December 19, 2025 • 65 mins
A trilingual childhood, a summer camp “gig” for a few bucks, and then a single moment that changed everything: the mic flipped on, and Alain Breton realized interpreting had a name and a future. I sit down with Alain to unpack how a life steeped in French, Spanish, and English turned into a craft built on meaning, nerve, and an appetite for challenge.
The heart of our conversation is depth. Not age. Depth. Alain makes the case that great interpreters aren’t just fluent; they’re world-literate. Travel, odd jobs, and real-world stumbles add weight to your mental toolbox so you can keep sense intact when speakers sprint, pivot, or argue in real time. That’s why he loves parliamentary debates: no slides, no prep, just rapid exchanges where meaning is your only compass. We also get into flow state—how interest plus difficulty locks attention and lifts performance—and why following your curiosity matters as much as mastering terminology.
We don’t shy away from the hard rooms. Alain shares the emotional cost of interpreting top-secret briefings about child exploitation and how visualization, so helpful in clear storytelling, can also intensify trauma. He walks us through practical ways to reset: mental anchors in the moment, then intentional decompression afterward. Pro wrestling is his palate cleanser, a reminder that it’s okay to choose something playful and harmless to break the loop.
You’ll leave with three habits to level up: record yourself and review five minutes at a time, study seasoned interpreters to see how they keep coherence under stress, and build a richer life so your understanding runs deeper than any glossary. We also spotlight Found in Interpretation, Alain’s podcast co-hosted with Brian Bickford, which brings voices from parliaments to refugee camps and expands how we think about this profession.
If this conversation sparked ideas or confidence in your own path, tap follow, share it with a colleague, and leave a quick review. Your feedback helps more language professionals find us and grow their craft.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_02 (00:39):
There are moments in life that don't feel like
turning points until you lookback and realize they were.
Welcome back, Branded Bunch, toanother episode of the Brand the
Interpreter Podcast.
This is your host, Mireya Perez,showing up again for you this
month with another greatepisode.
(00:59):
For our guest today, languagewasn't a chosen tool.
It was the air that he breathedin conversations with family on
summer trips to New York and inthe chatter of kids at camp
where French, Spanish, andEnglish just collided.
And long before he knew that theword interpreting existed, he
(01:21):
was already doing it, helpingkids make sense of one another
for a couple of dollars andmaybe a lot of laughs.
But then one day came the momentthat changed everything: a
university assignment, a booth,a headset, and the first time
the microphone flipped on.
(01:42):
It wasn't just another job, itwas the moment that he realized
there was a name for this work,and it was the work that he
wanted to do.
In this episode, Alan Bretonfrom Canada joins us to go
deeper than vocabulary lists andlanguage rules.
We explore why depth ofexperience, not age, not polish,
(02:06):
not jargon, gives interpreterstheir resilience.
We talk about flow, why it feelslike being in the zone, and how
it keeps you anchored whenspeakers speed up, change tone,
or veer off script.
Alan also shares stories with usfrom the front lines.
Why parliamentary debates areamong his favorite gigs.
(02:29):
Imagine that.
How meaning becomes your compasswhen the pressure is on, and how
some assignments linger longafter the session ends.
He gets real about mental costof interpreting difficult
content, the visualizationhabits that help him stay
grounded, and the rituals thathelp him reset afterward.
(02:51):
By the end of our conversation,you'll hear three practical
takeaways for your own practice.
From recording yourself tostudying seasoned interpreters
to building a life rich enoughto support this work.
And that's rich in fulfillment.
But of course you knew thatalready.
We also talk about found ininterpretation, the podcast Alan
(03:13):
co-hosts, and the very realstories they've heard from
interpreters working incompletely different realities
around the world.
So if you're tuning in as abilingual professional that's
thinking about making the leap,or if you're an interpreter
looking to deepen your craft,this episode offers not just
insight, but encouragement.
Without further ado, help mewelcome Alan Breton to the show.
(03:44):
Alan, welcome to the show.
So happy to have you.
SPEAKER_03 (03:49):
Thank you.
Thank you for having me.
SPEAKER_02 (03:51):
I said your name, but I want you to say your name
the way you say it in your showbecause I want our listeners to
hear the difference between mypronunciation and the actual
pronunciation.
SPEAKER_03 (04:02):
Well, I haven't heard your pronunciation, but
here it goes.
Hello, hello.
My name is Alain Breton, and uhwelcome to um Randall.
SPEAKER_02 (04:12):
Rand the interpreter.
Yeah, see, I would never.
SPEAKER_03 (04:17):
Alain Breton.
That's the uh French version.
Uh but my my name is spelledA-L-A-I-N.
So uh people don't really knowhow to pronounce my name.
So sometimes it sounds like somepeople say like Alaine, which I
really don't like because itsounds like Elaine in Seinfeld,
you know, like Elaine.
(04:38):
So it sounds like a like awoman's name rather.
But Alain, think of Alain Delon.
I don't know if uh yourlisteners will know this famous
uh good old French actor.
Um but uh Alain, that's andthat's the English equivalent is
Alain.
Alan?
Alan?
Yeah, Alan.
That's I thought I said Alan.
Yeah, well, I like it betterthan Alain.
SPEAKER_02 (05:01):
Well, good, I was pretty close.
I think my audience by now knowsI'm horrible with name
pronunciation and I butcherpeople's names, even though I
practice before we get on.
And then the moment that it'stime, you know, it's go time,
wah wah, wah.
It just never comes to fruitionthe way I'd like.
So anyway, Ellen, welcome to theshow.
(05:22):
I'm so happy to have you.
Very happy to be able to havethis conversation with you on
the podcast.
And I want to start ourconversation today with what my
audience is pretty much gettingused to, if not already, have
been used to, the question thatI ask all my guests, which is
taking us back in memory lane toa fond childhood memory of
(05:45):
yours.
SPEAKER_03 (05:48):
Now that I think of it, um I think that one of um
I'll link the memory with uhwhat uh we do as a living is
being interpreters.
So I grew up in Quebec City, andum Quebec is a French-speaking
province in Canada, and everyonehere in Quebec speaks French.
(06:11):
Um most of my family members,uh, I mean, all of my family
members uh don't speak English.
My dad uh spoke English, butlet's say my mom doesn't speak
English, and um for my father,it was very important that I'd
learn English.
And on my mother's side of thefamily, they're from Latin
(06:34):
America and they all live uharound New York.
And as I said, for my father wasreally important for me to learn
English.
So although I was familiar withEnglish because we traveled a
lot to New York in the States uhwhen I was a kid, um I spent uh
all of my summers in Vancouver.
Um because I have an aunt wholives there, but of which I was
(06:58):
also going to um a summer campwith other kids.
So I would just spend my summersthere and uh you know naturally
uh speak English.
And at the camp, um, in thecabin that I was uh in Gibson,
uh there were several Mexicans,and um so I basically ended up
(07:24):
speaking Spanish a lot at thecamp because I also speak
Spanish because of my mother'sside.
And the the Mexicans were thereand they were all hanging out
together, and the English uhkids were all hanging out
together, and the Mexicansdidn't know how to speak English
or did not want to practice, andobviously uh the uh
(07:45):
English-speaking kids werealways asking me the question:
Do you speak Mexican?
And I was like, No, Mexican isnot a language, it's called
Spanish.
And after people figure out thatI could speak both, uh basically
uh I was being paid tointerpret.
Wow, so I was making money, abuck or two, or something like
(08:05):
that.
But there were all these richkids who were coming from far
away, and um they I was gettingpaid or uh giving some perks
because uh I I could um I couldtranslate uh both uh Spanish and
uh English uh at the camp.
Talk about that was my first uhinterpreting gig ever, I think.
SPEAKER_02 (08:27):
Yeah, I was gonna say talk about a glimpse into
your future.
Little did you know, huh?
SPEAKER_03 (08:32):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
So I didn't know it was um, youknow, it was something that I
was going to do my I didn't knowI was going to make a living
with it.
SPEAKER_02 (08:40):
So trilingual growing up.
I mean, aside from the summercamp, did you feel that growing
up it was you were putting theselanguages to to good use?
Or how did that come to be interms of you continuing to
practice?
Uh especially since you'resaying that the household maybe
wasn't necessarily uh bilingualor trilingual.
(09:03):
What was that like for yougrowing up?
SPEAKER_03 (09:05):
Well, uh with my mother, I've always spoken
Spanish.
And uh with my father, Frenchnaturally.
And um when I that that was inQuebec, and my mom was going to
visit her her her mother uh ormy our aunts in um and I would
see my cousins in New York.
And when I when I was in NewYork, then it was bilingual with
(09:26):
Spanish and English.
So I I've always been intolanguages, and they always came
pretty easily to me.
Um, I it was just such a naturalthing, and I never really for
me, it was just um inconceivableto just speak one language.
I've always spoken severallanguages, so I would say that
(09:47):
uh everything always camenaturally, and you know, it it
came through curiosity of uh thematerial that is provided in
language.
Um, for instance, with English,when I was uh a teenager, I was
a huge sci-fi fan.
I loved Star Trek The NextGeneration, Deep Space Nine, and
uh all of these uh shows uh backin the 90s, and I was watching
(10:11):
them in the original version, ofcourse, because I understood
English and it was never anissue for me.
Um, and when I when I was older,I traveled a bit in Latin
America and I lived inBarcelona.
So I spoke Spanish and I neverreally uh so by keeping all of
these languages fresh in mymind, uh, I never really felt I
(10:34):
had really had to study them asmuch.
It was more learning through uhlearning new things through
experience.
SPEAKER_02 (10:43):
At what age do you recall being aware that the use
of language could be could bedone in a professional way?
Meaning, when did you realizeyou could make more than a buck,
like in summer camp with yourdifferent languages?
SPEAKER_03 (11:00):
Um when I was in my 20s, I didn't really know what
to do with myself.
And uh I I've graduated fromhigh school and I've tried a few
things in college here andthere.
And to be honest, I was a bitlost.
And I had a friend who um thiswas doing a bachelor's degree in
translation.
And I was like, oh, okay.
(11:21):
Um, and before um I decided touh do that bachelor's degree, uh
I lived a little bit in SouthKorea, I visited Japan, I did in
Vancouver for a couple of years,then I was doing you know like
bartending jobs and things likethat.
And so I came back to QuebecCity and I thought, well, you
know what, I don't know what todo with myself, so I'll just be
a translator.
And I I to be honest, I've neverreally liked it.
(11:44):
Um because I like to talk and Ilike to meet people and just to
think just about having anoffice job or maybe working for
the federal government, uh, wasit was more like uh a means to
an end uh rather than somethingI was passionate about.
But then uh the first semester,um, their program director came
(12:04):
to see us and he said, umthere's an extra exchange
program that are available foruh people who are studying in
translation.
And you can go to severalplaces, you can go to France, uh
Spain, or uh there were a fewother locations.
So I thought, okay, maybe Franceor Spain, but that would be
great.
And I put it in the back burner.
(12:26):
And then um, after a year at umuniversity, um I basically um we
had uh a small uh office uh forstudent.
We had uh we were provided thestudents were providing uh
translation services uh in asmall um you know branch uh in
(12:46):
our in our department atuniversity.
And and back in those days, Iwas in charge of communications.
Remember, that was beforeFacebook.
And communication basicallymeant uh answering emails.
So, and one day I got an email,and the email said, We're
looking for interpreters for anevent at university.
And I was like, uh, well, we'retranslators, we're not
(13:08):
interpreters, and I didn'treally know anything about
interpretation.
And um some uh other studentswere uh said to me, Well, our
program director is actually aninterpreter.
So, okay, yeah, I spoke to himbecause I uh I talked to him
about the trips overseas.
And um I went to see him and hesaid, Hey, Alain, he says, uh,
(13:30):
why don't you try it?
Why don't you be in it?
Why don't you uh tryinterpretation?
And I was like, what are youtalking about?
Like, and my mind, I didn't sayI didn't say it openly, but I
was a bit stunned and I waslike, uh, you know, I was this
this kid, and I was like, oh,what's interpretation?
And uh, what is he talkingabout?
And he says, you know what?
He said, um, I think you wouldbe uh you have potential to
(13:52):
become an interpreter.
And I was like, really?
And you have to remember, uh, Istarted university a bit late
because um I know I did allthese things.
I lived in Korea, went to visitJapan and Asia and lived in
Vancouver and all of that.
So I was a bit older than, let'ssay I was not 20 or 21, I was
uh, I don't know, 25, 25-ish.
And so I was already a littlebit older, so maybe he saw
(14:16):
something in me that I couldn'tback then.
So he said, Well, you're notready yet to work for uh one of
the uh major uh supplier ofinterpreting services in Quebec
City, but I know someone whowould like to uh you know
introduce you so to tointerpretation.
And you can also give him thegig uh here at Laval University.
(14:38):
So I was like, okay, so he givesme the email of uh that uh other
interpreter who um who was in inhis 40s, and I was in my 20s, so
he was about 20 years older thanI am, and he said to me, Um uh,
oh, um, I think you're a bit tooyoung to become an interpreter.
(14:58):
And I said, Okay, well, um, andI tried to show my abilities, my
my language abilities.
And then he said, Um, and itremember this conversation
happens in French.
And um he said, Okay, um, what'suh conseil d'administration in
English?
Conseil d'administration, uh,and I said uh board of
(15:20):
directors, and he's oh, youdidn't say something like
council of administrators, youdidn't fall into the trap.
And I was like, Oh, that was atest.
He says, Okay, I'll try you inthe booth.
What?
That was it, and he says, Okay,I'll try you in the booth.
So um, a couple of weeks later,uh, I there's this huge event at
(15:41):
university, there's hundreds ofpeople in the conference room,
and I see a booth for the firsttime in my life, and he told me
to wear a shirt and pants, whichI didn't really have back then,
you know, being a student, uhcheese and t-shirt was the norm.
SPEAKER_02 (15:57):
And um, okay, but you did have pants.
SPEAKER_03 (16:00):
Yeah, I did.
Um, yeah, I had to buy them.
I had to buy them.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I did not have pants, I hadjeans back in the day, but I did
have to buy pants and I went tobuy a shirt.
And um yeah, and uh, I uh Iended up in the booth and uh as
the then after a while I lookedat him and uh I really wanted to
try and I was really eager.
(16:21):
And when he turned on themicrophone, everything changed
for me.
That's when I said, Wow, you getyou can get paid for this.
That's it.
I mean, I just get to talk allthe time in another language.
That is so cool.
Oh my god, that's what I want todo.
And um, and then um I asked him,How much how much does an
(16:43):
interpreter make like like for agig like this?
And he he tells me uh theamount, and I was like, Oh my
god, like I was on student loansand uh you know getting a bit of
uh bursaries and uh try to get athousand here, five hundred
there.
And then I was like, it it's asif someone had said, okay, you
just won your ticket to thelottery or something.
(17:06):
So um yeah, and uh that's whenuh I said, okay, um I I should
become I I will become aninterpreter.
But and it was not a straighthour from there, but that's the
uh that's wow, that's the gistof it.
SPEAKER_02 (17:21):
That's how they started.
How amazing.
And I think it says a lot tooabout the power of um, you know,
one instructor's words to beable to give you something that,
as you mentioned, you may havenot have been able to identify
yourself.
Maybe at some point in yourtranslation career you would
have come across an opportunitya little later, but you know, to
(17:45):
just be given the opportunity tohave some insight into what that
world is like.
I think that always it I lovethe stories when an instructor
is the one that sees thepotential in an individual while
the individual themselves donot.
Um, and then they go try it outand it's like a whole new world.
I love how you said turned onthe mic and that was it.
(18:05):
It was like you knew then andthere, which is so cool.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (18:09):
It was like love at first sight.
Totally.
For me, that that's what it was.
Um, I I to this day I can'timagine myself doing anything
else.
Um, this is um this is the likethe coolest for me.
This is the coolest job in theworld to be an interpreter.
You get to travel, you get tomeet people, you're always
listening to uh what otherpeople are saying, you get you
(18:31):
have access to uh secretmeetings and confidential uh
like confidential matters, andyou get to uh see uh what
happens with uh politicians whenthe when the cameras aren't
there.
Um if you have if you're goodenough and have access to that,
you get you get to see the worldin a whole different way.
And it's I think that thehardest thing in life is uh for
(18:53):
a lot of people is to get out oftheir own bubble.
You know, you you have your ownroutine, you have your your like
your maybe your spouse, yourkids, and you do your things and
just getting out of, and somepeople okay, once every three
year, two, three years, they'regonna travel, you're gonna get a
peek at the world for a coupleof weeks and then go back home
and get back to the routine, andthat's it.
(19:13):
It's really hard to get out ofthe bubble.
And when you and you havefriends, well, you choose your
friends, and usually you choosepeople who are just like you.
So we spend our lives in our inour silo and we don't even
notice it.
But we're interpreters, and weget to travel, we get to see
different people, differentrealities, different points of
view, and on top of that, we getto actually be in their in their
(19:37):
skin for a little while.
That's amazing.
I mean, you I mean, the thingsthat I've seen ever since I'm an
interpreter, just because I wasactually in certain situations
and certain things, uh,sometimes I'm shocked, sometimes
it's very sad to see certainsituations, and sometimes it's
like, oh my god, I didn't knowthis happened.
(19:57):
Or uh, for instance, uh, rightnow there's a scandal in the
news in Quebec where I'm from.
And um, I knew about I knew itseven, I've learned about it
seven years ago, and now it's inthe news.
And now I'm I've been writingsome of my interpreter friends
who were in that and those gigsfor the government.
And um, and I said, hey, nowit's not, you know, it's not
(20:19):
confidential anymore.
We can openly talk about it.
And I was like, and for years,you know, I've been thinking, oh
my god, someday this story isgonna blow up.
I've been thinking, and now itthis is uh I was watching the
news again this morning, andit's Blowing up for a week now.
So, and so we as interpreters,we are at the forefront of what
(20:40):
goes on in society.
Um, sometimes I get to tell myfriends about, you know, uh,
this is this is what's going on,and people are like, What are
you talking about?
And then a few months or a fewyears later, people are like, Oh
wow, I didn't know.
And I was like, Yep, I've beentelling you, this is what's
going on.
And sometimes very few peoplebelieve me.
SPEAKER_02 (20:58):
It's like the closest thing to being an actor,
except actors are usually doingor portraying a fictitious
character, whereas interpretersare actually in real life
sharing stories and messages ofyou know, real life events or of
(21:20):
real life people, but you do getto step in, like you mentioned,
into the skin of this otherindividual per se, you know, as
you are interpreting.
That's that's a great way to putit.
I know that I've had a lot ofbilingual professionals that
have considered for a long timethe world of interpreting, and
(21:42):
um they just couldn't seethemselves doing that as a
profession for whatever reason.
And so they entered a differentprofession while still having
that calling.
And years later, they're they'resaying, I'm just going to do it,
right?
I want to get into interpreting.
How do I do that?
That's usually the question thatI get.
(22:03):
I'm gonna go from this career toI want to do this career now.
I've always wanted to dointerpreting, I just didn't
think it was a profession.
And now, of course, thanks toum, you know, the internet and
social media, people are able tosee that indeed this is an
actual profession.
And for some people, it it'sbeen a calling that they've
(22:25):
ignored for a while.
And so now they're trying to getinto it.
So I love when interpretersshare the insight of that
moment, that aha moment for themwhen they know that this is what
they want to do, becausehopefully that's an experience
that one day that bilingualprofessional will also
experience, knowing that theycould step into this world and
that it isn't boring as well.
(22:47):
I mean, it could be maybe.
I had one interpreter say thatthey their first gig was uh
interpreting at a conferenceabout rocks.
SPEAKER_03 (22:55):
Rocks can be very interesting.
They're old.
They're old.
Rocks are very old, and youknow, you never know.
SPEAKER_02 (23:03):
I've been also reading a book about um it's
called Flow.
And it it it does actually, I'vethis is my second time reading
it.
I really enjoy that book, and itit uh basically talks about how
um an individual enters thestate of flow when the mind is
challenged and doing somethingthat they enjoy.
(23:24):
So it has to be this, you know,this this dual component.
You can't do something that youenjoy and be and not be
challenged and enter the stateof flow.
So it gives an example of maybea tennis player that goes into
play.
This is somebody that enjoys thegame.
But if they enter the game withsomeone that has lesser skills
(23:47):
than they, it's no longerchallenging.
So they no longer enjoy the gamethe way in which they would if
they had somebody that met themat that same skill set and
challenge them.
And I feel like interpreters,when they enter the booth or
they enter an encounter and theyare challenged, I think that
that's the connection thatreally gets us going into our
(24:09):
minds are actually working sohard in the moment that you know
it just it just brings us intothe state of flow.
And that's how we are able tomake the connection as to why we
enjoy it.
If an interpreter doesn't enterthe state of flow, they're not
being challenged enough, I don'tthink.
And maybe it's time to take itup a notch, in my opinion.
SPEAKER_03 (24:30):
Well, um, I it's um it's all about interest, right?
So I personally uh I'll give anexample.
Um over the weekend, uh I wasdoing this um assignment for uh
Hockey Canada, and I'm a hugehockey fan.
I've been watching the uhStanley Cup playoffs, and I've
(24:54):
been watching every game,although uh my team, the
Montreal Canadians, uh have beeneliminated.
But uh I don't care, I justwatch the games and uh I want to
see where this will lead.
And then I happened to be uhover the weekend at a gig that
actually was it was a seminarfor uh coaches who are uh
teaching uh teenagers um andthey're they're training
(25:18):
teenagers, and I was like, andthen they were showing clips of
the young players and what to doand not to do, and then when I
watched uh a game afterwards, Iwas like, oh, and now I'm I get
to see things that I didn't seebefore.
So and I loved the interpretingpart.
So not only I was interested inthe topic, but I really enjoyed
(25:39):
interpreting and I was learningat the same time.
I mean, what a combination! Soum, yeah, um, it may mean maybe
um the the interpreter that wasdoing the rocks, well, maybe
they didn't like geology.
SPEAKER_01 (25:52):
That's that's what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_02 (25:54):
State of flow.
It's gonna have those twocomponents for sure.
SPEAKER_03 (25:58):
But one point that you you brought up a bit
earlier, uh, that I like to comeback to is uh you were uh
telling me about someinterpreters that are doing
something and they didn't knowthey could make money with
interpret, not make a livingrather with interpretation, and
then they decided to do it aftera while.
But I can tell you that um whenI first had that phone call with
(26:24):
the old interpreter who uh askedme the uh board of directors
question.
SPEAKER_00 (26:28):
You the you mean the older interpreter?
SPEAKER_03 (26:31):
Because it's well, but now now it's been because
that that story is over 20, it's20, it's 20 years ago, and now
he's retired and um he's uh 73now.
So um okay, okay, forgive it.
I'll I would call him seasonedinterpreter.
Well, maybe I hope he's notwatching.
So um, and um, but but the thethe point he had, I was 25, and
(26:55):
he the first thing he said to mewas, I think you're a bit too
young to become an interpreter.
And um and I said, Why?
He said, Well, a goodinterpreter is around 40 years
old, and I was I would I thoughtback back then, um, I didn't
want to miss my opportunitybecause of my age, but I really
I was really wondering why hesaid that.
But today I realized that it'snot about the age as much as the
(27:20):
experience, and in order to be agood interpreter, you need to
have seen a few things in yourlife.
You need to you a lot ofinterpreters actually came in
later in life after doing otherthings, and I think that makes
them better interpreters becauseI think that you need a bit of
(27:41):
depth in your general cultureand your knowledge.
Um, if you just startinterpreting and that's the
first thing you do, I mean,you're 20 years old, let's
imagine you're 20 years old andyou say, I'm gonna be an
interpreter, and that's all youdo, then you're not gonna
understand several referencesthat people might make for
(28:04):
certain things.
Um, if um someone talks about,let's say um uh I I met um a
young lady at uh my university,and no fault, no fault of her
own.
Um, I asked her if she knew whoRichard Nixon is.
And she never heard of him.
(28:26):
And I was like, What?
What do you mean you don't knowRichard Nixon?
I mean, and and uh and I said,How old are you?
And she says, I'm 22.
I was like, all right, I mean,okay, let's forget that we're
not talking to Americans here,right?
We're talking to uh Quebecois,French Canadian, live in French
in French-speaking world.
We have different references asAmericans.
(28:47):
So uh so I don't want youraudience to say, well, she
didn't just know it.
I mean, we are in a differentcountry, and we on top of that
in Canada, we have a differentsilo, which is the French silo.
But I was like, oh, okay.
And then I was asking a fewquestions, general knowledge
questions about here and there,and I noticed that there was a
gap in my own understanding ofthe world and hers, and no fault
(29:11):
of her own, she's just a bit tooyoung.
And and and I can't blame himfor that.
I mean, there are a bunch ofthings that I didn't know in my
20s that I know today, becauseover time you develop some
experience, and I think thatactually it makes us better
interpreters to uh travel, tosee the world, to do other
(29:34):
things, to try and uh even failat some projects, and then
becoming an interpreter, andthen and when that happens,
because being a good a goodconference interpreter is not
about your skills or yourterminology, it's understanding
(29:56):
what is being said, and if youdon't understand what is being
said, whatever your languageskills, it won't work.
So, but when you're young, it'sjust it's just no, it's no
nobody's fault.
You're young, so it's very hardto understand the wide range of
things that you are facing whenyou are uh at a conference,
(30:22):
unless you only do one thing.
If you only do one thing, youspecialize in one thing, but you
won't make much of a livingbecause it's I I can't think of
except if you work at parliamentand you've done your whole
career at parliament and that'sall you do.
But if you are a conferenceinterpreter, just like me, who
is independent and takes uhcontracts here and there for
civil agencies, uh you don'tknow what's coming next.
(30:46):
And but if you have that depthof knowledge because you you
have maturity and experience,then you'll you won't be afraid
of anything.
So um I love that.
SPEAKER_02 (30:55):
I don't think I've ever heard it um in that in that
sense, uh, you know, when itcomes to seasoned interpreters
or uh, you know, the age, theage difference between
interpreters, the new generationof language professionals, for
instance, um about depth.
I like that.
I think that that makes perfectsense.
SPEAKER_03 (31:18):
So for young for young people, and I would say if
if you're in your 20s and youwant to become an interpreter,
um two things.
Don't be afraid of AI.
It's gonna be there, but therewill still need human
interpreters.
Number one, and number two,travel, see the world, get do
some other things, get somejobs, and keep it in the back of
(31:40):
your mind.
But it don't only be aninterpreter, do things, get
experience, and with that expthe everything that you will do
along the way will serve as atool when you're at conferences.
SPEAKER_02 (31:58):
Absolutely, yeah.
I believe that wholeheartedlytoo.
I think it's like the umsongwriter that wants to talk
about a sad love song withoutever having had their heart
broken.
How do you bring that feelingin?
So yeah, definitely.
Love that, love that depth part.
So there you go.
For those of you that arelistening that are bilingual
(32:20):
professionals in other fields.
Um, Alan just said you're theperfect, actually, at the
perfect moment, like the perfectexperience to go ahead and dive
in.
If that's what you've beenthinking about, it's time to
break into what you've beencalling or has been calling for
you to do.
SPEAKER_03 (32:36):
Yeah, uh, age is an asset this time.
SPEAKER_02 (32:39):
Exactly.
SPEAKER_03 (32:40):
No, and so many fields were like, oh, I'm too
old to do this, too old to dothat.
No, uh, quite the opposite.
If you're uh uh one of the bestinterpreters that I know started
around he was 49 or 50 yearsold, and he's one of the best
interpreters that I know now.
Why?
Because of his knowledge.
Uh, not the lawn, I mean,language knowledge was always
(33:00):
there, but it's not about that.
It's about that he knows a lotof things.
So uh I'm here, I'm with him inthe in the booth and I can trust
him.
And I listened to hisperformance and I'm like, oh, I
like it.
And at first, when he first camein, uh he was oh, um uh he I
think that he was a bit unsurebecause at first he was like,
(33:20):
Well, uh, you guys have beendoing this for a number of
years, and uh, you know, maybehe had that feeling of a bit of
insecurity in the verybeginning.
And after a year, I I ended uplike we meet every once in a
while in the booth, and after ayear, I said, Wow, um not only
uh progress when it comes toyour ability, but um I can see
(33:41):
that uh you all your priorknowledge, uh you've been able
to access your toolbox, which isall your of your prior
knowledge.
SPEAKER_02 (33:49):
That's so amazing.
I love that.
Today, Alan, what has been, doyou think, one of your favorite,
if you can share um encountersor gigs that you have done?
Uh, and what was the topic thatit was related to?
And why was it that it it'sbecome one of your favorite that
you've you've covered as aninterpreter?
SPEAKER_03 (34:11):
Well, um right now I've I've been working a lot,
um, parliamentary interpretationfor the legislative assembly of
the Northwest Territories.
So if you look on a map, um,especially for Americans
listening, there's Alaska.
You know, um this is my map.
(34:31):
Um top uh the Western state.
Well, to the right, there'sYukon, and then there's a big
land mass in Canada, and it'scalled the Northwest
Territories, and they have alegislative assembly there, and
French is actually one of theirofficial languages, so is
English, and so is uh so areseveral uh indigenous languages.
SPEAKER_00 (34:53):
Oh wow.
SPEAKER_03 (34:54):
Uh so uh I work, uh I do parliamentary
interpretation for uh NorthwestTerritories, and I love it.
Um, I love the okay, uh not thecommissions and the budget and
all of that, of course.
It can be a bit it can be longand quite boring.
Sometimes they will look at abudget and it was like, well,
line this line on that page.
Uh why are we uh putting them somuch money in that?
(35:16):
Okay.
But when you have theparliamentary debates, because
this is as crazy and unexpectedas it can ever be, you have it's
it's like a competition, it'slike a verbal fight.
One side asks a question.
I mean, and then you have tounderstand the British
parliamentary uh system that wehave in Canada.
(35:38):
So you have the opposition partyand you have the government, and
then you have uh a member of thelegislative assembly who uh
stands up and says and reads,and they have two minutes tops,
and it's there's a countdown,and they're like, Mr.
Speaker, because they talk tothe speaker of the house in
order to ask a question, saying,Mr.
(35:59):
Speaker, uh the Minister ofHealth and Social Services
promised to uh raise uh nurses'uh salaries because their
working conditions are terrible,yada yada, yada.
And what's the minister gonna doabout it?
And then the minister, and thensuddenly uh the speaker of the
house stops and then uh givesthe floor to the minister, and
the minister says, No, we gavethem a bunch of money and uh
(36:21):
they're all happy.
And they they do verbalexchanges like that for uh two
hours at every session, and youdon't have the questions in
advance, you don't know thetopics, you don't know anything,
you just know that someone, andyou don't even know who, someone
is gonna get up and speak asquickly as they can, reading,
(36:46):
and then try to trick someoneelse on the other side, and
that's what they'll do.
So it's okay.
Sometimes some conferences, oh,I'm a bit nervous because I
didn't get the documents fromthe client, and the client send
it five minutes before, and I'mupset.
Well, you can't, you're not cutfor parliamentary interpretation
(37:09):
if you think like that.
Because, and this is thecraziest thing you can do.
Um, so it is uh it is myfavorite one because you were
talking earlier about the factthat when we're challenged, we
can grow.
Um, I've I've been doing thisfor about four years now, and I
(37:30):
can tell you, um, this is um youcan't be an autopilot.
Uh, you are at the edge of yourseat all the time.
So uh that would be it.
That would be it.
SPEAKER_02 (37:40):
Yeah, no, I mean that's definitely impromptu.
I I would not be able to meetthat that demand um because I do
come from a world of send theslides, send the agenda, set the
program.
I think the only thing thatcomes maybe close to it is
(38:00):
speaking about board meetings,the public comment at board
meetings, in which you knowthey've got limited amount of
time to speak on an agenda item.
And they also will write ascript, they meaning the the
public will write a script andwill try to read it as fast as
possible to squeeze in the thetopic or the uh comment in that
(38:22):
three you know minute period.
That's probably about theclosest that I've experienced.
And even then it's sochallenging because yeah, you
don't get the public comment,you know, ahead of time to
prepare and speed reading on atopic that could be so random.
Yeah.
So I commend you for that.
That's definitely challenging.
(38:43):
Yeah, and only there's only aspecific type of interpreter
that can say, I enjoy that.
SPEAKER_03 (38:49):
Well, it's uh it's about, I mean, um, there are all
kinds of topics for all kinds ofpersonalities.
SPEAKER_02 (38:55):
Yep.
SPEAKER_03 (38:56):
So uh true.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You you can't uh if you'renervous, uh you can't do that
one.
SPEAKER_02 (39:03):
Yeah, don't do not accept that assignment.
Alan, I mean, there's the onesthat we really enjoy, and then
they're the experience thatwe're like, I don't think I'll
ever touch that one again.
Have you ever come across a achallenging assignment or gig,
however you call it, and thatyou're like, uh, yikes, that
one, not again.
SPEAKER_03 (39:24):
Um, I do um, I don't know how much I can describe on
the podcast, but there was uhone instance that comes to mind
where um it was a um top secretmeeting uh for the government um
with uh provincial and thefederal government, provincial
(39:46):
governments uh and uh thefederal government, and um they
were basically uh giving anupdate on terrorism and uh how
certain groups online were umtargeting children um to um do
(40:09):
all kinds of horrible things.
Uh the children that are beingmanipulated online, and they
were saying uh there what thetechnique were techniques were
and what these uh children beasked to do and things like
that.
And I was not prepared becausethese are top level meetings and
they don't provide you anyinformation.
(40:31):
You just you're dropped thereand boom, okay.
You you don't know before you'rein, there's no way to prepare.
Uh, and I heard that, and uh Iwas I was uh kind of lost faith
in humanity for a couple ofhours, yeah.
Because as I said earlier, welive in our own bubble.
(40:52):
I I don't know anything aboutyou know what these police
officers and the investigatorsdo, and nobody does, right?
And then um yeah, um that and uhif you have children and then
you imagine your own children uhand you're like, oh wow, they're
(41:14):
online on their phones andthey're doing their thing.
Um is everything all right?
You know, and then you startlooking at you know, you start
thinking, oh, what if it's myown kid?
And I don't I'm not I just don'tknow because I'm sure that
several uh parents uh ofchildren that go through these
horrible situations where uhmaybe they didn't know either.
I don't know, I don't I can'tjust imagine.
(41:35):
So that I would say that um veryrarely uh I would I would go
into meetings like that, butover time and with experience
now, I I think of maybe youyou're never you can never get
used to it, of course.
But um the first time ithappened, I can tell you that uh
I I yeah I I I had tears.
(41:58):
I cried.
Yeah, I I after uh uh I was itwas so emotional.
SPEAKER_02 (42:03):
Yeah, emotionally challenged, yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (42:05):
Yeah, totally, totally.
SPEAKER_02 (42:07):
I had an uh a guest actually um some time ago, that
that episode I I did title itThe Dark Side of Interpreting
because this particularinterpreter um no while no
longer covers that type ofassignment, was uh one of the
interpreters for um cases ofhuman trafficking.
And you know, at to as much asas he was able to gave us sort
(42:31):
of an insight of what that'slike, uh, you know, being an
interpreter for that type ofassignments, which by the way,
that not many interpretersaccept because of the nature of
the topic, um, and andeverything that he needed to do
in order to be able to be uhmentally well uh after, right?
(42:55):
And and as you mentioned,there's only so much you can do
uh in in that specific area asan interpreter, because you're
going, you know, the the skinthat you're wearing, to use your
words, is usually the victim'sskin in order to be able to
convey what was happening,especially if they were, you
(43:15):
know, hearings um or that of thefamily members and what they
went through.
And so that he only was able todo for a very short period of
time.
But so many cases just reallychange it, just changed his view
of the world, right?
It was just for him, it was likeit was something that, as you
(43:35):
mentioned, lived in a certainbubble coming from a military
background, he understood theyou know, the the ugly side of
the world, but this wassomething that was way
different.
So I can only well, I don't evenwant to imagine, you know, that
particular moment for you,especially having heard
something like that.
But I yeah, I I could agree.
(43:57):
I I wouldn't want to be involvedin that again.
SPEAKER_03 (44:00):
The thing is it's the mind is a tricky thing, and
the way I interpret, um, the wayI I've stopped sometimes and
I've tried to analyze how my andwithout reading really about it.
And it's really kind of hard tofind some research uh for
(44:22):
interpretation and what happenswith interpreters.
But in my case, uh whenever I'mspeaking, um and whenever I'm
interpreting as well, I alwayssee flashes of images.
So um whenever I'm I'm speakingto you right now, and as I'm
(44:44):
describing the story, uh it'slike my third eye, I I would see
the story like a movie.
And whenever I tell a story orwhenever I'm interpreting, when
there's a good speaker and Ilike and then and there's a
topic that I that I can easilyfollow, um then I just basically
(45:06):
I describe the movie that I seein my head.
That's basically what I do.
So I can I I like for instance,earlier I was telling you about
the nurses and uh like thehealthcare system in Canada.
Well, I could see the nurses inmy head, I could see the
hospital, I could see uh likelike there are some uh images
(45:27):
that come to mind.
And when that's a great thing,it's a great asset, but when I
did that difficult uhinterpretation, the same thing
happened.
I suddenly started seeing theseterrible situations that they
(45:48):
were describing.
So it was not if it all if Ionly if I was only reading the
words, let's say I'm reading anarticle and they're describing
something, okay, yeah, and moveon.
But when you're interpreting andyou're on someone else's skin,
as we were saying, then suddenlyall of that comes together.
And then I start picturing thesituation in my mind, and I
start living the situationthrough the movie that I make in
(46:11):
my mind.
So, what's the next thing thathappened?
I started putting my children'sface in that movie.
But I I don't choose it, I thisis just the way the mind
sometimes drifts.
And suddenly I'm like in themiddle of the game, I'm like,
okay, blank, okay, stay focused.
(46:32):
And I gotta tell myself, okay,stay focused.
And then you I'm giving myself amental anchor in order to uh
avoid the mind drifting.
So when with over over time andexperience, you get to do that,
but when it was the first time,and then uh it was uh it was a
(46:52):
bit surprising.
SPEAKER_02 (46:53):
So uh yeah, that the that's like the uh process of
visualization as an interpretingtechnique, yeah.
When we when we listen to whatwe hear as in a movie like
sequence, because you know we'rewe're storytellers and and love
stories by nature, just ashumans.
You know, that's that that'ssort of how I think history has
(47:16):
always demonstrated that we'rethat type of creature.
So it's natural for for some ofus to envision what it is that
we're hearing in a story-likesequence.
And then, like you say, thebrain automatically makes the
connection with uh somethingthat's familiar.
So in this case, you'reassociating children with if you
(47:37):
have your own children, or youknow, it becomes like very
personal, particularly, Iimagine, because we are
interpreting in first person,and it, you know, it just sounds
like it's something that'scoming from us.
And I and I imagine that the thedifficult part aside from as
you're interpreting is how doyou make that disconnection once
(47:58):
you're done?
Yeah, because it's it's it goesinto the vicarious trauma that
many interpreters have spokenabout that can happen when you
when you're doing challengingencounters such as that or
topics such as that, um, that itjust becomes something that
eventually affects youphysically, right?
(48:18):
You don't even know it.
SPEAKER_03 (48:19):
Well, um uh pro wrestling.
I watch pro wrestling.
This is, I mean, because if Itry to watch the news after a
long day of interpretation, Ijust start interpreting the
news.
SPEAKER_02 (48:36):
It's that switch you can't turn off.
SPEAKER_03 (48:39):
Exactly.
But with pro wrestling, hey,hey, there's the guy, and he
took the chair and then heslammed him on the table or or
something like that.
And it is so uh okay, uh, to allthe pro wrestling fans, I love
it, but it's so stupid.
It's so stupid that you'rewatching it in.
(49:00):
Who believes this stuff?
Yeah, well, who believes nobodydoes.
I mean, I call it soap opera formen, and it is so silly that
this is to me uh the best way tounplug uh watching grown-up men
(49:20):
in underwear uh in underwear, umbody slamming each other.
This is like with tables,ladders, and chairs.
SPEAKER_01 (49:32):
Take note, everyone.
I love it.
I've never thought about that.
Next time I need to disconnect.
SPEAKER_03 (49:40):
Yeah, so um, so one time one of my friends uh said
to me, You watch pro wrestling?
And I said, Yeah, but but youlike to read books and you're an
informed man and you're aninterpreter.
How can you watch pro wrestling?
I'm like, Well, it's because I'man interpreter that I watch pro
wrestling.
SPEAKER_02 (50:01):
Let me explain to you why.
Oh, that's so great.
I actually love that.
Okay, there you go, everyone.
Don't say that we don't givegreat tips on how to disconnect
from interpreting whenever youneed to unplug.
SPEAKER_03 (50:14):
Go go find the find the dumbest thing you like.
Uh this is mine.
Find yours.
For some people, it's um stupidmovies, comedies.
Uh, it could be a sitcom, butyou you need to have uh
something to really um and andsomething that is not
self-destructing, let's say uhgoing drinking all night.
SPEAKER_02 (50:35):
Yeah.
Yeah, you need a different kindof outlet, not something that's
gonna add to the fire.
That's so true.
Oh my gosh, Alan.
I know that we can always talkabout all kinds of different
experiences uh when it comes tointerpreting as interpreters.
Uh, but I do want to uh ask youa couple of questions before we
get to the close uh of today'sepisode.
(50:57):
And one of those is what you'velearned throughout the years.
For example, if you could giveyourself a piece of advice as
you know, young Alan going intothe interpreting profession or
when you first started, whatwould be that piece of advice
now that you would give yourselfthat could potentially even help
(51:19):
someone that's just breakinginto the field that would like
to enter this profession withthe experience that you've
gained now through the years?
SPEAKER_03 (51:29):
Um work hard, listen to yourself, record yourself.
We don't we never like the soundof our own voice, but it is the
way it is.
Uh you have to record yourselfand you have to listen to
yourself.
Um this and when I I did amaster's at Glendon, and that's
(51:52):
one of the things we do from thevery beginning, and I had never
really done that before.
So the fact that I had to recordmyself and listen to myself, um
I've picked up so many littlethings, and I was making funny
noises, and I was um, I don'tknow, I was, and or I was uh
(52:14):
making either funny noises, orsometimes I was uh ending my
sentences in a certain way, or Iwas using certain words all the
time, and uh I was like, oh, whyam I doing this?
So recording yourself is onething.
Um, I think that very fewinterpreters over the years
(52:35):
listen to themselves because itbecomes something like really
automatic.
But I think that um I've beendoing this for years now, and I
still record myself, and I don'tlisten to uh 30 minutes of
myself, but sometimes I willjust listen to five minutes.
I will just I I turn as I uhturn on uh the microphone on
(52:57):
Zoom, I'll um I'll turn on thesoftware and then I'll just
record myself and then I'll juststop it, and then later at the
end of the day or the next day,I'll just listen to myself for a
few minutes.
I just want to see if oh, did Ihow did it sound?
How do I sound?
Am I fun to listen to?
(53:18):
Um, that's one thing.
Uh, you gotta be fun to listento because people who don't
understand the language arelistening to you for a reason.
And if you um if you uh babbleor if you uh don't have complete
sentences, or if what you'resaying, you're like, well, I
didn't understand what he wassaying and over there, and what
he said didn't make sense.
(53:38):
So what if I don't make sense?
Well, it's not my fault, hedidn't make sense because I've
heard that before.
Well, no, makes sense becausewhoever's listening to you will
think you don't make sense, theywon't think that person at the
front doesn't make sense.
So uh it's your responsibilityto make sure that something is
(54:04):
understood by the client.
It's not an excuse to say thatyou didn't understand what was
saying at the front.
Do something about it.
So that would be one.
SPEAKER_02 (54:14):
That takes practice, yeah.
That takes practice, yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (54:16):
It does, it does.
Uh, and I I fell into that trapwhen I first started.
I was like, well, uh, who cares?
I mean, I didn't have thatattitude exactly, but I'm just
being doing a caricature here.
But I was like, well, uh, youknow, um, he didn't he didn't
make sense.
How can I make sense?
You gotta make sense if you knowyour topic, even if the speaker
(54:41):
is not that good, you'll makesense.
I've I've heard, I've listened,uh, listen to older
interpreters, listen toexperienced interpreters.
Um don't we're doing things onZoom now.
Before in the booth, when wewere in the booth all the time,
we had no other choice but tolisten to them.
But um now on Zoom, uh, it's notit's not fun to uh okay, you
(55:05):
know what, I'm gonna uh switchthe language channel and I'm
going to uh listen to someonesomeone else.
But every once in a while youhave to do it.
And one time I was with thisinterpreter, and I was like,
he's like 25, 30 yearsexperience, and um, and I really
like him.
I meet him every once in awhile, and I heard him and I was
(55:25):
like, wow.
And then I I spoke to him afterthe conference, and I was like,
You you did great, you know.
And he's like, I don'tunderstand anything, and was
about cryptocurrencies and findall those things, and he didn't
know anything about it.
I was like, it didn't sound likeit, it didn't sound like you
didn't understand.
I mean, I could follow.
(55:48):
So that's that would be uh likeso.
I I gave two.
I gave two pieces of advice.
SPEAKER_01 (55:55):
That's great.
SPEAKER_03 (55:55):
Um, the first one, listen to yourself, second,
listen to experiencedinterpreters, and the third one
we said in the beginning, whichis uh get experience, travel,
and do other things.
So now you have three.
SPEAKER_02 (56:07):
Get some depth, exactly like that, get some
depth.
Alan, I want to bring it back toin the beginning, you mentioned
that the light sort of switchedfor you the moment that that
interpreter's mic turned on withregards to interpreting.
Years later, you you've createdan a podcast show that's called
(56:30):
Found in Interpretation.
SPEAKER_03 (56:32):
Yes.
SPEAKER_02 (56:33):
Speak to our listeners about uh that podcast
and what inspired you.
SPEAKER_03 (56:38):
Um well, the podcast, my uh great friend
Brian Bickford and I startedthis podcast.
And uh Brian and I have been uh,you know, Brian uh owns an
agency which is called UNLanguage Services, and I've
known Brian for years, and andwe are really good friends.
And we we have um, I would sayuh in some ways a similar uh
(57:03):
background because he also hasthree languages French, English,
and Spanish.
And uh he has uh Latin Americanorigins, uh grew up in Canada.
Um and we have all we haveseveral several things in
common.
And what last year during thesummer, uh we were hanging out
(57:26):
in Montreal and uh a cocktailbar, and that's as far as I
remember it, about around like1:30 a.m.
We were talking, and oh yeah, wecan do things together and work,
and I don't know, it was justyou know, just random ideas.
And then I remember saying,let's do a podcast, and I just
(57:46):
said it like that without evenreally thinking about it.
And then Brian's like, Yeah,great idea.
And then suddenly he wasshining, and he would he, and
then the next day I completelyforgot about it.
And Brian says, When are westarting the podcast?
And I was like, Right, thepodcast, okay, yeah, sure.
(58:10):
Um, but you know, we're beingbusy with work and the contracts
and you know, invoicing and allof that.
And he, and then everyone'swhile when are we doing the
podcast?
When are we doing the podcast?
I was like, okay, uh, and then Ihad like, if you really want to
do anything in life, you gottaput a date.
If you don't put a date to anyon anything, you're never gonna
do anything, right?
So you gotta put a date.
SPEAKER_01 (58:30):
Yeah, that's golden.
SPEAKER_03 (58:32):
So um, I think it was something like August last
year or September.
And uh I said, okay, uh, Iwasn't ready.
I was like, okay, um, my setupwas not great, I didn't have the
microphone or anything, and Iwas like, Oh, okay, well, let's
do it.
And um, I buy uh bought a bunchof equipment and uh you know
found some software, and whatare we gonna talk about?
(58:54):
I don't know.
Um we were just gonna talk aboutinterpretation, okay.
So um Brian took care of a butuh much more than I did about
doing a bit of research on thetopic, and we did um three
episodes, but then it started topick up when um there was a
(59:18):
fourth episode coming, and uhI'm on the board of directors of
uh the um the association of uhtranslator interpreters and
terminologists in Quebec, OTIAC.
And I uh in one of the meetingsof the board, um uh I heard that
(59:39):
Laval University in Quebec Citywas starting a micro program in
conference interpretation.
SPEAKER_02 (59:46):
Let's say micro program.
SPEAKER_03 (59:48):
A microprogram is basically uh if you have a
bachelor's degree and uh you cando like it's some sort of
certificate.
SPEAKER_01 (59:55):
Okay.
SPEAKER_03 (59:56):
So it but you need to have a bachelor's degree in
order to have access to it.
So it's not a master's, it'sjust let's say under a master's,
it's just uh basically fourcourses over two semesters.
It's really part-time and uhit's uh financed by uh the
translation bureau in Canada.
And um the uh my programdirector, the one in the very
(01:00:17):
beginning of the story who saidyou should be an interpreter,
he's the one who is uh takingcare of it.
SPEAKER_02 (01:00:24):
Oh wow.
SPEAKER_03 (01:00:25):
So I've known him for a number of years now,
right?
Over 20 years.
So I called him and I said,Louis, uh, congratulations, I'm
on the board of OCA.
And I heard that uh they werethey were telling in the meeting
that uh you uh you're gonnalaunch a program finally been
for years now.
I know that you've been uhthinking about this.
And he says, Yeah, but there'sactually a press conference on
(01:00:47):
Friday uh at Laval University tointroduce the program, and the
minister uh uh the minister willbe there, and the head of the uh
translation bureau will bethere, the CEO of the
translation bureau will bethere.
So, do you want to come?
I was like, Wow, okay, sure.
So um I said, Well, why don'tyou come to the podcast to after
(01:01:08):
the press conference to uh talkabout the program?
And he's like, Absolutely, yeah,I'll be delighted.
So that's episode number four,if I'm not three or four.
I think it's episode numberfour, where we had a guest on
the podcast, and suddenly whenwe had a guest, it became oh,
you know what?
It's not only Brian and I justtalking, it's it's basically um
(01:01:33):
we're bringing we're so we'vedecided most of our episodes
following uh that uh episode,we've decided to bring some
guests, and when by bringingsome guests, we got out just as
I was saying earlier, we uh leftour silo.
Suddenly we started meetingother people, we've met you, and
(01:01:53):
uh we've met uh we've seen thatinterpretation is much wider
than what we are going through.
And although we have experience,Brian, although he has an agency
and sees even more, he has aeven broader view than I than I
have because I'm taking gigshere and there.
Um, we've seen that it's evenlarger than we imagined.
(01:02:15):
And um, for instance, um one ofour guests uh about uh three
weeks ago, sorry, episode uh 31,he's uh he's an interpreter in a
refugee camp in Kenya.
He uh fled Darfur because of thegenocide, and uh he works for
the UNHCR.
(01:02:37):
And he works as an interpreterfor$60 a month.
SPEAKER_01 (01:02:41):
Wow.
SPEAKER_03 (01:02:42):
$60 a month.
Why?
Because since he's a refugee,he's not from Kenya, he doesn't
have the although he's aprofessionally qualified, he
does not have uh, he's not acitizen of Kenya.
He lives in a refugee camp, hehas a special status, and
because of that, he can work, hehas to work full-time, five days
a week, uh, eight to five, anduh he got 60 bucks a month and
(01:03:03):
three kilos of food.
I was stunned.
Um and I've we've met him, wefound him on LinkedIn, he came
to the podcast, you can watchit, and uh for me it was uh
shocking.
So to me, that's what thepodcast allowed.
It allowed me to see thatinterpretation is I thought that
(01:03:24):
the world was big throughinterpretation, and now the
world is even bigger through thepodcast about interpretation.
So Brian and I were having a lotof fun.
SPEAKER_02 (01:03:34):
Yep, I can relate.
Yeah, I can totally relate.
So true.
Well, Alan, as we get to theclose of today's episode,
there's one last question that Ihave for you, which is how can
our listeners find out moreabout you and the work that you
do?
SPEAKER_03 (01:03:53):
Well, um uh I can be found easily on LinkedIn, but uh
if you want to find the podcast,uh go to YouTube or Spotify and
type found in interpretation.
And uh you'll find us prettyeasily.
And don't forget, like, share,and subscribe and comment.
SPEAKER_02 (01:04:11):
That's right, especially comment.
Engagement is so huge.
So absolutely.
I'll make sure to uh include thelinks in the episode notes for
today's episode.
Go ahead and check out Alan'spodcast, Found an
Interpretation.
It's actually, you know, well,depending on the topic, right,
and who you bring in.
(01:04:31):
But the two hosts, Brian andAlan, are just uh amazing
energy, super fun.
So go and check it out.
SPEAKER_03 (01:04:37):
Yeah, well, um, well, thank you for thank you
very much for inviting me.
Uh it was uh absolutely great.
And um, yeah, I I like the vibe.
SPEAKER_01 (01:04:46):
Thank you, Alan.
There are moments in life that don't feel like
turning points until you lookback and realize they were.
Welcome back, Branded Bunch, toanother episode of the Brand the
Interpreter Podcast.
This is your host, Mireya Perez,showing up again for you this
month with another greatepisode.
(00:59):
For our guest today, languagewasn't a chosen tool.
It was the air that he breathedin conversations with family on
summer trips to New York and inthe chatter of kids at camp
where French, Spanish, andEnglish just collided.
And long before he knew that theword interpreting existed, he
(01:21):
was already doing it, helpingkids make sense of one another
for a couple of dollars andmaybe a lot of laughs.
But then one day came the momentthat changed everything: a
university assignment, a booth,a headset, and the first time
the microphone flipped on.
(01:42):
It wasn't just another job, itwas the moment that he realized
there was a name for this work,and it was the work that he
wanted to do.
In this episode, Alan Bretonfrom Canada joins us to go
deeper than vocabulary lists andlanguage rules.
We explore why depth ofexperience, not age, not polish,
(02:06):
not jargon, gives interpreterstheir resilience.
We talk about flow, why it feelslike being in the zone, and how
it keeps you anchored whenspeakers speed up, change tone,
or veer off script.
Alan also shares stories with usfrom the front lines.
Why parliamentary debates areamong his favorite gigs.
(02:29):
Imagine that.
How meaning becomes your compasswhen the pressure is on, and how
some assignments linger longafter the session ends.
He gets real about mental costof interpreting difficult
content, the visualizationhabits that help him stay
grounded, and the rituals thathelp him reset afterward.
(02:51):
By the end of our conversation,you'll hear three practical
takeaways for your own practice.
From recording yourself tostudying seasoned interpreters
to building a life rich enoughto support this work.
And that's rich in fulfillment.
But of course you knew thatalready.
We also talk about found ininterpretation, the podcast Alan
(03:13):
co-hosts, and the very realstories they've heard from
interpreters working incompletely different realities
around the world.
So if you're tuning in as abilingual professional that's
thinking about making the leap,or if you're an interpreter
looking to deepen your craft,this episode offers not just
insight, but encouragement.
Without further ado, help mewelcome Alan Breton to the show.
(03:44):
Alan, welcome to the show.
So happy to have you.
SPEAKER_03 (03:49):
Thank you.
Thank you for having me.
SPEAKER_02 (03:51):
I said your name, but I want you to say your name
the way you say it in your showbecause I want our listeners to
hear the difference between mypronunciation and the actual
pronunciation.
SPEAKER_03 (04:02):
Well, I haven't heard your pronunciation, but
here it goes.
Hello, hello.
My name is Alain Breton, and uhwelcome to um Randall.
SPEAKER_02 (04:12):
Rand the interpreter.
Yeah, see, I would never.
SPEAKER_03 (04:17):
Alain Breton.
That's the uh French version.
Uh but my my name is spelledA-L-A-I-N.
So uh people don't really knowhow to pronounce my name.
So sometimes it sounds like somepeople say like Alaine, which I
really don't like because itsounds like Elaine in Seinfeld,
you know, like Elaine.
(04:38):
So it sounds like a like awoman's name rather.
But Alain, think of Alain Delon.
I don't know if uh yourlisteners will know this famous
uh good old French actor.
Um but uh Alain, that's andthat's the English equivalent is
Alain.
Alan?
Alan?
Yeah, Alan.
That's I thought I said Alan.
Yeah, well, I like it betterthan Alain.
SPEAKER_02 (05:01):
Well, good, I was pretty close.
I think my audience by now knowsI'm horrible with name
pronunciation and I butcherpeople's names, even though I
practice before we get on.
And then the moment that it'stime, you know, it's go time,
wah wah, wah.
It just never comes to fruitionthe way I'd like.
So anyway, Ellen, welcome to theshow.
(05:22):
I'm so happy to have you.
Very happy to be able to havethis conversation with you on
the podcast.
And I want to start ourconversation today with what my
audience is pretty much gettingused to, if not already, have
been used to, the question thatI ask all my guests, which is
taking us back in memory lane toa fond childhood memory of
(05:45):
yours.
SPEAKER_03 (05:48):
Now that I think of it, um I think that one of um
I'll link the memory with uhwhat uh we do as a living is
being interpreters.
So I grew up in Quebec City, andum Quebec is a French-speaking
province in Canada, and everyonehere in Quebec speaks French.
(06:11):
Um most of my family members,uh, I mean, all of my family
members uh don't speak English.
My dad uh spoke English, butlet's say my mom doesn't speak
English, and um for my father,it was very important that I'd
learn English.
And on my mother's side of thefamily, they're from Latin
(06:34):
America and they all live uharound New York.
And as I said, for my father wasreally important for me to learn
English.
So although I was familiar withEnglish because we traveled a
lot to New York in the States uhwhen I was a kid, um I spent uh
all of my summers in Vancouver.
Um because I have an aunt wholives there, but of which I was
(06:58):
also going to um a summer campwith other kids.
So I would just spend my summersthere and uh you know naturally
uh speak English.
And at the camp, um, in thecabin that I was uh in Gibson,
uh there were several Mexicans,and um so I basically ended up
(07:24):
speaking Spanish a lot at thecamp because I also speak
Spanish because of my mother'sside.
And the the Mexicans were thereand they were all hanging out
together, and the English uhkids were all hanging out
together, and the Mexicansdidn't know how to speak English
or did not want to practice, andobviously uh the uh
(07:45):
English-speaking kids werealways asking me the question:
Do you speak Mexican?
And I was like, No, Mexican isnot a language, it's called
Spanish.
And after people figure out thatI could speak both, uh basically
uh I was being paid tointerpret.
Wow, so I was making money, abuck or two, or something like
(08:05):
that.
But there were all these richkids who were coming from far
away, and um they I was gettingpaid or uh giving some perks
because uh I I could um I couldtranslate uh both uh Spanish and
uh English uh at the camp.
Talk about that was my first uhinterpreting gig ever, I think.
SPEAKER_02 (08:27):
Yeah, I was gonna say talk about a glimpse into
your future.
Little did you know, huh?
SPEAKER_03 (08:32):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
So I didn't know it was um, youknow, it was something that I
was going to do my I didn't knowI was going to make a living
with it.
SPEAKER_02 (08:40):
So trilingual growing up.
I mean, aside from the summercamp, did you feel that growing
up it was you were putting theselanguages to to good use?
Or how did that come to be interms of you continuing to
practice?
Uh especially since you'resaying that the household maybe
wasn't necessarily uh bilingualor trilingual.
(09:03):
What was that like for yougrowing up?
SPEAKER_03 (09:05):
Well, uh with my mother, I've always spoken
Spanish.
And uh with my father, Frenchnaturally.
And um when I that that was inQuebec, and my mom was going to
visit her her her mother uh ormy our aunts in um and I would
see my cousins in New York.
And when I when I was in NewYork, then it was bilingual with
(09:26):
Spanish and English.
So I I've always been intolanguages, and they always came
pretty easily to me.
Um, I it was just such a naturalthing, and I never really for
me, it was just um inconceivableto just speak one language.
I've always spoken severallanguages, so I would say that
(09:47):
uh everything always camenaturally, and you know, it it
came through curiosity of uh thematerial that is provided in
language.
Um, for instance, with English,when I was uh a teenager, I was
a huge sci-fi fan.
I loved Star Trek The NextGeneration, Deep Space Nine, and
uh all of these uh shows uh backin the 90s, and I was watching
(10:11):
them in the original version, ofcourse, because I understood
English and it was never anissue for me.
Um, and when I when I was older,I traveled a bit in Latin
America and I lived inBarcelona.
So I spoke Spanish and I neverreally uh so by keeping all of
these languages fresh in mymind, uh, I never really felt I
(10:34):
had really had to study them asmuch.
It was more learning through uhlearning new things through
experience.
SPEAKER_02 (10:43):
At what age do you recall being aware that the use
of language could be could bedone in a professional way?
Meaning, when did you realizeyou could make more than a buck,
like in summer camp with yourdifferent languages?
SPEAKER_03 (11:00):
Um when I was in my 20s, I didn't really know what
to do with myself.
And uh I I've graduated fromhigh school and I've tried a few
things in college here andthere.
And to be honest, I was a bitlost.
And I had a friend who um thiswas doing a bachelor's degree in
translation.
And I was like, oh, okay.
(11:21):
Um, and before um I decided touh do that bachelor's degree, uh
I lived a little bit in SouthKorea, I visited Japan, I did in
Vancouver for a couple of years,then I was doing you know like
bartending jobs and things likethat.
And so I came back to QuebecCity and I thought, well, you
know what, I don't know what todo with myself, so I'll just be
a translator.
And I I to be honest, I've neverreally liked it.
(11:44):
Um because I like to talk and Ilike to meet people and just to
think just about having anoffice job or maybe working for
the federal government, uh, wasit was more like uh a means to
an end uh rather than somethingI was passionate about.
But then uh the first semester,um, their program director came
(12:04):
to see us and he said, umthere's an extra exchange
program that are available foruh people who are studying in
translation.
And you can go to severalplaces, you can go to France, uh
Spain, or uh there were a fewother locations.
So I thought, okay, maybe Franceor Spain, but that would be
great.
And I put it in the back burner.
(12:26):
And then um, after a year at umuniversity, um I basically um we
had uh a small uh office uh forstudent.
We had uh we were provided thestudents were providing uh
translation services uh in asmall um you know branch uh in
(12:46):
our in our department atuniversity.
And and back in those days, Iwas in charge of communications.
Remember, that was beforeFacebook.
And communication basicallymeant uh answering emails.
So, and one day I got an email,and the email said, We're
looking for interpreters for anevent at university.
And I was like, uh, well, we'retranslators, we're not
(13:08):
interpreters, and I didn'treally know anything about
interpretation.
And um some uh other studentswere uh said to me, Well, our
program director is actually aninterpreter.
So, okay, yeah, I spoke to himbecause I uh I talked to him
about the trips overseas.
And um I went to see him and hesaid, Hey, Alain, he says, uh,
(13:30):
why don't you try it?
Why don't you be in it?
Why don't you uh tryinterpretation?
And I was like, what are youtalking about?
Like, and my mind, I didn't sayI didn't say it openly, but I
was a bit stunned and I waslike, uh, you know, I was this
this kid, and I was like, oh,what's interpretation?
And uh, what is he talkingabout?
And he says, you know what?
He said, um, I think you wouldbe uh you have potential to
(13:52):
become an interpreter.
And I was like, really?
And you have to remember, uh, Istarted university a bit late
because um I know I did allthese things.
I lived in Korea, went to visitJapan and Asia and lived in
Vancouver and all of that.
So I was a bit older than, let'ssay I was not 20 or 21, I was
uh, I don't know, 25, 25-ish.
And so I was already a littlebit older, so maybe he saw
(14:16):
something in me that I couldn'tback then.
So he said, Well, you're notready yet to work for uh one of
the uh major uh supplier ofinterpreting services in Quebec
City, but I know someone whowould like to uh you know
introduce you so to tointerpretation.
And you can also give him thegig uh here at Laval University.
(14:38):
So I was like, okay, so he givesme the email of uh that uh other
interpreter who um who was in inhis 40s, and I was in my 20s, so
he was about 20 years older thanI am, and he said to me, Um uh,
oh, um, I think you're a bit tooyoung to become an interpreter.
(14:58):
And I said, Okay, well, um, andI tried to show my abilities, my
my language abilities.
And then he said, Um, and itremember this conversation
happens in French.
And um he said, Okay, um, what'suh conseil d'administration in
English?
Conseil d'administration, uh,and I said uh board of
(15:20):
directors, and he's oh, youdidn't say something like
council of administrators, youdidn't fall into the trap.
And I was like, Oh, that was atest.
He says, Okay, I'll try you inthe booth.
What?
That was it, and he says, Okay,I'll try you in the booth.
So um, a couple of weeks later,uh, I there's this huge event at
(15:41):
university, there's hundreds ofpeople in the conference room,
and I see a booth for the firsttime in my life, and he told me
to wear a shirt and pants, whichI didn't really have back then,
you know, being a student, uhcheese and t-shirt was the norm.
SPEAKER_02 (15:57):
And um, okay, but you did have pants.
SPEAKER_03 (16:00):
Yeah, I did.
Um, yeah, I had to buy them.
I had to buy them.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I did not have pants, I hadjeans back in the day, but I did
have to buy pants and I went tobuy a shirt.
And um yeah, and uh, I uh Iended up in the booth and uh as
the then after a while I lookedat him and uh I really wanted to
try and I was really eager.
(16:21):
And when he turned on themicrophone, everything changed
for me.
That's when I said, Wow, you getyou can get paid for this.
That's it.
I mean, I just get to talk allthe time in another language.
That is so cool.
Oh my god, that's what I want todo.
And um, and then um I asked him,How much how much does an
(16:43):
interpreter make like like for agig like this?
And he he tells me uh theamount, and I was like, Oh my
god, like I was on student loansand uh you know getting a bit of
uh bursaries and uh try to get athousand here, five hundred
there.
And then I was like, it it's asif someone had said, okay, you
just won your ticket to thelottery or something.
(17:06):
So um yeah, and uh that's whenuh I said, okay, um I I should
become I I will become aninterpreter.
But and it was not a straighthour from there, but that's the
uh that's wow, that's the gistof it.
SPEAKER_02 (17:21):
That's how they started.
How amazing.
And I think it says a lot tooabout the power of um, you know,
one instructor's words to beable to give you something that,
as you mentioned, you may havenot have been able to identify
yourself.
Maybe at some point in yourtranslation career you would
have come across an opportunitya little later, but you know, to
(17:45):
just be given the opportunity tohave some insight into what that
world is like.
I think that always it I lovethe stories when an instructor
is the one that sees thepotential in an individual while
the individual themselves donot.
Um, and then they go try it outand it's like a whole new world.
I love how you said turned onthe mic and that was it.
(18:05):
It was like you knew then andthere, which is so cool.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (18:09):
It was like love at first sight.
Totally.
For me, that that's what it was.
Um, I I to this day I can'timagine myself doing anything
else.
Um, this is um this is the likethe coolest for me.
This is the coolest job in theworld to be an interpreter.
You get to travel, you get tomeet people, you're always
listening to uh what otherpeople are saying, you get you
(18:31):
have access to uh secretmeetings and confidential uh
like confidential matters, andyou get to uh see uh what
happens with uh politicians whenthe when the cameras aren't
there.
Um if you have if you're goodenough and have access to that,
you get you get to see the worldin a whole different way.
And it's I think that thehardest thing in life is uh for
(18:53):
a lot of people is to get out oftheir own bubble.
You know, you you have your ownroutine, you have your your like
your maybe your spouse, yourkids, and you do your things and
just getting out of, and somepeople okay, once every three
year, two, three years, they'regonna travel, you're gonna get a
peek at the world for a coupleof weeks and then go back home
and get back to the routine, andthat's it.
(19:13):
It's really hard to get out ofthe bubble.
And when you and you havefriends, well, you choose your
friends, and usually you choosepeople who are just like you.
So we spend our lives in our inour silo and we don't even
notice it.
But we're interpreters, and weget to travel, we get to see
different people, differentrealities, different points of
view, and on top of that, we getto actually be in their in their
(19:37):
skin for a little while.
That's amazing.
I mean, you I mean, the thingsthat I've seen ever since I'm an
interpreter, just because I wasactually in certain situations
and certain things, uh,sometimes I'm shocked, sometimes
it's very sad to see certainsituations, and sometimes it's
like, oh my god, I didn't knowthis happened.
(19:57):
Or uh, for instance, uh, rightnow there's a scandal in the
news in Quebec where I'm from.
And um, I knew about I knew itseven, I've learned about it
seven years ago, and now it's inthe news.
And now I'm I've been writingsome of my interpreter friends
who were in that and those gigsfor the government.
And um, and I said, hey, nowit's not, you know, it's not
(20:19):
confidential anymore.
We can openly talk about it.
And I was like, and for years,you know, I've been thinking, oh
my god, someday this story isgonna blow up.
I've been thinking, and now itthis is uh I was watching the
news again this morning, andit's Blowing up for a week now.
So, and so we as interpreters,we are at the forefront of what
(20:40):
goes on in society.
Um, sometimes I get to tell myfriends about, you know, uh,
this is this is what's going on,and people are like, What are
you talking about?
And then a few months or a fewyears later, people are like, Oh
wow, I didn't know.
And I was like, Yep, I've beentelling you, this is what's
going on.
And sometimes very few peoplebelieve me.
SPEAKER_02 (20:58):
It's like the closest thing to being an actor,
except actors are usually doingor portraying a fictitious
character, whereas interpretersare actually in real life
sharing stories and messages ofyou know, real life events or of
(21:20):
real life people, but you do getto step in, like you mentioned,
into the skin of this otherindividual per se, you know, as
you are interpreting.
That's that's a great way to putit.
I know that I've had a lot ofbilingual professionals that
have considered for a long timethe world of interpreting, and
(21:42):
um they just couldn't seethemselves doing that as a
profession for whatever reason.
And so they entered a differentprofession while still having
that calling.
And years later, they're they'resaying, I'm just going to do it,
right?
I want to get into interpreting.
How do I do that?
That's usually the question thatI get.
(22:03):
I'm gonna go from this career toI want to do this career now.
I've always wanted to dointerpreting, I just didn't
think it was a profession.
And now, of course, thanks toum, you know, the internet and
social media, people are able tosee that indeed this is an
actual profession.
And for some people, it it'sbeen a calling that they've
(22:25):
ignored for a while.
And so now they're trying to getinto it.
So I love when interpretersshare the insight of that
moment, that aha moment for themwhen they know that this is what
they want to do, becausehopefully that's an experience
that one day that bilingualprofessional will also
experience, knowing that theycould step into this world and
that it isn't boring as well.
(22:47):
I mean, it could be maybe.
I had one interpreter say thatthey their first gig was uh
interpreting at a conferenceabout rocks.
SPEAKER_03 (22:55):
Rocks can be very interesting.
They're old.
They're old.
Rocks are very old, and youknow, you never know.
SPEAKER_02 (23:03):
I've been also reading a book about um it's
called Flow.
And it it it does actually, I'vethis is my second time reading
it.
I really enjoy that book, and itit uh basically talks about how
um an individual enters thestate of flow when the mind is
challenged and doing somethingthat they enjoy.
(23:24):
So it has to be this, you know,this this dual component.
You can't do something that youenjoy and be and not be
challenged and enter the stateof flow.
So it gives an example of maybea tennis player that goes into
play.
This is somebody that enjoys thegame.
But if they enter the game withsomeone that has lesser skills
(23:47):
than they, it's no longerchallenging.
So they no longer enjoy the gamethe way in which they would if
they had somebody that met themat that same skill set and
challenge them.
And I feel like interpreters,when they enter the booth or
they enter an encounter and theyare challenged, I think that
that's the connection thatreally gets us going into our
(24:09):
minds are actually working sohard in the moment that you know
it just it just brings us intothe state of flow.
And that's how we are able tomake the connection as to why we
enjoy it.
If an interpreter doesn't enterthe state of flow, they're not
being challenged enough, I don'tthink.
And maybe it's time to take itup a notch, in my opinion.
SPEAKER_03 (24:30):
Well, um, I it's um it's all about interest, right?
So I personally uh I'll give anexample.
Um over the weekend, uh I wasdoing this um assignment for uh
Hockey Canada, and I'm a hugehockey fan.
I've been watching the uhStanley Cup playoffs, and I've
(24:54):
been watching every game,although uh my team, the
Montreal Canadians, uh have beeneliminated.
But uh I don't care, I justwatch the games and uh I want to
see where this will lead.
And then I happened to be uhover the weekend at a gig that
actually was it was a seminarfor uh coaches who are uh
teaching uh teenagers um andthey're they're training
(25:18):
teenagers, and I was like, andthen they were showing clips of
the young players and what to doand not to do, and then when I
watched uh a game afterwards, Iwas like, oh, and now I'm I get
to see things that I didn't seebefore.
So and I loved the interpretingpart.
So not only I was interested inthe topic, but I really enjoyed
(25:39):
interpreting and I was learningat the same time.
I mean, what a combination! Soum, yeah, um, it may mean maybe
um the the interpreter that wasdoing the rocks, well, maybe
they didn't like geology.
SPEAKER_01 (25:52):
That's that's what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_02 (25:54):
State of flow.
It's gonna have those twocomponents for sure.
SPEAKER_03 (25:58):
But one point that you you brought up a bit
earlier, uh, that I like to comeback to is uh you were uh
telling me about someinterpreters that are doing
something and they didn't knowthey could make money with
interpret, not make a livingrather with interpretation, and
then they decided to do it aftera while.
But I can tell you that um whenI first had that phone call with
(26:24):
the old interpreter who uh askedme the uh board of directors
question.
SPEAKER_00 (26:28):
You the you mean the older interpreter?
SPEAKER_03 (26:31):
Because it's well, but now now it's been because
that that story is over 20, it's20, it's 20 years ago, and now
he's retired and um he's uh 73now.
So um okay, okay, forgive it.
I'll I would call him seasonedinterpreter.
Well, maybe I hope he's notwatching.
So um, and um, but but the thethe point he had, I was 25, and
(26:55):
he the first thing he said to mewas, I think you're a bit too
young to become an interpreter.
And um and I said, Why?
He said, Well, a goodinterpreter is around 40 years
old, and I was I would I thoughtback back then, um, I didn't
want to miss my opportunitybecause of my age, but I really
I was really wondering why hesaid that.
But today I realized that it'snot about the age as much as the
(27:20):
experience, and in order to be agood interpreter, you need to
have seen a few things in yourlife.
You need to you a lot ofinterpreters actually came in
later in life after doing otherthings, and I think that makes
them better interpreters becauseI think that you need a bit of
(27:41):
depth in your general cultureand your knowledge.
Um, if you just startinterpreting and that's the
first thing you do, I mean,you're 20 years old, let's
imagine you're 20 years old andyou say, I'm gonna be an
interpreter, and that's all youdo, then you're not gonna
understand several referencesthat people might make for
(28:04):
certain things.
Um, if um someone talks about,let's say um uh I I met um a
young lady at uh my university,and no fault, no fault of her
own.
Um, I asked her if she knew whoRichard Nixon is.
And she never heard of him.
(28:26):
And I was like, What?
What do you mean you don't knowRichard Nixon?
I mean, and and uh and I said,How old are you?
And she says, I'm 22.
I was like, all right, I mean,okay, let's forget that we're
not talking to Americans here,right?
We're talking to uh Quebecois,French Canadian, live in French
in French-speaking world.
We have different references asAmericans.
(28:47):
So uh so I don't want youraudience to say, well, she
didn't just know it.
I mean, we are in a differentcountry, and we on top of that
in Canada, we have a differentsilo, which is the French silo.
But I was like, oh, okay.
And then I was asking a fewquestions, general knowledge
questions about here and there,and I noticed that there was a
gap in my own understanding ofthe world and hers, and no fault
(29:11):
of her own, she's just a bit tooyoung.
And and and I can't blame himfor that.
I mean, there are a bunch ofthings that I didn't know in my
20s that I know today, becauseover time you develop some
experience, and I think thatactually it makes us better
interpreters to uh travel, tosee the world, to do other
(29:34):
things, to try and uh even failat some projects, and then
becoming an interpreter, andthen and when that happens,
because being a good a goodconference interpreter is not
about your skills or yourterminology, it's understanding
(29:56):
what is being said, and if youdon't understand what is being
said, whatever your languageskills, it won't work.
So, but when you're young, it'sjust it's just no, it's no
nobody's fault.
You're young, so it's very hardto understand the wide range of
things that you are facing whenyou are uh at a conference,
(30:22):
unless you only do one thing.
If you only do one thing, youspecialize in one thing, but you
won't make much of a livingbecause it's I I can't think of
except if you work at parliamentand you've done your whole
career at parliament and that'sall you do.
But if you are a conferenceinterpreter, just like me, who
is independent and takes uhcontracts here and there for
civil agencies, uh you don'tknow what's coming next.
(30:46):
And but if you have that depthof knowledge because you you
have maturity and experience,then you'll you won't be afraid
of anything.
So um I love that.
SPEAKER_02 (30:55):
I don't think I've ever heard it um in that in that
sense, uh, you know, when itcomes to seasoned interpreters
or uh, you know, the age, theage difference between
interpreters, the new generationof language professionals, for
instance, um about depth.
I like that.
I think that that makes perfectsense.
SPEAKER_03 (31:18):
So for young for young people, and I would say if
if you're in your 20s and youwant to become an interpreter,
um two things.
Don't be afraid of AI.
It's gonna be there, but therewill still need human
interpreters.
Number one, and number two,travel, see the world, get do
some other things, get somejobs, and keep it in the back of
(31:40):
your mind.
But it don't only be aninterpreter, do things, get
experience, and with that expthe everything that you will do
along the way will serve as atool when you're at conferences.
SPEAKER_02 (31:58):
Absolutely, yeah.
I believe that wholeheartedlytoo.
I think it's like the umsongwriter that wants to talk
about a sad love song withoutever having had their heart
broken.
How do you bring that feelingin?
So yeah, definitely.
Love that, love that depth part.
So there you go.
For those of you that arelistening that are bilingual
(32:20):
professionals in other fields.
Um, Alan just said you're theperfect, actually, at the
perfect moment, like the perfectexperience to go ahead and dive
in.
If that's what you've beenthinking about, it's time to
break into what you've beencalling or has been calling for
you to do.
SPEAKER_03 (32:36):
Yeah, uh, age is an asset this time.
SPEAKER_02 (32:39):
Exactly.
SPEAKER_03 (32:40):
No, and so many fields were like, oh, I'm too
old to do this, too old to dothat.
No, uh, quite the opposite.
If you're uh uh one of the bestinterpreters that I know started
around he was 49 or 50 yearsold, and he's one of the best
interpreters that I know now.
Why?
Because of his knowledge.
Uh, not the lawn, I mean,language knowledge was always
(33:00):
there, but it's not about that.
It's about that he knows a lotof things.
So uh I'm here, I'm with him inthe in the booth and I can trust
him.
And I listened to hisperformance and I'm like, oh, I
like it.
And at first, when he first camein, uh he was oh, um uh he I
think that he was a bit unsurebecause at first he was like,
(33:20):
Well, uh, you guys have beendoing this for a number of
years, and uh, you know, maybehe had that feeling of a bit of
insecurity in the verybeginning.
And after a year, I I ended uplike we meet every once in a
while in the booth, and after ayear, I said, Wow, um not only
uh progress when it comes toyour ability, but um I can see
(33:41):
that uh you all your priorknowledge, uh you've been able
to access your toolbox, which isall your of your prior
knowledge.
SPEAKER_02 (33:49):
That's so amazing.
I love that.
Today, Alan, what has been, doyou think, one of your favorite,
if you can share um encountersor gigs that you have done?
Uh, and what was the topic thatit was related to?
And why was it that it it'sbecome one of your favorite that
you've you've covered as aninterpreter?
SPEAKER_03 (34:11):
Well, um right now I've I've been working a lot,
um, parliamentary interpretationfor the legislative assembly of
the Northwest Territories.
So if you look on a map, um,especially for Americans
listening, there's Alaska.
You know, um this is my map.
(34:31):
Um top uh the Western state.
Well, to the right, there'sYukon, and then there's a big
land mass in Canada, and it'scalled the Northwest
Territories, and they have alegislative assembly there, and
French is actually one of theirofficial languages, so is
English, and so is uh so areseveral uh indigenous languages.
SPEAKER_00 (34:53):
Oh wow.
SPEAKER_03 (34:54):
Uh so uh I work, uh I do parliamentary
interpretation for uh NorthwestTerritories, and I love it.
Um, I love the okay, uh not thecommissions and the budget and
all of that, of course.
It can be a bit it can be longand quite boring.
Sometimes they will look at abudget and it was like, well,
line this line on that page.
Uh why are we uh putting them somuch money in that?
(35:16):
Okay.
But when you have theparliamentary debates, because
this is as crazy and unexpectedas it can ever be, you have it's
it's like a competition, it'slike a verbal fight.
One side asks a question.
I mean, and then you have tounderstand the British
parliamentary uh system that wehave in Canada.
(35:38):
So you have the opposition partyand you have the government, and
then you have uh a member of thelegislative assembly who uh
stands up and says and reads,and they have two minutes tops,
and it's there's a countdown,and they're like, Mr.
Speaker, because they talk tothe speaker of the house in
order to ask a question, saying,Mr.
(35:59):
Speaker, uh the Minister ofHealth and Social Services
promised to uh raise uh nurses'uh salaries because their
working conditions are terrible,yada yada, yada.
And what's the minister gonna doabout it?
And then the minister, and thensuddenly uh the speaker of the
house stops and then uh givesthe floor to the minister, and
the minister says, No, we gavethem a bunch of money and uh
(36:21):
they're all happy.
And they they do verbalexchanges like that for uh two
hours at every session, and youdon't have the questions in
advance, you don't know thetopics, you don't know anything,
you just know that someone, andyou don't even know who, someone
is gonna get up and speak asquickly as they can, reading,
(36:46):
and then try to trick someoneelse on the other side, and
that's what they'll do.
So it's okay.
Sometimes some conferences, oh,I'm a bit nervous because I
didn't get the documents fromthe client, and the client send
it five minutes before, and I'mupset.
Well, you can't, you're not cutfor parliamentary interpretation
(37:09):
if you think like that.
Because, and this is thecraziest thing you can do.
Um, so it is uh it is myfavorite one because you were
talking earlier about the factthat when we're challenged, we
can grow.
Um, I've I've been doing thisfor about four years now, and I
(37:30):
can tell you, um, this is um youcan't be an autopilot.
Uh, you are at the edge of yourseat all the time.
So uh that would be it.
That would be it.
SPEAKER_02 (37:40):
Yeah, no, I mean that's definitely impromptu.
I I would not be able to meetthat that demand um because I do
come from a world of send theslides, send the agenda, set the
program.
I think the only thing thatcomes maybe close to it is
(38:00):
speaking about board meetings,the public comment at board
meetings, in which you knowthey've got limited amount of
time to speak on an agenda item.
And they also will write ascript, they meaning the the
public will write a script andwill try to read it as fast as
possible to squeeze in the thetopic or the uh comment in that
(38:22):
three you know minute period.
That's probably about theclosest that I've experienced.
And even then it's sochallenging because yeah, you
don't get the public comment,you know, ahead of time to
prepare and speed reading on atopic that could be so random.
Yeah.
So I commend you for that.
That's definitely challenging.
(38:43):
Yeah, and only there's only aspecific type of interpreter
that can say, I enjoy that.
SPEAKER_03 (38:49):
Well, it's uh it's about, I mean, um, there are all
kinds of topics for all kinds ofpersonalities.
SPEAKER_02 (38:55):
Yep.
SPEAKER_03 (38:56):
So uh true.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You you can't uh if you'renervous, uh you can't do that
one.
SPEAKER_02 (39:03):
Yeah, don't do not accept that assignment.
Alan, I mean, there's the onesthat we really enjoy, and then
they're the experience thatwe're like, I don't think I'll
ever touch that one again.
Have you ever come across a achallenging assignment or gig,
however you call it, and thatyou're like, uh, yikes, that
one, not again.
SPEAKER_03 (39:24):
Um, I do um, I don't know how much I can describe on
the podcast, but there was uhone instance that comes to mind
where um it was a um top secretmeeting uh for the government um
with uh provincial and thefederal government, provincial
(39:46):
governments uh and uh thefederal government, and um they
were basically uh giving anupdate on terrorism and uh how
certain groups online were umtargeting children um to um do
(40:09):
all kinds of horrible things.
Uh the children that are beingmanipulated online, and they
were saying uh there what thetechnique were techniques were
and what these uh children beasked to do and things like
that.
And I was not prepared becausethese are top level meetings and
they don't provide you anyinformation.
(40:31):
You just you're dropped thereand boom, okay.
You you don't know before you'rein, there's no way to prepare.
Uh, and I heard that, and uh Iwas I was uh kind of lost faith
in humanity for a couple ofhours, yeah.
Because as I said earlier, welive in our own bubble.
(40:52):
I I don't know anything aboutyou know what these police
officers and the investigatorsdo, and nobody does, right?
And then um yeah, um that and uhif you have children and then
you imagine your own children uhand you're like, oh wow, they're
(41:14):
online on their phones andthey're doing their thing.
Um is everything all right?
You know, and then you startlooking at you know, you start
thinking, oh, what if it's myown kid?
And I don't I'm not I just don'tknow because I'm sure that
several uh parents uh ofchildren that go through these
horrible situations where uhmaybe they didn't know either.
I don't know, I don't I can'tjust imagine.
(41:35):
So that I would say that um veryrarely uh I would I would go
into meetings like that, butover time and with experience
now, I I think of maybe youyou're never you can never get
used to it, of course.
But um the first time ithappened, I can tell you that uh
I I yeah I I I had tears.
(41:58):
I cried.
Yeah, I I after uh uh I was itwas so emotional.
SPEAKER_02 (42:03):
Yeah, emotionally challenged, yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (42:05):
Yeah, totally, totally.
SPEAKER_02 (42:07):
I had an uh a guest actually um some time ago, that
that episode I I did title itThe Dark Side of Interpreting
because this particularinterpreter um no while no
longer covers that type ofassignment, was uh one of the
interpreters for um cases ofhuman trafficking.
And you know, at to as much asas he was able to gave us sort
(42:31):
of an insight of what that'slike, uh, you know, being an
interpreter for that type ofassignments, which by the way,
that not many interpretersaccept because of the nature of
the topic, um, and andeverything that he needed to do
in order to be able to be uhmentally well uh after, right?
(42:55):
And and as you mentioned,there's only so much you can do
uh in in that specific area asan interpreter, because you're
going, you know, the the skinthat you're wearing, to use your
words, is usually the victim'sskin in order to be able to
convey what was happening,especially if they were, you
(43:15):
know, hearings um or that of thefamily members and what they
went through.
And so that he only was able todo for a very short period of
time.
But so many cases just reallychange it, just changed his view
of the world, right?
It was just for him, it was likeit was something that, as you
(43:35):
mentioned, lived in a certainbubble coming from a military
background, he understood theyou know, the the ugly side of
the world, but this wassomething that was way
different.
So I can only well, I don't evenwant to imagine, you know, that
particular moment for you,especially having heard
something like that.
But I yeah, I I could agree.
(43:57):
I I wouldn't want to be involvedin that again.
SPEAKER_03 (44:00):
The thing is it's the mind is a tricky thing, and
the way I interpret, um, the wayI I've stopped sometimes and
I've tried to analyze how my andwithout reading really about it.
And it's really kind of hard tofind some research uh for
(44:22):
interpretation and what happenswith interpreters.
But in my case, uh whenever I'mspeaking, um and whenever I'm
interpreting as well, I alwayssee flashes of images.
So um whenever I'm I'm speakingto you right now, and as I'm
(44:44):
describing the story, uh it'slike my third eye, I I would see
the story like a movie.
And whenever I tell a story orwhenever I'm interpreting, when
there's a good speaker and Ilike and then and there's a
topic that I that I can easilyfollow, um then I just basically
(45:06):
I describe the movie that I seein my head.
That's basically what I do.
So I can I I like for instance,earlier I was telling you about
the nurses and uh like thehealthcare system in Canada.
Well, I could see the nurses inmy head, I could see the
hospital, I could see uh likelike there are some uh images
(45:27):
that come to mind.
And when that's a great thing,it's a great asset, but when I
did that difficult uhinterpretation, the same thing
happened.
I suddenly started seeing theseterrible situations that they
(45:48):
were describing.
So it was not if it all if Ionly if I was only reading the
words, let's say I'm reading anarticle and they're describing
something, okay, yeah, and moveon.
But when you're interpreting andyou're on someone else's skin,
as we were saying, then suddenlyall of that comes together.
And then I start picturing thesituation in my mind, and I
start living the situationthrough the movie that I make in
(46:11):
my mind.
So, what's the next thing thathappened?
I started putting my children'sface in that movie.
But I I don't choose it, I thisis just the way the mind
sometimes drifts.
And suddenly I'm like in themiddle of the game, I'm like,
okay, blank, okay, stay focused.
(46:32):
And I gotta tell myself, okay,stay focused.
And then you I'm giving myself amental anchor in order to uh
avoid the mind drifting.
So when with over over time andexperience, you get to do that,
but when it was the first time,and then uh it was uh it was a
(46:52):
bit surprising.
SPEAKER_02 (46:53):
So uh yeah, that the that's like the uh process of
visualization as an interpretingtechnique, yeah.
When we when we listen to whatwe hear as in a movie like
sequence, because you know we'rewe're storytellers and and love
stories by nature, just ashumans.
You know, that's that that'ssort of how I think history has
(47:16):
always demonstrated that we'rethat type of creature.
So it's natural for for some ofus to envision what it is that
we're hearing in a story-likesequence.
And then, like you say, thebrain automatically makes the
connection with uh somethingthat's familiar.
So in this case, you'reassociating children with if you
(47:37):
have your own children, or youknow, it becomes like very
personal, particularly, Iimagine, because we are
interpreting in first person,and it, you know, it just sounds
like it's something that'scoming from us.
And I and I imagine that the thedifficult part aside from as
you're interpreting is how doyou make that disconnection once
(47:58):
you're done?
Yeah, because it's it's it goesinto the vicarious trauma that
many interpreters have spokenabout that can happen when you
when you're doing challengingencounters such as that or
topics such as that, um, that itjust becomes something that
eventually affects youphysically, right?
(48:18):
You don't even know it.
SPEAKER_03 (48:19):
Well, um uh pro wrestling.
I watch pro wrestling.
This is, I mean, because if Itry to watch the news after a
long day of interpretation, Ijust start interpreting the
news.
SPEAKER_02 (48:36):
It's that switch you can't turn off.
SPEAKER_03 (48:39):
Exactly.
But with pro wrestling, hey,hey, there's the guy, and he
took the chair and then heslammed him on the table or or
something like that.
And it is so uh okay, uh, to allthe pro wrestling fans, I love
it, but it's so stupid.
It's so stupid that you'rewatching it in.
(49:00):
Who believes this stuff?
Yeah, well, who believes nobodydoes.
I mean, I call it soap opera formen, and it is so silly that
this is to me uh the best way tounplug uh watching grown-up men
(49:20):
in underwear uh in underwear, umbody slamming each other.
This is like with tables,ladders, and chairs.
SPEAKER_01 (49:32):
Take note, everyone.
I love it.
I've never thought about that.
Next time I need to disconnect.
SPEAKER_03 (49:40):
Yeah, so um, so one time one of my friends uh said
to me, You watch pro wrestling?
And I said, Yeah, but but youlike to read books and you're an
informed man and you're aninterpreter.
How can you watch pro wrestling?
I'm like, Well, it's because I'man interpreter that I watch pro
wrestling.
SPEAKER_02 (50:01):
Let me explain to you why.
Oh, that's so great.
I actually love that.
Okay, there you go, everyone.
Don't say that we don't givegreat tips on how to disconnect
from interpreting whenever youneed to unplug.
SPEAKER_03 (50:14):
Go go find the find the dumbest thing you like.
Uh this is mine.
Find yours.
For some people, it's um stupidmovies, comedies.
Uh, it could be a sitcom, butyou you need to have uh
something to really um and andsomething that is not
self-destructing, let's say uhgoing drinking all night.
SPEAKER_02 (50:35):
Yeah.
Yeah, you need a different kindof outlet, not something that's
gonna add to the fire.
That's so true.
Oh my gosh, Alan.
I know that we can always talkabout all kinds of different
experiences uh when it comes tointerpreting as interpreters.
Uh, but I do want to uh ask youa couple of questions before we
get to the close uh of today'sepisode.
(50:57):
And one of those is what you'velearned throughout the years.
For example, if you could giveyourself a piece of advice as
you know, young Alan going intothe interpreting profession or
when you first started, whatwould be that piece of advice
now that you would give yourselfthat could potentially even help
(51:19):
someone that's just breakinginto the field that would like
to enter this profession withthe experience that you've
gained now through the years?
SPEAKER_03 (51:29):
Um work hard, listen to yourself, record yourself.
We don't we never like the soundof our own voice, but it is the
way it is.
Uh you have to record yourselfand you have to listen to
yourself.
Um this and when I I did amaster's at Glendon, and that's
(51:52):
one of the things we do from thevery beginning, and I had never
really done that before.
So the fact that I had to recordmyself and listen to myself, um
I've picked up so many littlethings, and I was making funny
noises, and I was um, I don'tknow, I was, and or I was uh
(52:14):
making either funny noises, orsometimes I was uh ending my
sentences in a certain way, or Iwas using certain words all the
time, and uh I was like, oh, whyam I doing this?
So recording yourself is onething.
Um, I think that very fewinterpreters over the years
(52:35):
listen to themselves because itbecomes something like really
automatic.
But I think that um I've beendoing this for years now, and I
still record myself, and I don'tlisten to uh 30 minutes of
myself, but sometimes I willjust listen to five minutes.
I will just I I turn as I uhturn on uh the microphone on
(52:57):
Zoom, I'll um I'll turn on thesoftware and then I'll just
record myself and then I'll juststop it, and then later at the
end of the day or the next day,I'll just listen to myself for a
few minutes.
I just want to see if oh, did Ihow did it sound?
How do I sound?
Am I fun to listen to?
(53:18):
Um, that's one thing.
Uh, you gotta be fun to listento because people who don't
understand the language arelistening to you for a reason.
And if you um if you uh babbleor if you uh don't have complete
sentences, or if what you'resaying, you're like, well, I
didn't understand what he wassaying and over there, and what
he said didn't make sense.
(53:38):
So what if I don't make sense?
Well, it's not my fault, hedidn't make sense because I've
heard that before.
Well, no, makes sense becausewhoever's listening to you will
think you don't make sense, theywon't think that person at the
front doesn't make sense.
So uh it's your responsibilityto make sure that something is
(54:04):
understood by the client.
It's not an excuse to say thatyou didn't understand what was
saying at the front.
Do something about it.
So that would be one.
SPEAKER_02 (54:14):
That takes practice, yeah.
That takes practice, yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (54:16):
It does, it does.
Uh, and I I fell into that trapwhen I first started.
I was like, well, uh, who cares?
I mean, I didn't have thatattitude exactly, but I'm just
being doing a caricature here.
But I was like, well, uh, youknow, um, he didn't he didn't
make sense.
How can I make sense?
You gotta make sense if you knowyour topic, even if the speaker
(54:41):
is not that good, you'll makesense.
I've I've heard, I've listened,uh, listen to older
interpreters, listen toexperienced interpreters.
Um don't we're doing things onZoom now.
Before in the booth, when wewere in the booth all the time,
we had no other choice but tolisten to them.
But um now on Zoom, uh, it's notit's not fun to uh okay, you
(55:05):
know what, I'm gonna uh switchthe language channel and I'm
going to uh listen to someonesomeone else.
But every once in a while youhave to do it.
And one time I was with thisinterpreter, and I was like,
he's like 25, 30 yearsexperience, and um, and I really
like him.
I meet him every once in awhile, and I heard him and I was
(55:25):
like, wow.
And then I I spoke to him afterthe conference, and I was like,
You you did great, you know.
And he's like, I don'tunderstand anything, and was
about cryptocurrencies and findall those things, and he didn't
know anything about it.
I was like, it didn't sound likeit, it didn't sound like you
didn't understand.
I mean, I could follow.
(55:48):
So that's that would be uh likeso.
I I gave two.
I gave two pieces of advice.
SPEAKER_01 (55:55):
That's great.
SPEAKER_03 (55:55):
Um, the first one, listen to yourself, second,
listen to experiencedinterpreters, and the third one
we said in the beginning, whichis uh get experience, travel,
and do other things.
So now you have three.
SPEAKER_02 (56:07):
Get some depth, exactly like that, get some
depth.
Alan, I want to bring it back toin the beginning, you mentioned
that the light sort of switchedfor you the moment that that
interpreter's mic turned on withregards to interpreting.
Years later, you you've createdan a podcast show that's called
(56:30):
Found in Interpretation.
SPEAKER_03 (56:32):
Yes.
SPEAKER_02 (56:33):
Speak to our listeners about uh that podcast
and what inspired you.
SPEAKER_03 (56:38):
Um well, the podcast, my uh great friend
Brian Bickford and I startedthis podcast.
And uh Brian and I have been uh,you know, Brian uh owns an
agency which is called UNLanguage Services, and I've
known Brian for years, and andwe are really good friends.
And we we have um, I would sayuh in some ways a similar uh
(57:03):
background because he also hasthree languages French, English,
and Spanish.
And uh he has uh Latin Americanorigins, uh grew up in Canada.
Um and we have all we haveseveral several things in
common.
And what last year during thesummer, uh we were hanging out
(57:26):
in Montreal and uh a cocktailbar, and that's as far as I
remember it, about around like1:30 a.m.
We were talking, and oh yeah, wecan do things together and work,
and I don't know, it was justyou know, just random ideas.
And then I remember saying,let's do a podcast, and I just
(57:46):
said it like that without evenreally thinking about it.
And then Brian's like, Yeah,great idea.
And then suddenly he wasshining, and he would he, and
then the next day I completelyforgot about it.
And Brian says, When are westarting the podcast?
And I was like, Right, thepodcast, okay, yeah, sure.
(58:10):
Um, but you know, we're beingbusy with work and the contracts
and you know, invoicing and allof that.
And he, and then everyone'swhile when are we doing the
podcast?
When are we doing the podcast?
I was like, okay, uh, and then Ihad like, if you really want to
do anything in life, you gottaput a date.
If you don't put a date to anyon anything, you're never gonna
do anything, right?
So you gotta put a date.
SPEAKER_01 (58:30):
Yeah, that's golden.
SPEAKER_03 (58:32):
So um, I think it was something like August last
year or September.
And uh I said, okay, uh, Iwasn't ready.
I was like, okay, um, my setupwas not great, I didn't have the
microphone or anything, and Iwas like, Oh, okay, well, let's
do it.
And um, I buy uh bought a bunchof equipment and uh you know
found some software, and whatare we gonna talk about?
(58:54):
I don't know.
Um we were just gonna talk aboutinterpretation, okay.
So um Brian took care of a butuh much more than I did about
doing a bit of research on thetopic, and we did um three
episodes, but then it started topick up when um there was a
(59:18):
fourth episode coming, and uhI'm on the board of directors of
uh the um the association of uhtranslator interpreters and
terminologists in Quebec, OTIAC.
And I uh in one of the meetingsof the board, um uh I heard that
(59:39):
Laval University in Quebec Citywas starting a micro program in
conference interpretation.
SPEAKER_02 (59:46):
Let's say micro program.
SPEAKER_03 (59:48):
A microprogram is basically uh if you have a
bachelor's degree and uh you cando like it's some sort of
certificate.
SPEAKER_01 (59:55):
Okay.
SPEAKER_03 (59:56):
So it but you need to have a bachelor's degree in
order to have access to it.
So it's not a master's, it'sjust let's say under a master's,
it's just uh basically fourcourses over two semesters.
It's really part-time and uhit's uh financed by uh the
translation bureau in Canada.
And um the uh my programdirector, the one in the very
(01:00:17):
beginning of the story who saidyou should be an interpreter,
he's the one who is uh takingcare of it.
SPEAKER_02 (01:00:24):
Oh wow.
SPEAKER_03 (01:00:25):
So I've known him for a number of years now,
right?
Over 20 years.
So I called him and I said,Louis, uh, congratulations, I'm
on the board of OCA.
And I heard that uh they werethey were telling in the meeting
that uh you uh you're gonnalaunch a program finally been
for years now.
I know that you've been uhthinking about this.
And he says, Yeah, but there'sactually a press conference on
(01:00:47):
Friday uh at Laval University tointroduce the program, and the
minister uh uh the minister willbe there, and the head of the uh
translation bureau will bethere, the CEO of the
translation bureau will bethere.
So, do you want to come?
I was like, Wow, okay, sure.
So um I said, Well, why don'tyou come to the podcast to after
(01:01:08):
the press conference to uh talkabout the program?
And he's like, Absolutely, yeah,I'll be delighted.
So that's episode number four,if I'm not three or four.
I think it's episode numberfour, where we had a guest on
the podcast, and suddenly whenwe had a guest, it became oh,
you know what?
It's not only Brian and I justtalking, it's it's basically um
(01:01:33):
we're bringing we're so we'vedecided most of our episodes
following uh that uh episode,we've decided to bring some
guests, and when by bringingsome guests, we got out just as
I was saying earlier, we uh leftour silo.
Suddenly we started meetingother people, we've met you, and
(01:01:53):
uh we've met uh we've seen thatinterpretation is much wider
than what we are going through.
And although we have experience,Brian, although he has an agency
and sees even more, he has aeven broader view than I than I
have because I'm taking gigshere and there.
Um, we've seen that it's evenlarger than we imagined.
(01:02:15):
And um, for instance, um one ofour guests uh about uh three
weeks ago, sorry, episode uh 31,he's uh he's an interpreter in a
refugee camp in Kenya.
He uh fled Darfur because of thegenocide, and uh he works for
the UNHCR.
(01:02:37):
And he works as an interpreterfor$60 a month.
SPEAKER_01 (01:02:41):
Wow.
SPEAKER_03 (01:02:42):
$60 a month.
Why?
Because since he's a refugee,he's not from Kenya, he doesn't
have the although he's aprofessionally qualified, he
does not have uh, he's not acitizen of Kenya.
He lives in a refugee camp, hehas a special status, and
because of that, he can work, hehas to work full-time, five days
a week, uh, eight to five, anduh he got 60 bucks a month and
(01:03:03):
three kilos of food.
I was stunned.
Um and I've we've met him, wefound him on LinkedIn, he came
to the podcast, you can watchit, and uh for me it was uh
shocking.
So to me, that's what thepodcast allowed.
It allowed me to see thatinterpretation is I thought that
(01:03:24):
the world was big throughinterpretation, and now the
world is even bigger through thepodcast about interpretation.
So Brian and I were having a lotof fun.
SPEAKER_02 (01:03:34):
Yep, I can relate.
Yeah, I can totally relate.
So true.
Well, Alan, as we get to theclose of today's episode,
there's one last question that Ihave for you, which is how can
our listeners find out moreabout you and the work that you
do?
SPEAKER_03 (01:03:53):
Well, um uh I can be found easily on LinkedIn, but uh
if you want to find the podcast,uh go to YouTube or Spotify and
type found in interpretation.
And uh you'll find us prettyeasily.
And don't forget, like, share,and subscribe and comment.
SPEAKER_02 (01:04:11):
That's right, especially comment.
Engagement is so huge.
So absolutely.
I'll make sure to uh include thelinks in the episode notes for
today's episode.
Go ahead and check out Alan'spodcast, Found an
Interpretation.
It's actually, you know, well,depending on the topic, right,
and who you bring in.
(01:04:31):
But the two hosts, Brian andAlan, are just uh amazing
energy, super fun.
So go and check it out.
SPEAKER_03 (01:04:37):
Yeah, well, um, well, thank you for thank you
very much for inviting me.
Uh it was uh absolutely great.
And um, yeah, I I like the vibe.
SPEAKER_01 (01:04:46):
Thank you, Alan.
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