager in an agency would be a beneficial experience, as it would give you an insight into that part fo the chain.  You could gain practical skills, such as software.  Many who leave to go on to work freelance then have a ready-made client right from the beginning. It also looks good on your CV to other translators.

Business sense is essential as is the willingness to spend on training (you have to get away from the mentality that all your earnings from your work are you actual “take home” income, they aren’t).

You need to have a good command not only of your source language(s), but your mother tongue (in the UK the general rule is you only translate out of (and not into) your foreign languages).

You also need and a good grasp of your subject areas. Specialisation is key. This can be based on previous experience, but also subjects you are interested in. 

There is a Facebook group called the Foodie Translators, for all those who love cooking and include menu and cookbook translations in their repertoire. There is another translator who comes to mind who is a qualified yoga teacher and specialises in health and fitness translations.

Working for direct clients is often promoted as the holy grail for translators. I do not subscribe to this. 

A good translation agency is worth its weight in gold. They’ve often already done the hardest part of marketing (educating the end client how often understands nothing about the translation process), and they deal with the desktop publishing side of things and can help you with technology issues.  They will also sometimes be able to pass the translation to another translator if you are on holiday or away for another reason.

GP: What do you most and least enjoy about your career choice and daily work?

KR: I most enjoy getting to use my languages every day, and the constant learning. 

As an introvert, I quite enjoy working from my home office, although I have recently explored a co-working space should I want more human company and to cover any internet connection issues.

I can find the lack of predictability of projects stressful sometimes, because no matter how hard I try, there will always be something that crops up, or someone who decides they don’t want a translation after all, or who delivers their part late.

GP: Do you think that new technologies threaten the future of the profession?  

CAT, in the shape of Amber, Karen’s assistant

KR: I don’t think it is the technologies that are the problem.  It’s the lack of understanding and the way in which they are applied that causes the issues.  Media hype leads the general public to believe that machine translation is the solution. It’s not, it is a tool.

Machine translation (Google Translate) and so on has its place.  But, despite all the advancements, it is still incapable of replacing a human translator.  Running a text through even the best machine translation software will still produce results that require checking and editing.  In fact, sometimes the best results can be the most deceiving, because the final text is good English (or whatever your target language is) but it might not actually say exactly what the source says!

Computer Assisted Translation tools are something different.  You don’t feed the text in in one language and get a translation out.  It’s more about automatic checking and retrieving examples from your past work as you do the translation.  When CAT tools first arrived, there was a panic about that, but now there are very few translators who don’t use them. The market has changed, but not necessarily for the worse. We need to change and adapt with the market.

GP: Where do you see yourself in five years’ time?

KR: Probably just where I am now but with better Russian and subject knowledge 

I’ve considered developing my business to become an agency, but I enjoy the translation too much to go back into a project management role.

–oo))–)))OOO-OOO(((–((oo–

Many thanks to Karen for sharing her story and for all the practical tips.  If you’re a translator and have things to add, let us know in the comments below.  If you’re thinking of translation as a career, your questions are welcome.

Look out for a second interview with Karen soon, this time about her experience as a Welsh learner who recently passed an advanced Welsh exam.

The post Advice for a career as a translator: a pro shares her story appeared first on How to get fluent, with Dr Popkins.

If you’ve recently started learning language and are appreciative of the sheer scale of the task ahead, it may seem like an unattainable goal.

If you’re already skilled in one or more foreign languages and thinking about a language career, you may be wondering whether you’re good enough to be an interpreter.

So how do you become an interpreter and what is a career as an interpreter really like?

I’d like to share what I’ve learnt from talks that I’ve attended on a career as an interpreter and the results of my own further investigations.

Some masters and their craft

At the Polyglot Conference in Novy Sad, Nataša Šofranac gave a talk entitled “Translation: techniques, options, risks, dangers” (about interpreting, not written translation).  At the Language Show in London I heard Helen Campbell, Director of the National Network for Interpreting, on “Conference interpreting: What future?”.   At the Polyglot Gathering,  Lýdia Machová spoke on the “Pleasures and pains of working as a conference interpreter”.

I first came across working interpreters when I lived in Wales, where some meetings, including full and committee sessions of the National Assembly and many local councils, are held in English and Welsh.  This is the domain of the conference- or simultaneous interpreter, who transmits to an audience equipped with headsets.

In consecutive interpreting, in contrast, the speaker has to pause regularly while the translation takes place.  Consecutive interpreting is also suited to more intimate settings, such as one-to-one meetings between political or business leaders or court proceedings (an aspect of “public service interpreting”).

Helen Campbell owns the room at the Language Show, London

Who’s it for? Introverts need not apply….

“Reflex, speed is the name of the game”,  said Nataša Šofranac.  The best alternative maybe on the tip of your tongue but you don’t have time to wait: take second best.  Lýdia Machová also stressed the need for educated guessing.

You sometimes have to settle for the best approximation.  A translator of the written word, in contrast, would be able to ponder and consult reference material.

As Helen Campbell said, translators sometimes stereotype the spoken word interpreter as someone who is extrovert and articulate, looking for variety; superficial and maybe a bit arrogant.  Interpreters return the compliment: translators are seen as lovers of routine, introvert, perfectionist.

Interpreters need stamina!  The job may require a lot of travel.  For consecutive interpreters, there can be late nights mediating the meandering fire-side chats of dignitaries.  The level of concentration required in the conference interpreter’s booth is such that colleagues work in twenty or thirty minute stints, followed by a break.  This could go on for eight or ten hours.

The job can be stressful.   No matter how well prepared you are, the unexpected tends to happen.

“You find you know at the end of a job what you needed to know at the beginning”, as Machová put it.

In the UN, meetings and topics can change at the last minute.  You may have been given a copy of the speech earlier, but people depart from them live.

There are consequences if you get it wrong in front of a large audience.

As Šofranac said, the quality of the simultaneous interpreter’s work can influence a VIP’s experience of the country.

Machová also emphasised the need for a good memory and an ability to concentrate a lot, with split attention.  I think that these skills can be improved with training, as can the good public speaking skills that you’ll need.

….but neither should prima donnas!

However important the work, it will be other people who get to enjoy the limelight.

As a conference interpreter you’re hidden in the booth.

Consecutive interpreters, in contrast, are very visible.  It can be important to look the part.   Men need to appear smart and sober while women, as Šofranac put it, often have a chance to “glam up”, to be seen (albeit in the background) on TV.

At times, it can seem that you only get noticed when you make mistakes.  In the words of Šofranac: “when nobody comments on your performance, all went well”.  This is starting to sound just like being a lawyer .

Perks of the job and occupational hazards

The interpreter’s job can offer fascinating glimpses of otherwise hidden worlds.

Yes, said Machová, the skills are widely admired and the career can also involve exciting travel.  She accompanied a small group to Maccu Piccu and got to meet a 90 year old shaman.

Machová showed us a picture of herself in action at a private meal for several heads of state and their wives.  What was discussed?  Machová remained a model of complete discretion.

After a hard day interpreting at a Tony Robbins event, the man himself came to the booth to thank Machová and the rest of the team.

On the other hand, Machová also warned of “parrot syndrome”.  That’s the frustration which some interpreters may come to feel at always translating the words of others and never being able to express an opinion of their own.

How to deal with it, if it strikes?  Find other ways to express yourself in other ways, outside work, Machová said.

When asked whether she’d have preferred to be one of the politicians, Campbell said yes, jokingly, but without hesitation.

Crisis, what crisis?  Lýdia Machová keeps her cool at the Polyglot Gathering.

You have to be very good in your target language…or languages

How good is very good?

Formal course entry requirements vary but they all require the highest levels of linguistic competence.

London Metropolitan University’s MA course in Conference Interpreting, which I first discovered from their stand at London’s Language Show, requires of applicants a “Near-native proficiency in their first foreign language….and/or a good command of their second foreign language….”.  The university holds its own periodic admissions proficiency tests.

In Paris, admission to the “Master professional Interprétation de Conférence” course at the École Supérieure d’Interprètes et Traducteurs (Sorbonne, Paris 3) requires a “mastery” in the relevant language(s).  They hold multiple choice pre-admission tests (épreuves d’ admissibilité) for the right to take an oral admissions test (épreuve d’admisisons).  You also have to have had at least 12 months consecutive residence in a country of your “B” language (and six months in a country of any “C” language is advised).

For the MA in Conference Interpreting at Heidelberg University’s Institut für Übersetzen und Dolmetschen you have to present written evidence of a “C2”-level qualification.   (That’s the highest level on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.)

The UN requires a “perfect command” of one its six official language of the United Nations (it will be your “main language” even if not your mother tongue). English, French, Russian or Spanish interpreters must also have “excellent oral comprehension” of two other official languages. Arabic or Chinese interpreters have to work bi-directionally and must also possess excellent command of English or French.

As the UN requirements suggest, writing in your languages is obviously less important, though – if you’re competent in the other language skills –  you’ll probably already be able to do this at a reasonably high level anyway (and will have to in order to meet the entrance requirements for some post-graduate courses).

Post graduate courses are not, then, focussed on improving your language….but that doesn’t mean you won’t need to keep getting better, during the course and throughout your career.

Šofranac stressed that, even from such a high admissions base, you have to work constantly on your vocab and language.  Campbell said that she often translates the radio or TV news while doing housework.  You’re going to be doing a lot of reading of a broad general nature and specialist preparation for particular jobs.

Something else to work on is your native tongue.   According to the European Union website (see link below), “Your most important language as an interpreter is your mother tongue.”  You need a rich and ready vocabulary.  You need to be able to speak clearly with what Campbell called “a good register”.

Given the range of topics that you’ll have to interpret, you need to be widely interested in the world around you and be up to speed with the news agenda, though the medium of all your working languages.  At political meetings the language is quite simple but the context, including history, is all-important.  (For me, as a former historian and current affairs junkie, so far, so good.)   Campbell also mentioned being up-to-speed with the latest football results.  (Hey-ho, that’s just killed my chances  .)

Wide prior and ongoing life experience obviously helps.  Older applicants may have an advantage here. (Erm, looks like I’m back in the race .)

Another big plus is knowledge of a specialist field in which work is to be found, such as medicine or law.  (Great! .)

Education or training?

“Are interpreters self-made or trained?” asked Šofranac.  “I know only a few,” said Machová, “who do it by intuition”.

That’s because it’s a special skill which is developed by practice.

Yes, there should be a theoretical underpinning, said Šofranac, but the key is experience.  It’s learning by doing.  The educational emphasis should be on training and coaching.

Campbell too advised that you should choose a course taught by experienced practitioners.  It’s only they who can draw on deep experience.

One of Machová’s tutors used to bring a drill to training sessions to provide some unexpected background distraction.  He thus simulated what had happened to him once when the handle fell off the booth door.  He had no choice but to keep on interpreting as workmen noisily repaired it.

Some theory….and as much practice as you can get.

Choosing a course

My first awareness of interpreting education came when I was working at the University of Heidelberg and met students on the course mentioned above.  Other university courses in Germany include the ones at the Fachhochschüle Köln (only German, English, French and Spanish) and at the University of Mainz.  Both of these institutions offer 2 year MAs.  Unlike Heidelberg, they are open to those with first degrees in other disciplines).

In France another well-known institution, besides the ESIT, is the Institut de management et de communication interculturels (“ISIT“).  In Switzerland the University of Geneva – well located for the UN – offers an MA in conference interpreting.

In England, besides London Met, other postgraduate possibilities include the  University of Westminster (also in London), the University of Leeds (which also offers Arabic, Chinese, Portuguese) and the University of Manchester.

In Canada, Campbell is involved with a course provided at Glendon College (a federated campus of York University, Toronto).  The first year of their two-year MA is taught entirely online.

In the United States there is the masters at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, where the languages include Russian, Korean and Japanese.  On the American pattern, the fees appear eye-watering but there are many scholarships available covering a large chunk of them.  The University of Maryland has a variety of courses with a good range of major languages.

If the language you are offering is not a world language, your first port of call will probably be a local institution, which may well offer the local language and one or more of world language.  Besides ESIT and ISIT in Paris, courses under the umbrella of the “European Masters in Conference Interpreting” consortium are offered at 9 further institutions (in 8 smaller European countries and Turkey).

In addition to major high education institutions, there are private providers who run full courses, such as the SDI Hochschule für Angewandte Sprachen in Munich (which is a social enterprise).  It is also possible to find shorter courses such as summer schools, perhaps more suited to existing, experienced language professionals.

When choosing an institution, you clearly need to make sure that your languages are offered (and the range of choices may vary from year to year, perhaps according to demand).   Be aware too that the institutions may restrict your choice from their list.  In Mainz or Heidelberg, I would not be able to choose Russian because it is only available to native German speakers.  ESIT offers a range of World languages, but you must include French and English in your combination.

Now for some jargon

Your mother tongue is referred to as your “A” language.  “B” languages are those in which you have an “active ability” (you work in both directions (“bi-directionally”) between a “B” languages and your “A”).  “C” languages are those where you have a “passive” ability (you only interpret out of them, into your A language).  The B and C languages can be combined in various ways on the different courses.  For example, one B language only, a B and one or more  Cs, two or three Cs.

At many institutions you will have several courses to choose from , with differing emphasis and coverage of simultaneous and consecutive interpreting or public service interpreting (sometimes with additional modules covering related areas of knowledge such as law or medicine).  Some courses combine interpreting with translation.  This seems initially attractive – offering variety and an employment “hedge” – but will you end up really good at neither?

The answer to that may depend in part on the length of the course.  Many courses are two years long.  There are also one-year masters and nine-month diplomas.  Everything I’ve heard suggests it takes two years of hard work (on top of your high linguistic starting point) to become a good junior interpreter.  Some of this work could take place after completion of a shorter course.  At London Met, for example, students are able to continue to use the facilities in the year following graduation while preparing for the EU or UN interpreting exams.

Trying to use a dictionary when interpreting? Next candidate, please…

The bottom line: earning potential

How do I start making money as an interpreter?  Šofranac’s answer to this vital question was that it’s what precedes the money-making stage that counts.  What pays is the years of practice, not the latest six hours of work.

Established interpreters are in demand for a range of work: conferences, smaller meetings, in travel and tourism, in the court and immigration services, in health services.

Campbell described conference interpreting as  “a real ivory tower”  because there are big potential employers offering permanent posts with generous packages.  If you are European Union citizen, work in EU institutions is a huge opportunity.  For a wider range of applicants, the United Nations is also a major employer.  In Wales, National Assembly has a translation and interpreting service as will other countries with more than one official or working language.

How do you get such jobs?  Campbell said that to work in EU you need a university degree and training in conference interpreting (usually postgraduate).   The EU also offers 5-month traineeships from two languages into mother tongue.  For a job or freelance work at the EU, you have to have passed their own accreditation exams.  The UN also runs its own entrance examinations.

Machová works as a freelance and this is common among interpreters.  When an agency calls about a potential up-coming job, they go through the details of what it will involve (and the price) together.  Earnings, said Machová, depend on the employer and on experience but a day’s work (six to eight hours) could bring in.  The EU website says that net earnings for a day’s work may be 400 euro.

Check out market rates in your own country and be aware of any changes afoot.  The government policy of outsourcing public service court interpreters to the highest bidding middleman, for example, has been a recent issue in the UK.

Your language combinations are also key in determining your prospects.  Campbell said that the UN are desperate for native English speakers to translate into Russian.  There will be a 30% turnover in next five years as people retire.

An ability to work in several languages can obviously increase your chances.  Campbell has English as her mother tongue and a passive knowledge of three languages foreign languages.  She described this as  “typical in the EU”.  Speakers of “small languages” may find they have to offer more combinations and work in both directions.

Breaking in to the freelance market can be difficult.  “You will be in demand once you get established but you need to be flexible and have to take the work that there is”, said Šofranac.  She  encourages her students to begin with youth events or other less high-stress events, such as educational conferences.  This helps build confidence.

In the same vein, Campbell mentioned a recent graduate from her online course had worked at a film festival.

While packaging is important for high-profile public meetings, Šofranac cautioned women: “you can only use your looks once.  If you blunder, that’s it”.

Šofranac’s  own lucky break was more muck than mascara: on the job at meetings of people in the seed breeding industry; an unglamorous field about which she initially knew nothing.  She was the able to get more work in the agricultural sector, ended up visiting dairy farmers and slaughterhouses.  Mmm. When you’re getting started it seems you really do have to take what comes.

Specialisation in one area is not enough and would be risky.  Better, Šofranac said, to aim to be an “omniscient ignorant”, just like a good journalist does.

Tricks of the trade

Bespoke preparation is important for each specific commission.  Once she has details of a job, Machová makes a glossary.  She goes beyond the materials that the client has provided to do an on-line search.  You will need specialist terms which you may not have come across in the mainstream media, for example a term like “surges of voltage” for an electrical engineering conference.  In comparison, as Šofranac said,  “president to president is easy, it’s all about peace and co-operation…..You can, up to a point, be less precise.”

The conference interpreter, explained Machová, lags behind the speaker a little.  Not only do you have to remember what’s just been said; you have to split your attention further: it’s normal to take in the speaker’s address through one headphone only, leaving the other ear uncovered to you monitor your own delivery.

“Interpretation” will be just that.  It won’t be  not be a literal, word-for-word translation, Šofranac said.  “Ad verbatim” often won’t capture the meaning.  There would not be time to do it anyway.

“In consecutive interpreting, you don’t translate, you retell.”

Stage fright can block the consecutive interpreter’s memory.  Šofranac always has a pen and notebook to hand.  “Write down the bones, remember the flesh”, she said.  Cross out notes when you’ve covered the point.    Don’t be afraid to stop the speakers when you need to.  Don’t let them talk for 45 minutes.  People like you to be friendly, like eye contact.  There are courses in how to take notes but you can develop your own symbols (upward arrow for grows, downward for declines, “gvt” for government and so on).  “With simultaneous – we often anticipate the end of the sentence”, she said.

In the booth colleagues communicate by passing notes.  Listeners would lose confidence if they could hear background whispering through their headphones, Šofranac said.

“When in doubt, leave it out”, Šofranac said.  With consecutive, you can ask the speaker to repeat.  If there are a list of five things say the three that you remember and add “and suchlike”.  The key is to round off the phrase.

Given the need to anticipate, differing word order in different languages can be a real challenge.

Question (posed rhetorically by Šofranac): when a German verb finally checks in at the end of a long and complex clause, what do you do if it’s in the negative and you’re anticipated a positive two sub-clauses ago?  Answer: round things off with “and this is not true”.

The convention is for the interpreter to speak in the first person.  You must to be faithful to the speaker, Šofranac stressed.   The speaker should never be mocked.  Strive to emulate the speaker’s tone in an expressive and convincing way.   Don’t decide for the speaker what he or she really meant.   That would be unethical and it would interrupt the flow to correct stylistic or structural mistakes in your translation.

Good packaging came up again: besides rounding off your phrases well, this includes minimising hesitancy and sounding confident.  All the same, said Machová. you should always correct any serious mistake in meaning that you yourself make.

What about if the speaker makes a mistake?  Machová recommended correcting any obvious slip of the tongue but don’t make any substantive correction or there will be a risk that your listeners get a different message from the rest of the audience.

What happens when a crisis strikes?  Machová listed several and how to deal with them:

• you don’t know a word (take whatever makes the most sense from the context and, if it fits, you can alliterate and switch if it becomes clearer);
• the speaker stops using the microphone (tell your audience and they will wave at the speaker and they’ll soon wave at you if transmission fails from your mike);
• someone in the audience corrects you (a humbling experience you just have to accept);
• the speaker tells a joke (some interpreters suggest prefacing your translation with “I’m going to tell you a story” or saying “the speaker is telling an untranslatable joke, please laugh now”, though Machová did not personally endorse this approach.  It may be more honest just to risk the joke falling flat in translation).

What’s the future?

Overall, Campbell was confident about future, even though the profession and technology will evolve. (She had recently worked at an event near London which was the first case when the booths were located in a tent outside the main venue.)

Somebody in the audience asked Campbell about the impact of the spread of English and the tendency to use more English in meetings and among politicians. ” It happens much more than when I started, but it’s stable”, she said.

My impression is that demand for top-class interpreters appears to be ever-growing as a result of globalisation and the communications revolution.  Another positive sign for applicants is that many interpreters belong to the baby-boom generation and are approaching retirement.  The shortage of qualified interpreters is mentioned several times in the UN/EU video below.  If the interpreting profession is able to ride the wave of new technology – the rapid development of web-based conferences and “remote interpreting” – there should always be demand for highly skilled practitioners.

We’ve seen that getting to lift-off is not easy in this demanding profession.  We’ve also seen some of its many rewards.  If it appeals to you, now might be a very good time to start.

What goes in isn’t what comes out.  Interpreting may seem like magic but, as so often, once a craft is demystified, we have grounds for a truer appreciation.

You find that it isn’t magic after all.

You end up being more impressed than ever.

– – o – – O – – o – –

Further discussion and finding out more

Writing this piece has helped me to get my own impressions clear.  I hope it will help you the same way.

Are you training as an interpreter or already experienced?  If so, do you have corrections or things to add?  Are you thinking of entering the profession?  Please do contribute to discussion in the comments section below.

I have striven for accuracy in quoting the speakers from my notes and in checking course details but entrance requirements and procedures change and you should check the latest information from the relevant course providers and employers.

If you’ve read this far, you clearly have the application and the stamina to make it in as an interpreter  and if you do want to find out more, here are some good places to look:

The EU Directorate General for Interpretation (“SCIC”) has a lot of general info on the profession and specific detail about how to become an EU interpreter.  Start here

UN has a language careers page here.

To get a sense of post-graduation course entry standards, try the useful English and French clips on the ISIT site.  There are also specimen audio clips in French, English and Russian on the ESIT site here.

The International Association of Conference Interpreters website has a lot of general and careers information.

Another good source of information are the trade associations, such as Interpret America.  IA’s blog has wide discussion, not least around the effect of new technologies.

Machová recommended two books: Roderick Jones “Conference Interpreting Explained” (1998) and Andrew Gillie “Conference Interpreting: A Student’s Practice Book” (2013), pictured above.

This informative nine-minute joint UN-EU “Interpreting in a globalised world” has many quotable comments by movers and shakers in both institutions and stresses the shortage of suitably skilled staff.

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Anyone expecting the spectacular cast-iron vaults of the exhibition centre’s original “Grand Hall” (1886) overhead would have been disappointed.  Our gig was in a building dating from 1929, its art deco exterior fully equal to its original name: the “Empire Hall”.  Nowadays it is inoffensively known as “Olympia Central”, which fits its bland but very functional interior equally well.   The core of the Show was in the large hall on Level Two, which housed over two hundred stands and also several open spaces with chairs for talks and demos.  There were also a couple of café areas (always a welcome bleep on my radar).  On Level Three, we had four seminar rooms and three language classrooms.  I had only intended to visit on Saturday afternoon but I somehow found myself returning for most of Sunday.

The range of attendees included current university language students and recent graduates, no doubt keen to find out about job opportunities in the field. Other types much in evidence were teachers of English as a foreign language and those in the foreign language “industry” (such as educational policy makers and administrators, creators of learning materials, including publishers, those running language schools and journalists).  I guess that the biggest single group were teachers of modern languages in the official school system (pupils from infant age through to 18).  From September 2014, the study of at least one modern foreign language because compulsory in English schools for four- to five-year-olds and above.  Both the seminar programme, and many of the resources displayed on the stands reflected this (for England) radical development.

I had to beat a hasty retreat from a talk aimed at school teachers called “How can your teaching be consistently GOOD or OUTSTANDING”.  I realised as the speaker kicked off that the focus would inevitably be as much on “good” or “outstanding” as such but as categories of the external assessment required of teachers by the national educational inspectorate.  No doubt the talk was really helpful for jobbing school teachers, but I’m not one.  I don’t have to play the system.  I don’t give a flying board rubber about Ofsted (don’t bother looking it up).  I left with a shudder, reminded of the sheer awfulness of English education politics, all pseudo-business models and jargon-ridden discourse.  That said, the programme of seventeen “Teachers’ Seminars” looked interesting.  The sessions put on in the “Language Technology Zone” were also often relevant to school teachers.  They must have also have got a general shot in the arm from the energy and enthusiasm of the whole event, the chance to share practice and look at new materials.  One huge motivational boost – for me at least – came in the form of Eowyn Crisfield’s wonderful talk on “How languages can change your world”.

The programme of “Professionals’ Seminars” were mainly about non-teaching jobs using languages.   I attended Dr Daniel Tomozeiu‘s talk on”Professionalisation of the translation profession”.  It felt a bit too much of an “infomercial” for the courses he is involved with at the University of Westminster (including preparation for the Diploma in Translation exams set by the Chartered Institute of Linguists).  He did make some interesting points: the field is undergoing professionalisation; the Diploma – presented as an important part of this process – is a tough exam, with only a thirty to thirty-five percent pass rate; while the employment context is “challenging” for translators, in the wake of the banking crisis, financial institutions, at least, are hiring more translators.   Helen Campbell delivered her talk “Conference interpreting: what future?” with panache to a packed hall.  It was full of useful information and some amusing anecdotes.    It was the second good talk I’ve heard recently on interpreting as a career and I will come back to the subject in separate post.  I was frustrated to miss another talk on this theme, “So you think you know what an interpreter is?” by Danielle D’Hayer, as I recently met on her home turf at London Metropolitan University.  That is the other London HE institution, besides University of Westminster, which offers translation and interpreting courses.  Both universities had stands at the Show.

Other interesting-sounding seminars which I missed included a translation and interpreting leaders’ panel discussions, a session with the title “Future-proofing the profession: equipping the next generation of translators”, a talk on “A day in the life of a translator” and one on “Project management in the translation industry”.  The Chartered Institute of Linguists had a stand, as did the Institute of Translation and Interpreting, and the EU Directorate General for Translation.

There was also a “Careers Forum” with dedicated floor space, with some particularly useful-sounding events such as a session on “CVs that get results” repeated several times during the three days.

A seminar underway in the Careers Forum

Another focus of the Show was teaching English as a foreign language (“TEFL”).  There were twenty-four dedicated seminars, of which I regrettably only caught one, Marc Lowental‘s on”Using etymology to teach English vocabulary”.  Did you know that many Latin words have come into English twice via different routes such as carrus (car, wagon) as cattle (via northern French) and charge (via standard French)?  Testicle comes from Latin “testiculus”, that’s to say the “little witness” to, erm….let us say, a man’s virility.  I challenge you to forget that in a hurry.

Very little in the seminar programme was aimed specifically at those of us who teach adults languages other than English.  Neither were there dedicated talks aimed at adult language learners.  Still, keen learners could have tried the half-hour language taster classes in ten languages and “intensive” three-hour language classes in six languages (including English).   There were also many stands from providers of language courses to adults.  There was something of a London focus, with the institutions present including the  Institut Français, the Instituto Camões, the Instituto Cervantes, the Goethe-Institut, the Language Centre of  London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies and the admirable City Lit (an adult education centre in London which offers a huge range of courses across many different disciplines, including languages).

It was no surprise that the main school languages were most in evidence.  The Spanish market appeared to be the biggest.  Besides the Cervantes stand there was a separate Spanish Embassy stand (I felt like going up and asking – with a wink – for a leaflet on Catalan).  There were a number of commercial operations offering Spanish classes in sunny, tempting locations (complete with pictures of the beautiful young people, though I’m not sure whether they come as part of the package).  The Chinese stand was the largest of all.  There was a stand promoting Greek, several with an Arabic flavour and a number of Russian representatives (gathered on one stand).  The taster classes included Swahili and Persian.  For once, the Welsh were sufficiently together that a taster class in that language was included.  It was also great to see some Welsh school children competing with a small performance in French as part of the UK government’s “Routes into Languages” initiative.  The British Council were as clueless as ever when I asked for information about learning Welsh.  Could we please rename them the English Council?  Unlike last year, the EU stand did not have material in Welsh and Scottish Gaelic, despite their status as co-offical languages.

Egyptian Cultural Centre & Educational Bureau stand

Compared with the Welsh, the Basques generally do seem to display more of what we will diplomatically call those “little witnesses”.  It helps that three of the seven Basque provinces have a government that is serious about their language.  It is with resigned disappointment,that I report that there was no official Welsh stand at the Show.  In contrast, it was a delight to stumble on the Extepare Basque Institute stand (funded by said Basque government).  There were some familiar faces there from the London Basque Society and various booklets about Basque language and culture were on offer.    There were two Basque-themed sessions on “the Piazza”.  One, on Kirmen Uribe’s poetry and prose fiction, I missed.  The other, which I caught, was a lecture by Dr Gorka Mercero, University of Liverpool.   His sophisticated analysis, including filmed interviews from the Basque Country, was on “Basque language: normalisation, anxieties and the need for post identity” and raised issues to which I will return.

A crazed language nutter, flanked by two Etxepare (Basque Institute) staff, is escorted off their stand…

Going round all the stands was a pleasure.  It was interesting to see that the British Army Reserves – Intelligence and Education were there.  They no doubt concentrate on what works, with no frills, and it would be interesting to know more about how they teach languages.  Among others, it was good to meet the people at Flashsticks and also to talk briefly to the owner of Proverbium Limited, a company he has set up in his retirement to produce materials focussed on Europe’s rich tradition of proverbs and sayings.

Big publishers such as Routledge and Collins had stands.  Smaller publishers were also represented.  I jotted down some new titles for future reference, the beauties pictured below included.

A French textbook looks down on us with suitable contempt

The last talk I attended, on the Sunday afternoon, was Adrian Pilbeam‘s “The intercultural dimension in business language training”.  I offer a course internally on cross-cultural training at the international law firm where I work, and it was good to compare notes and to see that Adrian and I are certainly singing from the same hymn sheet.  There was lively discussion as he repeatedly broke the multi-national audience into “buzz groups”.

On Saturday evening, I joined Lindsay Dow at the Association for Language Learning quiz at a pub called The Hand and Flower, just over the road from Olympia.  I suppose the question “Who was the founder of Esperanto?” could just about find its way into the general knowledge round down at the old Dog and Duck.  I wonder, though, how many pub quizzes in England have featured a list of twenty-four languages; the task: sort them into three columns: Romance, Slavic, Germanic…..?  Given the sophisticated crowd at the event, we did very well to come third (and within a couple of points of the winners).  Thanks there are also due to the two other distinctive “voices” from the language blogging world with whom we formed a team, J and Kerstin Hammes.  It was great to meet them both for the first time.  The informal off piste contacts you make and ideas you exchange at events such as Language Show Live are always as valuable as the formal activities.

Olympia hosts the next Language Show Live 2015 on 16 – 18 October 2015.  If you’re thinking of visiting, I hope my account has given you a flavour of what’s on offer.  Of course, I picked my personal path through.  Were you there?  What was your experience?  Let me know in the comments section below.

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