Deep knowledge of the language and common sense to understand the context are fundamental for the translation to make sense.. It is not enough to speak a language reasonably well to consider yourself a translator, much less an interpreter.

For many people Sydney Pollack’s 2005 political intrigue movie with Nicole Kidman offered perhaps the first opportunity to take a peep into a professional interpreter’s routine . In the movie, Nicole plays Sylvia Broome, a UN interpreter who ends up getting involved in the assassination plot of an African head of state. I must say that the speakers she’s seen translating are the best ever, as they speak clearly and categorically….I got brutally envious. In my experience, we’ve always had to be acrobats.

Here’s another pickle in the booth I heard from my dear friend and colleague Christiana. She specialises in medical interpreting and has years of experience. This is what she told us one day over lunch, which made us nearly choke splitting our sides.