slavfile 2008 3 summer

7/31/2019 SlavFile 2008 3 Summer

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Summer 2008

Vol. 17, No. 3

SLAVIC LANGUAGES DIVISION

AMERICAN TRANSLATORS ASSOCIATION

www.ata-divisions.org/SLD/slavfile.htmSlavFileSlavFileADMINISTRIVIA

Becky Blackley

From the desk of the division

assistant administratorP. Elana Pick

Please send your suggestions and comments to:

Elana Pick at [email protected]

Inside:A T/I bard and his anthem .............................. 2,3

UN interpreters and others ................................. 5

Advice on agency hiring practices . ..................... 8

Interpreter fitness exercises ............................ 10

Ethical interpreting dilemmas .......................... 11

Political history of Ukrainian ............................ 14

An introduction to the AICC ............................... 17

Conference review: The vs A ............................ 18

Dictionary reviews ....................................... 19,20

Personality: T vs. I ............................................ 21

Poetry in Translation ........................................ 25

I am happy to have our assistantadministrator take the lead spot in thiissue. Elana has done a wonderful jobin putting together this special issuefocusing on interpreting and interpreters. Whether you are an interpreter, atranslator, or both, you will surelyfindthe articles interesting. And the inter-preters session at the ATA conference

Orlando should be informative and a lot of fun.

And speaking of Orlando, I hope to see many of you there. Whave a terrific line-up of sessions for the Slavic Languages Division. You wont want to miss any of them.

One of the highlights of each conference is the SLD banquean enjoyable evening of jokes, laughter, poetry, good friends,and good fun! As of this writing, we are still in desperate needof someone to help organize the banquet. We have some sug-gestions for restaurants, but we are looking for a volunteer tocontact the restaurants for information on menus, prices, and availability of a private dining room. Then once we have selectthe location and worked out the details with the restaurant, thorganizer will collect the money and keep track of the reserva-

tions. It is not necessary to live in the Orlando area to do this joThis can be done from any location. If you can spare the time ttake on this responsibility, it will be greatly appreciated by all!

I look forward to seeing you all in November. Have a happyand healthy summer!

Becky can be reached at [email protected]

Greetings to those who areenjoying a well deserved vaca-tion and those who keep workingdespite the whims of weather, cli-ents, kids at home and everythingelse that summer brings!

As promised, our special is-sue with a focus on interpreting is in your hands and/oron your screens. Many of the authors are well knownin our community, and perhaps those who are not willsoon be so. We hope these articles will be interesting

both to translators and interpreters and will furtherinspire all of us to think more about interpreting andshare our thoughts with each other. In spite of theabsence of the word interpreters in our organizationsname the veryfirst objective stated in ATAs bylaws is topromote the recognition of [both] the translation andinterpreting professions. And there has been increas-ing attention paid to interpreting over the years. Tomake it easier for us to share our thoughts (and, yes,feelings) about our profession there will be a SlavicDivision panel discussion at the 2008 ATA Conference,entitled Ask the Experts: Advice for Novice (and NotSo Novice) Interpreters, Saturday, November 8, 11a.m.12 noon. Please mark your calendar and eithersend me ([email protected]) your ques-tions in advance or just ask panelist interpreters yourquestions on the spot. After all, such ad lib situations

are similar to their working environment.

I have already asked two of the special interpreterauthors in this issue one of my favorite questions: Do

you feel it is necessary to do some translation in order

to become a better interpreter? One agreed with thisstatement while one agreed only partially. But bothconversations were extremely enjoyable and enrichingfor me.

Thank you and see you soon in Orlando!
http://www.ata-divisions.org/SLD/slavfile.htmhttp://www.ata-divisions.org/SLD/slavfile.htmhttp://www.ata-divisions.org/SLD/slavfile.htmhttp://www.ata-divisions.org/SLD/slavfile.htm


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SlavFile Summer 2008Page 2

OFFERS OF WORK FROM EMPLOYERS AND CLIENTS ARE PUBLISHED FREE

SLAVIC LANGUAGES DIVISIONOFFICERS

Administrator: Becky Blackley

Tel: 304-637-7505

[email protected]

Assistant Administrator: P. Elana Pick

Tel: 917-400-6918

[email protected]

SlavFile is published four times yearly.

Articles of interest to Slavic translators and

interpreters are invited.

Designation of Slavic Languages Division

membership on ATA membership application

or renewal form

provides full membership.

Write to ATA, 225 Reinekers Lane

Alexandria, VA 22314

Submissions become the property of SlavFile

and are subject to editing.

Opinions expressed are those of the authors

and do not necessarily represent

the views of the Editor or of the Division.

Editor: Lydia Razran Stone

Tel.: 703-768-5441

[email protected]

Associate Editor: Nora FavorovTel.: 919-960-6871

[email protected]

Associate Editor: Galina Raff (Russian, Layout)

Tel.: 704-849-8200

[email protected]

EDITORIAL BOARD

Liv Bliss

[email protected]

Roy Cochrun (Dictionaries)

[email protected]

Stephen Dickey and Janja-Pavetovi-Dickey(Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian)

[email protected]; [email protected]

Jennifer L. Guernsey

[email protected]

Vladimir Kovner

[email protected]

Christina Sever

[email protected]

Roman B. Worobec (Ukrainian)

[email protected]

- -, , ., - ., ,,,

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We would like to call your attention to the large number ofreally excellent articles devoted to interpreting to be found inthis issue ofSlavFile. These articles are largely the results ofthe recruiting efforts of Assistant Administrator Elana Pick.The idea of a focus on interpreting issue was hers.

We are very grateful to her for this and plan to continue activeattempts to provide enhanced interpreting coverage in ourpages.


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Continued on page 4

SF: Can you t e l l u s a l i t t le abou t you r ba ckgr ou nd ?

As i de fr o m he l p i ng an o l d l ady ac r os s t he s t r e e t

( a r e f e r e n c e t o a li n e in t h e a n t h e m ) , h o w d i d

yo u d e c id e t o b e a n in t e r p r e t e r / t r a n s la t o r a n d

how d i d you ac t ua l ly becom e one?

MZ: My background is definitely far from linguistic. Myfather was an engineer; my mother waswell, here comessomething!a musician. My father was one of those humanencyclopedias: well read, constantly on the lookout for newinformation, broad-minded. My mother was more of a cre-ative type. Both of them had fantastic senses of humor. Myelder brother, Anatoly, was what we call in Russia a bard,quite a popular one; several of his songs have found their

way into the treasury of so-called authors songs of thepast century. But instead of being a professional musician,he was an engineer, doing two things at the same time. Ina way this reminds me of myself, although I have takena serious turn toward music relatively recently. The realmusic pro is my son Eugene: his life is music and nothingelse. As a matter of fact, my choice of the translating/in-terpreting trade was not obvious. At 15 my parents decidedthat it would be a good idea for me to go and study at aradio-engineering technical school, from which I graduated

with a moderate degree of success at the age of 19. Only

three years later, after serving in the army, I entered theinterpreters department of the Moscow State PedagogicalInstitute of Foreign Languages (the famous INYAZ, nowthe Moscow State Linguistic University). In the meantime Ideveloped a serious liking for the English language, mostlythrough my love of English songs (Beatles, Rolling Stones,etc.) and my desperate attempts to make some sense oftheir lyricswhich were quite successful. Well, I definitelyacquired some knowledge of English in this way, but it wasquite haphazard and unsystematic. Anyway, by the end ofmy army time I already knew that I would have to be an in-terpreter. However I did not have the slightest idea of what

the profession entailed, I just liked the idea of it. So I wasoptimistic enough and conceited enough to take the INYAZentrance examsand received an excellent on the Englishlanguage exam! The rest was simple.

SF: Now f o r t he p r e s en t : Can you b r i efly de s c r i be

your p r o f e s s iona l a c t iv it i e s i n a t yp ica l yea r ?

If we consider the past year (2007) to be typical, I di-vided my time between interpretation, translation, teachingand singing. Professionally I devoted most of my time tosimultaneous interpretation for all sorts of conferences,

both in Russia and abroad. Suffice it to say that I was outof Moscow more often than once a month; my interpreta-tion assignments included trips to Germany (3 times),Finland, Greece (twice), Austria, Turkey (twice), as well asinside Russia. Twice I worked as a simultaneous interpreterat film festivals, in Moscow and Khanty-Mansyisk. I also

went out to Tomsk (twice) and Voronezh, where I deliveredlectures to local interpretation students. In Moscow once ortwice a week I teach simultaneous interpretation on a regu-lar basis at my alma mater, the Linguistic University, in the. I undertake sometranslations whenever I find them interesting and worth my

whilefor example, the reminiscences of Countess SophiaTolstaya, whose translation into English was ordered bythe British Council for the Leo Tolstoy Museum in Yas-naya Polyana. In addition I twice accepted invitations frommusic festivalsthe Kaliningrad and the Adlerand in bothcases was fortunate enough to receive awards. Speaking ofmusic, in 2007 my second album, Perevodchik, was pub-lished and the video for the title song was made. So life haskept me pretty busy.

SF: One o f t he d i f ficu l t ie s t ha t wou l d a r i s e in p u t -

t in g y o u r a n t h e m i n t o E n g li sh w o u l d b e t h e f a ct

t h a t i n o u r la n g u a g e w e d i st in g u i s h b e t w e e n

i n t e r p r e t a t i o n a n d t r a n s la t i on . I g a th e r yo u d o

bo t h . Do you t h i nk t h i s s t r an ge Eng li s h b i fu r ca -

t i on i s j u s t ifie d a n d t h a t t h e r e a r e m a j o r d i ffe r -

ences be t ween t he s e t wo s k i l ls , a s ide f r om t he

obv ious o f cou r s e?

I am sure there are indeed major differences. Theinterpreter and the translator have two different personali-ties, at least ideally. The former is quick, energetic, rest-less, even adventurous, and unafraid of people; the other ispensive, meticulous, thorough, and prefers the seclusion ofhis room. Being onstage is usually too much for him. Sincehe leaves a paper trail, he has to check and control whathe writes over and over again; otherwise he will immedi-ately be nailed. He works for posterity. On the other hand,the interpreters skill dissipates into thin air and leaves notrace. He lives and works in the present. He is an actor,even an entertainer. As to knowledge of a foreign language,the work of the translator may be more passive, since hehas time to go through linguistic intricacies, which theinterpreter, especially a simultaneous one, simply cannotafford.

INTERVIEW WITH MIKE ZAGOT

Editors note: W e first becam e acquainted w ith Mike Zagot w hen a link to the film of histran slators/ interpreters anthem (www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVJS9Sq36Dk) w asposted on the Russian tr an sla tors w ebsit e. W e highly recom m end t his shor tfilm to ourreaders; w hen you have seen it you w ill understand w hy w e wrote imm ediately, askingMike for a n interv iew . The Russian text of h is anthem is published on pag e 2.


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Continued from page 3

Of course, life is not a chessboard, and there are manyoverlaps. I have a friend who is a pretty decent simultane-ous interpreter, but he is tense every time he gets anotherassignment or invitation to do this job. To face the audi-ence again! On the other hand, he is quite happy at homehammering away at his computer. As for me, I am fine with

both translation and interpretationI like to work withwords, but not for too many hours in a row. Usually if Ihave a written assignment, I sit at my computer from 9 to1; then I need a change of scene. I need company, I needpeople around me, I need adrenalin boiling in my blood.

SF: Cou l d you t e l l u s t he s t o r y o f m ak i ng your de -

l igh t f u l vi deo? M y hus ba nd wan t s t o kn ow i f a ll

t hos e go r geou s g ir l s a r e r e a l ly you r s t u den t s ?

First, thanks for your appreciation of the Perevodchikvideo, I definitely cherish enthusiastic comments from mycolleagues. After all, it was done for them. Well, how was

it made? I have to begin from the very beginning. I used tosing in my younger years, played a guitar and was a mem-ber of a rock group when I was a student. But then I becameengrossed in my profession, which I came to like verymuch, probablyfinding it to be a creative outlet, so music

was somehow left by the wayside, at least, for a while. Thenmy son Eugene grew up and displayed extraordinary musictalents. In the long run he turned into a fine composer, pia-nist, arranger and even music director. Anyway, we started

writing songs togetherhis music, my lyrics. We evenreleased two records: And theLig ht of M us ic and Dynas tyZA , not too highly acclaimed, but still, those were steps on

the ladder. After a while we went our own creative ways.He found new partners, and I also found new composers towork with. But relatively recentlyno more than four yearsago!I began trying to sing myself and was told I wasnt allthat bad. I got easily carried away by the process, and thissoon resulted in myfirst album, Uriupinsk-Moscow, whichsomehow attracted the attention of our Internet pirates and

was popularized without my participation. So I decided tocarry on and, in particular, got the idea of writing a songabout our noble and reckless profession. So the song nowhas gained popularity among our colleagues in Russia, andevidently is making its way abroad.

As to the video version, the president of a small Moscowlinguistic collegewhere I do not workoffered me supportin filming the song. Thus, all the girls in the movie are notmy students, beautiful as they are. I recruited a professionalfilmmaker, and we more or less collaborated on the script.The colleges facilities were placed at our disposal, the stu-dents were quite happy to be filmed, and we also used ourmusic studio outside the city (that is where the lake you seeis). To make the film more weighty, I invited the Presi-dent of the Union of Russian Translators, Leonid Gurevich,to assist me in professional scenes. And thats the story.

SF: Clear ly you h ave both very s t ron g linguis t i c

an d ve r y s t r on g m us i ca l s k i ll s . W h a t abou t t he

d i ff e r ences an d s i m i l a r i t ie s be t ween t h e s e t wo

ac t iv it i e s ? Do you t h i nk you wou l d ha ve been

m or e , l e s s , o r equ a l ly s a t isfied w i th your l if e , i f

yo u h a d w o r k e d a s a m u s i ci a n a n d p l a ye d w i t h

w o r d s a s a h o b b y?

That is a tricky question since I am quite satisfied withmy professional life. I have a chance to travel and see newplaces and people. I enjoy the company of my students atthe University and get my kicks in the booth working asa simultaneous interpreter. Similarities? Definitely, youneed a good ear to interpret well, and in this respect musicis a great help to the process of interpretation. Both theseprofessions are public, and I was never afraid of the stageor the audience. I have been working since the seventiesat international film festivals in Russia and abroad, too.Twice I was in the U.S. in the capacity of an interpreteroffilms during some U.S.-Russian film events. When youinterpret movies, you have to entertain the audience and ina way, you have to be an actor. I still work at film festivals

because I enjoy it so much. As a matter of fact, this par-ticular type of interpretation is my favorite, since it offersthe opportunity to play with words, but to do it quickly andspontaneouslysimultaneously.

I do not favor hypothetical questions: what might havehappened in this or that case? I rather like a line from ourpopular poet Andrey Dementiev: (Never regret anything). As a matter of fact last

year I have already answered this question, which was putdifferently by another interviewer: What did the job of atranslator/interpreter take away from you? My answer wasthat I probably would have become a musician, but I amfine the way I am. On the one hand I like my current occu-pation; on the other, my song is not over yet ().

SF: Obv ious l y , wr i t ing ve r s e ho l ds n o t e r r o r s f o r

you? Have you t r an s l a t ed any Eng li s h poe t r y

i n t o Rus s i an ? I f s o wha t ?

I am definitely not terrified by the prospect of writingverses or, rather, lyrics because I always imagine rhymedwords set to music. But as to translation of verse As amatter of fact, every now and then some Russian musiciansask me to translate their songs into English, or they want to

sing some popular English (American) song in Russian, andI always say that I can do it, but it will not be a translation,but rather a variation on the theme. My impression is that iyou try to translate poetry, you get either a piece of transla-tion that is not poetic, or you get a piece of poetry that isnot a good translation. The result should be something verycreative in the target language, but there are all sorts of bar-riers to achieving this. And that is why I avoid translatingpoetry. In those rare cases when I come across some versein my translation of prose, I always ask someone else to

MIKE ZAGOT

Continued on p age 5


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translate it. I have translated several of my own songs intoEnglish, but it involved a rather free interpretation of thetext to make it sound good and easy to sing.

SF: Do you ha ve any anecdo t e s t o t e l l u s ab ou t h ow

your s en s e o f hu m or h a s a f fec t ed ( pos i t ive ly

o r n ega t ive ly ) you r i n t e r p r e t i ng / t r a ns l a t i ngp e r f o r m a n c e ?

Well, sense of humor definitely helps. I cannot now re-member any particular case when it really helped me out oftrouble, but I recall a couple of examples when funny things

were said or written by translators. Here is one: a foreignspeaker was presented to a Russian audience by anotherforeigner of Russian origin, and the latter said, referring tothe speakers wife: , . The au-dience, as you may imagine, found this hilarious, because in

Russian you can say (by birth) about a man, but is a prank, a trick, an escapade and a freakandnothing else. Another brilliant mix up: The Russian TsarIvan Grozny was called Vassilievich because of his fiercetemper. (, .)

SF: Do you h ave a m es s age fo r t h e app r ox im a t e l y

5 0 0 S la v ic in t e r p r e t e r s a n d t r a n s la t o r s w h o a r em e m b e r s o f o u r o r g a n i za t io n ?

Translators and interpreters constitute the subset oftheman species I feel most at home with. These people under-stand me, my life and my problems! Therefore my messageto colleagues anywhere in the world would be very simple:

be of good cheer, eat, drink and be merry, and do yourbest to enjoy life. All this is pretty biblical, of course, buttrue. Also: always be professional, take care of your reputa-tionwhich is the only thing you haveand respect yourcolleagues.

How many people work at theUN? runs an old joke. About half.There is no question, however, thatthis working half includes the in-terpreters and translators. The same

holds true for interpreters in inter-national organizations, including allthe many specialized agencies of theUN system (such as FAO, UNESCO,

WHO, UNIDO, IAEA. etc.), the World Bank and the IMF,the European Commission of the European Union, and theCouncil of Europe Parliament in Strasbourg.

Interpreters in international organizations are eitherpermanent staff interpreters or freelance or contract in-terpreters. There are approximately 120 permanent staffinterpreters at the UN, while dozens of freelancers are hiredto work during periods when many meetings are added

to the organizations schedule. All of these are trainedsimultaneous (conference) interpreters. Like the US StateDepartment, the World Bank and the IMF (InternationalMonetary Fund) have a very small staff of permanent inter-preters, and hire primarily contract interpreters for their

biannual plenary meetings, missions and on-site field trips.The European Commission also has an enormous databaseof interpreters working in some 16 languages to cover allpossible combinations, though Russian is used only foroccasional bilateral negotiations. The Vienna-based OSCE(Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe)usually hires interpreters on six-month contracts, and its

languages include Russian, French and English. Both theCouncil of Europe and its Strasbourg-based EuropeanParliament (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of

Interpreters in International OrganizationsDr. Lynn Visson

Mon terey In st itu te of In tern at ion al S tu dies

Europe /PACE/) have English and French as their officiallanguages, with most interpreters working in both direc-tions, as well as in Russian, German and Italian as workinglanguages; here the interpreters work both bi-directionallyand, at plenary meetings, into their native languages.

At the World Bank and the IMF, interpreters most fre-quently work in both directions, i.e., Russian-English andEnglish-Russian, or French-English and English-French.

At plenary sessions of major international bodies, thebooths generally work only into one language, usuallythe interpreters native language. The United Nations hassix official languages: English, French, Spanish, Russian,Chinese and Arabic. Since readers ofSlavFile are primarilyinterested in Russian, and since the author worked at theUnited Nations for more than 20 years as a permanent staffinterpreter (English booth, from Russian and French), andcontinues to work there as a freelance interpreter, that will

be the focus here.At the United Nations the general policy is for inter-

preters and translators to work into their native language.While for years the Russian school (Chernov, Komis-sarov) of interpretation posited that it is easier for aninterpreter to work from his native language into a foreignlanguagesince by definition the interpreter understandseverything said in his native languageUN policy has beenthe opposite. What good is it if the interpreter understandseverything said if he is unable to produce a grammatically,lexically and stylistically correct interpretation into thetarget language? While there are a few bi- or even trilingualinterpreters at the UN who can and do work in two or three

booths, the basic assumption is that an interpreter works

Continued from page 4MIKE ZAGOT



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into his or her native language. Under the pressure of thebooth and of simultaneous interpretation, the interpreterall too often finds that the grammar and syntax of a non-na-tive language quickly start to break down.

An interpreter in the English booth, i.e., working intoEnglish, must be a native speaker of English with excellentpassive comprehension of French and of either Russian or

Spanish. An interpreter in the French booth must be able towork into French from English and Spanish or from Eng-lish and Russian. An interpreter in the Russian booth, i.e.,

working into Russian, must have an excellent passive com-mand of English, good passive comprehension of French orSpanish, and a native command of Russian. At most meet-ings, there will be two interpreters to a booth, covering thedifferent language combinations. This means that there isone interpreter from Russian and French and one inter-preter from Spanish and French in the English booth, andin the French booth there is one interpreter working fromRussian and English and another interpreter working from

Spanish and English into French.The relay system used by the UN is the reason for these

combinations. At a three-hour meeting, the generally ac-cepted length for gatherings of most UN bodies, the inter-preters in the English, French, Spanish and Russian booths

work in half-hour shifts. In the French and English boothsthe interpreters coordinate their half-hours to ensure thateach language for which interpretation must be providedis covered at all times. The interpreter in the English booth

who interprets from Russian and French will therefore beworking during the same half hour as the interpreter in theFrench booth who works from Spanish and English. In this

situation, if the Russian delegate takes the floor, the Frenchbooth interpreterwho does not know Russianwill takerelay, or listen to the interpretation of the Russian intoEnglish, and will then render that into French. So, too, theinterpreter in the English booth who works from Russianand Frenchand does not know Spanishwill take relayfrom the French booth, and render that interpretation(from Spanish into French) into English.

Interpreters in the Spanish booth need to work fromEnglish and French into Spanish; in the past, there have

been some interpreters in the Spanish booth who had anexcellent working knowledge of Russian. In the Chinese

and Arabic (known as the exotic languages) booths, all in-terpreters, who sit three to a booth, work both into Chineseor Arabic and into English or French. (i.e., unlike the oth-ers, they interpret in both directions.) Since they are work-ing more than their colleagues in the other boothsbecausethey are constantly working into Chinese and Arabic as wellas into English or Frenchthey work twenty-minute shiftsrather than half hours. A delegate who wishes to speak ina language that is not an official UN language must either

bring his own interpreter, who usually interprets intoEnglish, with the other booths taking relay, or must provide

a text in a UN language to be read out by the UN interpret-ers. In the latter case someone from the delegates mis-sion arrives with the text and points, i.e., sits next to theinterpreter, usually in the English booth, and points with

a pencil as the speaker goes through the text so that theinterpreter can simultaneously read out the English text.

Though more than 90% of the work of UN interpret-ers involves simultaneous interpretation, consecutiveinterpretation or chuchotage (whispered interpreting) isused at some informal talks and negotiations. (Not all UNinterpreters have training in consecutive, and the depart-ment head keeps a list of those who are able and willing todo this.) At small bilateral negotiations, the interpreter may

be required to work in both directions, e.g., into Russianand into English; for somewhat larger groups using formalconsecutive interpretation, there may be interpreters from

two booths, such as the Russian and the English booths.What does it really mean, at the UN, to know a lan-

guage? This means perfect or near perfect passive com-prehension, the ability to process a language quickly andproduce a fluent interpretation into the native language.It does not mean an ability to speak the passive language.

While some UN interpreters are extremely gifted linguists,many have only limited speaking ability in the languagesfrom which they work. In the UN training program, train-ees are constantly told to keep working on their nativelanguage, which means expanding their vocabulary, rangeof idiom, and stylistic repertory. They need to have an ear

for register, and to keep up with the buzzwords of the dayInterpreters wishing to work at the UN must take and

pass an exam, consisting of the simultaneous interpreta-tion of several tapes, working from their passive languagesinto their active language. Freelance exams are set up onrelatively short notice (a few weeks), while exams for per-manent staff posts are by competitive examination, orga-nized well in advance by the Department of Training andExaminations on the request of the booth which is experi-encing vacancies. A B.A. or equivalent is a requirement for

W h a t d o in t e r p r e t e r s m e a n b y b o o th ?

For those not familiar with all the meanings of theterm booth (Russian or ), it refersto the language into which the simultaneous inter-preters work, the individuals who are working intothat language at a particular meeting, and the smallarea where the interpreters sit, which contains theequipmentconsoles, headsets, microphones, etc. Sothe question, Where is the English booth? means

both where are the physical premises in which theinterpreters working into English can be found? andwhere are the interpreters who work into English?The statement I do the English booth means I

work from a foreign language into English.

International OrganizationsContinued from p age 5


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employment in all booths at the UN. Many, but not all, UNinterpreters have a degree from a professional interpreta-tion school, such as ESIT in Paris or GSTI (Graduate Schoolof Translation and Interpretation) at the Monterey Instituteof International Studies (California).

Interpreters working from Russian and French intoEnglish and from Russian and English into French come

from a wide variety of backgrounds. Some are of Russianorigin; others have studied Russian in college or graduateschool; some have lived and worked in Russia. Even thoughthere is a real need for interpreters with these languagecombinations, some 80% of the work of the interpreters inthe English booth is from French rather than from Russianinto English. This is a result of the huge number of French-speaking countries (France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Swit-zerland, French-speaking Canadians, Francophone Africaand Asia) vs. the very limited number of Russian-speakingcountries after the collapse of the Soviet Union (the RussianFederation, Belarus, and an occasional older delegate from

a country such as Kirgizia or Kazakhstan). Interpretingfrom Russian into English can be particularly stressful sincemany Russian delegates feel compelled to monitor and tocorrect the interpretation. Depending on the delegatescommand of English, these corrections range from right-ing genuine errors to demands for the use of English wordsor constructions that may or may not be appropriate to thegiven context.

For decades nearly all the interpreters in the Russianbooth, who must also pass competitive examinations, weregraduates of the former Maurice Thorez Institute of ForeignLanguages (now MGLU

) and of a special 10-monthpost-institute preparatory course for interpreting at theUN. Until quite recently all the Russian booth interpret-ers were men, who have now been joined by two womencolleagues.

UN interpreters are assigned to work at a wide varietyof meetings and negotiations at headquarters (UN dutystations include New York, Geneva, Vienna, Bangkok andNairobi), as well as at international conferences. Meet-ings range from formal and informal meetings of theGeneral Assembly and the Security Council, the six stand-ing committees of the GA, peacekeeping commissions

and missions; the Disarmament Commission and otherdisarmament bodies working on issues of nonprolifera-tion, chemical weapons, small arms and light weapons andantipersonnel mines; the Economic and Social Council,committees and commissions working on the peaceful usesof outer space, sustainable development, AIDS, stem cells,cloning, and drug abuse; the International Civil ServiceCommission, the Pension Board, the Commission on theElimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women,the International Law Commission and groups dealing withcommercial law; the UN specialized agencies such as UNI-

CEF, UNDP (the UN Development Program) and UNEP(UN Environmental Program), drafting groups, bilateralnegotiations and press conferences. There is a wide rangeof subjects and themes, and interpreters constantly needto keep up with changing terminology. At formal meetingsthe interpreters may receive texts (and possibly translationsof these texts, which vary tremendously in quality), and atmost meetings they are given documents relevant to thetopic under discussion.

The interpreters also need to be fluent in anotherlanguage, or rather sub-language, namely UNese. Theinterpreter must be familiar with such UN favorite terms asimplements, urges, encourages, invites, reiterates, under-scores, deplores, deeply regrets, gratified, stakeholders,proactive, robust. Et cetera, ad infinitum.

The workload for permanent staff interpreters is 7 meet-ings a week, for a total of 21 hours; for freelance interpret-ers the average is 8 meetings a week, for a total of 24 hours.Most meetings take place between 10:00 and 1:00 and 3:00to 6:00, with a two-hour lunch break. Most of the UN docu-ment and terminology data banks are now easily availablein the six official languages, and interpreters often keeptheir laptops readily available for quick access to these.

Assignments to meetings are done by a program officer,working with a computerized system that calculates thenumber of meetings per interpreter and takes into accountthe interpreters various language combinations and prefer-ences. Interpreters can check their assignments through a

voicemail system and an Internet site.

In a sense, signing up with the UN means going toschool for life. Yes, the UN has its problems, including ahuge and cumbersome bureaucracy. Interpreters need iron

nerves. But they have ringside seats to international policydecisions and learn new things and terms every day. (Inaddition, they have the right to free language courses inall of the UN official languages.) They also meet extremelydedicated people, travel to conferences around the world,facilitate communication and see the instantaneous resultsof that communication. While this is not the job Nicole Kid-man made famous in the film The Interpreter, it is certainlya worthwhile and rewarding option for a simultaneousinterpreter with the appropriate language combinations.

A UN staff interpreter for more than twenty years, Lynn Visson

holds a Harvard PhD and taught Russian language and literature atColumbia University. She is now teaching interpretation and trans-

lation at MIIS in Monterey and in Moscow. Her many publications

on Russian language and culture, published in the US and Russia,

include works on Russian-English simultaneous interpretation,

Wedded Strangers: The Challenges of Russian-American Marriag-

es, and The Russian Heritage Cookbook. SlavFiles editors would

like to add that at the ATA conference in Orlando (2000) when our

scheduled Greiss lecturer had to cancel at the last minute, Lynn

stepped in and, on very little notice, gave one of our best Susana

Greiss lectures ever.

International Organizations


8/25


9/25

SlavFile Summer 2008Page


they can visit family or friends or do sightseeing after the

job is over.

S F : S h o u l d a n i n t e r p r e t e r b e i n g in t e r v ie w e d m a k e

i t exp l ic it t ha t h e o r she i s w i ll ing t o w or k u nd e r

less desirable conditions at rst in order to get

a foo t in t h e door ?

Again, we assign interpreters based on qualications,

and there are conditions that some interpreters considermore or less desirable.

S F : I s t h e r e a n y p a r t i cu l a r f o r m a t o f a r e s u m e / C V

t h a t m a k e s a b e t t e r im p r e s s io n a n d o p e n s t h e

d o o r fo r a n i n t e r vi e w?

We ask for resumes to nd the best match between a

particular job and the interpreters background. For this

reason, the more subject area expertise an interpreter lists

on a resume, the more likely we are going to consider him

or her for a job. Some interpreters provide a one-page re-

sume and then a supplement with a list of jobs they did. We

do not need to know particular clients or conferences, but

specic topics are important. Even if an interpreter works

only for a handful of major clients, it is still important for us

to see a list of specic topics he or she has worked on. We

look for a well rounded mix of certications, such as those

from state and federal courts or the State Department,

and membership in professional organizations, such as

ATA, NAJIT, AIIC, TAALS, and national organizations for

interpreters based outside of the United States. For some

of our contracts, we also require language prociency test

scores such as DLPT (Defense Language Prociency Test)

or equivalents. A good prole on websites like Proz.com

does not guarantee quality, but indicates the interpreters

commitment to the profession, especially with interpreters

in low-density languages, who do not make their living byinterpreting alone.

SF: D o you ha ve any t h i ng e l s e you w ou l d l ike t o

a d v is e o u r r e a d e r s a b o u t ?

Especially since we are in the business of helping people

communicate, it is important that interpreters communi-

cate with us about any potential issues that might affect

the job. For example, if an interpreter is going on vacation

and will be hard to reach before a job, we need to know

that, so we are not concerned that our email and voicemail

messages remain unanswered. We are happy to fax or mail

information to interpreters when they do not have access to

email, but in order for us to do that, the interpreters have tocommunicate.

Blanka Novotna, M.A., has worked as Interpreter Manager at ASET

International since 2004. She also specializes in recruiting linguists

in languages of lesser diffusion. She has a background in translat-

ing and interpreting Czech and is also fuent in Russian.

BLANKA NOVOTNA

As a result of a change in ATA policy, notica-tion that the newest SlavFile issue is available onour web site is no longer being sent directly toSLD members with some mention of our divisionin the subject line. Instead this information willbe made available in the ATA Notes, embedded,some might say buried, among other news ofinterest to ATA members and language profes-sionals in general. Chronically overloaded trans-lators and interpreters may fail (and as we have

learned, have failed) to open this message whileit is timely and may even miss out altogether onreading our increasingly stellar publication. Onesolution for such readers is simply to request apaper copy from headquarters. We have workedout a greener alternative solution and haveformed a Google Group that will be used to notify

HOW TO FIND OUT WHEN THE NEXT SLAVFILE ISSUE IS AVAILABLE

readers of SFs availability and possibly (but, wepromise, rarely) of other matters of specic inter-est to our membership. To request an invitationto join, please go tohttp://groups.google.com/group/ata-divisions-sld-slavle and follow directions. If you do nothave a Google account, you will have to open one.Unfortunately, because of ATA policy, this groupis only for ATA members. In addition we willbe posting news of an issues availability on the

Yahoo Russian Translators Yahoo Club, whichanyone can join. We will be pleased to post thisinformation on other groups suggested by readersas well. Finally, if you write to me [email protected] and ask, I will put you onmy own personal notication list.
http://groups.google.com/group/ata-divisions-sld-%20slavfilehttp://groups.google.com/group/ata-divisions-sld-%20slavfilehttp://groups.google.com/group/ata-divisions-sld-%20slavfilemailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://groups.google.com/group/ata-divisions-sld-%20slavfilehttp://groups.google.com/group/ata-divisions-sld-%20slavfile


10/25



So, youve got your driverslicense. Youre still a danger on theroad. With these words Profes-sor Mins opened our farewellceremony at ESIT (School ofInterpretation and Translation) atSorbonne University in Paris. The

fifteen of us, having just proven our worth in a highly com-petitive graduation examination, the culmination of yearsof endless interpretation drills, were taken aback. We feltinvincible. After all, hadnt we just gone through the trialsof arguably the most difficult and prestigious interpretationschool in the world? Hadnt the jury, consisting of the headsof the interpretation departments of international organiza-tionsour future employersapproved us as good to go?How could we possibly still be a danger on the road?

To this day I am grateful to Professor Mins for that shortlecture. While at the time I took it as a rebuke, that lecturehelped me to maintain and develop my interpreting skillsand become a professional. Now I feel that it is only fair toshare with my colleagues those few words of advice profes-sor Mins generously gave us. Not all of the exercises listed

below are a part of my daily routine, but I firmly believethat it is my loss when I slack off, as from my own experi-ence I know they are valuable.

I take it for granted that the readership ofSlavFile keepsabreast of the daily news in each of their working languages

by listening to the radio and reading the newspapers.

The exercises I list below are designed tofi

t into a busyinterpreters schedule and are easy to do on the go whenstranded at an airport or stuck in a hotel room. I have cometo think of these exercises as an interpreters stay in shaperoutine. They can be grouped into three categories, defined

by the goal they are intended to achieve. These goals are:maintaining an A language, enhancing a B language, andsharpening interpretation skills. (See the AIIC webpage fora definition of language combination and an explanation of

A, B, and C languages:www.aiic.net/ViewPage.cfm?page_id=1403)

Maintaining an A language

When living abroad it is not always easy to maintainnative crispiness and variety even in ones own mothertongue. Without this richness, however, it is impossible to

work at conference level, which sometimes requires ease atjuggling synonyms and the ability to produce scripted texton the fly. So, the first area requiring continuous work ismaintaining linguistic variety in ones A language. As it isimpossible to ever know a language fully, this is truly a bot-tomless quarry to mine.

Exerc i se 1. Pick an article from a newspaper or a maga-zine on a topic that you rarely read about or know littleabout. Read it very carefully, noticing all the words that youcant immediately and clearly define. Look up the defini-tions of the words that caused difficulty and write themdown in a special notebook that you should always have on

you. Read the article the second time aloud and notice allunusual or strange expressions that dont naturally roll off

your tongue. Repeat the expressions a few times; that waywhen you need to use them in a booth, they will come toyou effortlessly.

Exerc i se 2 . Choose a concept, such as grow or fearand write up a list of synonyms expressing different shadesof meaning for the concept. For example, for grow the listmay include develop, increase, inch up, climb, progress,expand, enlarge, etc. Sure, a thesaurus will produce a long

list of synonyms for you in a second, but you will hardly beable to consult one when in the booth.

Enhancing a B languageIf it can be said that there is no limit to developing

ones mother tongue, the same is doubly true for a foreignlanguageB or C. However, the exercises are different, asthey stress the development of different skills an interpreterneeds when using a B or a C language. For a B language, thefocus is on expression, while exercises for a C language aimto enhance immediacy of language comprehension.

Exerc i se 3 . The simplest things are sometimes theones that present the most difficulty. Take a printed ad

from a newspaper or a magazine in your A language. Findan advertisement of the same or similar product in your Blanguage. Carefully compare the two, noticing the creativesolutions found by copyeditors.

Exerc i se 4 . This is an exercise that is best done with acolleague or a willing friend. Take a well-written magazinein your B language. If your B language is English, I wouldsuggest the Economist. If your B is French, my choice isLe M onde Dip lom at iqu e. Ask your colleague to select adifficult paragraph about 3 to 5 sentences in length. Have

your colleague read the paragraph to you slowly 5 times.As you listen to the paragraph, try to memorize it as bestyou can. Then write down the paragraph from memory. Asyou compare what you wrote with the original, notice thedifferences. Things you didnt remember properly are your

weaknesses expressions with which youre unfamiliar orgrammatical structures with which youre not sufficiently atease. Put the article aside and ask your colleague to read itto you again once more. Write it down, paying attention tothe expressions that caused difficulty the first time. Repeatthe exercise as many times as needed to get it perfect.

Mental Pilates for InterpretersYulia Tsaplina


11/25



Sharpening interpretation skillsWith speakers rushing at 100 miles per hour, interpreta-

tion often becomes an extended tongue-twister. Shadowingmay help.

Exerc i se 5 . As you listen to the news on radio or TV,repeat everything the anchor says. Do this for 30 min-utes (the usual interpretation shift). As youre doing the

exercise, listen to yourself for clarity of pronunciation, andmake sure you pay attention to the meaning!

Exerc i se 6 . Sight translationa mode of interpretationin its own rightcan also be used to stay in shape. Out of allthe exercises on this list, this one is both the most difficultand the most useful. When youre doing a sight translationexercise, you should sound as if you were reading the text,although in a language different from the original. Dontallow yourself to slack off; as youre beginning to train, it is

better to select a shorter article and finish it than to selecta long one and abandon it after the first paragraph or stop

Ja nja an d her hu sban d, St ephen M. Dick ey , are Slav-Files Contr ibuting Editors for Bosn ian, Croatian andSerbia. A nat ive of Croatia, she served as a field inter-preter for the UN ICTY from 1994 to 1997, then accepted aposition as staf f in terp reter a nd t ra nsla tor a t The Hagu efr om 199 7 to 20 03.

One of the challenges interpreters face on a daily basisis the issue of ethics. Although the idea of a passive andinvisible interpreter has long been abandoned in favor ofa more discourse-based approach that recognizes the roleof interpreters as facilitators of communication, ethical de-mands for neutrality, impartiality and professional distanceare still the order of the day and rightfully so.

In the setting of international war crimes tribunals, theissue of ethics looms even larger and can present interpret-ers with formidable challenges. This is closely connected

with the nature of war crimes, which, since 1945, includecrimes against humanity. Representing the highest levelof criminal offence, these crimes are defined as large-scaleatrocities committed against a body of people rather thanindividuals. While most crimes tried in domestic courtsare committed by individuals against other individuals,crimes against humanity are committed against membersof a certain racial, ethnic or religious group. Interpreters

working for international criminal tribunals thus oftenhave more than a linguistic/cultural connection with eitherthe victim/witness or the perpetrator of the crime. Indeed,there is a great likelihood that, because of their own ethnic

background, interpreters will be part of the large body of

repeatedly searching for words. After you finish the sight-translation, go back to the sentences that sounded awkwardand find a more elegant way to express the idea.

Exerc i se 7. Attention-splitting or multi-tasking areat the very core of interpretation. Tune in to a meaning-ful radio show, pick a large number in the hundreds orthousands, and as you listen to the radio, count down fromthe number you picked in a loud voice. After about 10-15minutes, repeat the story from the radio show, trying toremember as many details as possible.

This list of exercises is by no means exhaustive, and I amsure there are many more that I havent thought of that areused by other professionals in the field. It would be helpfulif others submitted the drills theyfind useful to SlavFile, to

be published in a later issue. And I would be remiss if, inconclusion, I didnt stress again that the exercises are help-ful only to those who take the time to do them. Good luck,and see you in the booth!

Yuliya may be reached at www.nyc-interpreters.com

people who have been affected by the crimes in one way oranother. In some cases, their own family members, friends,or other people they know have been wounded, tortured orkilled if not by the perpetrator himself, then by the troopsor armies acting on his orders.

In the case of the United Nations International CriminalTribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (UN ICTY or HagueTribunal), all parties to the conflict had committed warcrimes. This created a situation where South Slavic in-terpreters who were hired to interpret at interviews with

victims and witnesses of war crimes or at trials of warcriminals could always be associated with one of the ethnicgroups involved in the conflict on the basis of their lastname, place of origin, or the variety of Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian they speak. Because of this, the ethical demandsplaced on interpreters were even greater, demanding highlevels of professional reserve as well as emotional staminaon a daily basis.

Emotional stamina is something that interpreters rarelytake into account when applying for jobs at internationalcriminal courts. Many are thus unprepared for the emotional strain that comes from prolonged exposure to harrowingstories of other peoples suffering. In some cases, this caneven lead to secondary trauma, also known as compassionfatigue, which is defined as the emotional residue of work-ing with people suffering from consequences of traumaticevents. What happens is that after prolonged exposure tostories describing the suffering of others, people helping the

victims of trauma (and interpreters fall into that category)

To Act or Not to Act: An Interpreters DilemmaJa nja Pa vetic-Dickey

MENTAL PILATES FOR INTERPRETERSContinued from page 10


12/25




begin internalizing some of the trauma themselves. Atpresent, secondary trauma is mostly discussed with respectto emergency personnel (firefighters, policemen, medicalprofessionals) and care workers (counselors, humanitarian

workers, clergy). Rarely is there any mention in this contextof interpreters who assist the aforementioned personnel in

war zones. However, the risk for interpreters is very realand should be included in the briefing of interpreters hiredfor such assignments. Until any official steps are taken

by institutions hiring interpreters, interpreters acceptingsuch assignments need to make sure that they are familiar

with the symptoms and causes of secondary trauma priorto going out on assignment. Another good way to avoidcompassion fatigue is to schedule short breaks betweenpotentially traumatizing assignments or ask to be reas-signed to a different type of interpretation if you notice that

you have become too emotionally involved. Not only canemotional involvement compromise the interpreters ability

to maintain professional distance and neutrality during anassignment, it can also cause job performance to suffer and,in extreme cases, cost an interpreter months in therapyafterwards.

Other situations that could pose unexpected complica-tions, with associated ethical or emotional challenges forinterpreters working for international criminal courts, are:1) The witness or the victim of the crime may identify theinterpreter with the perpetrator(s) on the basis of his/herethnic or religious background and mistrust the interpreter,refuse to testify, or become hostile to the interpreter duringthe interview/trial; 2) Despite the code of professional eth-

ics by which all interpreters working for the UN ICTY abide,when faced with indicted war criminals in up-close situa-tions, interpreters may become overwhelmed by a complexset of emotions beyond their control, i.e., fear, resentment,and/or aversion, and be forced to withdraw from the as-signment; 3) Investigators or trial attorneys working on acase may ask for an interpreter of the same ethnic back-ground as victims and witnesses in order to avoid alienatingthose capable of providing valuable information; 4) Victimsof rape, which was recognized as a war crime for the firsttime by the Hague Tribunal, may be too ashamed to discuss

what happened to them with an interpreter of the oppositesex and demand one of the same sex, or, because of thecultural stigma associated with rape in some societies, theymay refuse to talk to an interpreter of the same ethnic/re-ligious background and feel more comfortable with aninterpreter of a different ethnic background, as long as it isnot the same as that of the perpetrator; 4) Finally, indicted

war criminals on trial in The Hague may use the interpreteras an excuse to delay proceedings or to gain more time toprepare their defense by claiming that their rights as de-tainees have been violated because they cannot understandthe interpreter or that the interpreter is deliberately misin-terpreting the content of the trial because he or she belongs

to a different ethnic group. Finding an interpreter whomeets all the requirements for each and every interpretingassignment was obviously not an easy task. Not only wereinterpreting skills and experience an important criteria,things such as which version of Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian(B/C/S) they speakekavian orjekav iantheir ethnicity,

gender, and sometimes age were often equally importantfor ensuring smooth communication during an interview ortrial.

Another challenge for interpreters were the so-calledsuspect interviews, which lasted a long time (often morethan a day), were audio- and video-recorded, and some-times required close physical proximity between the inter-preter and the interviewee to ensure optimal audio condi-tions. The prepping of defendants for testimony, which wasat times conducted in small cubicles just outside the court-room, could also involve an uncomfortable proximity. Manyinterpreters who assisted in these situations reported that

they replayed such encounters with indicted war criminalsin their dreams afterwards.

Fear for ones own safety and the safety of ones familymembers was experienced more than once by interpreters

working for The Hague Tribunal. Field interpreters, whotraveled with investigation teams to areas of the former Yu-goslavia no longer affected by the fighting, were particularlyat risk, as the fighting was still going on in many other areasof the country when The Hague Tribunal began operating.Lack of physical comfort was also a common challenge forfield interpreters, who were often sent on missions to areasdevastated by the war and sometimes had to stay in ac-

commodations with no running water or electricity. Theirassignments took them to former detention centers, bar-racks or police stations, where traces of torture and recentfighting were still clearly visible. Interpreters with medical

backgrounds were sent to mass graves, where they assistedmedical examiners in their work. Even in such difficult con-ditions, they had to maintain the highest possible linguisticstandards as well as a well-groomed and professional ap-pearance, which was sometimes a challenge of its own.

There were many other situations in which field inter-preters working for The Hague Tribunal were presented

with ethical dilemmas to which there are no easy answers.

One interpreter unwittingly went to an interview only torealize that she had interpreted for the same family a few

years before when working for a different organization. Shewas demoralized to see the effect of years of refugee life onthe family, who were now being asked to repeat the wholestory yet again with no guarantees that those responsible

would soon be brought to justice. During the interview,details came to the surface of which there was no men-tion during the first interview. One involved a daughtersattempt to hold on to the memory of her detained father

AN INTERPRETERS DILEMMA


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by keeping his shirt unwashed so that she could still smellhim. At this point, the interpreter broke down in tearsand the interview had to be stopped. One could arguethat by allowing herself to become emotionally involvedin the interviewees experience, the interpreter violatedthe Interpreters Code of Ethics. However, because of the

interpreters prior experience with the family and her ownolfactory experience with her fathers shirts when he wasaway on business, a very personal connection was suddenlyestablished between the interpreter and the interviewee

without the interpreter being prepared for it. One couldtherefore say that the interpreters reaction, even if not inkeeping with the Interpreters Code of Ethics, was a normalhuman reaction triggered by something too intimate to bepredicted or prevented. This reflects the simple truth thatinterpreters are human just like everyone else. While theethical demands for truthfulness, accuracy and impartial-ity should by all means be the gold standard to which everyinterpreter must aspire, situations like the one describedcan never be completely avoided.

In another situation, an interpreter interpreted at an

interview between an old Bosnian man and a young female

attorney during which the attorney was asking very specific

questions to which she expected direct answers. However,

in the cultural tradition of Bosnians of an older genera-

tion, the man spoke in a storytelling manner, using long

sentences overflowing with detail but leaving the ques-

tions unanswered. Through the interpreter, the attorney

tried to explain to the witness the importance of obtaining

direct answers but was unsuccessful. Finally she tried to ask

questions in a yes or no manner, i.e., Did you or did younot? The interpreter interpreted, but the witness, not

having encountered this mode of communication before,

responded by giving even longer answers. He did so not

to be uncooperative, but to show the attorney that talking

to her was valuable to him. He responded the only way he

knew how, based on his own cultural presuppositions. The

attorney, who could only decode the mans conduct on the

basis of her own set of cultural codes, was beginning to show

signs of irritation. At this point, the interpreter realized that

communication between the witness and the attorney was

not progressing well and was indeed threatening to break

down. He knew this was because he was interpreting only

the witnesss words and not the cultural meaning of his

message. Strictly speaking, he was doing everything he was

supposed to according to the code of ethics, i.e., interpret-

ing only what was being said and not adding anything. Yet

it was clear from the situation that he was doing a poor job

facilitating communication between the two parties. The

ethical dilemma for this interpreter was: Should he continue

to interpret only the words as required by the code of ethics,

or should he intervene by adding a cultural message that

was likely to defuse the situation but at the same time would

represent a violation of the Interpreters Code of Ethics?

The easy answer is obviously that the interpreter shouldnot intervene but let the interviewer and the intervieweefigure it out by themselves. It is not the interpreters re-sponsibility to explain why either party is acting the waythey are; our task is only to interpret what is being said.The more difficult answer takes into consideration the fact

that communication is always a social as well as a linguisticact. Participants in communication are not machines nordo they behave as such. Communication does not prog-ress automatically or in a linear fashion; it is much more aprocess of trial and error with miscommunication occurringall the time. In fact, the only reason two speakers are able tocommunicate at all is because they each have a certain levelof accumulated cultural experience that enables them to de-code the linguistic codes that are being exchanged. Withoutthis cultural content, miscommunication would occur muchmore frequently than it does, even between two people whospeak the same language. In situations where two people

are trying to communicate over a linguistic barrier using aninterpreter, they also need to bridge a cultural gap, becauseas anyone who has ever tried to learn a foreign languageknows, linguistic knowledge is nothing but cultural knowl-edge encoded into a system we call language. People whodo not speak the same language often lack the culturalcontent shared by members of the same linguistic/culturalgroup. Interpreters are the only people who can help them

bridge that gap. However, as the above example illustrates,this cannot always be done by interpreting only the wordsthat are being said.

What, then, is an interpreter to do? To act or not to act

remains the eternal dilemma we all face as we go about ourdaily work. Our role is never easy, and the consequences ofour actions can affect many people in far-reaching ways. Inany interpreting situation, but especially those involving

vulnerable populations, interpreters are likely to face ethi-cal dilemmas to which there are no easy answers. The Inter-preters Code of Ethics demands from us that we only inter-pret words and do not intervene in communication, and weshould embrace it as such because it shields us from takingresponsibility that is not ours to take. However, there willalways be extreme situations that are not covered by therules, in which interpreting only what is being said withoutthe cultural content will not be enough. When two speakers

who are trying to communicate have reached a dead endbecause of a lack of cultural knowledge that the interpretercan provide, taking an active role by supplementing thatcultural knowledge or incorporating it into the message thatis being communicated may be justified as long as it is donesolely in the interest of facilitating communication and withabsolute impartiality and respect to both parties.

Janja can be reached [email protected].


AN INTERPRETERS DILEMMA


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Continued on pag e 15

IntroductionThe collapse of the Soviet Union and of the Soviet-domi-

nated Eastern Bloc, as well as of Yugoslavia, has provided

an object lesson on how political and socioeconomicchanges may determine linguistic landscapes.

An important factor during the emergence of the newindependent countries was the desire to reverse languagepolicies that fostered language discrimination and wereincompatible with the linguistic diversity and multilingual-ism actively promoted in the European Union as essentialcomponents of the continents multicultural heritage.

Since Ukraines independence in 1991, there has beenongoing interest in the countrys linguistic shifts. Manysuch discussions lead nowhere because the use of languageas the sole criterion accounting for recent linguistic trends

has proved problematic and as confusing as Ukraines tur-bulent history.

The Ukrainian language had been under attack forcenturies, and its legitimacy has been questioned. Sincelanguage is the key to learning and is generally an inher-ent component of individual and group identity, its lossthreatens ethnic identity, promotes historical amnesia, andmay lead to anomie with its devastating sequelae on people

whose destiny is not in their own hands. Such has been thehistorical fate of the Ukrainians.

So what is the language situation like in Ukraine today?Despite some vehement opposition from the entrenched

old guard, Ukrainian is undergoing a revival in a pluralisticsociety, a phenomenon that is one of the key indicators ofdemocratization.

Historical AntecedentsIn 1667 Poland and Russia divided Ukraine between

them to guarantee eternal peace, and Tsar Aleksei calledfor the burning of Ukrainian books and prescribed thedeath penalty for anyone printing them. This set the stagefor centuries of cultural repression and Russification, withthe Ministry of Internal Affairs going so far as to issue acircular in 1863 decreeing that there never was, is not, and

cannot be a Ukrainian people or a Ukrainian language.Ironically, job postings for censors continued to requireknowledge of Ukrainian.

The net result of such measures was that by 1897 lit-eracy in Ukraine had fallen to 13%. By contrast, in the 18thcentury, the level of general education had been a source ofpride for Ukrainians, with one elementary school per 764inhabitants. And in the 17th century Paul of Aleppo, a wide-ly-traveled chronicler, marveled that in Ukraine everyoneor almost everyone, including most women and girls, canread... even the orphans receive instruction...

The Current Language Situation in Ukraine:Some Historical Background

Rom an B. W orobec

Finally, in 1905, the Russian Imperi-al Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg

intervened in defense of the Ukrainianlanguage. The academy declared thatUkrainian was a mature, independentlanguage and condemned the scorn-ful attitude to the language as havinga most grievous effect on the moralconstitution of the Ukrainian people.

Soviet Language Politics in the 1920s and -30sAfter a decade or so of considerable tolerance of the

Ukrainian language, the Soviet government reversedits stance and by 1933 extreme repression and terror inUkraine set in, including a forced famine. Some 80% ofUkrainian intellectuals, including most linguists, perishedin the 1930s, and what cultural life Ukrainians were allowedin Russia was extinguished.

Concomitantly, a policy was implemented to Russifythe language as much as possible. Some easily perceivedexamples of orthographic changesbased on words ingeneral European useinvolved the conversion of femininenouns to masculine, or elimination of the feminine form ifthe two coexisted, e.g., to (fleet), to (idiot), / to (vitamin), to (atlas), to (role), to

(dialysis), / to (diagnosis),/ to /, then to (hall).

Other improvements called for so-called onomato-poetic adjustments to (socialism), to (imperialism), etc. In addi-tion, use of the vocative case was discouraged, some wordsunderwent phonemic alterations, and the grapheme for thehard g sound, , was abolished.

Such manipulations also favored the spread of vari-ous varieties ofsurzhyk, a Ukrainian-Russian languagemlange that arose in the mid-19th century in Ukrainianmarketplaces as an attempt to emulate bureaucratic speech

The issue ofsurzhykoriginally a millers term for flourmade of a grain mixbecame so sensitive that for a timethe word itself was banned from dictionaries.

Demographic Changes in the 20th CenturyBetween 1918 and 1945 Ukrainian population losses

approached 20 million as a result offighting related to theBolshevik Revolution, the independence struggle, wholesalegenocide and World War II. A team headed by a Frenchdemographer found that in 1933, at the height of Soviet


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Continued from page 14UKRAINIAN LANGUAGE

repression, life expectancy at birth in Ukraine fell to 10years for females and 7 for males (Vallin J, et al., PopulStud(Camb). Nov. 2002;56(3):249-63).

During World War II Ukraines loss of populationexceeded that of either Russia or Germany in absolutenumbers and, as the American journalist Edgar Snow noted

in the January 27, 1945 issue of the Saturday Evening Post,No single European country has suffered deeper wounds toits cities, its industry, its farmlands and its humanity thanUkraine. After the war, deportations and purges continuedto take their toll, although not on such a massive scale.

This horrific loss of life placed the survival of the Ukrai-nian nation, its language and culture at serious risk.

Post-World War II Soviet Language andEducational Policies

After World War II Soviet language policies aimed at

creating Russian linguistic hegemony across the USSR wereintensified. The percentage of Ukrainian-language general-education schools fell from 85% in 1961 to about 14% in1989. By the end of the 1960s only 61% of the students inUkraines institutions of higher learning were Ukrainians,and a secret order issued in 1974 limited local Ukrainians to25% or less of the freshman class at universities in WesternUkraine where the Ukrainian language predominated inurban use. Print runs of Ukrainian-language publications,and the number of titles published, were constantly beingcut back, while those in Russian kept increasing.

There was also a rapid increase in the number of pre-

school institutions teaching Russian, including kindergar-tens and nursery schools, a development that was a muchmore serious threat to Ukrainian than requiring universitydissertations to be in Russian.

The net result of these policies was that millions ofUkrainians reached adulthood without any formal educa-tion in Ukrainian, or only the bare minimum. The futureof the Ukrainian language was clearly in doubt becauseeducational and professional success often depended onproficiency in and/or preference for Russian, and Ukraini-an was definitely the low language in the state-sponsoreddiglossia.

The Linguistic Profile todayAlthough Ukrainian still remained the native language

for the majority on the eve of independence in 1991, asignificant portion of ethnic Ukrainians were Russified asto language and, across the board, Russian was the domi-nant vehicle of communication except in Western Ukraine,

which had escaped the worst of Soviet linguacidal practices.With independence, previously repressed Ukrainian andother ethnic languages in Ukraine have begun to come intotheir own, but it is often a rocky road with old-style officials

and certain entrepreneurs resisting the use of Ukrainianand other ethnic languages (other than Russian, that is).

Some statistics should help clarify what is going on: inthe 2001 census, 67.5% of the population gave Ukrainianas their native language (a 2.8% increase over 1989), while77.8% identified themselves as Ukrainians by nationality.Russian was given as the native language by 29.6% (a 3.2%decrease from 1989). In 1924, 95% of the Ukrainians hadidentified Ukrainian as their native language, and even in

1959 that percentage still stood at 87%.Today Ukrainian is the only official state language and

policies have been implemented to broaden its use. Educa-tion has become overwhelmingly Ukrainian, and Ukrainianis gaining ground in the media and commerce. Althoughthe percentage of Russians in the population has fallen to16.5%, about 23% of the schools are still Russian. Most im-portantly, these transitions lacked most of the vehemenceand controversies that de-Russification evoked in someother former Soviet Republics.

It is very important to understand that language in

Ukraine is not a marker of ethnic identity, and that themajority of Russophones in Ukraine are ethnic Ukrainians.While Western commentators often speak of a bilingualUkraine, a more realistic picture is that the populationactually consists of three groups: approximately one thirdare primarily Ukrainophone, another third Russophone,and a final third bilingual and tend to list Ukrainian as theirnative language.

The Russian language still dominates the print mediain most of Ukraine and private radio and TV broadcasting.The state-controlled broadcast media became Ukrainian

but have had little influence because of their low quality.

There are few obstacles to the usage of Russian in com-merce, and it is still occasionally used in the governmentaffairs.

ConclusionThe prestige and viability of the Ukrainian language was

compromised by prejudicial Soviet language policies, mas-sive population losses, and repression of language profes-sionals. Millions of Ukrainians reached adulthood withoutformal or merely rudimentary education in Ukrainian, andUkrainian was accorded the low language status in theprevalent diglossia. Current trends indicate that the respec-tive roles of Ukrainian and Russian are changing as linguis-

tic democratization and national consolidation advance,and human rights become entrenched.

R.B. Worobec, our Contributing Editor for Ukrainian, received his

doctorate in immunology from Tulane University Medical School in

New Orleans. After a stint as a medical researcher and educator,

he switched to biomedical information management at the Library

of Congress in Washington, DC and freelances as a medical editor,

translator, and lexicographer. He can be reached at:

[email protected]


16/25


SLAVFILE LITE: NOT BY WORD COUNT ALONELy dia R azran St one


Let us start with some very goodnews for those of us who work withRussian. With the help of Lynn

Visson, contributor to and friendof our publication and member ofthe Editorial Board of, a

counterpart ofSlavFile published inRussia by R. Valent, we are workingout an informal collaboration agree-ment between the two journals.This should entail: 1) eventually

a path by which our readers and those in the U.S. in gen-eral can subscribe to. (If you havent heard of thisRussian publication, it may well be because it is virtuallyimpossible to get hold of a copy on U.S. soil.); 2) an invita-tion (see below) for our readers to submit English and Rus-sian articles for publication in and for reprinting ofprevious SlavFile articles in its pages (with authors permis-

sion of course); 3) the chance to print new and previouslypublished articles by contributors in our pages.Indeed, in an upcoming issue we plan to reprint an excel-lent article on the differences between Russian and Englishpunctuation written by Natalia Shahova, who in our springissue wrote about her experiences translating the Englishpunctuation overviewEats, Shoots & Leaves ; 4) other op-portunities to be determined.

Below is the announcement submitted to us by R. Valentand some excerpts from a letter they sent us. It will benoted that the date they give for submissions for Septemberis August 10. Given SlavFiles typical publication delay, this

deadline is likely to be meetable only by those who alreadyhave articles ready to go. We assume that submissions tolater issues are also welcomed.

Slav-File .

3 (2008 .) 10 2008 .

(. ) e-mail: [email protected]

.

, Slav-File. .

, .

, , , -. ,, , , . (, , .). , , ().

, ,

. , , , . , SlavFile . -.

***

For those of you who do not recognize this column with-out my random ramblings, here are a few.

I have been spontaneously calledLid ochka by Russian

speakers all my life. No less now than when I was veryyoung. Even in situations where others are not addressedwith the most diminutive of diminutives. I never thoughtto wonder much about this and, if anything, found it ratherflattering. I did that is, until I read the following in aNewYorkerstory, The Repatriate, by Sana Krasikov. Herfriend had been going by Lidochka, not Lida, all her lifealittle girls name that had followed her into her forties be-cause of her gentleness and her reputation for being shorton common sense. Oh well, why try to argue when the shoefits, and gentle is certainly a good thing to be.

Last month some time, The Wa shington Postran a

photograph of Dmitry Medvedev at a post-inaugurationservice conducted by the Patriarch of the Russian Ortho-dox Church. The photo gave me a whats wrong with thispicture? feeling, and I kept trying to figure out why. I moreor less ruled out the hypothesis that I that I was not usedto seeing pictures of Russian authorities in churches. I

wasnt, but felt sure there was something more underlyingmy sense of discordance. Finally I figured it out. I had never

before seen a picture of a modern Russian official in a suitthat actuallyfit him well.


17/25


18/25


It is common knowledge that the use of English articleshas always presented a problem for native speakers ofRussian. No matter howfluent and competent they are inEnglish, they are never sure which article to use. Definiteor indefinite? Article or no article? In the majority of situ-ations, rules seem impossible to apply. Intuition does not

work either. When you grow up speaking Russian, intu-itions about articles are hard to come by and frequently

wrong.

Linguists explain this phenomenon by pointing to thefact that Russian does not have the grammatical categoryof definiteness. In English, definiteness, or its cognitivecorrelate identifiability, is formally associated with nominalphrases (NP) via contrast between definite and indefinitearticles and the absence of an article. Markers of definite-ness signal whether or not the referent of the NP is as-

sumed by the speaker to be identifi

able to the addressee.Through the NP, the speaker can indicate whether thereferent is specific, general, whether it is being mentionedfor the first time or has already been mentioned, whether itis unique, one of a class, etc.

In Russian, identifiability is not grammaticalized, soRussian does not have articles. Of course, this does notmean that speakers of Russian are not familiar with theconcept of identifiability. There are lexical and syntactical

ways to express the status of referents in terms of identifi-ability: word order, the indefinite particle -, the demon-strative pronouns , , number /, etc.

Theoretical explanation definitely helps Russian speak-ers feel better about their article mistakes, justifying theirinevitability. But, sadly, it provides little practical help.

There are certainly rules of article usage in every Englishtextbook, but they are usually out-dated and do not coverall the variety of language usage on all its levels. The casesthat do not fall under any of the categories specified forarticle usage, such as specific/general, countable/uncount-able, mentioned for the first time/subsequent, unique/oneof a class, etc., are abundant and designated as exceptions.Unfortunately, there seem to be more exceptions than casesthat conform to the general rules.

In the light of all these difficulties, the Russian-speakingmembers of the SLD, in particular, welcomed Lydia Stoneand Vladimir Kovners presentation, which summarized theresults of their study of the use of English articles by Rus-sian speakers of English. Typical errors were identified, an-alyzed, and explained, and tips for correct usage of articles

were provided. In addition to giving general instructions onwhat to focus your attention on when choosing the article,the presenters provided very detailed description of theinstances of article use with particular words and phrases,something I have not seen in any English textbook so far.

The following ideas and suggestions were the most valu-able for me:

1) I absolutely agree that guidance that relies on dis-tinguishing the general from the specific is very

misleading. For example, the rules tell us to use thewith NPs that are identified as specific. There are manyinstances, however, when an indefinite article may beused to identify both specific and non-specific referentsnamed by the noun.

In the sentence,I am look ing for a book, the indefinitearticle may signal either an identifiable or non-identifiablereferent, as shown by the following anaphoric references:Ifoun d it. I found the book I w as look ing for. (specific) orIfound one. I foun d a book . (non-specific).

2) The explanation of how to use articles with NPs thatinclude modifiers (descriptive adjectives, quantifiers

expressed by pronouns, numbers and nouns) was veryhelpful indeed. I expect many Russian speakers of Eng-lish habitually make mistakes in phrases like a hundredtimes or a thousand ru bles (erroneously assuming thearticles should agree with the words times or rubles,

which are in the plural).

3) The presentation threw considerable light on how to usearticles with abstract nouns. Situations with abstractnouns can also be viewed as specific or non-specific.Rules in textbooks usually advise us not to use articles

with abstract nouns, but, as the following examplesdemonstrate, this is not always correct.

Tim e is fly ing. v. What w as the tim e when the accidentoccurred? v. We had a great tim e in Russia.

I very much liked the approach to presenting tips in sep-

arate sections like W hen do we use no (0) article. orAr ticle

Rules for Nam es. I find this layout very useful for practical

use as a reference. And last but not least, a very attractive

feature of this presentation was the fact that the study was

conducted jointly by a native English and a native Russian

speaker. In my opinion, this makes the work even more

valuable and reliable, since it helps to avoid possible ambi-

guities and misunderstandings in processing the research

data. I would highly recommend considering it for publica-

tion for the benefit of many Russian students of English.

Note: all the material from this presentation is availableon SLDs pages on the ATA website:www.ata-divisions.org/SLD/resources.htm Click on the link to For the imperfectlyarticulate.

Elena Bogdanovich Werner is currently a professor, freelance trans-

lator and court certified interpreter in the states of Oregon and

Washington. She earned her Ph.D in Linguistics from Moscow Ped-

agogical University and has thirty years of experience in teaching

as well as in translating, editing and interpreting. She is a former

administrator of the Slavic Languages Division and can be reached

at [email protected]

CONFERENCE PRESENTATION REVIEWTips for the Imperfectly Articulate

Presented by Ly dia Stone and Vladim ir Kovner, ATA An nual Conference, San Francisco, Novem ber 200 7Rev iew ed by Elen a Bogda nov ich-W erner
http://ata-divisions.org/SLD/resources.htmhttp://ata-divisions.org/SLD/resources.htmhttp://ata-divisions.org/SLD/resources.htmhttp://ata-divisions.org/SLD/resources.htmhttp://ata-divisions.org/SLD/resources.htm


19/25


I am not sure what I was expecting from--, -, but it certainly was not what I discovered

when I opened the book and flipped through its pages. Aftermyfirst glance, the only word that came to my mind wasthe Russian , i.e. amateurishness. Thisdictionary was not compiled by a team of lexicographers,

but by one person, and I am sorry to say that this definitely

shows. But things only got better (or I suppose I should sayworse) as I looked at this dictionary in more detail.

First, I could not help but question the title itself.? The dictionary contains about 2,000 entries. Iam not sure about the conventions and exactly how manyentries a dictionary needs in order to be called ,

but I have checked some of the biggest dictionaries I havein my personal library (about 200,000 words each), andnone of them boasts of being comprehensive. Second, theauthor uses the term . Theoriginal term that has long been used in Russian linguis-tics and lexicography is ,

or (words that sound and/orlook similar in Russian and English, but have differentmeanings). Pakhotin does not explain why he has chosen tochange the adjective here, but he often follows his new term

by the original term in parentheses: (). Since the meanings of these twoadjectives are virtually the same, this does not seem to addanything to the original term, but only makes it more cum-

bersome. Finally, even the term (dictionary) justdoes not seem right here. This work seems more like a col-lection of the authors notes, poorly structured and at timeshighly subjective, with complicated cross-referencing.

Often what Pakhotin includes in his entries are simplyhis observations of mistranslations made by one or moretranslators, without regard to their frequency. For example,the Arabian Nights entry in the English-Russian part ofthe dictionary reads as follows: ,, . , , .--

-, -

Rev iew ed by Elen a M cDon nell

Dictionary Review

A u t h o r : Alexander PakhotinPu blis h er : (Moscow)

Pu b l ica t ion Da t e : 2006Pr i ce : $20.45 at Eastview.com,92 rubles at Bolero.ruISBN: 5980350128N u m b e r o f P a ge s : 303

,, -.. (sic) (p. 19).

I am also always suspicious ofbooks on languages that are full ofmisspellings and punctuation errors.

And these are abundant in Pakhotinsdictionary, which also includes some factual errors. Forexample, the author explains the Russian () as (p. 18). But by far my favorite mistakein this dictionary is the authors comment on the wordchest: ,

. . :. , chest -, . , (-) (sic) (p. 35). Even the original song here is quotedincorrectly (the correct version is --!), not tomention the fact that his main point is mistaken. (Editorsnote: Dead Mans Chest is evidently neither a receptacle nora p

slavfile 2008 3 summer

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