The transition from the classroom to a real conference setting, surrounded by experienced colleagues, is seldom easy. In any competitive profession, the newcomer may be regarded with a certain amount of suspicion. In turn, he or she may be intimidated working with the great figures of the profession and in turn overcompensate with brash behavior. To help new interpreters get off on the right foot, we are listing below a few DO’s and DON’Ts.
DO be at the meeting well before it is scheduled to start——at a very minimum, fifteen minutes before the time specified in your contract. If you do not know the building well, give yourself extra time to get lost.
Do find out where the nearest restroom is before the meeting starts.
Do introduce yourself to the team leader and indicate your language combinations. Also introduce yourself to the other interpreters and to the technician, as well as to any assistant in charge of the documents.
DON’T volunteer to interpret from all languages you can say “good day” in——just your working languages. DON’T let anyone persuade or browbeat you into working from or into a language that is “practically the same as…” (fill in a language you have).
DON’T pull in with your entire collection of dictionaries.
DON’T go around shaking hands with every delegate in sight. You are there to interpret, not to play the ambassador of good will.
DO come prepared. Presumably you will have received some documents beforehand. Pay attention to names and titles. Some meetings have a “chair”, some have a “president”.
DO have a list of pertinent terminology, culled from documents you have received, from previous meetings, from the Internet, etc.
DON’T fight over who sits where. Some people have strong preferences——the right side of the booth, near the door, or whatever. This may be simply a matter of habit, or handedness, or making one’s territory. Avoid getting set in your ways yourself and let those who have got their way.
DO make sure that you have a glass of water in the booth. Avoid ice, since it clinks terribly over the microphone. Voice coaches stress that frequent sips of water are good for your voice, while frequent throat clearings or coughs should be avoided.
DON’T engage in enthusiastic greetings or exchanges of news behind the booths or in coffee bar. The noise can be disturbing and you may miss the beginning of your meeting.
DO determine in good time who will start. The sound of the chairperson’s gavel signaling the beginning of the meeting is not the time to do an “after you, cher Gaston” enactment. Normally, the senior interpreter will start. Two beginners should not share a booth.
DON’T take seemingly simple things for granted.
DO have a note pad and pencil handy to jot down figures, names, and interesting expressions. Your colleagues may find your jottings helpful, too, but not if they are illegible.
DON’T work until you are out of breath and your boothmate has to take over in the middle of a sentence. Turn-taking should be so smooth that the audience hardly notices it.
DO stay in the booth as much as possible the first day. Although you and your boothmate will probably take turns every half-hour or, if 20 to 30 minutes papers are read, will read alternate speeches, you want to get a feeling for the direction the meeting is taking by following the proceedings for most of the day. You can also learn a great deal from listening to your colleague [or from colleagues in the other booths-LV], especially if that colleague has worked for the same organization before.
By Margaret Bowen et al.
(The Jerome Quarterly, Vol. 12, Issue 3,p.11)
