By Ashok Khanduri

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7yzKa-vJrw

Modlingua has conducted various webinars on topics related to translation but the unique webinar conducted on 26th July 2020 about making a career in ‘Interpretation’ or as an interpreter talks about things entirely different which the language students may not know. The terms translation and interpretation may be frequently used together a lot of times but the two subjects have a different approach and in this article, we will be exploring the world of ‘Interpretation’.

Well, interpretation basically means breaking the language and communication barriers between two parties coming from different cultures and not sharing a common language. Simply speaking, if you ever help your parents or grandmother orally in helping them understand a movie, a video, or any kind of information explained in a language they don’t share or speak, you are, in fact working as a sort of interpreter. The language in which you share the info is the ‘target language’ and the one in which you interpret from (that of the video, film, etc.) is the source language.

Academically speaking, interpretation is of six types:

1. Simultaneous (or Conference) Interpretation: It is quite common for big gatherings and where teams of interpreters work in shifts and interpret from source to target language simultaneously.
2. Consecutive Interpretation: Here the interpreter works in breaks. For example, when the client speaks, his interpreter will note down some points then the client may take a break of 5 or more minutes where the interpreter will speak in the target language.
3. Whispered interpretation: As the term suggests, here the interpreters actually whisper in the ears of their clients so as to not disturb the other attendees. But this mainly happens in close diplomatic meetings.
4. Over the phone Interpretation: Here the work is actually offsite as the client hires an interpreter over the phone and then lets him/her join over a conference call with another speaker with whom he doesn’t share a common language. When he speaks, the interpreter listens and interprets as the client stops. Interestingly it all happens over the phone call.
5. Relay Interpretation: It is like an indirect form of interpretation that happens in conferences where the audience speaks many languages. For example, if a seminar on Chinese literature is taking place in India and the audience consists of English, Chinese and Hindi speakers. Now since the conference speakers are speaking in Chinese, there would two teams of interpreters to help the audience. One team will interpret from Chinese to English, and the second team will use this info and interpret this message from English to Hindi. This is how ‘Relay Interpretation’ works.
6. Sign language interpretation: It is something you may have seen in movies or TV shows, with sign language interpreters conveying the spoken info of delegates in the form of some gestures which can be understood by hearing-impaired (mute) people. However one must consider the fact that each country has its own sign language.

Concerning the point about where should the Indian students pursue courses in Interpretation studies in India, unfortunately, there are no such specific courses provided by Indian universities, however, they do exist in Europe, the US, and other developed parts of the world. But normally what Indian students can do is that after choosing their language pair, they can pursue a Master's degree in those languages, for example, MA in French, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, English, etc from universities like JNU, Delhi University, Pondicherry University, Benares Hindu University, English and Foreign languages University (Hyderabad), etc. One can also clear the proficiency level tests for the languages he/she is studying and then work as an interpreter for NGOs, MNCs, and different kinds of organizations. And it is one of those few jobs that pay very well, for example, a Japanese-English interpreter can ask anywhere from RS.2000 per hour or more.

Some really important points the students aspiring to work in the interpretation industry must understand and work upon are that they must possess a very high level of vocabulary and knowledge of the languages they interpret from and to, they should keep themselves abreast of the cultural things and differences of the languages so as to not misinterpret the meaning and most importantly, they must have an extreme focus and attention while working as a single non-relevant thought can lead to big blunders.  Some of the renowned interpreters whose names I would like to share here are Mrs. Gurdeep Kaur Chawla (English-Hindi), IFS officer for Indian govt. Priyanka Sohoni (English-Chinese-Hindi) and Marina Gross who interprets for the US President Mr. Trump (for Russian-English).