The bitter reality of Basque Interpreters
Abstract
In this article we analyze all types of problems and difficulties which interpreters of the Basque language face at this time, a profession which has existed for very Jew years. Thus, the first congresses on Basque Interpreting were held at the beginning of the last decade in San Sebastian; the first steps in simultaneous interpreting were taken in the faculty of Educational Science and in the Provincial Court of San Sebastian, with Spanish and German as basic languages. At a government level, interpreting began at the meetings of the General Assemblies of Guipúzcoa. The step from consecutive to simultaneous interpreting came quickly, as the latter was much more dynamic. Nevertheless, the real jump in quality arose as a result of the Basque World Congress in 1987. As of that moment, Basque interpreting went from being used only on an official hasis (provincial councils. town halls, the universities. etc.) to appear also at different types of congresses, even those privately organized, although the majority of these are currently arranged under the auspices of the political institutions of the country. On Basque television, the opposite has happened, interpreting having been reduced to a minimum.
Basque interpreting is, therefore becoming more and more important, and has led professionals involved in this work to set the levels of excellence which they must strive to achieve in their work, as all Of them have gone from written to oral translation, with virtually no specialized training, and with a great deal of intuition and courage. In this sense, there have been several courses or seminars since 1987 organized by the Government and hy the Association of Basque Translators itself.
With regard to the conditions under which interpreting in the Basque language is carried out, this is normally done in Basque and Spanish, so that it is necessary to work in relays (listening to the translation into Spanish on another interpreter) when the speaker expresses him or herself h1 a different language. This poses, therefore, the need for extending the knowledge of the languages of the interpreters themselves, as the Basque-speaking public which attends congresses in which other languages are used, tend to prefer to listen to the translation to Basque when the speaker expresses him or herself in Spanish.
Regarding the problems involved in this work, mention should be made of the fact that many lecturers, chairperson, etc. are not used to speaking through interpreters, and usually speak too quickly with complex poorly structured language, etc., which makes the work of the interpreter really difficult.
On the other hand the work of Basque interpreters is not always taken into consideration by the speakers themselves not by the public, and this leads us to believe that it fulfills a merely decorative role. 7'his is the case of Basque politicians, (although not exclusively theirs), who continue to use the Basque language even with the knowledge that their message can be received under more or less correct circumstances by those listeners who do not speak Basque.
All these problems impede the improvement of interpreters themselves, which is clearly necessary, as they do not provide sufficient encouragement for them to make an effort to improve What is more both professional interpreters and the speakers themselves must share this task.
