Excellent preparation is the hallmark of any professional service. In this unit you will learn the skills required to collect and assess information about the nature and conditions of translating and interpreting assignments and to keep work records. You will also acquire the skills required to reach a decision to accept or decline an assignment and to prepare effective work plans to maximise assignment outcomes and minimise risks from miscommunication.
The work you'll cover applies to those working as translators and interpreters in a range of contexts.

Any successful professional performance is dependent on how well a professional is prepared for a task. Thorough preparation gives a professional confidence and contributes to quality performance and outcome. In cataract surgery, for example, the preparation for surgery can take up to 3 hours on the day of the surgery, but the actual surgery itself lasts less than 20 minutes. A 2-minute TV commercial may take up to 4 months of preparation and 12 hours of shooting. A painter painting a house or a car will spend hours and days cleaning, repairing minor damage, sanding, undercoating before the actual paint job can be done.

This is no different in professional interpreting or translation. Accurate and effective interpreting is dependent on how well you are prepared for the task. When you are well prepared you will:

reduce the risk of finding yourself dealing with unfamiliar terminology or content
comprehend more accurately, thus minimising the risk of misinterpreting
increase the chance of predicting what the speakers may say, which in turn helps you to find equivalents more speedily
improve your ability to express the message idiomatically, that is, in natural language in both languages.
We will discuss the various steps involved in effectively preparing an assignment, from negotiating with the agency or client, making a plan for your work, through to reviewing your preparation process to improve it for the future.

Analysing the demands of assignments

Any assignment or job will require minor or major analysis of background information to establish the nature and conditions of the assignment. This analysis may be a minor process in routine assignments or quite major in complex settings (e.g. group sessions, family conferences). As every situation has something unique about it, a comprehensive list of the things that require analysis is not possible. However, for practical purposes, there are some essential aspects that should be worked out before an assignment. Consider the following factors.

1. Identify source and target languages

One of the key things to identify when work is offered to you is exactly which source and target languages are involved. With many languages there are dialects or regional variations, which may impact on your ability to perform the assignment. According to the AUSIT Code of Ethics, you should not accept a job that is offered to you in a language for which you do not hold accreditation.

2. Clarify topic or purpose of the assignment

As discussed above, you will need to know what type of assignment is being offered i.e. the topic, subject matter or purpose, but also whether it is an area which requires a high degree of specialisation, which may be the case, for example, in complex legal proceedings or a conference for heart surgeons. If you feel it will take you a while before you are confident about interpreting in a subject area (e.g. legal, medical), most interpreting agencies allow you to nominate the areas you prefer to work in and areas you prefer not to work in.

3. Parties involved and relevant social or cultural requirements

It may also be relevant to ask at this stage who the participants will be, as this may dictate certain social or cultural requirements. For example, in some assignments the gender of the interpreter might be very important. Ideally, we would find out the client’s name before every assignment to avoid potential conflict of interest, however, due to privacy regulations this will not always be possible.

4. Date, time, location and duration of the assignment

Always check your availability first! You should keep a detailed record of your work assignments in a diary, an electronic calendar or whatever method you find useful. Record the date, time, contact person and location of the assignment accurately. There are no studies on this, but anecdotal evidence suggests that many interpreters get one of these essential details wrong every week! It is a good practice to repeat the assignment details back to the booking officer to make sure you have understood correctly.

Although satellite navigators and smart phones have made it much easier to find locations, there is still room for caution, and it is good practice to check the location online or on a map for the quickest route at that time of the day (remember: the shortest route may not be the quickest, especially in rush hour!).

One more thing you should clarify with the booking officer or the client is the duration i.e. how long you are expected to stay for an assignment. If a booking officer says you are expected to stay for the duration of the standard booking (which may be 1½ hours or 2 hours), you will be expected to stay that long, even if you have finished your interpreting. If you would like to leave early, or you cannot stay for the duration of the standard booking, you need to discuss this with the booking officer or the client before the assignment commences and obtain their approval. It is acceptable to say, "I am only available for an hour," as long as you do this at the time of receiving the assignment.

5. Assignment setting and appropriate mode of interpreting

Another essential aspect to be analysed and clarified before an assignment is how the parties expect the interpreting to be done and how you can do it. This may be quite obvious in a one-to-one interview between a doctor and a patient, where you would most likely interpret in consecutive mode after each speaker, whereas in a family conference setting in a hospital, or in a group session in a community health centre or housing office, the dynamics would be different and you may need to interpret in chuchotage (whispered) interpreting mode if you have just one client, or in summary consecutive mode for a group. All these arrangements need to be agreed on between the parties before you commence. You should have a say in what you can or cannot do. There is no point trying to make yourself heard above five people in a group session when everyone is talking at the same time. You can ask the person who controls the situation, usually the professional in the room, to make the arrangements so that you can interpret accurately and effectively.

You should assess the requirements of the interview, and where it is necessary to have two interpreters working in pairs you will need to make all the above arrangements with your partner interpreter present, and agree on the delivery mode and other arrangements about the environment in which you are to work.

6. Financial arrangements

Most assignments are booked for a standard duration and there is a set fee for this, which includes travel and other costs within metropolitan areas. Where the assignment is outside standard bookings (e.g. in a country town or interstate), interpreters can be paid negotiated fees for their services plus accommodation and travel costs. You need to agree on the financial arrangements before you undertake the assignment.

Once you have agreed to undertake an assignment, you are expected to deliver it as agreed and submit your invoice or claim form (which was signed by the client) to the booking agency or to the purchaser of your services directly. If, for some reason, you will not be able to deliver the interpreting services and need to return the assignment, you should advise your booking officer, or the client who gave you the assignment directly, as soon as you can, so that they can make other arrangements.

7. Other working conditions

You need to check the terms and conditions of assignments with your employer, booking agency or client. These might include: cancellation policy, meal and rest breaks, expense reimbursement, invoicing and schedule of payment, necessary arrangements for travel and accommodation, and other contract conditions including variation and termination procedures.

8. Client expectations and understanding of interpreter’s role

It is advisable to speak to the participants in any assignment about your role boundaries (e.g. what you can and cannot do), to prevent any misunderstandings. It is also a good practice to gauge the expectations of the clients and understand how they think you can help them. Some of their expectations (e.g. they may think you will give them advice about options available for a visa application) may be beyond your role and this should be clarified right at the beginning, not in the middle of an interview.

Client’s performance expectations may extend to other services such as filling out forms or sight translation tasks (e.g. agreements, release forms). You need to analyse these tasks and agree or disagree depending on the nature of the requested task. Ideally, a professional should be present when a form is filled out so they can respond to the client’s questions. Where this is not possible, you will have to manage this. You can say, 'clarifying questions or statements in a form is beyond my role and should be asked of the professional,' or you can make a note of the questions and pass them on to the professional when they return so that they can clarify. It is equally important that the participants understand how the interpreting will take place so they know what to expect. This may involve explaining how you will require the speakers to pause if you are interpreting in the consecutive mode, or that you will be speaking in the first person rather than saying “she/he says…”.

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