Interpreters and Subject Matter Expertise

Interpreters are often the least knowledgeable person in a meeting on a particular subject. This is even more true when the interpreter is a freelancer and not an in-house employee.

I am currently on a multi-day assignment involving an security solutions provider training one of their client’s security team on how to use their product. At each session, the presenter focuses on different features of the solution, guide the client team through hands-on demos, and addresses any questions. Again, me and my virtual booth partner are in a virtual room full of security experts whose collective experience in the field probably expands more than a century.

Two 82-page decks - one in English, another in Korean - of an overview of the security solution was shared with me three days before the assignment began. Let me just say that it is extremely rare that you receive preparation material in both languages, which saves the interpreter hours of looking up terminology when the translation is done right. I felt incredibly thankful to be given this resource ahead of time. It was the only resource I could rely on to prepare for the assignment, as the solution is not open to the public for viewing or testing. Special credentials are provided for access, and that was only shared with the provider’s client, not to the interpreters.

In the middle of Q&A, it struck me how wild it was that these people who have studied and worked in the industry for probably five years at the minimum (assuming four years in college + experience), were relying on interpreters who have no experience or in-depth knowledge of the matter, to effectively communicate, problem-solve, and understand what they were saying and the intentions behind those words. How to onboard a device onto a portal, assign security roles, limit access, analyze alerts and signals… Fortunately, it seems that my partner and I are doing our job, as the instructor and participants are able to communicate and understand each other so far. “Fortunate” is how I feel when I complete any day’s job. So much miscommunication can happen in an in-person, monolingual meeting that I feel like people understanding each other in multiple languages, a world away from each other seems like a small miracle, every single time.

It is a blessing that the Korean equivalent for a lot of tech terms are borrowed from the English. But while I am interpreting enterprise security this week, I will be interpreting international security next week where close to none of the terms are the same in Korean in English. Once again, the team of interpreters in a dozen languages whom I will be working with will be the least experienced in the “room” full of starred generals. And once again, we will do our best to prepare and put on a performance for the rest.