One of my goals this year (and onwards) is to become an accredited interpreter. I’ve heard that they travel the world, earn good money, and find the subject interesting, so I have applied for a course. Not just anyone can do this course though, you have to sit a test before they let you in. That test was today! I turned up at TAFE College’s campus at Petersham this afternoon to take it. (TAFE = Technology And Further Education. Basically a technical college.)
For some reason, every prospective student except me was Chinese. – First language Chinese, second English. I think I was the only one the other way around. Not sure what that means… good for me because I’m a special commodity? Bad for me because the course will be tailored to Chinese speakers? Not sure.
They first had a test for our English ability. Needless to say I passed. But then they had a real challenge: a lady read a passage at natural speed, which took about two minutes, during which I had to take notes. Then I was required to repeat what she had said as closely as I could, referring to only my notes. Phew, that was hard! After the 2 minutes was up I looked at the frantic scribble in front of me and tried to piece together what she’d said. I don’t think I did too badly, but not too well. I try to console myself with the knowledge that hardly anyone would be able to do it without any practice. I have seen in my research on interpreting that shorthand is a good skill, and after that bit of the test I can see that it’s essential.
Next was our interpreting test. Oddly there wasn’t a standalone mandarin test. Like I said, 99.9% of the applicants are from China so they assume that they can speak Chinese. This was with a different examiner to the English ability test.
When I walked into the room for my Mandarin test, the first question was which level I was applying for. Now, level 3 is a professional level interpreter, level 2 is paraprofessional (ie ‘not-quite-professional). The lady giving me my English test said that I should try for professional level, since my English was obviously up to scratch, and that I have spoken Chinese since childhood. So when the Mandarin tester asked me which level I was going for, I said I wasn’t sure, but that I wanted to give level 3 a shot.
The interpreting test consisted of a conversation that might happen in a real professional context. A woman is in a real estate agent’s and she’s asking about renting/buying a house. It wasn’t a difficult conversation but the hardest part was remembering everything that was said. I’m usually good at this, when I interpret in an informal setting I can remember most of what’s said, but this was another level of difficulty. I didn’t know some words (I didn’t know the Chinese for “flight path”) and am not sure if I remembered everything. What was frustrating is that I could have probably translated simultaneously, which is when you translate what’s said without waiting for the person to stop. – This means that you don’t have to remember as much as one time. But as soon as I started doing that my examiner asked me to stop. So I had to wait for her to finish speaking before I replied with my translation. What’s also hard is that we weren’t actually in a real estate agent, so all the “cues” and “reminders” that come from actually being there weren’t. I don’t think I did too badly in any case, and considering that I had just come in cold, off the street, I did alright.
After that I had to do a sight translation. She gave me a written passage in English, and I had to just do a translation on the spot. So I just had to make it up on the spot. I found that really difficult. If you didn’t know, translating into your first language is easier than the other way around, so I was automatically at a disadvantage, translating from my first into my second. Add to that the fact that it wasn’t a conversation, but an article and I really had trouble. I haven’t done much Chinese writing (other than MSN which doesn’t really count since everything’s so short) so I struggled.
It was clear that I was having trouble. I was speaking Chinese, trying to translate the article in front of me, and at one point the examiner said “hang on, where are you up to?” which I took as a sign that I was really stuffing it up!
So anyway, I finished and felt pretty bad about it. I told her that I wanted to try level 2, and she said ok. I did a conversation again, this time between a teacher and parent, and there weren’t as many tricky words like “flight path”. I didn’t have to do a sight translation for the level 2 test, which was a relief!
Afterwards I didn’t feel so great about the test. There were a few parts that I wasn’t expecting at all (having to recite a 2 minute speech back exactly) and some other googlies I had to deal with (having to remember so much and sight translation). I was a bit bummed, but consoled myself that I hadn’t done too badly. I am hoping to get into the paraprofessional level (level 2) and it was only because my english examiner suggested I try the level 3 test that I did; I shouldnt be surprised that I found it difficult.
I find out if I got in or not next week, so wish me luck!
