How to Prepare Myself Best for the Job (1/2)

Some #interpreting assignments take more nerve than others, e.g. highly technical meetings, audits, due diligence, inspections, or delegations of high‑caliber officials and politicians.
A younger colleague once asked me for tips on staying calm in such demanding situations.
My answer – it all comes down to experience.
The more you learn from your past errors and trials, the easier it becomes to calm your nerves.
Alas, experience cannot be gained overnight. 

There is, however, one universal remedy –thorough preparation.

It may sound obvious, but it remains the most effective way to stay in control during challenging jobs.

Once you have done everything you possibly can, a certain sense of calm sets in. You just sense that things will work out – or Et kütt, wie et kütt, as we say in the Rhineland.

A Japanese proverb puts it beautifully: #人事を尽くして天命を待つ – Do your utmost and leave the rest to fate.

That said, in the age of generative AI, the definition of “doing your utmost” has taken on a new dimension, making things a bit more complex. With skillful prompting, information can be gathered far more efficiently.

Even so, I do not feel that AI has significantly reduced the effort required for due preparation in interpreting. The reason lies deep in human #cognitive processes.

Since there’s still much more I could say on this topic, I’ll save it for the next post. (To be continued…)

#Interpreting #Dolmetschen #JapaneseEnglishGerman #AIandLanguage