6.2. Requirements to interpretation adequacy

1. Precision, scrupulosity and even formalism or pedantry, punctilio of interpretation. One should be especially accurate following the principle of “nothing to delete, nothing to add”, even at the expense of form (style). As it is known in written translation the translator is an author’s competitor (contestant, rival), and oral interpretation – obedient and humble slave, serving his master (principal), the one you interpret for.

2. Panic – the worst enemy of an interpreter. Don’t give up before the text; don’t lose control, if something unknown appears, or something you don’t understand. Try “to see the forest behind the trees”, to grasp general meaning, after all to guess, what it was all about. Render the main plot, and you may omit secondary information – later on you may add or correct by yourselves, as the meaning misunderstood first time, will make clear in the course of the talk. Therefore it is more expedient to interpret longer utterances, because it is easier to grasp what is spoken about, understand the context and logic of the statement (proposition) development.

3. Clear and beautiful “packing-up” of interpretation as regards grammar (word order), vocabulary, style (correct selection of words) and in intonation. Interpretation should have the beginning and the end, inner logic, if possible it should be better, more logical, better well-shaped than original. It is possible because with experience you acquire a skill to edit to some extent the initial information towards perfection (excellence).

Recommendations:

a) Don’t start interpretation from subordinate clauses, interrogative words, interjections like “well”, “ok”, “that”, “you know”, “because”, etc.

b) Don’t break off the sentence on half-way, not completed grammatically and intonationally. Sum up, putting to dot literally and figuratively.

c) Always have in store general phrases, parenthesis, appropriate for all cases.

d) Try to start the utterance from the adverbial modifiers of time and place or parenthesis. Have them ready: actually, in fact, as a matter of fact, it will be recalled, I would say that, etc. They will give you at least half a second for thinking over, help to avoid speech rubbish.

4. The time which the interpretation takes, should be almost equal to the time which takes the original portion. It is a wild situation, when after a long emotional speech the interpreter pronounces somehow only three phrases. Not less strange when three quiet sentences are followed by a lengthy tirade. Both give rise to doubts as to adequacy of interpretation and qualification or honesty of the interpreter.

Still the length of interpretation into English may get shortened by 30-40% due to its conciseness and compactness, and into Ukrainian – to enlarge (extend) by 20-30% due to its bulkiness and descriptivism. It’s undesirable to surpass this figure.

The situations are possible when you are asked to render only the essence of utterance or give you freedom for maneuvering (“you know how to say better!”), if your client fully relies on your knowing language and traditions, customs and culture of the country, as well as psychology of partners.

5. Unclear in original remains unclear in interpretation. And it’s not good in this case to take the mission of an editor upon oneself. Another thing is to explain things which might seem unclear to the interlocutor, but you should do it tactfully (delicately) and carefully, the communication situation taken into consideration.

It might happen that the client makes inaccuracy or ambiguity, as if sounding out the reaction of his partner, or with some other purpose. In these cases you will hardly undertake the risk to make things clear (to put things right; to clarify something and as the English say “to dot I’s and cross the t’s”.

If the thought is totally unclear or you are not in control of the topic, say, microsurgery or off-shore legislation, but know the terms and can pick up synonyms, then you should interpret practically word-for-word, literally, without paying attention to the meaning. Experts will almost likely understand familiar terms and will be thankful to you for help in understanding semantic connections among them (modality).

6. Interpretation is made from the first person, because, first, indirect speech enlarges and makes interpretation heavier, and in English the problem of Sequence of Tenses emerges, second, in Russian it is impolite to speak about the person present in the third person, third, it looks rather unprofessional (amateurish). Besides in the third person it is a custom to interpret only the interrogation of a prisoner of war (a spy).

7. Pay special attention to the modality of statement, i.e. its relation with the reality. You should distinguish Past, Present and Future forms. It’s extremely important and at the same time very difficult phenomenon in interpretation process, e.g.: in rendering the shadows of the meaning in: may-might, can-could, should, ought to, to be to, would, must, etc.

8. It’s desirable to preserve international words in interpretation, if sure these are not “false friends of the interpreter”, as the people who receive the translation almost always listen to the original, trying to grasp the meaning on the basis of words familiar to them, terms, proper words, etc., even if they don’t know the foreign language. Therefore your translation will make a pleasant impression on the receiver of information, if he hears: structure, sector, trader, broker, etc. This will attach more trustworthiness to your translation; strengthen reliability to you, moreover if your client to some extent knows foreign language.

Special issue is “false friends of interpreter”, i.e. the words, having almost similar sounding in Ukrainian and English, but having different, often opposite meaning: complexion – колір обличчя, pathetic – жалюгідний, dramatic – вражаючий, meeting – зустріч, aggressive – наполегливий, амбіційний.

Below there is a list of frequently used “false friends of interpreter” which should be paid special attention to while interpreting:

A

accord – згода, одностайний (не тільки акорд)

accurate – точний (не тільки акуратний)

agitator – підбурювач (не тільки агітатор)

alley – провулок (не тільки алея)

Alsatian – німецька вівчарка (не тільки ельзаський)

amber – бурштин (не амбра)

ammunition – боєприпаси (не амуніція)

angina – стенокардія (не ангіна)

arc – дуга (не арка)

artist – художник

B

ball – м’яч (не бал)

balloon – повітряна куля (не балон)

band – стрічка, музикальна група (не банда)

brilliant – блискучий (рідко брильянт, діамант)

C

cabin – хатина (не кабіна)

cabinet – шухляда, комора, вітрина (не кабінет)

camera – фотоапарат (не тюремна камера)

cataract – водоспад (не тільки катаракта)

(to) champion – підтримувати (не бути чемпіоном)

chef – шеф-повар (не шеф чи шофер)

circulation – наклад газети (не тільки циркуляція)

cistern – бак, бачок унітазу (не цистерна)

clay – глина (не клей)

climax – найвища точка, кульмінація (не клімакс)

cloak – плащ (не клоака)

compositor – синтезатор (не композитор)

conductor – диригент (не тільки кондуктор)

corpse – труп (не корпус)

D

data – дані (не дата)

decade – десятиліття (не декада)

decoration – орден, відзнака, прикраса (не декорація)

Dutch – голландський (не датський)

E

engineer – машиніст (не тільки інженер)

F

fabric – тканина (не фабрика)

fraction – дріб, доля, порція (не тільки фракція)

figure – креслення, цифра (не тільки фігура)

film – плівка (не тільки фільм)

G

gallant – хоробрий, звитяжний (не тільки галантний)

genial – добрий (не геніальний)

gymnasium – спортивна зала (не гімназія)

H

honor – честь, обов’язок (не гонор)

I

instruments – вимірювальні пристрої (рідше інструменти)

intelligence – розум, інтелект; розвідка (не інтелігенція)

L

lily of the valley – конвалія (не лілія долини)

(to) liquidize – перетворювати в рідину (не ліквідувати)

list – список (не лист)

M

magazine – журнал (не магазин)

mark – мітка, пляма (не марка)

matron – старша медсестра, кастелянша (не тільки матрона)

mayor – мер міста (не майор)

monitor – староста класу (не тільки монітор)

multiplication – розмноження, примноження (не мультиплікація)

N

number – число, кількість (не тільки номер)

O

officer – чиновник, службова особа (не тільки офіцер)

P

partisan – прибічник, прихильник (не тільки партизан)

prospect – перспектива (не проспект)

(to) pretend – прикидатися, робити вигляд (не тільки претендувати)

production – виробництво (не тільки продукція)

professor – викладач вузу взагалі (не тільки професор)

R

(to) realize – чітко уявляти, розуміти (не тільки реалізувати)

(to) rationalize – пояснювати (не тільки раціоналізувати)

record – запис, звіт (не тільки рекорд)

replica – точна копія (не репліка)

resin – смола (не резина)

S

satin – атлас ( не сатин)

sodium – натрій ( не сода)

spectacles – окуляри (не спектаклі)

speculation – роздуми, припущення, здогад (не тільки спекуляція)

spinning – ткацтво (не тільки спінінг)

stamp – марка (не тільки штамп)

stool – табуретка (не стілець)

T

talon – кіготь (не талон)

tax – податок (не такса)

tender – ніжний (не тільки тендер)

tent – палатка (не тільки тент)

terminus – кінцева зупинка (не термін)

trap – капкан, пастка (не трап)

trace – слід (не траса)

trek – похід (не трек)

troop – загін, ескадрон (не труп і не трупа)

tunic – солдатська куртка (не туніка)

turkey – індичка (не турецький)

U

uniform – постійний, однаковий (не тільки формений)

urn – електричний самовар (не тільки урна)

urbane – ввічливий (не міський, урбаністичний)

utilize – використовувати (не тільки утилізувати)

V

vacuum – пилосос (не тільки вакуум)

valet – лакей, камердинер (не валет)

velvet – бархат (не вельвет)

venerable – шановний (не венеричний)

verse – вірші (не версія)

vice – порок, лещата (не тільки віце-)

vine – виноградна лоза (не вино)

virtual – фактичний (не віртуальний)

9. To maintain neutrality, candor, equity, and objectivity in translation. Interpreter must not manifest his sympathy or antipathy with any of the sides, neither in intonation, nor lexically, showing his attitude to this or that problem but clearly, in essence and to the point render information to a receiver.

In translating public speeches one may allow slightly step aside (deviate from) from the neutral intonation, as if under influence of emotional tension of the speaker.

And visa versa, during negotiations it is acceptable to keep one’s friendly indifference, as if smoothing the emotional drops of the participants.

10. Pragmatic aspect – i.e. the evaluation of the situation and taking it into consideration (atmosphere of communication), conduct of the receivers of information (audience), their knowledge of language, general educational level, age, profession, etc. You should remember, that when working with professionals, experts you may use familiar terms – they will take the hint and be quick in the uptake, catching the meaning at once. Another case is an unprepared audience – it is desirable here to interpret more intelligible, lucid and easy to understand, in a simple way, to explain something in the course.

11. It’s impermissible to demonstrate the “kitchen of translation”, it is necessary to avoid such expressions and words as: не зрозумів, як це (?);ой, я забув; далі не пам’ятаю; вилетіло з голови; щось там ще…; але…;отже; взагалі; коротше; як би це краще сказати; він має на увазі; може я не так зрозумів; мовляв; мені здається; суть в тому, що…; нарешті (тепер) все стало ясно, etc. Nobody cares, nobody is interested in your mood, ability to get concentrated and cope with excitement and stress. Translation should not be a “half-finished product”, but a ready, beautifully packed intellectual product, ready for immediate use.

12. Don’t question, discredit, or impeach the information received, don’t analyze it from your own point of view, try not to lose your way, get confused, get inconsistent, not to lose the meaning and the main idea. Take what they give and translate as quickly as possible!