Tag: US Embassy

“What the deponent wanted to say was …”

One day in the early 1980s interpreting in a deposition for US patent litigation, after I finished interpreting into English a response of the Japanese deponent being examined, the check interpreter commented “Mr. Lise’s interpreting was fine, but what the deponent really wanted to say was …”

Not surprisingly, the examining attorney ran up and down the side of the check interpreter’s head, figuratively of course, since violence is frowned upon in the US Embassy here in Tokyo. The attorney, of course, questioned how the check interpreter had acquired his mind-reading ability.

The check interpreter immediately realized his error and started to apologize on record for his mindreading, whereupon, just a few words into his apology, the attorney that had engaged him said “We’re going to take a break,” and literally took the check interpreter by the arm, guiding him out into the space outside the deposition room. The attorney surely did not want the apology to go onto the record, as that would cast doubt on his interpreter’s ability, although it might serve to bring attention to his interpreter’s supernatural abilities. Perhaps he could find work entertaining at parties.

Depositions are usually filled with boring examinations of boring witnesses, but occasionally we enjoy a bit of drama and comedy.

Be careful, because we’ve had a bomb threat.

One day at the start of a deposition interpreting assignment in the US Embassy in Tokyo, an Embassy official came in and asked us to be careful, because there had been a bomb threat, and we had heard about it, right?

Right. I imagine he was just following instructions from his boss, but perhaps he didn’t realize the questions that left.

How are we to “be careful?” I asked. No meaningful response was forthcoming.

Were we to walk around looking for the bomb? Except for brief toilet breaks, people in depositions are essentially confined to the deposition room, and there didn’t seem to be any bombs in the deposition room or the toilet.

Did he mean we should be ready to run away really quickly if we heard a blast? That doesn’t sound like being careful, but more like being terrified and wanting to be able to interpret in the deposition the next day.

It turned out that we were to be herded out the Embassy shortly thereafter and made to wait outside for about 45 minutes, standing around with the huddled masses yearning to breathe free with the visa they were applying for—such people form the core clientele of the Embassy—until the Embassy people were convinced that it was a hoax.

Will the Czech interpreter raise their right hand?

One day interpreting in a deposition in which a deponent from a Japanese company was to be examined by a US attorney, the US official came into the room to administer the oaths as is the normal practice. We were all introducing ourselves and, when my turn came, I indicated that I was the “check interpreter.” It is customary (and almost always the case) that a Japanese/English interpreted deposition is attended by a lead interpreter and a check interpreter, the lead interpreter doing just what the position indicates, and the check interpreter listening to the interpreting and offering any corrections that they feel necessary.

When it was my turn to be sworn in, the Embassy official, whom I had never had the occasion to meet, reading partially from his cheat sheet and apparently filling in as he thought necessary, turned to me and said:

“Do you solemnly swear that you know the English and the Czech languages, and that you will faithfully interpret the questions in English into the Czech language, and that further you wil…”

It turned out that he was new on the job. It was a bit of comedy relief before a stressful day of interpreting between two people, one who wanted to ask questions and the other who was not necessarily cooperative.

Don’t interpret, just translate.

I was interpreting one day in a deposition in the US Embassy and needed to make a comment on the record about why I had interpreted a certain term in English the way I did. Everyone appeared to understand and agree with the comment, but one of the attorneys piped up to say “Please don’t interpret, just translate.”

Both the interpreters in the room had to hold back from laughing. The attorney was demonstrating one of the reasons people outside the interpreting/translation tent often confuse the terms and call an interpreter a translator. I have often corrected people when they get these terms wrong, but I think we translators and interpreters (and the rare individuals do both translation and interpreting between JA and EN) might consider admitting defeat in the interpreter/translator battle.