I am into the 4th week of the course and have learned so much so far. We have gone over subjects such as:
-Liaison Interpreting
-Translating (English into German)
-Translating (German into English)
-Simultaneous Interpreting
-Conference Interpreting
-Note taking Techniques for Interpreters
-Stylistic Variation for Translators
This summer school course runs a total of 4 weeks with instruction time ranging from Monday - Friday
9:30 - 4:30 most days. There is also excursions every Wednesday and Saturday that take you to places around the quaint town of Germersheim, or even as far as Strasbourg, France. It is conducted through the University of Mainz (pronounced [my-enz]), but does not take place in Mainz, Germany. Germersheim is a branch campus so to speak from the main University of Mainz.
I will hope to shed some light on the art of Translation and Interpretation from my experiences here in Germersheim. I will provide some interesting links to some useful resources and my input as well.
Liaison Interpreting
This type of interpreting is basically where the interpreter acts as a median of communication between two people. Perhaps the most basic type of setting here would be an interview. One in which one person may speak only German and one person may speak only English. So one of the persons will start out talking, maybe for a good 1-2 minutes before stopping. Then the interpreter will interpret in his/her own words what that person has just said. The main point in this type of interpreting is to convey the whole message rather than the fine details of the message itself. Then after the interpreter has done his/her job for one rant, it will flip flop to the other person. So a good base knowledge of both target and source language is required in this type of interpreting.
Sometimes for this type of interpreting one must really prepare his/her self for a specific topic. In our case in the summer school we had to research a bit about equestrianism. Equestrianism? What the bloody hell is that? That was my same exact thought. But I soon came to learn that equestrianism is all about horses and how they are ridden in shows and events. We did a mock interview between a reporter and a Olympic equestrian because the Olympics were going on during that time. So really we had to look up and research so many things we had not previously known before. This is really the work of an interpreter. To know the ins and outs of small things that everyday people would not consider knowing about if it didn't hold their interest.
Translating in General
Translating is not just merely a way to convey a message across languages. Translating is a way to convey entire ideas and messages across cultures and languages. Cultures is always important when you are translating. You must know the culture of the source text and the cultures of the output text. This way you can really grasp each of the concepts and convey them in the manner that is most appropriate for the respective culture. If one must translate from German to English, you must keep in mind that the Europeans do things a lot differently than the Americans and vice versa.
You usually translate from your foreign language into your mother tongue because you know all of the nuances of your own language. Some people do it the other way around and are fine, but they have to be careful. If you were raised in a bilingual environment, than you already have an advantage starting off.
We did both German to English translation and English to German translation. And let me tell you, the English to German translation was MUCH harder. Of course my German is not totally up to speed with all the rest of the people's German skills, but nevertheless translating into your mother tongue is much easier. That was my experience with it anyways. I would be glad to hear experiences from anyone with this sort of experience. It intrigues me how language works and how we can communicate so effectively on a global level sometimes.
Simultaneous Interpreting
Simultaneous interpreting is basically listening to a speech in real time and interpreting that speech in real time as well. For this type of interpreting, we went into sound booths and put on headphones to hear the speaker. Once the speaker starts speaking, you must interpret the message right then and there that the speaker is presenting. Sometimes speakers talk for a long time between pauses so you have to really concentrate on comprehending what the speaker has said and actually vocalizing that thought in your own language. This can seem daunting at times because it is. You will occasionally miss words or ideas but you have to keep going and never act like you have stumbled on an idea. If you miss a phrase, you have to think logically about what the speaker is speaking about and either make up something similar or just leave it out and keep the flow going with the rest of the interpretation. Sometimes you do not have time to rethink and reevaluate what the speaker has said because it goes so fast. This is normal and practice helps one draw closer to perfection but never truly attaining it.
I have found the simultaneous interpreting is by far one of the harder types of interpreting because it requires you to know a lot about the topic the speaker is presenting and you have to think, translate, interpret, and render, all at the same time. After some practice though it does get easier, but you really need to have a good level of concentration. One must also learn to harness the power of their own short term memory. Being able to let the flow of ideas go in and out while just being a median is very important. Most excellent interpreters would not be able to tell you what they were just speaking about 3 minutes ago since they use up their short term memory in the interpretation.
That is all for this post. I do not own any of the rights to the photographs above, I merely took them from the internet. I will be updating you with more things about Translation and Interpreting soon. Also if anyone has any questions/ideas feel free to email me at birk.15@buckeyemail.osu.edu . See you next time bloggers!
No comments:
Post a Comment