By Junqiao Chen | 陈俊巧
Gigi Yau (尤建之)has been participating in the Chinese Language Division (CLD) since she attended her first ATA conference in San Francisco in 2016, but she has been translating and interpreting—trilingually— for many years before that.
Join us in our conversation this issue to learn about Gigi’s unique entry into translation and interpreting, the challenges she has overcome as a trilingual translator/interpreter, and some of her most memorable experiences, as well her valuable advice for up-and-coming language service professionals.
“Gigi, how do you introduce yourself as a professional translator and interpreter?”
As an interpreter, I have native or near-native fluency in English, Mandarin, and Cantonese and can interpret fluently in any direction among all three languages. I translate from English into Chinese as well as from Chinese into English and use both traditional and simplified characters. Long ago, when Billy Graham Evangelistic Association needed a Chinese-English translator, they called the Chinese church I attended, and the Christian education minister referred me to them. After the first testing assignments, the Hong Kong office commented that I did a better job than any of the translators in their Hong Kong office at that time.
“Wow, so your translation career began with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association?”
Yes. Just like that.
“How did you start interpreting?”
I had a roommate who was an interpreter of Cambodian and English. One time when she was out of town, an interpreter scheduler left a message on the home answering machine, so I replied informing the agency that this interpreter was not available. Somehow, the scheduler who answered recognized my spoken English carried a foreign accent and talked me into interpreting for that agency. About three years later, I quit, and then a year or two after that the owner of another agency pulled me back in because the industry was in need of good interpreters.
“It sounds like your work has been in demand. How do you keep your career-related knowledge and skills up-to-date?”
I attend workshops organized by The University of Minnesota and take training courses such as Bridging the Gap.(1) I attend the ATA Annual Conference and learn from its workshops and sessions and by visiting booths in the expo hall. At the Chinese Church I attend, I purposefully attend the Mandarin worship and mingle with native Mandarin speakers to keep my third language sharp.
“What do you consider as important milestones in your career?”
I have translated hymns and songs between Chinese and English into singable lyrics, which I consider to be an accomplishment. I have accepted voiceover assignments in Cantonese as well as in Mandarin, and for a year and a half I was engaged almost weekly at a professional recording studio recording in my third language. I am a classical singer, and my use of voice helped me with excellent delivery.
“How have you been involved in the CLD?”
I first met members of the CLD at the first ATA annual conference I attended in 2016. I was happy to mingle with other translators and interpreters working in the Chinese-English pair.
“How has it helped you?”
I have benefitted much from the group
messaging: when I have questions about pricing my projects or other things, I bring them up in the messaging group and also observe other’s discussions. It has been useful as well as lots of fun.
“Have you ever regretted embarking on the journey of translation and interpretation?”
I stopped doing translations around the mid-1990s and started interpreting in 2001. In hindsight, I should have pursued translation when I changed my career from IT to sales and mortgage home loan origination. At the time, I thought that interpreting might allow me to meet people of limited English proficiency and hopefully broaden my clientele in my mortgage business. In reality, when I interpreted, I would not bring up my sales or mortgage origination business unless asked.
Moreover, I was not as specialized as I should have been. Looking back, I should have pursued subtitle translation like when I started at Billy Graham. I should have pursued legal court interpreting qualifications sooner and started working directly with the court system earlier as well.
“So, it sounds like the regrets might be more about timing than the work itself. What have been some of your most memorable clients or projects?”
I worked on one project where the clients debated whether the Chinese texts in their next book publication should be top-down instead of flowing left to right like English. One time, a client brought up a tongue twister using only the si, shi, and xi sounds.
“It’s always interesting to hear about some of the unique requests our clients come up with! Have you faced any particular challenges in your translation/interpretation career?”
For voiceover, when I record using my third language, Mandarin, I usually transcribe the text into pinyin (Romanization) and study it that way before recording. One week, I had around eight hours of recording coming up, and on the first day at the recording studio, my professional recording partner suggested that we record the longest and hardest scripts first. I agreed because he had decades of experience in this industry and I usually accepted his suggestions, but I realize now that I should have expressed disagreement and recorded the easy scripts first (things like text of daily-use phrases, phone numbers, etc.) on the first day and taken more time to study the texts with harder vocabulary (things like medical writeups). Because I went along with that suggestion, I probably made more mistakes in the recordings, and after that our bookings thinned out.
“What would you say to the newer generation of translators and interpreters?”
Do whatever you do as if it were a full-time and long-term career, and continue to get as much education as possible. Observe people with more experience and ability and learn from them.
“How do you perceive the importance of knowing more than one language?”
Once, when vacationing in Europe, I arrived at the Munich airport late in the evening and a flight attendant was waving at me. So, I let her speak with me. That flight attendant spoke German and French fluently and some English. She was with a passenger who spoke only Mandarin. I was able to help them figure out the passenger’s connecting flight, which was the next day. I was able to host her in my hotel room where she could sleep on the sofa and have a hot shower. The next day, as we took public transportation to the airport together, I realized that I had helped someone who was very worried and vulnerable at a time she most needed help.
June, our interviewer, is a professionally trained Chinese < > English interpreter and translator with a master’s degree from the University of Maryland. While located in the greater D.C. area for the past five years, she has assisted with mutually beneficial exchanges between Chinese and U.S. government officials and between educational institutions and private companies, helping them to establish enduring relations and achieve concrete goals.
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