Simultaneous interpretation (SI), as a high-wage industry with the requirement that the interpreter needs to interpret accurately, perform well under high pressure and also prepare for lifelong learning.
Text: Lai Tsz Ching, Wong Ching Yu
Photo: Lai Tsz Ching
Interpreters are always viewed as a bridge in communication. Simultaneous interpreters always appear in professional seminars and world conferences They sit in a booth and wear headphone to provide immediate interpreting service for people from different countries through the microphone.
According to “Master Pay Scale” of Simultaneous Interpreter for Civil Service vacancy in 2014, a full-time interpreter’s salary was $56,820 per month. The entry requirements include at least a seven-year experience and a pass in Simultaneous Interpretation Test (SIT). Last year, over a hundred of applicants came to the Hong Kong University SI lab to apply for the limited job vacancies for Civil Service.
“In mainland, you may earn the pay up to 6,000 to 7,000 RMB for one day. But the pay always depends on what kind of meetings or occasions that you have joined,” said Chan Shujun from mainland China, who has worked as a conference interpreter for many years.
Mr. Chan also mentioned that interpreters are often viewed as a part-time job because of relatively unstable income.
“We only have a few seconds to process the speaker’s message in the source language and render it into the target language,” said Dr Eva Ng, who teaches translation and interpreting in School of Chinese at the University of Hong Kong.
“Language proficiency both in the source language and the target language is an essential requirement for interpreters, but a professional interpreter must also be quick-witted and be able to deal with emergency situations,” she added.
Mr Tang, a freelance interpreter said, “we need to catch up with the latest news, the trend of the topic which is going to be presented in the meeting and also relative terminologies.”
“Good teamwork is important as interpreting requires strong powers of concentration. Usually, we are sitting in the booth specially designed for SI. We take notes while the speaker talking. After writing 20 to 25 words, one of the interpreters has to speak via microphone to the audience who are sitting outside and can swift to appropriate language channel via a button”, said a staff of the KERN Group in Hong Kong, a company providing international language service. Mr Tang, a freelance interpreter said, “we need to catch up with the latest news, the trend of the topic which is going to be presented in the meeting and also relative terminologies.”
“Good teamwork is important as interpreting requires strong powers of concentration. Usually, we are sitting in the booth specially designed for SI. We take notes while the speaker talking. After writing 20 to 25 words, one of the interpreters has to speak via microphone to the audience who are sitting outside and can swift to appropriate language channel via a button”, said a staff of the KERN Group in Hong Kong, a company providing international language service.
The loss of accuracy can lead to unemployment of an interpreter. “In the State Council executive meeting, basically no mistakes are allowed. Once you make a mistake, you must be fired,” said Chan Shujun. “If you really don’t know what the speaker said, I think it is more suitable for you to omit it rather to make up something.”
“If an interpreter realizes that she or he has made a mistake during the course of interpreting, she or he should correct it at once if it is significant ,” Dr. Ng said.
To ensure accuracy in vital meeting, two simultaneous interpreters should be paired in a group for interpreting, generally 20 to 30 minutes in a turn.
“We assisted the Civil Service Bureau in its recruitment test for simultaneous interpreters in the past couple of years by allowing them to use our language lab to conduct the test.”
“ There are 14 full-time simultaneous interpreters working in the Civil Service Bureau. It’s not easy to get employed because of low staff mobility. Although the Bureau have more part-time SI positions, which not require prior experience in interpreting, you still have to pass a stringent test to be offered the job,” added Dr. Ng.
The challenges of SI in Hong Kong are not only the competition from mainland but also the lack of industry support. Unlike other professional industries like doctors or engineers, Hong Kong interpreter industry does not have a independent association to provide guidelines and set up a code of ethics.
“We have the Hong Kong Translation Society, which organizes talks and seminars on translation and interpreting regularly, but the Society is not an accreditation body,” she noted.
