Rare Languages Group (Ukrainian etc.)

In this text I want to give aspiring conference interpreters 13 pearls of wisdom I wish I’d known when I was in my 20s. I want to save you time and let you take shortcuts that work well for you. I hope you’ll gain insights even though you live in different times, facing challenges we did not face some 20 or 30 years ago.

1. Know your worth. Never, ever sell your knowledge and knowhow for less than they’re worth. Always get the highest possible price for your skills. Never lower your price to get a job. To be able to afford such a stance, you might in the early days need a second source of income, be it active or passive. Invest time and money into obtaining it. Develop both income streams with equal zeal and energy, and it will pay off sooner rather than later.

2. Remember, you were trained as a linguist and this can be narrow, specialist training. As a freelancer you need entrepreneurial skills such as accounting, sales, money and wealth management, IT, digital security and at least a basic understanding of professional confidentiality requirements.

3. Never ever stop learning. It is not only exciting but also liberating to amass knowledge in your head rather than on your mobile phone. As a conference interpreter, you ought to specialise. Choose one or more fields that are close to your heart and become an expert in these, in addition to your interpreting knowhow. Be it medicine, law, finance, engineering or something else entirely – choose two or three areas in which to specialise as an interpreter.

4. Travel as much as you can until you find that place you will call home. A spot on this beautiful planet Earth that makes your heart beat faster and calms you at the same time. Develop your career from there. The earlier you settle, the more time you’ll have to put down roots and grow strong, vital and vibrant. Big chunks like home, family, happiness, and fulfilment must come first; you can add leaves and branches later.

5. Never be afraid to travel far and charge for it. Charge for your time on the road, not only for the actual interpreting time. Remember, you only have so much time in your life, and it is limited. If clients want you to travel for business, make them pay for all of that time, both working time and travel time. Travel first class and fly business, because you’re travelling for business. Don’t ‘be cheap’. Being cheap is not only about money, it is also the way you see yourself and the world around you. Even if you were selling sunglasses on the beach, I would still advise you to travel first class to a conference venue. Fly business no matter what. Remember, it is important to arrive with peace of mind, be well rested and perform the best you can for your client.

6. Be a top-notch specialist in your area of expertise and clients will pay any price you ask. But for that you must be at the pinnacle, the closest possible to perfection. You’ll need to command the topic, your voice, your attire and have a well-balanced professional attitude. Remember, as an interpreter you don’t “work” for either side, you are an all-party linguistic mediator. Your one and only task at a meeting is to establish communication between the parties similar to a catalyser of a chemical reaction, someone who transfers meaning from language A into language B in real time using himself for the process of the reaction but at the same time without altering the key ingredient, the communicative message. You do not determine what they say or how they say it, you give them the power of direct interaction as if there is no language barrier between the parties at all. If you give your client and their counterpart that feeling of being a translucent screen, they will see you for who you truly are, a top-notch linguistic professional who masters the art and the craft of communication. However, if you notice that the client does not see or value your performance, then however much they are willing to pay, that is when you should start saying “no” to them.

7. Which brings me to my next point, saying “no.” Saying “no” is an important skill. As a solopreneur you must remember at all times that you sell your time, for money, to the highest possible bidder because you have only so much of it. It is especially worthwhile remembering and being aware of this in your 20s. Your lifespan, your health and being in good spirits are huge assets and you would be well advised to spend or “invest” them wisely. If you need to make a particular decision, look at it against a lifetime of a hundred years and ask yourself “Will it take me forwards or backwards on my path towards my lifetime goals?”. This frames your decision-making process within a context that will help you to stay safe, healthy and savvy for future decades: fewer regrets and more fulfilment. Saying “no” to a client takes courage, even more so with a well-paying client. However, if you frame your decision-making using the hundred-year perspective, you might find it worthwhile to say “no” today so you can say “yes” tomorrow. Let me give you one example: you get offered a job which does not really suit your life plan but brings necessary income. You might be tempted to accept it to pay the bills and hence say “yes.” Here you’ll gain money but lose time. On the other hand, if you say “no,” you’ll lose money but gain time. If your long-term goal for the coming decades is to build a company, for example, then you are giving away your most precious asset – time – to serve somebody else’s dream, but not your own dream. In this way you are actually saying “no” to your dream and ultimately to yourself. The choice is always yours.

8. You should learn how to quote for jobs as early as you can. Do not just state your price. Invest time and create a template for a highly convincing offer. Provide a calculation of your remuneration, expenses etc., but also give strong reasons why a potential client should book you.

9. Perhaps surprisingly to some interpreters, it is you who chooses the clients you work for and not the other way around. You specialise in areas of professional expertise as a conference interpreter, you get to know your target group as best you can, you market your skills by making them approach you for your expertise. This is the ideal way, not the other way round. You do not hunt for clients. Be smart – let them look for you and choose you!

   In your early 20s you might want to ask how to switch from hunting to being hunted. Good question! You can do this with what you project through your real and digital persona, be it face to face, on your website, on social media, or in analogue channels like printed publications (remember, not interpreting magazines but printed publications about conference interpreting in the media of your areas of expertise like medicine, law or engineering). You will make them reach out to you because you are the talent. Clients will look for you and ask you to quote and provide your valuable services to them. That is why you need to invest time in writing irresistible offers, which is time well spent. Learn to use templates as early in your career as you can. This road might seem longer than direct marketing with cold calls or registering with numerous databases of commercial intermediaries, but the wise runner or cyclist who knows when to shelter behind others and when to sprint for the finish will ultimately win the race. So be wise!

10. Remember to rest and give your imagination free rein. You need to set aside resources for these much-needed and well-deserved downtimes from within your earnings, especially as a freelancer and solopreneur. When you quote on work always, always add a margin to cover the time you need for yourself, the time you need to recuperate. Even mechanical machines get switched off for maintenance, and you are a complex living organism. To be able to give your best performance, to be a top-notch specialist, close to perfection, you must take good care of the “mechanisms” that drive you. This is particularly important for freelancers and solopreneurs who don’t have a monthly salary, holidays and other packages covered by the employer. You personally need to provide for yourself.

11. Early passive income is vital, and not just for your pension. Your savings – which you ideally start as early as your 20s – will yield you compound interest if you start soon enough and let the money work for you. In this case, by the way, you won’t need to sell sunglasses on the beach or to accept gigs below your usual level of remuneration, thus damaging your brand (and your health); you will always have enough savings and/or assets to say “no” if you need to. Nowadays they say you can even make AI trade for you and it is supposed to make you money while you sleep.

12. Of course, I cannot omit the questions of safety and confidentiality in our profession.

    Firstly, safety. As a conference interpreter you travel a lot, you see and hear a lot and you can be subjected to circumstances that can become dangerous to your life, health, and psychological wellbeing. Stay informed, be aware that these risks exist, and get appropriate training. As an example, interpreting for refugees of war who have fled their country can be stressful and distressing. Another example would be working with victims of crime.

    Secondly, confidentiality. You must clearly differentiate between the commercial interests of an agency that might hire you and the interests of your client who might need to be protected by confidentiality. Try to always work for direct clients. As a general rule, I recommend avoiding commercial intermediaries if possible because you are the talent, you are unique. From this perspective working for direct clients seems by far the best way to get the best possible price for your talent and skills. Remember never to sign anything that infringes your freedom to choose a certain client for an unlimited period of time. Never allow yourself to be tied to a commercial intermediary for work, let alone become dependent on it! Beware, be careful and think long and hard before you sign a contract or accept any general terms and conditions.

    As a conference interpreter, you are bound by a duty of confidentiality. Whatever was discussed in a meeting stays in the meeting. Not only would it be foolish to disclose confidential information, but that might also end your career as an interpreter faster than you think. Remember to keep to yourself any sensitive information you learn through your work.

13. Recordings. We live in digital age. As conference interpreters, our voice is our major asset, it’s our largest lifelong professional advantage. Later in professional life, your audience will recognise you by your voice, even if they don’t get to see who’s doing the interpreting. Treasure it! Never waive your rights to commercial recordings of your voice during interpreting without adequate compensation. There are agencies who request recordings of interpretation for “documentation”, “internal” or other purposes without any compensation. Remember that the product of interpretation is meant for immediate consumption. It’s supposed to establish communication between the parties in the here and now. Recordings, on the other hand, open a wide new range of uses such as broadcasting, live-streaming and use in training materials, marketing or corporate branding. Always remember to ask what the purpose of the recording is and charge, charge, and charge again for it!

Dear aspiring colleague, I hope that these 13 pearls of wisdom support you on your professional path towards mastery in this wonderful, if challenging profession. I’m happy to share them with you: my learnings from over 30 years as a conference interpreter. A brilliant American entrepreneur, Ray Kroc, once said that it took him 30 years to become an overnight success. Take the 13 points provided here but also remember that 100-year perspective on your personal and professional life. Sit down one day in a calm place, grab a neat notebook with numbered pages and write the story of your life as if you were telling it to your grandchildren. Do it in your 20s, do it now. There is no better time for it than now; and let your 90-year-old self-guide your 20-year-old self through this wonderful journey called life.

Dear all, Dear colleagues,

Firstly I’d like to say a heartfelt thanks for being prepared to translate and work in this context. I’d also like to apologise straight away that I won’t be able to communicate with you all individually and am using these letters instead. A brutal war has broken out in Ukraine, and any replies to your questions will tend to arrive ‘as and when’ they can.

Thank you for your understanding. Links to the work can be found here:

1. Announcement in DE, EN and UA, link to this channel/community Rare Languages Group (Ukrainian etc.) | Knowledge Centre on Interpretation (europa.eu)

1. Official information from a verified source (the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry) is available here War in Ukraine. Most current reports are in English.

1. We work on concrete, one-off texts that are relatively dense. Most communication is in Ukrainian, and some in other languages (not normally in German). There are Telegram channels for each language, see below (pls request via email on an individual basis). If you have Telegram, please click on these. If you don’t have Telegram, you can still get ‘read only’ access/authorisation.

2. In the channel for your language, you can write in that language. Thank you, and until my next letter.

   Greetings from your colleague, Nataliya Yena

   P.S.: If you have specific questions on the work, and these are important and urgent, please email me individually. I will then send you my mobile number so we can communicate more quickly.

Liebe Kollegen,

hier sind die Übersetzungen der Rundbriefe ins Englisch und Ukrainische. Wir arbeiten auf diesem Kanal pro bono, Übersetzungen in alle Sprachen aus dem Ukrainischen werden veröffentlicht. Danke und bis zum nächsten Brief.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen,

Nataliya Yena

Dear colleagues,

Sincere thanks to each and every one of you who is prepared to translate for Ukraine pro bono. As I have said before, listed below are the channels you can respond to. Please do take into account that there will be breaks in communications, because the translation centre is in Lviv at the University, and Ukraine is at war. Students and lecturers work there. They need to flee to air raid shelters from time to time during the day, for instance if there is an air raid warning, and at night. They are often working from underground stations. Please bear that in mind and communicate accordingly at all times.

This is the Translation Centre: Центр перекладу (please request individually). Everything is coordinated from there.

This is the overview of everything that’s being translated, and into which languages: переклади - Google Sheets. The source texts are always in Ukrainian. These are translated into English, German and French very quickly. The translations are by lecturers and students, as far as I know they are not native speakers of those languages. These texts need to be edited/reviewed by professional translators who are native speakers.

The finished translations are published on the University’s Twitter account and Telegram channel:

Telegram https://t.me/ukrainianwarnewstranslated

Twitter https://twitter.com/Ukrainiannews3?t=VSdisCI8r8VEcBzZXpGAjA&s=09

Greetings from your colleague, Nataliya Yena

Dear colleagues,

Due to the attack by Russian forces, Ukraine is currently in urgent need of our professional skills as linguists. Help is needed with translations from Ukrainian into every other language. Since there is a war raging in Ukraine, we can offer no pay and hope for voluntary contributions.

A pop-up coordination centre for translators has been established at the University of L’viv. Translation work will be done using Google Docs. All necessary contacts are available.

If you are willing to help, please sign up after this message.

Thank you so much!

Collegial greetings,

Nataliya Yena, Ukrainian, German, English, Russian

P.S.: Please note! Sign up if you want to help, even if you don’t work from or into Ukrainian. Translations can also be done from texts already translated by a native speaker into, for example, English, German, and French.

Thank you again, every bit of help is needed. And any support is highly appreciated.

Translated into Engish by KB

Sehr geehrte Kollegen,

wegen des ausgebrochenen Kriegs, benötigt die Ukraine heute dringend unsere aller Fachhilfe. Es werden Übersetzer aus dem Ukrainischen in alle Sprachen gesucht. Wir arbeiten auf Freiwilliger-Basis, angesichts der aktuellen Kriegslage im Land.

Es gibt ein Ad-Hoc-Koordinierungszentrum für Übersetzer an der Universität zu L’viv. Wie arbeiten über Google Docs. Alle erforderlichen Kontakte sind vorhanden.

Bitte melde dich hier unter diesem Beitrag, wenn du uns helfen willst.

Danke vom Herzen!

Kollegialer Gruß,

Nataliya Yena, Ukrainisch, Deutsch, Englisch, Russisch

PS: Wichtig zu wissen! Melde dich, wenn du helfen willst. Selbst wenn du kein Ukrainisch übersetzt. Übersetzungen können auch aus den bereits von Muttersprachlern übersetzten Texten, und zwar aus dem Englischen, Deutschen und Französischen, sowie anderen Sprachen gemacht werden.

Danke, jeder Beitrag ist wichtig. Für jeden Beitrag ist man dankbar.

Dear Nataliya, Thank you for creating this group. I am a Brussels-based staff intepreter with EN A, FR A, NOR C, RU C. I have been working independently on Ukrainian for three years or so. I have been struggling to find a language tutor in Brussels. Preferably someone who is used to working with interpreters. Do you know anyone? Many thanks.

Dear Colleagues,

welcome to the rare languages group and most heart-felt greetings from Germany! I am very happy there are a few of you who have joined this community. Why don’t we introduce ourselves? I start with myself. I am a Frankfurt-based freelance conference interpreter with Ukrainian and English as my key languages, but I also offer German and Russian. This year in May I’ll have three full decades of linguistic services. That’s more than two-thirds of my whole life. Before the corona pandemic my focus was on conference interpreting. I loved both, simultaneous and consecutive, chuchotage was also part of my portfolio. I loved travelling to assignments for the European Institutions in Brussels and Luxemburg but also in the rest of Europe for private market assignments. My key destinations, though, where Brussels and Berlin.

Corona has changed it all. I went into translations again, something I haven’t done in a long time. I didn’t count pages but it feels like I’ve translated as much text as if I would have transcribed 10 conferences each of 10 days with 8 hours straight without any breaks.

Obviously, with working languages like Ukrainian that are far from mainstream and are usually booked as auxiliary languages in Brussels and Berlin, or for some rare specific events with a single focus of Ukraine, I had to change and adapt to the new circumstances the pandemic has wrought us.

Luckily, I had a pre-pandemic office consisting of more than one room. So that I had space and I could buy equipment and create a work station for remote simultaneous interpretation (RSI). And nothing happened. Who on earth, I thought, is going to book Ukrainian-English during a lockdown in Europe and beyond? It’s a niche language pair and with all that investment into the RSI equipment my hopes started to dwindle away. Unlike for Russian-English with a livelier market but, to be fair, with also a much more significant competition I saw zero changes for anything coming up with Ukrainian.

However, hope dies last, and despite all my doubts, in the second half of the year I nailed my first RSI-assignment. What was that a joy! Obviously, my booth partner and I suffered though mediocre sound, some of the speeches that were read from paper we had gotten never to see and yet some other speakers were speaking like machineguns so that we struggled to understand them in our native language, let alone to interpret. On top of all that we interpreted the hard-to-believe 25 presentations in six hours with a single 15-minutes break. Despite all these challenges it was our premiere, the client was happy, my booth partner and I did just fine and I was unfathomably happy to having had my first RSI gig with the new equipment that worked.

What the future will bring, the time will show. I humbly hope to use my RSI-room more often. I harbour this unquenchable belief that we will resume travelling and personal communication some time soon. Sure, there are advantages of virtual communication, it saves time and money for travelling but us being human, I believe that after a year of corona would be lovely to have at least an outlook for an in-person event.

Please kindly share your experiences before and during corona. How do you envisage our profession, specifically the fate of the niche languages in the after-the-corona times? Happy to read from all of you soon!