Hired by SLOOC

Professional Squads Provide Interpretation Services



By Lim Yun-suk



“We interpreters are the key to communications”, said Bernard Ponette, who is in charge of the professional interpretation services hired by the Seoul Olympic Organizing Committee for the 1988 Summer Games. Ponette, along with 50 other language experts is are in Korea to help make sure everything goes smoothly.



These interpreters are professionals who make a living out of their work, and in Korea they take care of all meetings of the International Olympic Committee, National Olympic Committees, Medical commission meetings, and news conferences held by the athletes and officials.



“All of us speak a minimum of three languages, but we have some that speak more than that”, Ponette said.



“When I say three and more, I mean they are able to do interpretation in those languages, first class work.



“When I say interpretation, I mean simultaneous interpretation”, said Ponette. “It is important that the press and the media receive professional interpretation”.

Interpretation is provided in French, English, Spanish, German, Russian and Arabic.



Bernard has been in this business for a long time and was in charge of the interpretation services for the 1968 Olympics in Mexico. “I’m mow based in Japan and also in Washington D.C. I’ve worked, and organized meetings for international conferences and for the International Monetary Fund,” he said.



The Seoul Olympic Organizing Committee wanted to make sure that everything at the Seoul Games was on a professional level and thus hired those interpreters from overseas.



“SLOOC has made my life very easy, mainly because they saw the need for us, and knew that it was essential that they use us”, Ponette said.



They are paid more than local interpreters, but not that much when compared to payment in other countries.



They earn $300 a day and room and board. They get an extra $190 per night.



However, they earn as much as $700 a day in places like Japan, some said.



“People may balk at the large figures, but when you really think about it, it is not that much,” Ponette said. “When you go to the dentist, you want to make sure that the doctor is good and pulls out the right tooth. Well, it is the same. Thus, paying this amount for the kind of work we do is really not that much.”



Ponette has recruited interpreters from all over the world.

“SLOOC left the recruiting to me, and I chose the top people,” he said.



Asked if he thought 50 people were enough to cover everything in the Olympics, Ponette said, “It is marginal but enough. If there are too many, then they sit around doing nothing. I was conscious of the budget, but mainly about quality.”



Christian Degueldre is a member of the professional interpretatic services.



He speaks Spanish, English and French, although he is originally from Belgium.



He was a professor at the Graduate School for Interpretation and Translation at the Hankook University of Foreign Studies.



“I was in Korea for six years, and I liked every minute of it,” he said.



Overall 75 percent of the interpreters around the world are women, and among those here about 60 percent are women.



Christina Lee is from Hong Kong and she speaks Mandarin and Cantonese.



Asked how long she has been in the business she said, “Long enough. 10years.”



Most of the interpreters watch the games, before they do a news conference for the winners. This is to ensure that they know something about the sport and the actual game, before they have to serve as interpreters, Ponette said.



“It is a lot of work, because we are required to know about topics within a few days, which the others have been in for years. “Although it’s hard, it is interesting.”



The interpreters are assigned to the jobs the night before.