Born to be a master?

A barrage of TV programs are around recently in Korea, featuring  Korean song contests. They seem to be comforting viewers suffering from the difficulties of the rampant COVID-19 era. Whether they are programs in Korea or abroad, one of the most common critiques we hear from the jury is, “The performer was born with singing talent”. It must be THE highest compliment also.

The jury dubbed “tiger critique” of one such TV program often says, “there is no better singing technique than talent.” We understand what she means if we have ever tried to sing a song in a karaoke. 

This said, could anyone born with talent become a master? Would there be any commonalties among those talented people? Firstly, the American inventor Thomas Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931) said that genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration. In other words, in order to make a genius or a master, even after shedding 99% of sweat, you still need 1% of inspiration. You still need 1% of talent to become a master. Thus, it makes them work harder because they feel they can become a master faster than others if they put a little more effort than others.

Secondly, geniuses perform better on the stage because they become  more tense and concentrating before and during their performance. They know that they cannot become perfect without tension and concentration. As professional go-players review their performance after a match, talented singers also reflect on their shortcomings found during the performance. The same goes with talented footballers, baseballers or golfers.

The same also goes in interpreting, for which domain I have devoted the past 40 years. A talented student studies harder than others, yet still feel tense and scarce before their task and concentrate more when interpreting. It is why we can witness their hands shaking before the microphone and their faces become pale with stage fright. As genius singers practice singing for a more perfect song, talent interpreters do the same for a more perfect interpreting. Language service clients can and should select such interpreters when they recruit interpreters for their meetings. Bequeathing a talent from your parents at birth is definitely a blessing, which make our lives more beautiful. I root for all geniuses and talents who will entertain us today also, on stages, in meeting rooms and on the playgrounds.

내 생각은 "통역은 순간적으로 이루어지는 까닭에 재능이 중요하지만 재능을 타고난 통역사는 그 재능을 최대한 살리기 위해 더 열심히 노력한다"입니다. 우리말과 영어로 다시 옮겨 주세요^^

답변 감사합니다, 교수님. 글을 올리고 나서는 talent를 앞에 두는 게 맞겠다는 쪽으로 생각이 기울었는데 역시 그렇군요. 저는 second thought이 더 정확한 때가 많은 걸 보면 역시 통역은 아니고 번역 쪽인 것 같습니다.

"통역은 재능이 90%이다. 나머지 절반은 노력이다."
"Interpreting is 90 percent talent. The other half is effort."

처음엔 타고난 재능을 강조하시는 듯한 말씀과 에디슨의 말이 언뜻 살짝 어긋나는 것 같았지만, 결국 진짜 뛰어난 실력자는 재능으로 날로 먹는 게 아니라 남들보다 노력도 더 하는 경우가 많다는 뜻으로 이해했습니다. 이런 이해에 이르기 전에 Yogi Berra의 유명한 말이 떠올랐습니다.
"Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical."
"You give 100 percent in the first half of the game, and if that isn't enough in the second half you give what's left."
(요기 베라 씨에게 최선이란 100%가 아니라 일반적 한계치를 80% 넘어선 180%였을까요?^^)
교수님의 통역에 관한 생각을 "Interpreting is 90 percent effort. The other half is talent."라고 해도 될지, effort와 talent를 바꿔야 할지 모르겠습니다.