My Experience as an Interpreter

I was so excited but a little worried when my boss informed me that two new customs from oversea would come to our company and he decided to let me as his interpreter suddenly. I was excited because I had looked forward to a chance to talk with a foreigner for a long time, and now, this kind of chance came to me. I was worried because it came so suddenly that I had no time to prepare for it. I was afraid that I would not do well in my interpreting.

When the two customs who followed by another interpreter come to us, I had a handshake with one of them. At first, I almost said nothing, one reason is that I was self-conscious; another reason is that my boss talked to them with another interpreter interpreting, so I had not enough chances to talk too much.

But when dining, the situation changed a lot. In order to express our warm welcome to the customs, the dinner is arranged in a very famous hotel, and there are about fifteen important persons coming. To make me easy to interpret, the boss let me sit alongside one of the customs, Bob, who is from New Zealand. At the beginning, I was a little nervous. But as the time went on, I became more and more confident.

From my free talk with Bob, I found he was a easy-going person, and I know something about himself and his motherland, New Zealand. But as an interpreter, there was still some problems existing. I did very well when I interpreted from Chinese to English. But in English-to-Chinese interpretation, I really felt a little unconfident, because I always could not fully understand what he said. I thought it was a seriously problem as an interpreter. Maybe I should improve my listening level.

It was a very important and useful experience for me. After this Experience, I felt more confident in my oral English. Also, this experience let me find some problems in my interpreting; even I can say it is a fatal problem.

I believe I will do better and better in the future.