When we think we know all there is to know about interpretation, nothing humbles us more than an unintentional curveball thrown by the speaker. Then and there, it could feel like a “deer in the stage light” situation. But the reality is, we are not on trial, this is not a recital, and there are far fewer people judging us than we think, if any. Breathe, push through, and maybe laugh about the final outcome with everyone out there. We are family, after all.
How to handle these situations depends on the situation, including our policy on jokes. Sometimes, a speaker goes back and forth between languages. So that’s fun. But what’s really tricky is when they mix two languages in one sentence. There is a policy for that here, too.
In other cases, we may encounter idioms, especially the Chinese 4-letter-idioms, which is where the power of paraphrasing comes to the rescue. Paraphrasing is also the go-to when we meet an unfamiliar Bible verse or when we are at a loss for words. In essence, the job of an interpreter is to get the meaning across, not to preserve every linguistic artistry. Nevertheless, it is a fun exercise to match English idioms with Chinese ones and observe the fascinating parallelism across cultures, during our free time. Still, even in those cases, we don’t translate idioms, we match them.
Then there are times that we simply have no idea what the speaker means, but that’s for another day. What other curveballs can you think of? What’s usually keeping you on your toes? Let me know.