Episode 60 Episode - Sarah: Hi, welcome back to the Troublesome Terps, the podcast about things that keep interpreters up at night. Today, we are not our usual fun foursome, but just the dynamic duo. Here with me in our virtual studio is my favorite podcast colleague, Alexander Gansmeier. Gansmeier. I can say that today because it's just the two of us. Episode - Alex G: That is very true. That is very true, only the two of us here, nobody else. Yeah. It's a pleasure to have you here, Sarah. Sarah Hickey, my other fabulous and favorite fun co-host of the Troublesome Terps. We're here today to take you on a journey around the world since nobody can really go anywhere. We figured we'd try via podcast. Episode - Sarah: It's a good time to connect, since none of us can connect in person, so we figured this is a good time to reach out to the interpreting community. And actually, we are not going to bother you too much with our ramblings today. But we're going to hand over the mic to you, our listeners. Episode - Alex G: And you know how how rare that is, if interpreters voluntarily give the mic to someone else. So it's a special episode. Episode - Sarah: Yeah, exactly, so let's jump right in. We got a lot of contributions from you out there and it's time for you to introduce yourselves. Episode - Guests: Dear Troublesome Terps, my name, Italian, Qadim, Arabic, English interpreter, I live in Pretoria, South Africa. My name is Jesse Tomlinson. I live in Canada and Mexico and I'm an interpreter and literary translator. Syntel, it means hello in Vietnamese. My name is Jesse Joaquin. I'm an English Vietnamese interpreter and translator. Bougere set up Blazier Double Uncomplicate. Nice to meet you, Vlada Troublesome Terps podcast. My name is Andrea Housemen Miller and I live and work in the Bay Area in California. My name is Beatrice Manigat and I live and work in Accra, the capital of Ghana. My name is Andrew the Heat, I live and work in Tokyo. Hello, everyone, my name is Hedwig, I live in Lima and work as a freelancer, interpreter and translator. Hello, my name is Elizabeth Deisel, I live in Cape Town, South Africa. Is there is there is the Egyptian way of saying, how are you underwater, wish I come from Egypt, as you can see, and I'm the granddaughter of the pharaohs. Hi, my name is Michelle Ahola, I'm a freelance German English conference interpreter and translator from the southwest of Germany, from Karlsruhe, to be precise. Hi, both Alexis and the rest of the gang. My name is Ah, so I live in Istanbul, Turkey, and currently work as a staff interpreter in a financial services institution in the private market. I'm also a board member at our National Association. Ticketed. Episode - Alex G: Right, it's a pleasure to have you all joining us on this podcast, dear colleagues, dear listeners, again, thank you very much for all your contributions. And with the introductions out of the way, you can really see they were basically taking you on a trip around the world in 60 minutes, 60. Yes, 60 Minutes, let's say 60 Minutes. That works. And I think what everybody's really curious about, of course, since we're covering so many different countries, is what the actual interpreting market is like in the different countries. Because I don't know about you, Sarah, but I don't know. I know a lot of different markets a little bit. You probably know a lot more due to your your research work at Nimdzi. But I still think it's always really valuable and interesting to get some insight from from on the ground. Episode - Sarah: Absolutely. Yeah, I, I look into a lot of interpreting markets for for Nimdzi, like you already said, but first of all, there there's always more to learn. And I agree. It's the most interesting is what it's like for the interpreters on the ground. So, yeah, let's let's hear what our listeners have to say. Episode - Guests: I mostly interpret for government institutions and for small businesses and NGOs are interpreting work is 99 percent for the private market. There has never been a lot of work for interpreters, for German interpreters in northern California and most of us who actually do work in California and up working in the area around Los Angeles and from time to time Silicon Valley. But mostly we work all over the country in the US. The assignments here in NorCal mostly involve big Silicon Valley companies such as Apple, Google, Cisco Systems, Oracle, etc. for their large events. And personally, I have been working for the Olympic Games since the Summer Games in Atlanta in 1996 when I work here in the Bay Area. I work a lot for the Bundestag when delegates come over to meet with their American counterparts. And a lot of my work is depositions for lawyers here in the Bay Area. We mostly work with agencies. My private clients have been small business owners or German speaking visitors with legal problems who find me in some directory. So the markets are interpreting in our country is mostly in quotes where they employ court interpreters and then we have interpreters working at the legislatures in each different province, as well as interpreters working in parliament. We are permanently employed and we are a group of 55 interpreters where we are five interpreters per language. I live in a charming city, a big urban city that's growing rapidly, and right now I'm working remotely for clients in both Vietnam and around the world. I mostly interpret for the following topics marketing, medical, business, economics and sports. I worked in the marketing industry for more than five years before entering the interpreting and translation world. Episode - Guests: So those experiences have helped me a lot. Transcreation. They mostly interpret from vanish and crawl into English and into French. I am also a graduate assistant at the University of Ghana. I enjoy teaching because I've been teaching most of my life. But I am a very, very young interpreter because I graduated very recently. So as far as the situation here in Africa, well, there are a lot of there's a lot of confidence interpreting and a lot of freelancers as well. There are many institutions because you can have continental or regional institutions for the 50 countries in Africa. And then there are also headquarters of international organizations. In Tokyo, I live now in Roppongi, which is very central, I mostly interpret in my specializations, which are medical and pharmaceutical, as I studied biomedical engineering at university and legal as I work for law firms working on corporate litigation, covering both securities litigation and patent infringement litigation. I also work in I.T. on IT. Conferences because of my engineering background makes it easy and most of the time now interpreting in Japan most interpreters and by most I mean maybe 95 percent or even higher work for agencies. Big employers are the following companies, and I define big employers as companies with a stable of five to 10 in-house translators, interpreters and German and USB-C, for example, have a staff interpreter who was assigned to their ambassador. Other embassies in Tokyo, like the embassy of Sweden, Spain, Mexico, Canada, UAE and so on, do not have a staff interpreter. Instead, a cultural attaché usually covers most of their interpreting needs, immediate interpreting needs. Episode - Guests: And if they if it can't be covered, then they use an agency. Of course, when they have large audits. If a drug company has large audits, they hire many, sometimes even like 20 interpreters for a stretch of several weeks. In terms of the Egyptian market for interpretation, it's a huge market. It's sort of a hub of conferences and interpretation in the Arab region. It's very busy and full of conferences every single day. It is the largest number of interpreters and not only Arabic interpreters, but they do English, both French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, you name it. Chinese. Ten years ago we started have agencies. Before that, all the recruitment was through interpreters. But those agencies are mainly equipment companies and they started subcontracting with hotels. And because most of the conferences, of course, are in hotels in Egypt, five star hotels mainly. So they started doing business this way and recruiting interpreters through one interpreter. Again, he'd go to an interpreter and she does or he does the recruitment. But the other systems still exist. Interpreters have their own clients. Organizations have their own lists. So it's a mix of everything. You have direct lines, you have institutions, you have agencies. This is the nature of Egypt and everything is that you have everything. The Foreign Ministry, it has a it has a huge conference department and it's responsible for the important and big conferences. It has been the case for years and it is years of ministerial decrees with the rates of interpreters working for their conferences. So this is the basis of the interpretation fees in Egypt, which is the local rate. Episode - Sarah: Ok, so that was a fascinating trip around the world, super interesting to hear how different the different interpreting markets can be, because I don't know about you, but often, you know, we we tend to have this tunnel vision. We know our local market and maybe one other market. And we think that that is just the way the interpreting world is run. But it can be so, so different from country to country. And there's so many things we overlook. So this was I'm just so glad that we got all these contributions from you guys to really open up our view on the whole world of interpreting. Then another topic that we wanted to address in this episode, as we already mentioned in the introduction, is the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. It's a topic that I think everyone is kind of sick of talking about at this stage. But at the same time, it's also something that is still having an impact on everyone and everything, our daily lives, and especially as interpreters, our work lives because I can tell from my research at Nimdzi also the interpreting market was probably the most affected market for language services in general. A lot of onsite interpreting went basically away. At the same time, we've seen a boom for remote interpreting. And what that meant for the interpreters around the world was just a huge roller coaster of Episode - Alex G: Yeah. Episode - Sarah: Emotions. I wanted to say about all of this in terms of work, right. And went up and down and there was so many changes and new challenges to tackle. So, yeah, we just wanted to see how, again, this was experienced by you, our listeners across the world in the different countries and in the different interpreting markets. Episode - Alex G: Yeah, and I think it's interesting because, you know, as different as the markets were, the thing about Korona is that everybody kind of faced the same music, if you will, to use a really bad metaphor in that case. But everybody had to deal with the pandemic in sort of the same way and a lot of the effects on the market and how Interpreters' Help with it were the same. But it's not always as bad. And I think it also comes out from the recordings that there are some upsides to the situation at the moment, not very many, but, you know, since we're still in the thick of it, you have to look at the silver lining. And I think that comes out nicely in the contributions. Episode - Sarah: Absolutely, and we always like to say, never waste a good crisis, there's Episode - Alex G: That's Episode - Sarah: Always Episode - Alex G: Very true. Episode - Sarah: An upside as well that can come out of it, this innovation that comes out of it, it's something we we do as humans, right. If there's a new necessity, a crisis, and it spikes innovation and like you said, it brings us closer together. Also, we're all in this Episode - Alex G: The. Episode - Sarah: Together. Yeah. So we might as well make the most of it. Episode - Alex G: Absolutely. Episode - Sarah: Yeah. Episode - Alex G: Yeah. Episode - Sarah: So, uh, yeah. Let's see. Episode - Guests: I have two kids and I'm a single mom, so traveling was was very difficult, but I was managing to get out every now and then to an event, maybe one every two or three months. And so I was working only in Guadalajara and with covid, I was very excited to be to be able to get into remote interpreting and to jump right on that end. And that opened up many other markets for me in Mexico and beyond. So it's I know that it's been very hard for for everyone, but covid did significantly change my market in that way. The pandemic hit us hard, many interpreters have changed paths, but some of us have managed to survive by working remotely. I guess this will continue in the near future. Our country is starting to have some hope thanks to the arrival of the first vaccines. It is an election year and also the bicentenary of our independence. So we have some interesting events coming up. covid-19 pandemic outbreak has definitely affected my work, especially in the first three to four months of the outbreak. However, human spirit and endeavors to innovate and continuously adapt to the realities of life and respond to crisis has prevailed. I personally, from the beginning of the lockdown towards the end of March 2020, has adopted a positive view by looking to lock down as it iPad religious and that untraveled as good opportunity to spend more quality time with my family, relax, adapt and learn new things. Last year, because of the pandemic, I was forced to work at home and thus had more time to dig deeper, to get certified after a few months of hardcore training. Episode - Guests: I literally ate and slept with medical interpreting training. I was able to become double board certified medical interpreters. And I also became the first US certified medical interpreter in Vietnam. Well, covid has put an end to large events, especially the ones I mentioned before, for Google, Apple, etc, and many of them in the last year were either not held at all or are as I was used. But we have noticed that clients will go with the cheapest provider, not necessarily with their trusted provider. It's it's did nothing in Egypt interpellation business, there's nothing it used to be very heavy, of course. In the beginning, everything got canceled and postponed. Then slowly, clients started to adjust and switch to remote settings, though not as much as I had hoped. Especially my clients from the public sector are extremely hesitant about that. Then the courts reopened again. And from August to, yes, December 2020, I could actually do quite a lot of onsite work again, of course, with social distancing, mass and so on. I also teamed up with a colleague of mine on a joint website to market our services in the field of cultural heritage. And I started my own interpreting podcast. But that's a different story, I guess. Besides the obvious, that is meetings are now 99 percent, remote meetings are also now significantly shorter. So I am seeing as a pattern and I'm talking only about Japan, people are to remain competitive. And of course, the survived. Many interpreters now have set a rate for one to two hour meetings, perhaps under pressure, whereas in Japan before Korona, there was only half and full day rates. Episode - Guests: And I have seen almost no meetings run for a full day since Korona. In our market in Turkey, I believe interpreters have adapted very quickly to the recent developments in the sense that they were quick to create their home set ups, get on board with ISI and they were quick, especially compared to event organizers and most companies. The National Association has also been very proactive in that. They published ISI Guidances in local language in Turkish, both for interpreters and for employers. So from my point of view as an interpreter in parliament, we were all moved to home and we moved onto the platform of Zoome where we offer interpreting. But at some of the problems we had initially is when Zoome only had a limited amount of languages available and we could not provide interpreting into all 11 official languages. However, I think on Zoom, these settings have changed and it's able to cover more languages at this stage. But that was some of the challenges that we faced. Also, for most of the interpreters who have never before done any remote interpreting, this was a big challenge because all of a sudden you had to be the technician as well as the interpreter. What's new is that now we have more time to explore new tools for team work and project management, financially speaking, the pandemic has affected my income a lot during the first six months of 2020, but I gradually picked up the pace afterwards. Episode - Alex G: Right, so now that Caronna is over, at least the Corona's segment in this podcast episode, you know, hopeful thinking, wishful thinking, I should say, rather, I think it's time to kind of delve into the idiosyncrasies of all the contributions and the the positives, because there was a lot of really nice stuff that you guys sent in. And, you know, some of it was very inspiring or very hopeful or very positive. And of course, we would not want to end this episode on the curb on a downer. And that's why I think it's also important to look at the hope coming out of, I think, pretty much every single contribution that we received. I think nobody was really all gloom and doom. And, you know, they looked at the bright side of the current situation of the potential future that we could have. And I think or we thought that it was important to share that with you, of course, as well. Yeah. And Episode - Sarah: It's. Episode - Alex G: Even I'm not all just doom and gloom. I think we have a future. Episode - Sarah: Yes, super inspiring that among all of this, all these challenges that we mentioned before as well, that people still choose to see the positive and make the most of it. Episode - Alex G: Absolutely. So let's take a listen. Episode - Guests: Over the last few years, I have also developed a soft spot for the field of World Heritage as well as monuments, protection and conservation. So for those of you who don't know, in South Africa, we have 11 official languages and soon sign language will also become an official language. One of the big things facing the virtual meeting is the liberty of the Internet connectivity, especially in Africa. Nevertheless, I think this is such as the African Union will overcome these killings by investing more the. Another observation for me personally and I'm curious about on your thoughts as well, is that the traditional events that we used to do every year, the annual big events, have recently gone without interpretation. So when I speak to organizers, comms and marketing colleagues, I try to assure them that interpretation is ongoing as usual, although remotely. Yet somehow they were very reluctant to incorporate that into their meetings. The reasons weren't very clear, but mainly they cited that the topics are complex, but it's always been the case. But we used to do it every year for the past seven or eight years. So I believe now there's more perceived complexity when technology comes into play or in a way, interpretation has become more visible and now perceived as being more complex. As far as the future of interpretation is concerned, I believe that our side is here to stay, especially for events were only simultaneous interpretation is being offered because it is a lot more convenient and cheaper for the client. But I also believe that we will get back to some normalcy, that we will travel again to our assignments rather than provide mere online interpretation. First of all, because I think human interaction will remain important in any negotiations. My fear for our future here in the US and abroad, however, is that cheap and unqualified interpreters did get their foot in the door with covid and with the wide reaching use of our Ishai because they're cheap. Episode - Guests: And as we all know, many clients simply don't care too much about the quality or the qualifications of the interpreter. And I do believe that this is where associations must play a more dominant role in the future to protect the integrity of our profession. Keep in mind that in Africa, in many African countries, people speak at least two, three, if not four or five, six languages. The only thing is that these languages may not be used for a conference interpreting, but a child born today can easily speak three languages, either his father, his or her father's mother tongue, the mother's mother tongue, if it's different, which can be a local language. And then one of the national languages, which may be a colonial languages and then other the neighboring countries languages, because you as you may know, the borders in Africa were did not go along ethnic lines, but rather a new arbitrary lines decided at a conference between the powers that were at that time. I have so many hobbies, and I believe this helps us to keep balance in life. I do paintings, oil paintings and I do scuba diving in the Red Sea, tall trees underwater. It's like Christmas trees, sharks, but they're not harmful. So many good and lovely creatures under water. We go on safari for a week. We live in the same boat for a whole week. It's very nice. It's it's really nice to have good hobbies and to do sports and to love arts and to learn languages. It keeps you in good shape and keeps your life in balance. Episode - Alex G: All right, so after all that inspiration, after all that positivity, I think it's now the perfect time to say goodbye on a high note and this this whole show on such a positive outro, I don't even want to say too much. I think. Sarah, what do you think? We should just let everybody say goodbye themselves in their individual languages? I think it's time to say goodbye. Episode - Sarah: Yes, time to say goodbye and enjoy the positive vibes that we're taking away from all of you. So thank you again for all your lovely contributions. It's been an educational, inspiring and fun episode for us and a fairly easy one for us also. So thank you for taking all the work of our hands. We appreciate that to Episode - Alex G: Absolutely. Episode - Sarah: Thank you and good night to Delu. Suzi Koskie Episode - Alex G: There Episode - Sarah: Of Episode - Alex G: Was Episode - Sarah: Innocent. Episode - Alex G: A. Episode - Guests: If I can just add a Feiwel or a greeting in my language, which is Afrikaans, which originally originated in South Africa, this is a language that originated here. It originated from Dutch. So by a donkey that ACORN dayanim and the Portale in a bit more fertile. But and South Africans are talking on Hohn in equiped. It can be incoherent. Veer's in its Ymir fatele. Fandi Security Inside Africa Thirteen's. I have received first inquiries for onsite jobs, though those are all for 2022, so until then, I guess I will just continue to do remote interpreting when asked for and I'll translate and just hope that my clients will find their way back as soon as all this mess is over. Black goes on and never Kusile Stotland bye bye. I think the future holds more opportunities for interpreters at the moment, Malcolm, give me an opportunity to give our side to a celebrity with their goals, as did many of their party, or salaam aleikum, what our model might well. Interpreters around the world, it's great to connect to and to see how similar in actually realities are and to learn from each other may have been a moral compass. Also long gone, when you're going back on the unpeel, the enemy could again be someone completely conquered. Episode - Guests: So that's it. So much. So much, much to love to all of you. When I put together a group, Cardinal Cardinal, let's go somewhere, this Madama that you know, you said Nigel Gault is a guy that you can use credit for. And I was in my shop. Meinhof youngest does via technology on some fatalistically on Conan on display in noin mark chefdom in demand equality and evolution built on iPhones and on optimal aengus. It's to add and can only run one's own wheatfields internationally for unstyled Tongan. So, yeah, I'm looking forward to hear from others as well. Thank you, guys. Cheers to secular. And may I say now, goodbye, my cinema, as we say, in Arabic channel. Gracias, amigos de Troublesome Terps Saludos is a lima potato Interpreters' Help mondo. And now I would like to say, which means thank you in Vietnamese to everyone who has listened to my sharing today. I sincerely hope someday we can connect via an online expo or perhaps the Troublesome Terps can host a global gathering for all of us. Anyway, Godspeed and have a great night to you. We will get through this. All of us together.