On behalf of the LifeinLINCS team, I would like to send a huge thank you to everyone who has posted, reposted and commented on LifeinLINCS posts recently. I would especially like to thank all those who have contributed to the incredible success of the blog in the past two days.
Until Monday, our most successful day was November 8th, last year when excitement for Graham Turner’s post, Broken Britain: Blame the Interpreters, meant that we received a respectable 757 page views. On Monday, that record was not just broken but smashed. Facebook and twitter, along with other superb interpreting blogs like the Interpreter Diaries and TerpsTube got the world stirred up about 7 Ways To Annoy Interpreters. It might have been the ironic humour, it might have been a hint of self-recognition, it might even have had something to do with the fact that interpreters tend not to have an “off” switch.
Whatever it was, it meant that the blog received 1,238 views, not far off double the previous record. And then the incredible happened. Just when we thought everything was getting back to normal, word spread even further. Yesterday, thanks to visitors from the USA, Italy, Spain, Brazil and Russia, as well as the UK, you beat the record again. By the time I woke up this morning, the picture was clear: yesterday alone, LifeinLINCS received two thousand, two hundred and ninety-one visits. 2,291!
Well, what good does this do? As well as giving the profile of Heriot-Watt University and especially LINCS a boost, it also points to a nice future for the profession. You see, yesterday alone, 36 people clicked on links sending them to info on Interpreter training. Over the last 30 days, an additional 24 people have done the same. If nothing else, it seems that Monday’s article has managed to increase enthusiasm for interpreting as a career and that can only be a good thing.
So, give yourself a pat on the back and please accept our sincere thanks.
And, if you know of anyone looking to train as an interpreter or a translator, feel free to use the links below.
For undergraduate degrees (including the new degree in BSL Translation and Interpreting) use this link: bit.ly/HWLincsCourses
For postgraduate degrees in translation and interpreting, use this link: bit.ly/HWPostGrad
If only there were no more than 7 ways ! Great article and if I may add some other ways to annoy an interpreter I would strongly recommend the following :
– Change the agenda at the last minute so that interpreters who prepared a particular speech are now completely confused about who is going to work next
– Make sure some of the main guest speakers have a very strong accent, preferably from a country the interpreter has never visited
– Include a couple of Texan jokes to unbalance any interpreter’s self confidence
– Forget to bring water in the booth
– Put a little step at the entrance of the booth to physically destabilize the entering interpreter
– Have a microphone that cannot be turned off and thus offers no release of frustration for the interpreter
– Make sure no one in particular is in charge of documents or interpretation support so there is no one to contact in case of need
I guess the list could go on and on…
Jonathan, have you ever thought about writing a book on all the possible horrible and very funny situations that interpreters have encountered ? If you are interested I’ll be happy to collaborate.