You may well be asking yourself why you should fork out quite a lot of money for a professional interpreter when you have a bilingual family member, neighbour or friend who could help you…
Well the answer is simple:
being bilingual doesn’t make you an interpreter.
Just like knowing how to cook doesn’t mean you’ll make a good chef or knowing how to put make-up on doesn’t make you a make-up artist.
Let’s first consider what it is to be bilingual.
Bilingualism involves having perfect command of two languages AND two cultures.
True bilingual people are actually few and far between as one language often takes a back seat: the one used least. Interpreters, on the other hand, actively live with both languages – day in, day out.
I’d like to emphasise the importance of culture as I recently heard an excellent international professional talk about cultural interpreters. This can only be described as a pleonasm. An interpreter is, by the very nature of their profession, bi-cultural. An interpreter knows how to guide their customer so that the person they are speaking to understands them.
We wouldn’t talk to an emir in the same way we’d talk to a chairperson of a French company or a contact in Asia… The interpreter is there touse the linguistic AND cultural levers to render and transmit a message to the other party.
Professional interpreters will always turned up prepared for their assignment. They’ll have studied the company, product, competition and challenges. They’ll have looked up specific terminology and compiled glossaries.
Furthermore, their ability to listen and take a step back to let the various parties interact ensures greater speed, responsiveness andefficiency, regardless of the meeting. They can also give parties time to think while the translation is being delivered.
When it comes to simultaneous interpreting, the importance of using a professional becomes even more obvious. Indeed, the delay between what is said and what is translated is only 3 or 4 seconds. Conference interpreters are used to flitting from using one side of their brain to the other, as they listen whilst talking. This mental to-ing and fro-ing is a real skill and requires years of practice.
Lastly, you may well have already taken part in a consecutive translation. This involves interpreters taking notes and then rendering the speech every 10-15 minutes. A professional interpreter will never translate on a sentence-by-sentence basis as it would be unbearable for the listeners. This is actually a very tough task, as it requires interpreters to take to the floor.
Each meeting, seminar and conference requires a lot of preparation time and, of course, financial investment. Interpreting may only account for a small part of your organisation but without it the most important thing, your message, won’t be understood.
Make sure you use professionals! CG Traduction & Interprétation is the leader in France on the interpreting market. Let us guide you and advise you so that the cost of the interpreting service we provide is a good investment for your company, making sure your expertise is valued and markets are secured.