Getting the message

• Source: Global Times
• [15:47 June 07 2010]
• Comments

The standards of the course are high and unwavering. Of those who are admitted to the program, on average only half will pass their tests along the way and earn a degree. Dawrant said, "We only want to put faith in people who are really ready to do the work, and even then you're really just a beginner. There are lots of things you can't teach. Of those who graduate, only 20 to 30 percent of them will go on to do this as a career." When asked about the exams Su said, "They can give you any kind of speech to interpret, so you really don't know what's going to be on the test. You just have to keep practicing and hope that you are at the level where you can handle it."

A fly on the wall

There are many rewards for those who make it at as a high-level interpreter, but these often differ from original expectations. Interpreters are very well paid, earning between 6,000 yuan ($879) and 15,000 yuan per day depend-ing on experience. And with this kind of earning potential, most interpreters aspire to become freelancers, allowing free time to pursue other interests. But building the kind of experience needed to get to this point takes years. Yuan said, "Initially I was interested in interpreting because I wanted the lifestyle of a freelancer, working for nine months in China and spending the other three months traveling. But obtaining that kind of lifestyle is very hard. All the graduates from the program have to work all the time."

Despite the financial compensation, many would-be interpreters become frustrated, thinking that as an interpreter they will have more of an impact, or they will have access to people in positions of power. Or at the very least the ability to tell their friends what the big-wigs are talking about. And while interpreters work with some of the most powerful people in the world, their role is simply to relay information, By no means can they be actively involved in the conversation or take their work home with them. Interpreters are bound by a strict code of confidentiality, similar to lawyers or doctors that prevents them from discussing what they have interpreted. Dawrant said, "This job requires humility. Some people have the chops for the job, but they just don't have the humility. Essentially, doing this job is exciting. You get to watch history being made, but at the end of the day you can't tell anyone about it."