Kamila Halikova
UWED TCI, 2014
What’s Interpreting Business About?
Being an interpreter is a hard, but fascinating job. However it takes a lifetime and valiant efforts to become a good interpreter. In my opinion the main thing that can help you in pursuing your dream is confidence and desire to learn. In order to introduce to you the general rules of interpreting, I would like to share with you my personal experience and also give you some advice, which I hope, will help you.
A lot of people consider the job of an interpreter as an ordinary one. However, basing on my experience at the course of study at the Training Centre for Interpreters (TCI) I found out that most of the time an interpreter plays the role of a reporter or an orator. That is why if you have chosen the profession of an interpreter, you have to follow the certain rules of oratory.
First of all, an interpreter must be confident. Nervousness and agitation can mar your impression before the audience. Leaning on my own experience, I can say that even coherent and fluent interpretation can sound for the audience not so well, if you are too strained. So, try to stay as calm and confident as you can, because your nervousness can spoil not only your image but the image of the speaker, whom you are interpreting for.
Secondly, during interpreting try to feel yourself relaxed. Do not twist your hands and freeze in one position, all that makes a bad impression on public. Therefore, my next tip concerns your body position and face. Try to stay relaxed, do not make any hasty movements such as rubbing or twisting your hands or putting your hands behind your back. Now, your face expression. You should not let your thoughts and work of your brain be seen on your face. You should make the audience believe that you know the subject very well indeed and it is not very difficult for you to convey it to the public. I know that it is very difficult especially when you only start your interpreting career; however, I am sure that if you make an effort after some time you may achieve good results. Moreover, you can improve the situation through practice especially mocking your speech in front of the mirror.
And lastly, I would like to tell you how much your pronunciation and intonation are important. In my opinion, the main task of an interpreter is to deliver interpreting in a friendly and easily comprehensible way so that the audience gets it as easy as possible. And your blunders and mistakes can spoil the entire impression because instead of concentrating on the subject, the audience’s attention will again and again return to your mistakes. I think one way to solve this problem is self-recording, which will help you control your mistakes and, hopefully, get rid of them. Therefore try to avoid pronunciation mistakes as much as possible, because your good interpreting can be spoiled due to mispronounced words.
As you see, interpreting is a difficult and challenging work. It requires every day efforts, strong will and desire to learn through checking your mistakes. However if you have all of these features and are craving to succeed this job is for you.