An embarrasing day
By XoyyoX
@XoyyoX (1055)
China
February 18, 2009 5:05am CST
I teach English however my school dean asked me to interpret for some French students. Sounds wired, huh? My dean told me that the students can speak English. An interpreter was supposed to translate Chinese into French for them, but for some reason, the interpreter would arrive late, so it's "lucky" me to replace her for a moment. The interpretation took place in a city planning exhibition center, and i haven't done any preparation work, my job is to translate a Chinese guide's Chinese into English verbally and simutaneously, guess what, a houseful of new jargons come to my mind, i don't even know the meaning of the source language, my brain got stuck and refused to work any more. and a few of those French students seemed to understand what i said, but some of them looked puzzled, and I blamed myself. Not all the French studients know much English, so some French students that know better English have to translate my English (not accurate, i guess duo to the jargons) into French, though i know some french, but it's beyond my ability to communicate with the students.
What a confusing way of communication! fortunately, the Chinese interpretor who speaks French natively came, I was rescued, LOL.
Am I a good interpreter? NO, I feel kinda guilty for the poor translation, at that time I dreamed to be good French speaker, but I'm not. What if I know French as well as my English. Never too old to learn French! LOL
2 responses
@zhuhuifen46 (3483)
• China
18 Feb 09
I understand your concern, actually I met similar problems when I first worked with my boss, a German. After three years, I learned a lot from him and his english improved quite a lot.
In your case, do not show your frustration in any cases. Keep a shiny mood and bright face. No use to complain about french english, if your boss does not know english. Have some patience, and make friends with them. In due time, things will improve.
On your part, you need to get used to english of different accents, which might be a necessity in this world of global communication. Good luck.
@jonesy123 (3948)
• United States
1 Mar 09
Lol, been there, done that. It does feel really embarrassing, doesn't it? I can't believe they put you on the spot like that. But rest assured that the French students were probably okay with the double translating, lol. You are right, many of them are not necessarily fluent in French. But also, even if you would have known French, it's not always easy to quickly translate stuff, especially, if new terms come into play. I have trouble to translate to my native language at times.
But, you are right, it's never too late to learn a new language;)
