Call for live interpreters at 28C3

EN

We, Sebastian and Julian, are part of last year’s core team of live interpreters. In the past we have translated at several Chaos Communication Congresses, together with Volty who cannot be there this year and many others.
We want to continue this tradition of translating important talks such as the Fnord News Show and the Hacker Jeopardy, but also others, depending on our resources.
If you are interested in helping out, please meet us on Day 1, December 27th, at 21:00 in the angel area down in the basement. You may also contact us via e-mail at Sebastian.Lisken _at_ gmx.net or julian _at_ phinn.de – or via twitter at @hdsjulian.

The talks we want to interpret are:
http://events.ccc.de/congress/2011/Fahrplan/events/4844.en.html
http://events.ccc.de/congress/2011/Fahrplan/events/4788.en.html
http://events.ccc.de/congress/2011/Fahrplan/events/4775.en.html
http://events.ccc.de/congress/2011/Fahrplan/events/4866.en.html
http://events.ccc.de/congress/2011/Fahrplan/events/4898.en.html

Now, as we have gathered some experience in the past few years, we would like to intensify our efforts and get even more important German talks to be translated even better.
Therefore we need help from fellow hackers. Please note that the following rules might sound a little strict for a voluntary job. However, experiences from the last years have shown that this work can only be done if there is absolutely no personal vanity involved and everybody is willing to submit to a strong hierarchy in order to do a good job. Nobody wants to get bored with a bad translation and we are truly willing to give our best. Also the work in the interpretation booth can be very, very stressful at times.
We want to provide all congress attendees (and people watching the stream) the best possible translation. In order to do this we are willing to work hard and submit ourself to a strict set of rules. We expect the same from everybody who wants to help us.

You are:
– Excellent in speaking English and German
– Or excellent in understanding English and German, with a talent for keeping your head up in stressful situations
– Willing to submit to a strong set of rules
– Possibly experienced with translations

Jobs to be done:

Interpreter

We need some good translators willing to spend part of their time at the Congress in the speaker’s cabin. You will sit together with two other translators and do your best interpreting talks live in several minute long segments as told to you by the director.

Director

We also need some very few “Directors”. In the past we have noticed that we get into the best flow if we have a person listening to our translations and deciding on the fly who should do the talking. This director will have to have a good understanding of the work the interpreters are doing. They will decide autonomously when to choose which interpreter for how long. Their job is to get a good flow into the translation and prevent exhaustion and lack of concentration among the interpreters.

The director can be an interpreter as well. When they choose to act as interpreter, the director will put a replacement director in charge for the duration of that segment.

Rules:

Please do not feel insulted by the strictness of these rules. We have had issues in the past with the vanity of individuals who didn’t do a good job but insisted to continue interpreting. We want to prevent this.

  1. During the talk, the core team’s word is law.
  2. The core team at first consists of Sebastian and Julian. We will be eager to invite more people as we move along. We strongly believe in a trust and merit based system.
  3. There will be no discussions in the interpretation booth. Period.
  4. Disputes will be solved outside and _after_ the talks.
  5. We do understand that interpreting is a skill to be learned through practice. We will not send away newbies. We will however make sure their talking time is limited until they feel secure and able to do more segments.
  6. After the talk we will have a discussion with all participants. There will be open criticism and everybody will have the right to speak their mind. This includes criticising the core team (who will also be interpreting and directing, of course) as well as the other directors and interpreters for their work as well as their behaviour. Of course this round is also open for positive criticism and finding out what was good.