Tokyo Post No. 1: Lost in Translation

With apologies to my dear friend Rika who strongly felt the movie was unfair to them, Japanese… I remember though that she was very adamant to hear my honest opinion on both the film and my experience being in Tokyo. This blog is how I would recall my reply was to her—that whatever reference to the movie only hovers on a literal interpretation.

I traveled to Japan upon the invitation of the Global Environmental Forum (GEF), an NGO that had a research on the corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices of Japanese companies all over the Southeast Asian region and I represented the Philippine Business for Social Progress—a well-recognized NGO that advocates CSR. It was my first opportunity to be in that lovely country and also my first to be speaking in a crowd using a simultaneous translation process.

Two hours before the symposium, my host from GEF gave a serious briefing on how the system works and what to expect. I thought it was simple but still endeavored to remember all his tips.

1. Speak in simple straightforward sentences.
2. Absolutely no idiomatic expressions.
3. Adjust the volume of earpiece.
4. Remember the voice of your translator and how her voice flows as she ends her translations.
5. Wait five beats to make sure a translation has ended.
6. Always look at the moderator (who would not be speaking in English!) for visual cues.

And it was not easy!

I had an uncomfortable “lost in translation” moment and went through rough patches the first 20 or so minutes. Thankfully, I sort of winged it thereafter… As I am the type who would prefer looking at the eyes of whoever I am communicating with, maintaining this eye contact, listening to the translator and checking on the cues from the moderator proved to be VERY daunting! The following pictures are odd reminders of how unnatural I was in that situation.

Hmm... adjust the volume and keep the hand off the earpiece, please.

May I look at the audience... but the hand...

May I now look at the moderator... still the hand.

But heck! I think I did well. An article on the symposium came out of a local newspaper and the writer kindly sent me a copy through courier. I do not know much about Nihonggo or katakana (their script) but I think this piece is a good story.

Look ma, no hand!