A challenging world of interpreting

Interpreting is considered an important, necessary profession in the multipolar world and interpreters are belonging to well-off, intelligent class in society. However, there are several challenges that an interpreter will become professional in this sphere: the strain, necessity of intensive concentration, difficulties of taking notes, an unfamiliarity with the topic, interpreting humor, etc. Do you agree?

There is no doubt that an interpreter has a certain amount of mental processing capacity while interpreting. He or she must listen and analysis what she or he has heard. Then short-term memory and speech production strain are demanded from interpreters. If the speaker’s speech is fast, the interpreter will face difficulties. Listening and analyzing capacity should be uncurled well. Herewith, short-term memory comes to help him or her in this case. Clearly, the interpreter cannot be a professional without these features.

Good interpreting demands intensive concentration because he or she must listen everything the spokesperson has spoken and analyzes it in an undefiled way. The interpreter may surprise if his or her consideration is distracted and she or he might lose his or her speech. Therefore, interpreters always work in pairs; take turns interpreting around every 15-20 minutes.

Moreover, the interpreter must know note-taking techniques that support to be easy in interpreting. It insists on learning, working more and more. Taking notes plays a major role in the consecutive interpreting. If the interpreter omits some information, his or her speech may be different from the speaker’s and may not hit the “target”. The possibility of errors also might increase. The feature we are viewing is the best assistant in such cases.

Unfamiliarity with the topic is one of the main challenges. A translator or interpreter who works regularly for a particular organization or client should become familiar with the subject and its jargon. Otherwise, interpreting will not be auspicious. Unexpected phrases are an indefeasible part of interpreter’s job, so, she or he has to be ready for coping with uncertainty. In short, the interpreter always must be on research in his profession. Then s/he will succeed in interpreting sphere.

Humor. It is a way to wake up a somnolent audience or to break the ice in the unsuccessful negotiations. Usually the speaker uses it for setting close rapport with the listeners. The interpreter takes on a responsibility for rendering directly in such cases.  The message is more important than humor assuredly, but the interpreter’s task is to convey the speaker’s speech fully. In turn, the interpreter must be attentive to the aim of humor. Usually, the humor is not incidental to the speaker’s goal and the rendering person should cognize it. Interpreting humor demands having bicultural and bilingual knowledge from the rendering person. Therefore, cultural referents, puns and other humorous devices must be transferred to the interpreter’s list so that the target audience enjoys what is being said. Unmistakably, failure to express humorous messages in the target language is likened to “defeat in a battleground”.

The world has varied from the two-polar to the multi-polar and interpreting languages has taken an important place in the international relations. The demand for proficient interpreters is increasing year after year. The burden of being professional is hard and requires a lot headwork. In other words, an interpreter who wants to be the necessary must get over the difficulties such as the strain, necessity of intensive concentration, difficulties of taking notes, an unfamiliarity with the topic, interpreting humor, etc.