The Pleasures and Pains of Working as an Interpreter - Lýdia Machová at the Polyglot Gathering 2015
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- čas přidán 4. 05. 2024
- Lýdia, a conference interpreter, explains the work of conference interpreters in many details, with numerous practical examples and a couple of funny anecdotes:
1:38 Two practical demonstrations of consecutive interpreting
5:55 What makes a good interpreter?
7:00 Simultaneous interpreting (in a booth with headphones) in practice
12:07 Consecutive interpreting (on the stage) in practice
13:43 An example of interpreter’s notes and what they mean (with an overview of some note-taking symbols)
17:55 Do’s and dont’s in interpreting (In which person to speak? Should you correct mistakes?)
23:26 Crisis situations in interpreting (when you don’t know a word, when a speaker does not talk into a microphone, when you don’t hear properly, when someone in the audience corrects you, when a speaker tells a joke you can’t interpret)
31:47 The pains of working as an interpreter
33:54 The pleasures of working as an interpreter
37:01 How to become an interpreter (including book tips)
39:35 Discussion
Lýdia is a freelance interpreter and a PhD student of Translation and Interpreting studies in Bratislava, Slovakia. She also helps people learn languages and improve their language level as a language mentor.
Find out more about Lydia Machova at www.languagementoring.com.
This lecture was recorded at the Polyglot Gathering in Berlin 2015 (www.polyglotberlin.com). The official sponsor of this conference was www.italki.com.
As an interpreting student, I did my daily shadowing practice with this video and I can't feel my jaw right now! she speaks at light speed!!
I was only browsing randomly and then I ran into this video. The speaker is totally amazing and a little research on the web leads me to her personal website, where I learned that she speaks 9 different languages and is broadening her already jaw-dropping arsenal of acquired foreign languages even further by one more for approximately every two years, and most amazing of all, she never lived away from her home country longer than 4 months. She had basically taught herself all the languages herself. A true talent indeed.
What's impressive, is that she did something so mind-numbingly boring for so long. To do a lot of shit that sucks, voluntarily, is admirable. Jealous of the result, not the process........
Thank you, Deer Lukethesavior :) I don't think it's a talent though. My talent probably helps me some 15%, the rest is (hard) work and finding ways which make me enjoy the process :)
Mind-numbingly boring? :) Are you referring to language learning? I beg to disagree. It can be fun if you do it the right way! Not only for language nerds! :) Check out www.languagementoring.com for more ;)
Thank you so much for this video,i thought i know a lot about interpreting and not much to looking into this video,and im so grateful i watched it and i learned a great deal, i like it so much and indeed i watched it a few times and it's so much more helpful from personal experiences and thoughts.and it moves at the end at the part when speaking of sometimes interpreting seemingly not-important thoughts of other people,that really make people doubt what is the point even to interpreting it
i always dream to be an interpreter,and after a lot years of dreaming on that im finally on the track of taking the course and test now, but i still have a doubt and question, bec it's a stressful work on high demand of focus level, and sometimes i hear news of that some interpreters die in the middle of a conference because of high pressure, would that be a work and career that on demand for the younger people ? and that you are harder to do this job as you get older? -- i dont really believe that, because it's very exciting and fantastic job, is that really dangerous sometimes of this intense job?
I speak 8 languages fluently which includes French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, english
While working in Russia I found out my interpreter was not telling my team what I instructed her to tell them. I finally just spoke to my team in English and they got it. I ditched my interpreter and started hanging out with people I met. They spoke a little English and I don't speak Russian, but we made it work. Had some great meals and drinks with people.
Later I worked with another interpreter who was amazing and great and gave me not only what the person said but political context. They also explained to me some considerations before they translated for me.
When I was 17 I went to Taizé for a week and I was the only one brave enough to interpret from English to German for a few teens, who didn't know English. One of the brothers was giving a bible lesson for idk 40 people. It was a really rewarding experience. I think I did well.
Hi
I've been an interpreter for over 30 years. All interpreters should watch this video, experienced or novices.
Wow hands down one of the best presentations I've heard in a long time, by a presenter who's obviously extremely professional and talented and has a lot of experience in simultaneous interpretation. Thanks you're sharing those insights with us Lydia!
Thank you :)
The best presentation I’ve heard so far the presenter is a unique learning from you Lydia
i fall in love her talking, oh Lord
Oh yes. So charming 🇩🇪✌😍
I translated it to brazilian portuguese in real time in mind, everything she said
Thank you for this video!
This is just excellent !
Thank you so much, i love this presentation !!
I don't know why it just got me so concentrated 😂 I started watching the video by chance but finished watching every single second of it 👏 probably because of my passion for languages, pretty good video 👌
Fascinating video!
This channel is highly interesting. Thank you very much.
Great presentation. Brilliant.
I really enjoyed this presentation. Thank you very much.
Thank you so much for sharing this presentation. Very informative.
Really nice conference Lydia, thank you so much I enjoyed it and learned a lot form it.
Wonderful presentation, thanks for these interesting informations
Very interesting, great presentation..
An excellent presentation.
amazing tips. Thanks so much Lydia
She is amazing!
wonderful and informative, especially for an amateur interpreter like me.
Block Kingdom How did you train to become a interpreter? I am in a program learning Spanish and eventually an introduction to interpreting.
Well, presumably Block Kingdom did not train, since they said they were a mere amateur.
Great presentation Lydia! I learned a whole bunch and gained a newfound admiration of the work my interpreter colleagues do.
thank you for the video, it is very fast but very informative, interesting :)
you are the best lydia
Greetings from Tashkent! Thank you Lýdia for a wonderful presentation!
Informative and insightful. You touched on many points I can relate to in terms of pleasures and pains of interpreting. I especially liked your list of interpreting skills needed:
• Language
• Translation
• Memory
• Ability to split attention
• Concentration
• Public speaking
• Stress resistance
Thank you very much for a well thought out presentation :)
Hi Lydia :-) Very good presentation I must say. I wish you all the best 🙂🙂👍👍
Thank you for this video, it was very usefull for me .
what a great conference and what a great polyglot
I just watched La Vita e Bella!!! Marvelous (sad) film!
Haha I love that scene!
Inspiring and practical sharing - keep up the good work ! I am a court interpreter - intense and requiring - love it ... Thank you!
Amazing informations!
Great talk
Aboslutely loved this video! My mother tongue is English and currently learning Canadian French and soon sign language. I want to pursue a career as an interpreter between English/French/Sign Language and this video gave a lot of insight and tips for what to expect.
it's been five years... are you an interpreter?
funny and revealing. great presentation.
I'm studying for my GCSE's and I'm studying interpretation and translation. I would love to do this as a career! I am also looking at becoming a flight attendant and doing free lance interpretation. That would be amazing!
How's your studying going?
Golf Oscar Oscar Delta / Lima Uniform Charlie Kilo!
I also wish become flight attendant and l am interpreter now.
I was a flight attendant. It gets old quickly. Passengers are jerks. All you do is serve food and beverage.
Also as an SI (ThaiEnglish), this is a wonderful, to-the-point presentation. My respect.
A good presentation worthy of any rewards! Thank you Lydia for presenting your extraordinarily professional abilities in Consecutive interpreting❤I'll go for it!
It was an enjoyable presentation. I would really like to know more details or tips about learning more than three languages and how to not forget any of them.
well done!
Amazing presentation!
When I was 17 I went to Taizé for a week and I was the only one brave enough to interpret from English to German for a few teens, who didn't know English. One of the brothers was giving a bible lesson for idk 40 people. It was a really rewarding experience. I think I did well.
this is the best video i have seen in a long while ! any other videos from this woman speaking?
Thanks :) You can look at my other Polyglot Gathering talk(s), as well as the Polglot Conference one, but these are more about language learning than interpreting.
Thank you for this eloquent presentation. You are an excellent interpreter and presenter. all the best! I love working as SI especially for motivational live events!
agree
Thank you, Connie :) That's exactly the type of events I enjoy most of all. I've learnt so much in them.
admirable
Peace and love from Egypt :)
Thank you! that was really helpful!
Thanks for the presentation. I recently did a preselection exam for UN freelance Interpreters. I am waiting for results. I have never done an Interpretation course. I need to get in touch for more advice
Finally a useful study
insightful
Thank you for the great presentation. This is a such a difficult job and I guess sometimes it can be very embarassing to interpret someone else's words like it was said at he end of the video. I remember a couple of months ago when the Brittish prime minister was on a visit to my country (Bulgaria) and our prime minister was showing him pictures and was boasting of how he has seen so many ''important people' and he said '3 папи са ме галили по главата' laughing which literally means '3 popes have fondled my head''. So, the interpreter didn't know what to do and she said ''3 popes tapped me on my head'' And I guess the Brittish prime minister could've been thinking ''Is this some kind of a joke? Did these people really elected this guy to present them?' And of course in these situations the interpreter can't do anything.
+cannibalsaaa Yeah, I could tell you about such situations.. It's just part of the job, unfortunately. But then, that's what makes it even more interesting and challenging :)
I've studied two languages by myself just because I loved, until today I don't know how people get so surprised by that! And I really don't know how I do memorize things the way I do.
I am just amazed of the Host's ability on languages too. And just wanted to mention that I recently started my interpreting job and I enjoy it really much. 🤗🙏
Hey, what kind of job did you get interpreting?
@@renan8699 Language Link job; over internet you interpret two sides of the call from medical to insurance many different fields.
@@hakanozdemirci I've got the same job, different company! How do you like it so far?
@@renan8699 Good, i like it. Whats your company name?
Nádherná baba !! :)
It was easy for me to understand your talk. Your explanations,advices and ideas are very clear and useful,even though I'm not an interpreter, and your english is excellent. You speak like a native speaker! Thanks a lot!
Pardon me, she doesn't speak like a native English speaker at all. Her English is very good but she makes mistakes sometimes and her accent is very strong. It's obvious from what you have written that you are not a native English speaker yourself (no native English speaker would say "advices" or spell "English" without a capital letter). The fact that you're a non-native English speaker is probably why you think her English is better than it really is.
I am rather sick of non-native English speakers telling other non-native speakers "your English is perfect. You speak just like a native speaker" when as non-native speakers themselves, they are neither qualified nor able to make that assessment.
She is fluent, yes. She has a wide vocabulary, yes. But she does NOT speak like a native English speaker. You are seemingly deaf to her strong foreign accent and apparently can't hear all the mistakes she is making because you're not a native English speaker yourself so you don't even realise that they are mistakes.
(I'm not criticising her; it's not her fault she doesn't speak 100% perfect English. It's not her native language, so it's natural that she doesn't speak 100% perfectly. Her high level of fluency is commendable. I am merely correcting your false statement that she talks like a native English speaker, when she doesn't).
Examples of pronunciation errors: she says "udder" instead of "other" and "keleeg" (emphasising the second syllable) instead of "colleague" (emphasising the second syllable). The first time she said the word" colleague" she pronounced it so badly that I didn't know what word she had said. I thought at first she was trying to say "click". It wasn't until she repeated the word and I got more context from the situation she was describing that I realised what word she was actually trying to say.
She also says "many people thing" instead of "many people think". Listen to 6:13
Another example of a mistake: at some point she said "how is it?" instead of "what is it like?" That's a very common mistake for non-native English speakers to make.
As another commenter has pointed out, she makes a rather unfortunate mistake at 5:52 when she says "one word from what he says was not true". She should have said "Not one word of what he said was true." There is a very big difference in meaning between those two statements! The fact that she got the verb tense wrong and used the wrong preposition are just minor problems. The main problem with her statement is that her intended meaning was different from what she said.
She meant to communicate the idea that NOT ONE word was true (i.e.all the words were lies). Unfortunately, she instead said that ONE WORD was NOT true (i.e. all the words were true except one).
Anne Onimous I understood "one word was not true". I think that's what she meant.
Nice presentation! Thank you.
Could I please get the names of the books mentioned towards the end of the presentation?
I'am Indigenou from Brasil, my oficial lenguage is Tupi-Guarani, when i was children i've been learn portugues to comunic with other people that are not indigenou, and today i'm learnig Inglish, it's very cool.
really my sweety interpreter doesn't work with words but with ideas...we call it also meaning translation...so cute English accent...love it
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THIS VERY-VERY USEFUL VIDEO!!!! ALTHOUGH I'VE BEEN INTERPRETING IN THE MEDICAL FIELD BUT THESE TIPS ARE FOR EVERYBODY!!!! THUMBS UP AND A NEW YT SUBBIE HERE!!!
I was not understanding any word of the first language she spoke until I listed to Perú, Jungle, Ayahuasca
Lýdia's accent is so cute
Above all, Lydia is cute :)
I like your speaking really nice
very nice presentation, and really helpful,
a short movie i can say, for those who want to be an interpreter, translator, professionally, its sounds very good
for me this video is 5 on 5,
thanks :)
+Haris Masood Thank you, Haris! I'm very glad you liked it. I tried to make it as practical as possible :)
you are most welcome,
and thanks to you
you motivated me alot,
i wish and hope to be in touch with you
take care
keep it up (Y)
+Lýdia M. Thank you for a Nice presentation. By the way, do you have channel explaining step-by-step method to do interpreting? And what book do you recommend?
+Imam Prams: Hi Imam, nope, unfortunately, I do not have such a channel. If I ever decide to create one, I'll let you know :)
Lýdia M. By the way, I just read an article of your interview. You said, "I use a lot of back translations, meaning that I translate textbook texts into Slovak and then translate those sentences back into the foreign language (just orally, no writing) until I can do it fluently. Those phrases then get stuck in my mind and I can use them pretty effectively in my own conversations."
My questions
1. How do you deal with the different structures between L2 and L1 when translating back?
2. And what about the idiomatic expressions?3. Do you translate dialogs or texts (paragraph)? And what if you find tht the sentence is long?
Thank you.
Greetings from Indonesia.
I would like to translate. Preferably from my first to my second language though. My written English is better than my written German, because I read more English books than German ones. When I put a lot of effort into my writing, it can sound quite elegant.
I do not think I could make much money with it, but it would be a great hobby.
Consecutive interpretation is not always public… a fear of public speaking should not be a deterrent in the pursuit of this path (I’m a consecutive interpreter 😂)
Hey , can you give me any help plz , i struggle so bad to remember what the speaker has just said even if it's only about a 1m speech , and the note taking is just terrible i find myself writing instead of symbolizing ideas
Being Russian I understood the main idea of what she said in Slovak in the beginning. Our languages are quite similar, I assume.
Ю асьюм
maybe is because the slavic languages share an amount of vocabulary just like the latin languages between them.
All slavic languages are related to each other, russians can understand Polish, Belarus, Slovac and Ukranian languages without studying them, of course speaking would be a challenge...
Hahahaha OMG what insane thing are you saying?
Bitch please! yeah, Im Polish and I understood 90% haha
Pretty interesting.
Awesome presentation! Where was this recoreded, though?
Hahaha I'm from Peru.When lydia talked about ayawaska made me lough
Wow! You nailed it, becuse I feel like hiring someone just to listen to ME! As an interpreter I feel I'm always listening. Listening carefully, but I my self get interrupted
Hi I just wanted to thank you for bringing to my attention that sometimes when we speak in another language we don't inturpet correctly be cause we're to focused on our selves to see the language. When I was say in your class about I UT the white board
Had colors wblinking on it dawned on me that afternoon of what it really was saying to me and it came a time when I needed it the most. I AM B going to be more aware of what is being said to me so I will not focus on my self so I can be more aware of what language is bein spoken.
was funny because when I was hiding from that that board thinking it was hypnotizing me or whatever it was actually the same board that they use you know what I mean the TV
im a native french speaker
im haitien actually im living in chile
i speak four languages
my goal is become an interpreter for the ONU
im native of haiti the poorest contry of america and the contry who received the most interventions of the ONU are about 5 in total
im 22 years old id like study tranlator and interpreter in a canadian university
In her other video, she says polyglots are just average people. She's _not_ just an average person. For her, being one step (or two) ahead of the speaker is another day in the office. She didn't say this, but essentially interpreters are tapping into an improv skillset. Actual improv experience (theatre games) might not be a bad supplement in the early going.
Alan Alda wrote a very interesting book on improv: _If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face?_ (2017)
People watching this video would probably also like this book. It's a deep meditation on public communication. His seminar worked miracles on young engineers.
Reminds me, a while back I also greatly enjoyed _Borges on Writing_ (1971) due to a niche foreign language fetish I can perhaps safely divulge here. Two things I remember especially from that book: alliteration in Spanish can hardly be done, or it will be spotted as a trick (whereas major writers employ this in English); rhyme is easier in the Latin languages where the accent falls on the last syllable.
I don't know why I like this stuff so much. This talk was very good, too. I was surprised.
Allan Stokes can u send me the title of this book
So amazing! you are really talented Lydia congratulations! I admire you so much, I will contact you to lead me on how I can be successful an interpreter just like you, Thanks!
very important conference.
i love languages but am not an interpreter would never be ....just watched it because the way the girl speaks is very catchy ;)
great presentation! im just about to start interpreting on a smaller scale(nhs mostly)... russian - english pair, but haven't got any formal qualification yet(planning to do the dpsi this year though). im a little worried that my vocab isnt quite up to par, and i may have to substitute quite a few words to get the message across. any advice? :)
How did it go?
How are you getting on Kerry?
I was more impressed by how fast he could take notes...
it seems that the speaker did the same thing at 44:21 as that Polish guy when he was talking about the free tickets? :D could it be because you can actually infer the conditional from the context both in Slovak and Polish?
I rely totally on my memory. I rarely take notes
Thank you very much! The first paragraph you talked lasted 39 seconds before you handed the microphone to the interpreter. May I know if it is normal for an interpreter to listen that long before he/she starts to speak. I just try to learn to remember so that I can interpret without missing any idea.
Yes, Khue, that part could easily be said in one piece and only then does the interpreter get the floor. It can sometimes be longer, officially up to 5 minutes. If the speaker is telling an anecdote, like I was, it is even easier for the interpreter like this. If they're saying lots of numbers and facts, poor interpreter :D
Lydia number 1
It is so true with numbers. I am Czech and speak fluently German, but I am not able to count in the language. If sb. speaks about Euro and I need to transfer to Czech crowns, it is horrible. Or if I need to count some percents from some amount... Uff. I usually translate the numbers into Czech, count and than back to German. But about this time everybody in the room thinks I am stupid.
I always considered translating one of the most difficult jobs!
This is not about translating.
Correctrix - I`m a polyglot myself and I know exactly what this is about.
You mean interpreting
I've never heard Slovak before but I understood what she said about her trip to Peru. It is because of similarity all languages of the Slavic group.
I speak zero Slovak/other Slavic languages, but I knew what she was talking about as soon as I heard the word 'ayahuasca', which is the same in the languages I speak.
Вы откуда?
Where are you from?
@@erturtemirbaev5207 UA🇺🇦
@@elvispresly2802 понятно. Свои, значит. Это хорошо.
Прекрасна препратка към филма '' Живота е прекрасен '' ( La Vita è Bella) на Роберто Бенини . Та в този ред на мисли има и един друг филм , Български : „Светът е голям и спасение дебне отвсякъде („The World is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner“ ), което е напълно вярно . Само малко съм озадаъчен ,защо като съм българин разбирам: македонски :) , сръбски , словенски , словшки , руски и полски ? Явно съм полиглот ! :) .
anyone else tried to interpret what she was saying from english in your mother tongue?
emphasis on tried, cause i just couldn't keep up :D
BouncingBob
I was successful with Hindi .
Woooo, yo mire esa película en español y es una pelicula bonita pero al final es muy triste :(
I have a question for all the interpreters out there: In consecutive interpreting is it okay to clarify some things before starting? For example: "I would like to ask you to try and use short sentences where possible and to try not to speak very fast so I don't have to interrupt you".
Yes, you may, but you're not always given a chance to talk to the speaker before you interpret them.
my bold guess is that this video should have man-made subtitles in any language imaginable. AND a separate section of comments as to what was subtitled wrong :D
Well done!
Can you ask for clarification? Being a good interpreter it isn't easy. I do prefer written translation. I can set my own time 😜 even if I am working under pressure to meet a dateline. I usually charge more 🌞 when the job at hand is urgent ☺️
Dear Lidya :-) I do know that you are very busy but would you mind writing the title of books that you mentioned at the end of your presentation? I will much appreciated for it 🙂🙂🙂 All the best 👍👍👍
Sure. Roderick Jones: Conference Interpreting Explained. Andrew Gillies: Conference Interpreting.
thank you so much ,was looking for this too!
What are the names of the books that she mentioned at the end ??
Anticipating what's going to be said next. Or guess if she is going to marry me. Yes 💖 or no? Having a lot of experience in the job can definitely help 🙂😌😁
woow, i wish
I quit this job for 2 reasons. I am a person who loves expressing myself and my own opinion. In translation you cannot express your personal thoughts, switch into the personality of the speaker, which as you said can be a stupid person.. :) after some years I almost hated my job for this reason. Other reason is I was almost losing my voice. You mentioned in the beginning of your speech that it is phisically hard for only one interpreter to interpret all day long. I happened to me and aftet talking, talking all day long for almost 1 year, Ihad a sore througt. Even now if I talk a bit more than normal I need to clear my throat an even feel a tense in my throat if am emotional conversation going on...
Totally agree with this as an interpreter for one year now ,,,going to change
Sounds tough. Hope your voice is good now?
@@town944folk wow your comment reminded me of those days! Thanks for asking! I'm fine now.. Also, an update after 2 years- I have changed my profession. I'm a UX Researcher now
@@TurkanDevrijova -Congrats. Hope everything is going well in your new career👍👍👌👌👌
I'd like to work as an interpreter since the pay is much better than for translation. I tried to interpret YT videos from English (which I've known for almost 20 years now) to my mother tongue but I just can't keep up; the requirement to come up with the proper word/construction in a fraction of a second is INSANE for me, I don't know what I would have to do to reach this level of fluency in another language.
Thanks, I have one question, can interpreter listen to the speaker and his self 'while interpreting' at same time? I thought that interpreter increase the level of sound of his headphone so hi/she can not hear his/her sound, right?
Nope, it's crucial that you hear yourself. Otherwise you'd be talking nonsense soon. You need to learn to listen to two things at the same time - both the speaker and your own version of their talk, a few seconds later. That's what makes it a bit more difficult :)