Simultaneous translation at 5-language Open Space event

[Funda Oral]

Catherine, Lisa and everbody,

"Announcing topics to a public in this case also meant consciously choosing and wanting to have witnesses. This was an important act in itself."

i agree and i think it's an act of respect, inviting and welcoming every language...having time and space for them.

"Some of the people living with HIV have become totally dependent from specialists and have stopped thinking for themselves. This diagnosis is really a hammer"

"This diagnosis is really a hammer"....this is so true 
and it's such a shame and so sad that so many professionals are so quick to diagnose in many areas. 

Regards,
Funda
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Catherine Pfaehler 
  To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU 
  Sent: Monday, December 18, 2006 5:04 PM
  Subject: AW: Simultaneous translation at 5-language Open Space event


  Dear Lisa

   

  I find your ideas super, especially the visual artists and the colours for the languages on the name-badge. Make sure those colours are also on a poster in the plenary and in each workshop area so everybody knows all the time what they mean.

   

  From my recent bilingual experience with people living with HIV, I can tell you that they greatly appreciated translation by microphone. It was very important for them to be seen and understood by everybody in the room with what they had to say. Announcing topics to a public in this case also meant consciously choosing and wanting to have witnesses. This was an important act in itself. So we did need more time for the announcements (1 hour instead of the pre-planned 20 minutes), but this time-span could just about be held by the public (and I had planned for spare times here and there, which proved to be very relaxing for all of us).

   

  What if everything in the plenary was translated to English out loud, to be heard without head-set, and in parallel to the other languages into head-sets, only those wearing head-sets who don't understand English? (If the flipcharts with the themes could be in all 5 languages, this would be super!)

   

  In our case, self-organization in workshops didn't work so well. People were shy to ask others to help them translate. It was so new to them to be in such an event that they needed a lot of time to become a "public being" (many people living with HIV seemed to be incredibly isolated up to that moment - and they realized it and made "self-isolation" a topic.). So perhaps wandering translators would be a good idea in your case. 

   

  We were asked to translate the workshop announcements on paper later on and decided not to do so, telling people to ask somebody to translate for them. Again, this didn't work so well for some. But since in Switzerland everybody who is French-speaking must learn German in school for at least 3 - 5 years, and vice versa, we were hoping this could be an incentive for future activities (the life of some people living with HIV up to that moment has been very depleted of sense. Having a second look at learning the other big language of one's country might be a worthwile project.) and would encourage self-responsibility. (Some of the people living with HIV have become totally dependent from specialists and have stopped thinking for themselves. This diagnosis is really a hammer. With the side-effects of some of the medications they are taking, in the end you actually are unable to discern without a specialist's help whether a hurting foot is a side-effect or just a normal hurting foot!)

   

  Last idea: what if you asked some of the monolingual participants themselves what would serve them best?

   

  Let's have the news on what was decided on and how it went. Love, Catherine

   

   

  Catherine Pfaehler Senn

  Open Space Begleitung & Coaching

  Kellersriedweg 8

  CH - 2503 Biel

  +41-(0)32 - 365 68 41

  c.pfaehler at bluewin.ch

   


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