Translator

Paul Norris

A passion for languages can help you become a professional interpreter and translator, writes Paul Norris.

IN today’s multicultural society there are many situations when doctors, judges, lawyers, teachers and business professionals can find themselves unable to communicate with clients due to cultural and language barriers.

The simple solution is to request the services of a bilingual interpreter to provide a language link between the professional and the non-English language-speaking client.

According to Moreno Giovannoni, former president of the Australian Institute of Interpreters and Translators (AUSIT), just finding a friend or relative who speaks some English and the same native language as the client is not a professional solution. Giovannoni is a qualified oral interpreter in Italian and English and a translator in written French.

“Professional interpreters are called to hospitals, law courts, emergency situations of all kinds, sometimes life-threatening ones, as well as to schools and government offices all over the country to help people who have trouble understanding or expressing themselves in English. Most have substantial qualifications and experience and all need to work constantly at keeping their skills up to date,” says Giovannoni.

Census figures released in 2001 reveal there were 3045 language practitioners professionally qualified as interpreters and translators in Australia. Currently AUSIT has around 800 members, approximately 25 per cent of the total number of working language professionals.

Bradley Dawson, southern region administrator for AUSIT, points out there are two types of interpreting: simultaneous and consecutive.

“Interpreters have got to be able to remember reasonably lengthy slabs of spoken language and instantaneously interpret those into a target language,” says Dawson. “Whereas a translator works at home with written work — and they will often use their computer. They may have to look up lots of difficult words in their dictionaries or on the internet.”

The National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters (NAATI), a government-owned organisation based in Canberra, runs tests in different languages at differing levels and sets qualification standards. “NAATI also accredits courses in Melbourne at RMIT and in Sydney there are one or two universities that run these courses as well.

“In Australia the profession of interpreter and translator basically is one where there are a number of different markets that people work in and probably in order to make a living you need to spread yourself around over the entire range,” says Giovannoni.

Giovannoni often uses three-way telephone conference calls between himself and clients to solve communication problems.

“I grew up in an Italian family speaking and studying Italian at school. I lived in Italy. I studied there. I can translate both ways most things and I interpret in Italian as well. I translate from French into English just one direction. With French it’s more an academic knowledge and I’ve got a good passive knowledge of French, which means I can read it and translate it into English.”

Dawson is a Russian to English translator and his native language is English.
“I’ve studied Russian for many years and lived in the country, so I’ve got my accreditation as an English to Russian translator,” he says.

Bettina Lijovic, manager of Interpreter and Transcultural Services at Melbourne’s Austin Hospital, says she employs part-time professional interpreters in the hospital’s most in-demand languages.

“The majority of our work is verbal interpreting. We have situations where patients might be requesting interpreters for a chance for an operation or for family meetings to discuss their treatment plan or just a general appointment with a doctor, and then we do the written translations as well,” she says.

“At the moment we’re hiring in Italian, Greek, Macedonian, Arabic, Cantonese and Mandarin. We cater for about 73 languages at the moment and these are our top five.

“Having knowledge of how hospitals work and the terminology is certainly an advantage and having a NAATI Level 3 qualification is the number one prerequisite for being employed.

“We have to cover ourselves medico-legally and just having an awareness of a health situation and medical terminology — body parts — all that sort of stuff will certainly help.”

Sarina Phan, , a NAATI Level 3 interpreter and translator in Vietnamese, has been interpreting for over 15 years. “The majority of my work is what we call community interpreting,” she says. “Interviews at Centrelink courts, police, schools and a variety of scenarios.

“I first came to Australia with my family as a refugee. I’ve got my parents to thank for getting me to keep my Vietnamese and now I’ve got a career, a very good profession,” she says. Phan grew up in Australia and went to Monash University, where she studied philosophy and French.

“It was my father who said to me you’re a good interpreter. I’ve been interpreting for him informally for many years. Back then Vietnamese interpreters were as rare as hen’s teeth and he said you should look at doing that professionally. So I went and got my NAATI accreditation and have not looked back.”

Phan has also taught at RMIT in the advanced diploma of interpreting and translating for the past six years and has worked as a professional trainer, having gained a Certificate IV in Workplace Training & Assessment.

“I guess having grasped the English language fairly well at school and my passion for learning Vietnamese helped me pass the test. But it certainly didn’t prepare me for real life interpreting. I had to learn it the hard way the first few years and certainly after quite a number of mistakes.”

Code defines professionals
IT’S important for all Australian Institute of Interpreters and Translators (AUSIT) members to agree to abide by a code of conduct as an interpreter or a translator, says Bradley Dawson, southern region administrator. “Apart from your knowledge of the source language and the target language you must be completely accurate and objective in your interpreting and/or translating,” he says. “This can be a problem sometimes in court situations or in community situations when people bring in someone who might be a relative or someone who’s just not accredited at the professional level and you can’t vouch for their objectivity, especially with a family member.”

This is why AUSIT considers it so important for interpreters or translators to reach a professional or accredited level.

“As an AUSIT member people agree to abide by our code of ethics and conduct which is all about maintaining confidentiality of information as well as objectivity, etc.

“An interpreter/translator is not supposed to gain financially from any information they might come across as an interpreter or translator and it’s all about also how you relate to the other members of the profession,” advises Dawson.

“It is also important that language professionals don’t disclose any information that they acquire during the course of an assignment and generally agree to conduct themselves professionally at all times — arriving on time and preparing appropriately for your assignments and not accepting any gifts or anything like that, or allowing anything to prejudice or influence your work.

“If you are in a situation where you feel that your objectivity or accuracy might be compromised then as a professional interpreter or translator you should decline such a job really.”

NAATI http://www.naati.com.au/

AUSIT http://www.ausit.org/

By Paul Norris, The Weekend Australian, April 29, 2006.