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At a G20 finance ministers meeting, the room went silent for eight seconds after the Chinese delegation’s proposal. Western attendees shifted uncomfortably in their seats. The German delegation exchanged glances. Only the Japanese delegation remained still, their posture unchanged. From the interpreter booth, we knew exactly what was happening. The silence meant the Japanese were…
Pablo Chang-Castillo is an entrepreneur with a free spirit and an enterprising and disciplined work ethic. The Founder and CEO of Chang-Castillo and Associates, Pablo was seemingly born into the translation and interpretation business. His last name alone, a hyphenated amalgam of China and Latin America, needs no embellishment as an emblem of diversity and…
Interpretation and translation are two separate specialties and like speaking and writing, involve an entirely different set of skills and expertise. Both skills imply a fluency in and a love of language, an ear and eye for detail and for discerning meaning rapidly and most of all accurately. Arguably, both skills are more similar than…
Being an international business interpreter can be an exciting profession, especially when your duties require you to travel around the world, meeting and interacting with others, in order to enhance business negotiations for your company and/or clients. That being said, there is a tremendous amount of responsibility involved. In addition to language fluency, business interpreters…
Did you learn Pig Latin as a child? If so, like many Americans, Pig Latin might have been the first “second language” you learned! Somewhere between second and sixth grade, a child is asked, “Ooday ouyay peaksay igpay atinlay?” At which point, the exciting process of orienting the ear to understand it more quickly, and…
Today’s world sees more and more people interacting and doing business with individuals from other countries. A major barrier to these interactions is language. At conferences or other gatherings, interpreters are often in the background offering an interpretation of the speaker’s words from one language into another. Interpretation is conducted in two different modes: simultaneous…
As communication between nations becomes more and more necessary, the need for highly qualified interpreters expands. If you are considering a career in interpreting, or are considering hiring an interpreter for a specific need, you should be aware of the various specializations in the field. There are various types of interpreting, each requiring a different…
Simultaneous interpretation is usually contrasted with consecutive interpretation. That said, the adjective “simultaneous” may be a misnomer in that, although the interpreter is still in the booth wearing headphones and speaking into a mic, the interpreter needs to wait until the sentence is understood and processed before interpreting. Nonetheless, a simultaneous interpreter is listening and…
When conducting business in Russia, before you even arrive, it is important to familiarize yourself with the most important basic phrases. Learning some of the following will allow you to travel around more easily, communicate your needs to non-English speakers, and greet those you are working with in their own language. Greetings Hello (formal)…
If you’re an English speaker, you can easily make your way throughout Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand, where English is the native language. However, along your journey, you may struggle to understand a few words here and there due to distinct accent differences. Or, you may notice that certain spellings or phrases are different…