Until a few years ago, if an interpreter asked for 200 thousand won for a day’s simultaneous interpretation at an international conference, the organizer was prone to balk “200 thousand won is the monthly salary for ordinary people.



Even taking into account that interpreters are professionals, 200 thousand is asking a lot” was the frequent reaction.



Interpreters could only retort, “The interpretation fee of international conference in Europe and the United States is about $300. Simultaneous interpretation demands intensive intellectual labor.



It is only after years of on-the-job training and experience that one can become an accomplished interpreter.



Furthermore, an interpreter does not work every day of the year.”



In Seoul, international conferences are concentrated in the spring and fall while in the winter and summer interpreters become unemployed. Taken over a yearly period, an interpreters’s revenues are, not as much as one might have imagined at first.



About 50 interpreters have been employed from abroad to interpret at the international and press conferences during the Seoul Olympic Games. The round-trip airfare and $155 per diem plus $300 per day have beem earmarked for these interpreters.



THE SEOUL OLYMPIAN