Event Report (Interpreter Training Education Edition)
We held a practical training session for volunteers on school interpreting!
On Saturday, September 13th, Sagamihara International Lounge held a practical training seminar on school interpreting in the audiovisual room on the second floor of Sagamihara City Library, welcoming Ms. Yumiko Shimomura, a lecturer (Spanish interpreter) at the Japan Association for Public Interpretation Services (general incorporated association). Thirty people, including Sagamihara residents interested in volunteering as interpreters and translators, participated in the seminar.
In the first half of the training session, Professor Shimomura gave a lecture on the basics and mindset required for school interpreting, and in the second half, participants were divided into groups based on language (English, Chinese, French) and participated in role-playing sessions simulating the workplace of school interpreting.
In the first half of Professor Shimomura's lecture, he mentioned that interpreting at schools requires careful consideration of the following characteristics: (1) it is easy to confuse support work (providing support in a foreign language to help students and parents adapt to Japanese schools) with interpretation work (translating into the other person's language between people who speak different languages), and (2) interpreting at elementary and junior high schools (compulsory education, so students cannot be expelled) is different from interpreting at high schools (students cannot advance to the next grade or graduate if they do not meet the required number of attendance hours and credits).
In addition, in interpreting, we aim to improve skills such as (1) having the language skills necessary for interpreting (listening comprehension, technical terminology), (2) understanding what the other person is saying (basic knowledge of the content, background knowledge), (3) accurately remembering what you hear (short-term memory), and (4) accurately translating what you hear into another language (vocabulary, writing ability).We also learned that it is important to have a ``swordfish'' mindset as an interpreter (Me: taking notes, Ka: stopping the conversation, Ji: looking up in a dictionary, Ki: asking for clarification).
In the role-playing session in the second half, under the guidance of Mr. Shimomura, participants were divided into groups of three based on their language, and each group played the role of a parent of a foreign student, a homeroom teacher, and an interpreter, simulating the situation of school interpreting and learning how to respond appropriately when actually working as a school interpreter. As almost all of the participants in the workshop had no experience, they were keenly aware of the difficulties of school interpreting, but their earnest approach to the role-playing was very impressive.
During the Q&A session, participants asked questions about what to do when they feel their interpreting skills are lacking during the interpretation process, what to do when they encounter words or technical terms they don't understand, the appropriate dictionary media for interpreting (paper, electronic, web translation, etc.), how to study to become a volunteer interpreter, and the social status of educators overseas. Professor Shimomura provided detailed and thoughtful answers to these questions. Last year, the number of foreign residents in Sagamihara City exceeded 20,000 for the first time. In light of this situation, the Sagamihara International Lounge is recruiting volunteer interpreters and translators to work in educational settings, as well as in medical care, daily life support, disaster prevention, and international exchange. We also hold practical interpreter training sessions twice a year (educational and medical). We look forward to your participation in the next session.
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