PDF version of my presentation as a Distinguished Speaker at the 50th ATA Conference in NY.

1. Unlocking the Booth
Interpreters’ Tactics and Secrets
Revealed
Ewandro Magalhães, MACI

6.  Father to actress Simone Signoret
 Father of Simultaneous Interpreting
 Hour-long speeches, w/o notes
 Able to memorize and recite a full page of a
telephone book

8.  Minute
 Uncomfortable
 Stuffy
 Mispositioned
 Poor sound proofing
 Shared space
 Very tense environment

13.  Simultaneousness
 Impersonality
 Invisibility
 Infallibility
 Technical determinism
 Self-sufficiency
 Indispensibility

14.  What if I draw a blank ?
 What if I don’t understand ?
 What if I say something wrong ?
 What if I get it wrong ?

19.  Dr. Michael Edelstein
 Albert Ellis (Brief Therapy)
 Feelings are created by thought
 Belief system – expectations dictate results
 Irrational beliefs lead to disproportionate
anxiety
 Probability x Possibility

20. Demands x preferences
Types of demands:
1. On oneself
2. On somebody else
3. On the world

21. “My life has been full of terrible
misfortunes, most of which
never happened.”
- Michel de Montaigne

23.  Anger
 Need of approval / Reassurance
 Avoidance
 Vanity
 Fear
 Compassion

24.  Discover your passion
 Recover your passion
 Remind yourself often

25. It’s a communications business

26. Intermediary
Source Interlocutor

27.  Become interested
 Build rapport
 Show your curiosity
 Apologize, if needed
 Ask questions, if needed
 Offer and receive help
 Engage in conversation
 Be discrete
 But be yourself

28. A ctivating event
B elief
C onsequence
D ispute belief
E ffective thinking
F eeling

29. A – I’m about to go into the booth.
B – I’ll be watched and listened to by hundreds of people. I
can’t fail. I can’t blank out. I must perform to expectation. I
must be perfect. I musn’t forget anything. I must remain
calm. I gotta be sure everything’s gonna be fine.
C – ANXIETY PANIC. Shame and humilliation. Fear of
ridicule. The end of my career before it even starts.

30. D – Wait a minute. Who says I can’t make a mistake? And
who says they are all there to check on me? Besides, what
is the Law of the Universe that says that I must be sure of
anything? Who says I must be perfect?
E – I prefer to believe that I’ll do well in the booth. But if this
is not so, it will not be the end of the world. I’ve made
mistakes in the past and survived. Besides, my job is to
strive for excellence, not perfection. It would be great to
have every assurance in life, but this is simply not the way
it is.
F – Aprehension, not panic. Confidence enough to at least
enter the booth and start.

32. Basic Concepts and Models for Interpreter
and Translator Training, Benjamins, 1995.
 Comprehension Tactics
 Preventive Tactics
 Reformulation Tactics

33.  Delaying the response
 Reconstructing from context
 Using boothmate’s help
 Consulting documents in the booth

34.  Taking notes
 Changing the Ear-Voice-Span
 Segmentation
 Changing the order of enumeration

35.  Delaying the response
 Reconstructing from context
 Using boothmate’s help
 Consulting documents in the booth

36.  Replacing a segment with a ‘superordinate’
 Explaining of paraphrasing
 Reproducing the sound, as heard
 Instant Naturalization
 Transcoding

37.  Informing delegates of a problem in interp.
 Referring delegates to another info source
 Omitting the information
 Parallel reformulation
 Switching off the mike

38.  Keeping a term in the original
 Enlisting the help of participants