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One of the things I enjoy about being a language service provider is that there is never a dull day. We rarely know what texts we are going to translate the next week, for what occasions we are going to interpret or where we will be needed. Indeed, the other day I was asked to serve as conference interpreter on-site in a control room from 1am to 4am. The request said: “This is a virtual event in German and is taking place in Germany, but it will be managed and produced by a team in Seattle… Please let me know if you are interested. I know the hours are weird.”
This virtual event turned out to be a sales presentation, and the unusual hours are a result of the 9 hours time difference between Germany and the US Westcoast. All speakers and all audience members were native German speakers, and I was supposed to interpret only for the four English-speaking technicians who were responsible for the production of the event. In addition, I was only supposed to interpret what had to do with the format of the event. The challenge was that the dozen or so speakers were scattered throughout Germany in their home offices and had their own visual materials. These consisted of both PowerPoint slides that the speakers controlled themselves, but also film clips that the Seattle technicians had to play at exactly the right time.
So not only was the time unusual, but also the fact that the “listeners” for whom I was to interpret were not at all interested in the content of what was being said. They were only interested in the formal process.
Shortly before the beginning of the event, there was a certain tension in the control room. Are all the lines connected? Will the speakers stick to the meticulous timelines? Are the video and sound quality OK? I sat in front of a monitor with my headphones on, one eye on the screen and the other on a printout with the time specifications. The most important cue for me were sentences like “this concludes my presentation. I now hand over to Paul who will tell you more about our concept”. Such sentences had to be interpreted for the technicians as simultaneously as possible.
Almost everything went smoothly. Only once did panic set in briefly. One speaker asked at the end of his speech: “How about the Q&A? Are the questions being moderated?” In a flash I interpret this sentence relatively loudly into the round. Immediately, the lead technician signaled to switch to the next speaker to tune out the confused speaker.
When I fell into bed at around six in the morning, I was pretty exhausted, but also happy that I was able to live up to the expectations set for me. The next day the customer got in touch: “We loved working with Rainer, he was fantastic and such a great help for us.” It is feedback like this that feels good and confirms our choice of profession. In fact, this client has since booked me for two more similar events in the middle of the night. I’m looking forward to it and can’t wait to see what it’s about.