Unlocking the Booth

Ewandro Magalhães, MACI

Interpreters’ Tactics and SecretsRevealed

Father to actress Simone Signoret

Father of Simultaneous Interpreting

Hour-long speeches, w/o notes

Able to memorize and recite a full page of a

telephone book

Minute

Uncomfortable

Stuffy

Mispositioned

Poor sound proofing

Shared space

Very tense environment

Simultaneousness Impersonality Invisibility Infallibility Technical determinism Self-sufficiency Indispensibility

What if I draw a blank ?

What if I don’t understand ?

What if I say something wrong ?

What if I get it wrong ?

Dr. Michael Edelstein Albert Ellis (Brief Therapy)

Feelings are created by thought

Belief system – expectations dictate results

Irrational beliefs lead to disproportionateanxiety

Probability x Possibility

Demands x preferences

Types of demands:

1. On oneself2. On somebody else3. On the world

“My life has been full of terrible

misfortunes, most of which

never happened.”

- Michel de Montaigne

Anger Need of approval / Reassurance Avoidance Vanity Fear Compassion

Discover your passion

Recover your passion

Remind yourself often

It’s a communications business

Intermediary

InterlocutorSource

Become interested

Build rapport

Show your curiosity

Apologize, if needed

Ask questions, if needed

Offer and receive help

Engage in conversation

Be discrete

But be yourself

A ctivating event

B elief

C onsequence

D ispute belief

E ffective thinking

F eeling

A – I’m about to go into the booth.

B – I’ll be watched and listened to by hundreds of people. Ican’t fail. I can’t blank out. I must perform to expectation. Imust be perfect. I musn’t forget anything. I must remaincalm. I gotta be sure everything’s gonna be fine.

C – ANXIETY PANIC. Shame and humilliation. Fear ofridicule. The end of my career before it even starts.

D – Wait a minute. Who says I can’t make a mistake? Andwho says they are all there to check on me? Besides, whatis the Law of the Universe that says that I must be sure ofanything? Who says I must be perfect?

E – I prefer to believe that I’ll do well in the booth. But if thisis not so, it will not be the end of the world. I’ve mademistakes in the past and survived. Besides, my job is tostrive for excellence, not perfection. It would be great tohave every assurance in life, but this is simply not the wayit is.

F – Aprehension, not panic. Confidence enough to at leastenter the booth and start.

Comprehension Tactics

Preventive Tactics

Reformulation Tactics

Basic Concepts and Models for Interpreterand Translator Training, Benjamins, 1995.

Delaying the response

Reconstructing from context

Using boothmate’s help

Consulting documents in the booth

Taking notes

Changing the Ear-Voice-Span

Segmentation

Changing the order of enumeration

Delaying the response

Reconstructing from context

Using boothmate’s help

Consulting documents in the booth

Replacing a segment with a ‘superordinate’

Explaining of paraphrasing

Reproducing the sound, as heard

Instant Naturalization

Transcoding

Informing delegates of a problem in interp.

Referring delegates to another info source

Omitting the information

Parallel reformulation

Switching off the mike

Keeping a term in the original

Enlisting the help of participants