SASI Report from the Madan Bhandari School of Asia (MBSA)

May 1 to May 4, 2019

Kathmandu, Nepal

by Ganesh Birajdar and Zia Papar, June 2019

The objective of the South Asia Solidarity Interpreting collective (SASI) is to promote language justice by training solidarity interpreters for social movements’ multilingual events, assemblies, workshops, and meetings.

In May 2019, SASI was invited to train solidarity interpreters for the Madan Bhandari School of Asia (MBSA). The purpose of the training was to prepare interpreters for the second batch of MBSA, a three-week course on global left politics for activists from South Asia and beyond. SASI organized a four-day training from May 1 to May 4, 2019 for twelve Nepali and Bangla interpreters. The participants were gender-balanced and majority were Nepali interpreters.

This report includes a daily record of how our SASI team developed and executed a training plan with MBSA. The training covered multiple interpreting modes, practice sessions, and discussions on ethics and problem solving in the booth. Leaders from the movement contributed by giving sample speeches that the interpreters could practice on. MBSA also provided booths and radio receivers. The training participants were ‘floating’ as most trainees also had other organisational duties.

From the SASI team, Zia Papar, Kavitha S and Ganesh Birajdar took part as trainers for the program. Md. Taqi Yasir from Bangladesh participated as an interpreter and Pramesh Pokharel, from ANPFA, was the main contact person and event organiser. This training was an opportunity to strengthen the pool of solidarity interpreters in Nepal, initiated in 2017 by solidarity interpreter-trainer Katie Whiddon and La Via Campesina. It was also an opportunity for junior SASI trainers to gain hands-on experience in organizing and conducting interpreting training.

Day 1

Our team’s original plan was to prepare on May 1st and start the training on May 2nd. But suddenly we found out that the trainees had already arrived. We could not just keep them idle for the day because they would lose interest, yet we were not sure if we could start right away without sufficient preparation.

Could there be a solution to a lose-lose situation? Yes - if we could plan the day such that the participants would have something substantial and interesting enough to engage in with minimal supervision. We came up with 2 sessions which could fill up the whole day for participants but give us trainers a lot of free time to plan for the following days.

Building up the context, the ‘why’ of the training

We explored the concept of ‘exclusion due to language barriers’ using some examples, and asked the participants to recount experiences when someone’s voice was not heard in their own movements because that person couldn’t speak the language of the majority. Building on this brainstorming, we divided them into two teams and asked them to prepare and present a skit each, showing how people’s voices are not represented due to the language barrier (PHOTO 3). This whole process ensured that there is dialogue and understanding about why we need this training. Meanwhile, the trainers sat together and prepared for the following days.

Glossary

In the second session, two participants were called in front and asked to interpret two different sets of sentences. The first set being day-to-day sentences whereas the second set being sentences with specific terminology used in speeches. Both the role play participants realised that it was very tough to interpret the second set of sentences, though the languages didn’t change. This activity very quickly and very evidently established that even if we speak a language very fluently, we will need to work on the subject-specific glossary in order to be able to interpret speeches efficiently.

In the last session of the day, the participants were introduced to some basic tools like the use of Google Drive, Google Sheets, Google Inputs Tools to be able to build the glossary in a collaborative manner.

Day 1 Achievements:

● Developed sensitivity to language exclusion

● Discussed training purpose

● Introduced the idea and importance of glossary

● Introduced to the digital tools for building glossary

● Free time for training planning and preparatory tasks

Day 2

From day two onwards, the sessions focused on internalizing the process of interpreting. The sessions were framed in a progressive manner, with each session laying the foundation for the next.

Introduction to interpreting

We first did a round of introductions in pairs, where participants got the first taste of retaining information in their memories. Then we led a matching exercise involving terms and their definitions. After the basic purpose of the workshop was clear and participants were familiarized with key terms, we started introducing participants to different modes of interpreting.

Introduction to Consecutive interpreting

In three rounds, trainees listened to demo speeches, made notes without missing anything, and then consecutively interpreted the speech. Following each round, trainees received feedback from fellow participants and the trainers. This helped participants understand the basics of consecutive interpreting and the situational factors to be dealt with.

Introduction to Simultaneous interpreting

The same speeches from the previous session were repeated to ease participants into the process. Trainees practiced simultaneous interpreting in pairs, giving each other feedback, followed by discussion. For each speech being interpreted, we set specific goals for the participants to achieve (‘forgive yourself if you miss something and move on’, ‘focus on ideas, not words’, ‘sound calm’ etc.) and did not focus too much on other shortfalls that arose as a result.

Day 2 Achievements:

● Introduction to the key terminology in interpreting

● Introduction to consecutive and simultaneous interpreting

Day 3

Practicing simultaneous: Shadowing, Exercises, Evaluation

To help trainees get accustomed to the process of listening and speaking at the same time, we started the day with speeches in Nepali that trainees could shadow.

Then, we moved on practicing simultaneous interpreting, providing speech-relevant vocabulary beforehand. We also interpreted a video so that trainees could experience interpreting an unfamiliar accent (Greta Thunberg’s Tedx speech School Strike for Climate). During the simultaneous practice, participants who were not in the booth were asked to sit in pairs. One partner whisper-interpreted the speech for the other. In this way, we could ensure that the maximum number of participants were practising and everyone who was interpreting, also had a listener.

After each exercise, the partners gave each other feedback on how the interpreting was, where they could improve. We also provided them with some very basic guidelines to give feedback (Did you get the message? - Did the interpreter sound calm and confident? - Were there any unnatural pauses/incomplete sentences? - Did the interpreter use the right vocabulary?).

Key idea: Units of meaning

To drive home the concept of chunking or units of meaning for interpreting, we used examples from the Greta Thunberg speech and asked participants to break down the complex sentences into their constituent ideas.

Interpreter ethics and role of the interpreter

One speech’s themes led to a discussion on sensitive situations that interpreters might be faced with and a discussion on how to face these dilemmas. Along with participants’ and trainers’ reflections, we used three scenarios from the SASI Handbook to get people thinking. The discussion was lively and reflected the existing experience in the room.

Day 3 Achievements:

● Shadowing + Units of meaning

● Introduction to whisper interpreting

● Interpreting practice

● Discussion on the ethics of interpreting and the role of the interpreter

Day 4

Liaison Interpreting

Liaison interpreting requires bi-active language combination, which means you can interpret bi-directionally between languages. Participants were given situations in which they had to be mediators between two people who didn't understand each other’s languages. The important aspects of this mode of interpreting were discussed along with practice sessions. The upside and the downside of this mode of interpreting compared to simultaneous interpreting were discussed with the participants.

Relay interpreting

For relay interpreting, we requested one of the movement leaders to give a speech in Nepali. Nepali interpreters, taking turns, practised interpreting it to English, while Bengali interpreters interpreted it from English to Bengali. We then discussed what to keep in mind when working with and providing relay.

We wrapped up the training by reviewing the key points to keep in mind for the upcoming programme. We also highlighted how resilience and care are key to interpreting - caring for your voice, your ears, your mind, the equipment and the booth: all the tools needed for interpreting. We ended by thanking all participants for their enthusiastic participation and the organisers as well.

Day 4 Achievements:

● Introduction to liaison interpreting and relay

● Simultaneous practice

● Final notes, feedback and conclusion