Hong Kong Chinese Interpreter 香港会议口译

2012

2012-01-13T20:33:00.002+08:00

Looking forward to a great year in 2012!

Interpreting "styles"

2010-09-17T14:29:00.005+08:00

The local TV station's sports commentators have come down with a case of group food poisoning, with the soccer match about to begin, the station managers have only been able to recruit some interpreters to handle the live TV, radio, web cast and shopping mall commentating. The following are some excerpts of their performances:

A:"The red team defense delivers the ball to the forward where he shoots and scores."

B:"Player 1 passes to player 2. Player 2 sends the ball down the field to player 3. Player 3 passes to player 4, player 4 shoots and scores."

C:"The red team repels blue team's offense and passes to their forwards. The forwards advance towards the 3 point zone, when one forward shoots and scores a birdie."

D:"The Brazilian team defends successfully against England's all out attack. They deliver the ball to forwards Jose and Sandoz. Jose and Sandoz take advantage of the weak English defense and utilize their superior speed to avoid the off side trap and execute a wall pass. Sandoz's power shot grazes off the turf causing the goalkeeper to misjudge the ball's direction. Brazil scores!"

Four commentators, four styles. The slow commentator can only produce a summary. Another one is up to speed, but misses the forest for the trees. In the worst case, one commentator mixes up basketball and golf with soccer terminology.

Which commentator do you prefer?

Consecutive versus Simultaneous Interpreting

2010-05-13T08:37:00.003+08:00

I spent a year and a half working for the Hong Kong Judiciary, logging approximately 1,800 hours of consecutive interpreting, before joining the conference simultaneous interpreting industry for the last 15 years.

Consecutive interpreting is like completing a jigsaw puzzle. The interpreter has to exercise judgement/experience in assembling the disparate pieces into a complete, coherent picture. If the interpreter cannot visualize the "big picture", the final outcome can only be a mishmash of incongruent pieces.

Simultaneous interpreting, on the other hand, is like sports commentary. The commentator has to read and recognize the different plays in attack and defense over the course of dynamic and rapid exchanges between the athletes. The competent narrator would have to read the athletes' intentions correctly in order to give an accurate and lively description of the game.

Consecutive and simultaneous interpreting are two different jobs involving different skills and abilities. To claim that interpreting is just a matter of mastering "bilingual skills" is an oversimplification or intentional/unintentional obfuscation.

Interpreter collapses during UN speech

2009-10-24T15:03:00.004+08:00

Interpreting is a tough, thankless job that most people don't fully appreciate. Audiences sit bolt upright issuing questioning glances at the interpreting booth when communication fails, but never bother to thank the interpreters when a job is well done. At the highest level, interpreting is like playing chess simultaneously against 2 grandmasters.

The following news link is about a UN interpreter and his experiences on 25th Spetember 2009.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6849070.ece

古汉语现代粤语

2008-09-27T10:33:00.004+08:00

明代作家凌濛初的作品“拍案惊奇”，文字接近白话，易读易明。透过生动的描绘，读者可以像考古学家一样，轻松了解当时社会，经济，政治，人际关系，民间习俗等情况。从事语言研究者，更是如获至宝。

二刻卷三“权学士权认远乡姑白孺人白嫁亲生女”里写了一段：“元来是人家婚姻照验之物，是个要紧的，如何却将来遗下又被人卖了？也是个没搭煞的人了。”文中的“没搭煞”，按现代粤语来说就是“无厘搭煞”；意思指做事不认真，糊涂。

看来粤语是吸收了古汉语的营养，孕育出生动的方言。

http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/chi_big_enc/235671/%E6%B2%92%E6%90%AD%E7%85%9E

http://books.google.com/books?id=Bnz5wq5Qgj0C&pg=PA510&lpg=PA510&dq=%E6%90%AD%E7%85%9E&source=web&ots=Hq2CG9F21R&sig=wZcdUAmug0iip1PmROoGzTUEKpk&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=8&ct=result

Ketchup is Cantonese

2008-09-15T11:10:00.010+08:00

晚清时期大量的广东，福建居民出国谋生。部分人去了美国，为太平洋西北铁路付出了汗水。他们除了工作，也散播中国文化。

唐人街餐馆里你可能会看到一道叫 “chop suey" 的菜，老外们点薯条时喜欢加 “ketchup" 或 “catsup"。有没有想过这原来是广东话？厨庖们的　“杂碎”，“茄汁” 跟英语炒成一锅大杂烩。

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketchup#China_connection

Hooray 是蒙语

2008-09-13T20:12:00.002+08:00

最近看完30集电视剧“成吉思汗”，发现蒙古军每逢打胜仗，都会振臂高呼“浩瑞”；听起来有点像英语的“hooray"。我请教了业余中亚历史研究者陈育霑，蒙古人是否把蒙语也引进到西方。

据陈先生的考查，Jack Weatherford 在其著作“Genghis Khan and the making of the modern world" 提到“hooray" 是从蒙语“hurree" 演变而成。原来蒙古军也给英语贡献了一点，成吉思汗“浩瑞”！

请看：http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huzzah