Dream: conference

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We are sitting in some low dark green chairs and it seems that if you see deeper down the audience does not see you. Wrong. Some people talk smartly and generally it is something about health affecting studies.

After some time inside the room comes a woman in fashionable clothes and styled haircut. Surprisingly, she is Latvian and covers her nature over a big smile. She says that now is the time to let our translators (interestingly that she herself made a mistake calling us not interpreters). The woman said that we will need to do it consequently. I thought that it will mean that we will help each other and complement each other so that there would not be some awkward silence. That is how it is done even interpreting contests in television when even two people can do very well. Interesting example was translating live some song contest. A woman was really strong in her job, but the man beside her was saying only couple of sentences and usually the ones which were more informal and closer to daily talking. He was not afraid to halt, but the woman was really professional. It was seen that she was in her right place. Nevertheless, back to the conference that was too formal to me. Others understood that only one will talk, but we all prepared to take notes just in case. There were a lot of papers on my desk and I did not even understand why I have so many. The problem was that already both sides were fully written and I found only one page side clean and a bit from other one. I usually do not ask people for something and also this time and did not. Some other woman introduced to the technique, but the young woman beside me kept silently asking to which camera we should look. I did not care about that as I knew that I will be looking at the screen anyways.

Source: excelentinterpreting.com
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The walking started and we started to make notes. After they started the recording, some men come in so we were already five interpreters. It seemed much safer. However, the situation was not for long. The fancy woman stated that somebody will need now to translate subtitles and of course it was me. People turned their eyes on me and the stress level rose almost to the maximum. There were some representatives from my school to which I tried to show the best and also they think positively about me. Now was the time it was going down. It made me so sick, because it was not the place I wanted to be. The screen started to show ‘‘Dolby Digital’’. Therefore, I thought that at least the quality will be good enough to read the subtitles. Also that was wrong. First shock was that the subtitles were already in Latvian. I did not know what to do. All the interpreters also looked at me and shrug their shoulders. The girl stood beside me and said that I should do it anyways. Problem was that there was some light coming on the screen so that it was hard to read the subtitles. I missed some words and they were talking too speedy even for just reading the subtitles. I had correct dioptres in my glasses and therefore it was even more confusing and awkward to me. My voice was not clear as I did not feel strong about what I was saying or reading. I heard a woman saying ‘‘I was ill for decades’’. Somehow I automatically translated it as ‘‘Es biju slima gadiem.’’ (I was ill already for years). More correctly it would be ‘‘Es biju slima desmitus gadu’’ (I was ill for at least ten years) as even in a primary school you know what is a decade, but that fancy woman stopped the material and asked me if I know what is a decade and that it should be translated as ‘‘Es biju nedēļu slima’’ (I was ill for a week). Of course it sounds at first more rational, but there was a talk about some serious illness. More surprised I was that she did not say about my skipped words and probably also incorrect word endings. What she was saying I was 100% sure that she was wrong. Then out of my moth come the clearest sentence probably I said there ‘‘Es atvainojos, kundze, dekāde ir laika periods, kas ilgst desmit gadus.’’ (I’m sorry, but decade is a time period of ten years, madam). The woman said that she will look it up and somehow I felt like everyone thought that I was wrong. Naturally – what am I comparing to her.

People make mistakes, even the ones who have an extensive experience. Extensively important is to be able to control your stress. If you are worrying about making mistakes, it is particularly true that you will make them. Some people are good of not showing that outside, but inside they are almost dying from it. Even in pretty light themes like health influence on studies you can make a total fool of yourself. It is a place where all your theoretical knowledge becomes valid as there simply is not enough time for thinking how it would sound more formal and still understandable. The ability to translate the idea not every sentence is more important as then you will make less mistakes, but for a translator who is used to do as loser to the text as possible, it will always be a natural response. I believe that a person who can be really good in translating and interpreting has got a real talent that can not be thought no matter how hard you work on it.