| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | What was the worst mistake you've ever made as an interpreter? Thread poster: Creepydoll
|
|---|
Andy Watkinson 
Spain
Local time: 16:50
Member
Catalan to English
+ ...
The original post was actually by Francis Icaza and what I quoted here was a re-posting by Jack D. whose posts in general I heartily recommend.
"Mi pachingao" reminds of finding a scribbled note next to the phone in a cheap "pensión" in Barcelona I once lived in.
Nota para Vaquinsó: ".............."
Took me a couple of minutes to realise it was addressed to me.
Watkinson.
| | | |
Piotr Bienkowski wrote:
They were talking about concrete wells, but he heard "concrete welds" and translated accordingly. Sadly, this mistake cost him his job.
That's totally hardcore! Are you serious? One mistake like that and the guy's outta there?! Sheesh! How can a company even pretend to have such high expectations?! I hope you are being paid enough for that kind of stress.
There has got to be more to it than just that. I mean, come on... you've got to be kidding me. But if this poor soul actually did get fired for making ONE mistake, well then "he could have used a good lawyer" is all I can say.
If an interpretor is usually good and makes a mistake like that, it normally ends up likes Jack's story - laughs - even if millions are on the line (at least that is my experience).
Okay, so I can understand naming "having a bad day at the office" after his (illogical) mistake, but to fire the guy straight out for something like that seems a bit much (IMHO). I'm glad my employers have never been that harsh!
I have also fallen into Teju's so called "Zombie Mode" and accidentally switched into the source language - and that in the middle of a sentence. I noticed it right away, switched back and reaped a few laughs, BUT I DIDN'T GET FIRED! In fact, I successfully negotiated a raise shortly afterwards.
| | | | | Pilot - ATC controller communication | Nov 9, 2004 |
I have a couple of nice stories dating back to my days as a translator/interpreter with Volga-Dnepr Ailrines.
1) Our AN-124-100 freighter is on approach to a U.S. airfield after crossing the Atlantic ocean. The captain wants to request a clearance to land:
- May I sit down?
- ?! ... Yes ... you may
(Just imagine the crew flying across the Atlantic standing on their feet in the cockpit throughout the flight).
2) An AN-124-100 had an overru... See more I have a couple of nice stories dating back to my days as a translator/interpreter with Volga-Dnepr Ailrines.
1) Our AN-124-100 freighter is on approach to a U.S. airfield after crossing the Atlantic ocean. The captain wants to request a clearance to land:
- May I sit down?
- ?! ... Yes ... you may
(Just imagine the crew flying across the Atlantic standing on their feet in the cockpit throughout the flight).
2) An AN-124-100 had an overrun incident in a Canadian airport, went off the runway eventually, and got stuck in the mud.
A minute later...
Controller: Did you overshoot? (i.e. missed the touchdown point and decided to go around again)
Captain: Yes. (never knowing the difference between the words "to overrun" and "to overshoot").
One more minute later...
Captain: May I switch off the engine?
Controller (in a shaking voice): You'd better not, sir...
It took the controller about 3 minutes to understand what had really happened, and send out a fire engine, ambulance, etc. (thank God, the plane did not suffer any significant damage, and the crew was OK).
----------------------------------------
Note: This happened in the early days of this airline. At present the company has aircrews who are quite proficient in English
[Edited at 2004-11-09 22:29] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | I think that was the drop that tipped the scales | Nov 10, 2004 |
Derek Gill wrote: Piotr Bienkowski wrote:
They were talking about concrete wells, but he heard "concrete welds" and translated accordingly. Sadly, this mistake cost him his job. That's totally hardcore! Are you serious? One mistake like that and the guy's outta there?! Sheesh! How can a company even pretend to have such high expectations?! I hope you are being paid enough for that kind of stress.
Hi Derek,
I think they've been watching him and waiting for the opportunity. But this is no excuse for him. The only interpreting jobs I used to do were consecutive inpterpreting, and I always asked for a repetition opr explanation if I did not understand/hear something clearly. Well, he just went on, assuming "concrete welds".
Admittedly that company had high expectations of their translators/interpreters (we worked in both capacities there), providing too few resources. No Internet access to translator forums like this one and we tricked them into buying CAT software only because there was an urgent modernization project. That's why after some time I gave them my notice of termination and became a freelancer.
Piotr
| | |
|
|
|
| more of the same | Nov 25, 2004 |
xáudar wrote: teju wrote:
and I've been known to speak in the wrong language, much to my embarrassment. We have ALL made that mistake, if you become and interpreter you will make it some day as well. If you're fine with your interlocutor's cracking a laugh and your going pink, then you've nothing to worry about.
Funny you should mention it... every single interpreter that I've met has one or two stories about that, and I have started to collect these stories in another thread at http://www.proz.com/topic/18162 .
Myself, I'm not an interpreter but a translator with a kind of double life as a linguistic researcher - and none of the colleagues I have met there would have anything that would help to explain just *why* these things happen... so I decided to go figure out about it myself. Anybody who can spare a few minutes to tell me/us their story with the wrong language, I'd be really grateful... thanxalot!
| | | | Yamato (X)
Bulgaria
Local time: 17:50
Russian to Spanish
+ ...
| My worst mistake | Nov 25, 2004 |
Before, I dared not tell, but since I am an urban legend in my college, why hide it any longer?
In my first real interpreting job, the speaker opened a question time in the middle of the presentation, before changing the subject.
Nearly a minute passed and no one asked anything, and tension was growing and growing.
So I checked that my microphone was closed, and uttered something like:
"Won't you bastards ask something?"
After a m... See more Before, I dared not tell, but since I am an urban legend in my college, why hide it any longer?
In my first real interpreting job, the speaker opened a question time in the middle of the presentation, before changing the subject.
Nearly a minute passed and no one asked anything, and tension was growing and growing.
So I checked that my microphone was closed, and uttered something like:
"Won't you bastards ask something?"
After a moment, everyone was shouting and looking at me at the booth... my boothmate's microphone had betrayed me!!!!
I apologized, organizers apologized, everyone basically.
Luckily, at the end of the sessions, no one was angry, and everyone laughed of the matter.
Except my interpreting teacher, who never knew. If he had, I would be dead by now. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Alan Boydell
France
Local time: 16:50
French to English
+ ...
Pablo Cañamares wrote:
"Won't you bastards ask something?"
That's absolutely beautiful!
To come back to the Japanese guy, my worst nightmare is speakers with strong accents.
One of my major mistakes occurred when interpreting for a Nigerian preacher in Paris. I had never heard such a strong Nigerian accent in my life (and yet I have done time in a Nigerian jail!) and he kept talking about some random American woman. I didn't quite get the relevance of this woman in the general flow of the story, but having done ethnographic research in West Africa, I knew that African story-telling could use logic structures that are seriously different to what is usual in European cultures. So I went on interpreting, stoically refusing to be thrown by this, until… all of a sudden "Jesus said to the American woman: …”
I thought “what the…” and after a long pause, I suddenly realized that he had been talking about the “Samaritan woman” since the very beginning. I set the record straight there and then which caused a generalized guffaw and the scratching of my name from the list of interpreters worth their salt.
In a similar vein, a Nigerian diplomat once declared to a fairly sizeable audience that he was extremely impotent. Fortunately, being more weathered at this point, I calmly informed the francophone community that this gentleman was a very IMPORTANT figure in his home country. You live and learn!
Alan
| | | | Arcoiris
Local time: 15:50
English to Spanish
+ ...
| urban legend or real story? | Dec 2, 2004 |
Soon after qualifying as an interpreter and translator I was very aprehensive as to what to do with jokes because sometimes they don't make any sense when translated and by the time you finish trying to explain or think of a similar joke in the target language the conference is long finished. A colleage at the time told me the story of what happened to "a friend of a friend": the interpreter in question was struggling with some jokes from the speaker and having serious trouble. She decided to c... See more Soon after qualifying as an interpreter and translator I was very aprehensive as to what to do with jokes because sometimes they don't make any sense when translated and by the time you finish trying to explain or think of a similar joke in the target language the conference is long finished. A colleage at the time told me the story of what happened to "a friend of a friend": the interpreter in question was struggling with some jokes from the speaker and having serious trouble. She decided to come clean with the audience and explained "the speaker is telling a joke of which I cannot make any heads or tails, so please laugh now" The timing was perfect and the laugh coincided with the punch line.
Since then I have heard this story, with slight variations, and sometimes with a happy ending and sometimes everything goes wrong, so I don't know whether this really happened to somebody or just somebody thought they would do that if confronted with that situation.
Has anybody heard it?
I don't do any interpreting now, just trasnlations. Easier life. ▲ Collapse
| | |
|
|
|
| frozen seamen???? | Dec 6, 2004 |
Hi....Of course this is not my mistake but it has become legendary here between interpreters:
There was a huge latinamerican GYN congress where one of the topics was assisted reproductive techniques. The interpreter was not familiar with the terminology...... to make it short, the speaker is talking about the frozen semen sample handling conditions and through the headsets it came as "marineros congelados" which in Spanish means frozen men at sea. Also, the speaker then turns to an... See more Hi....Of course this is not my mistake but it has become legendary here between interpreters:
There was a huge latinamerican GYN congress where one of the topics was assisted reproductive techniques. The interpreter was not familiar with the terminology...... to make it short, the speaker is talking about the frozen semen sample handling conditions and through the headsets it came as "marineros congelados" which in Spanish means frozen men at sea. Also, the speaker then turns to another slide on the state of the ovule with a hairy-like ring arround it called "zona pellucida", and it comes back in Spanish as the hairy cell.
The audience comprised mostly of specialists starts quivering and turning back to stare at the booth (always a bad sign) but this continues for a while until someone slides a piece of paper to the booth with the correct terminology.
Whenever someone wants to make a point about being prepared I always remember that my point is as follows: The interpretation is correct, seamen and semen may sound really alike, and it coulb be a tough call if........you are not familiar with the subject matter at hand.
Good Luck in your new path and stay within the context.. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Pablo is still a legend in our college | Dec 11, 2004 |
I am student at the same college as Pablo, but I am graduating this year, I have to say that he's still famous for those "words". He is a real urban legend in our college Kepp it going guy!!!
| | | | Anton Taras (X)
Local time: 17:50
English to Russian
+ ...
| Watch out: war on terrorism! | Jun 2, 2005 |
Once a guy I know (once we did a simultaneous translation in pair) misheard a word while interpreting at an international conference. The word was Iran and he thought it is I.R.A. Now imagine the audience hearing the translation of the following sentence (since it was long ago, I don’t remember how it went exactly, but the meaning is there): “Our human rights' organization helps the minority groups all around the world. Currently we mostly work with Iran.” As I said, Iran was translated as... See more Once a guy I know (once we did a simultaneous translation in pair) misheard a word while interpreting at an international conference. The word was Iran and he thought it is I.R.A. Now imagine the audience hearing the translation of the following sentence (since it was long ago, I don’t remember how it went exactly, but the meaning is there): “Our human rights' organization helps the minority groups all around the world. Currently we mostly work with Iran.” As I said, Iran was translated as “Irish Republican Army.” ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Pages in topic: < [1 2] | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » What was the worst mistake you've ever made as an interpreter? | Trados Studio 2022 Freelance | The leading translation software used by over 270,000 translators.
Designed with your feedback in mind, Trados Studio 2022 delivers an unrivalled, powerful desktop
and cloud solution, empowering you to work in the most efficient and cost-effective way.
More info » |
| | Anycount & Translation Office 3000 | Translation Office 3000
Translation Office 3000 is an advanced accounting tool for freelance translators and small agencies. TO3000 easily and seamlessly integrates with the business life of professional freelance translators.
More info » |
|
| | | | X Sign in to your ProZ.com account... | | | | | |
Login to reply/comment 
Translation news
