Avoiding Burnout: Preparation and Self Care
By Aditi Pinto, Zia Paper, and Katie Whiddon
The task of a solidarity interpreter, particularly in mass movements, is often one of an acrobat, researcher and a performer at the same time. An interpreter in such a situation often interprets in addition to another day-job and often interprets following a short training or preparation (unlike formal interpreters who undergo years of training for an interpretation degree or diploma). As a solidarity interpreter, one tends to have to juggle several roles. At the same time, one is required to be a confident, fluent public speaker or conveyer of messages, oftentimes to hold a gathering together. All this work of being a strong spine can at times take a toll on an interpreter.
Tips for preparation anxiety
Research: Who, What, Why, When, Where of the event. Look for websites and articles that can provide relevant information.
Spend time before the meetings to create glossaries of relevant terms and vocabularies. The more you familiarise yourself with these concepts before-hand, the freer your mental attention to the act of interpreting. Remember: Interpretation is 10% memory and 90% active listening and interpreting. Look for language equivalents.
It is not too much to demand of the organizers to provide as much background information in advance. This could include speaker’s presentations or vocabulary used in the particular movement. One should feel free to approach the movement leader with a notebook or pen-drive if one feels that their preparation needs are not being met.
Arrive at the event venue well in advance. This allows you to check the conditions of the room, plan out a reasonable interpreters schedule, train together, test out equipment, decide on interpretation methodologies. Be assertive with movement organizers of how the space needs to be set up for interpretation to work. Do not be afraid to make an announcement at the beginning of the event to ask speakers to speak loudly and clearly, without interrupting each other, and to silence parallel conversations.
Executing a smooth session
Interpreting is a tiring mental activity and is therefore always done by a team of interpreters. There should be at least two interpreters per language combination and they should share the work in alternating shifts of a maximum 30 minutes each. Even if it might not be possible to have an actual ‘booth’, establish a work space in the room for yourself. Ask for a table and chairs so you can work comfortably and choose a location from which you have a sufficiently clear view of the room. Not only will you be able to monitor the proceedings and see the speakers you are interpreting, the organisers and participants will know where to find you in case they need to communicate with you.
Prepare what interpreter handover will look like. Have a clear idea of the timings of shifts. Decide on non-verbal cues to communicate with other “inactive” interpreters in the room. All of this beforehand!
Feedback and debriefing
Many interpreters feel that often interpretation is a task which one does alone, but that is anything but true. Interpreting is definitely a group effort but this feeling of loneliness or lack of group interaction could have a negative effect and therefore it is recommended to have pre-event trainings and post-event evaluations so that interpreters for language justice get more embedded into movements of social justice. Otherwise, interpreters tend to get lost in the sea of working alone, longing for good feedback and connection. Like in most evaluations, it is very important to get the feedback of participants, or know in advance what participants desire from a particular session.
Self-care
A lot of self-care can be done through meditation or mental preparation. An example of such a meditation is that of visualizing a session (who will be present? What will the room look like? What will some parts of the discussion be about?) and imagining oneself as an interpreter doing a good job. While interpreters should practice taking deep breaths and sips of water during the work, they should also build a self-care routine (sleeping, eating, walking, having fun, sharing, being by yourself) outside of the interpretation tasks.
It's also important that during the session, you have water, coffee, snacks on you. Prepare this in advance as per your requirements for good energy.
Sometimes, such situations trigger personal memories or uncover traumas that an interpreter may carry from their personal life. As a solidarity interpreter, while the interpreter is showing empathy by accurately and respectfully conveying the message of the speaker, at the same time, the interpreter also deserves such respect and solidarity in taking care of their own emotional stability.
As an interpreter, one can practice grounding oneself when the emotions are overwhelming, breathing deeply and getting in touch with one’s own senses. A particular exercise could be asking oneself, “What are five things I can see, four things I can hear, three things I can feel, two things I can taste, and one thing I can smell?”
Many solidarity interpreters try to use first person (direct speech) as much as possible as it helps communicate with great accuracy. Over time, there has been greater acceptance of using third person (indirect speech) while interpreting, especially in certain cases (for example, if first person is confusing audience members, or during emergencies). In the case of dealing with very traumatic dialogues, in the situations of sexual violence, war, death, riots or intense conflict, an interpreter should exert the freedom to interpret in third person.
Coordinating with organizers
Lastly, while solidarity interpretation is hard work, this is not intended to mean that an interpreter needs to reach a state of burn-out. In fact, it is recommended that preparing for an assignment involves active dialogue between the interpreter and the organizers. It is as much the duty of the movement organizer to keep the interpreter up to date with the discussions that will unfold, such that the interpreter does not have to feel lost in sea of information.
