News & Articles

I Love Interpreters
by Alastair Sarre,
Editor and Communications Manager
International Tropical Timber Organization

I love interpreters. If I could I would carry one in my suitcase whenever I set out for destinations unknown. Effective communication between cultures is difficult enough when everyone is speaking the same language; it is impossible, at a professional level at least, when there is a language barrier. Interpreters are like a portable life raft that enables the linguistically challenged to survive the perilous waters of international relations.

But not all interpreters are alike. I have attended many conferences where the quality of interpretation was such that it increased rather than reduced the confusion between delegates. When an interpreter doesn’t understand the subject matter, or has insufficient training, experience or skill, the effect is to marginalise those people who do not speak the dominant language.

Recently I was involved in the organization of a workshop in Thailand that brought together people from 25 countries, including from French-speaking Africa and Spanish-speaking Latin America. We knew that many of the participants from those countries spoke some English, and we debated whether or not we needed interpretation. In the end we decided that while many attendees may understand English and even be able to speak it, they would be much more confident and comfortable speaking their own languages. On that basis we decided to engage the services of Conference Interpretation Asia-Pacific, who provided simultaneous interpretation in English, French and Spanish throughout the four days of the conference.

We were glad they did. The service was exceptional. Not only did they arrange the equipment (and assist in negotiating the price), they performed their interpretation services over long hours, winning universal praise from delegates. Most importantly, I believe that their presence, and the quality of their service, increased the participation of French- and Spanish-speaking delegates and gave them a much greater influence on and ownership of the workshop outcomes.

It’s true that the best interpreters cost more. Are they worth it? In the short term it is perhaps hard to quantify the benefits of high-quality interpretation over a mediocre service, but I believe they are many. Even discussions conducted by people sharing the same mother tongue are prone to misunderstanding and confusion. The risk of error in interpretation between languages amplifies such problems and the ability of the interpreter may well influence outcomes.

English is the dominant international language and the most powerful negotiators tend to be those with the strongest English-language skills. In the absence of measures to redress this, those people with a non-English mother tongue will almost certainly be disadvantaged in business and international relations. Thus, if the participation of all delegates is important and mutual understanding the aim, then high-quality interpretation in the international arena is essential. Perhaps I need to buy a bigger suitcase!

Salma Tejpar-Dang, Manuel Pastor, Odile Bertin-Faull, Javier Ferreira
at the ITTO Seminar in Ubon Ratchatani, Feb. 2003