‘Are you getting the right translation?’

‘Are you getting the right translation?’

By Jiang Tien-ching


“Are you getting the right translation?” Far
Eastern Group Chairman Douglas Hsu (徐旭東)
said in English to Finn E. Kydland, the 2004 Nobel
Prize Laureate in Economics who was wearing a
headset and listening to the interpretation service.

Kydland was invited to attend a ceremony held
April 20 in Taipei to mark the 40th anniversary
of the Economic Daily, a financial newspaper in Taiwan.

Hsu raised the question to the Norwegian economist
after other participants -- including the Financial
Supervisory Commission Chairman Hu Sheng-cheng
and former minister of finance Lee Yung-san -- made
opening remarks in Chinese during a panel discussion.

Hsu explained immediately why he said that.
“Because they were talking very fast with all
this terminology.”

The interpreters were Damien Fan who received
more than two years of professional interpretation
training at National Normal University in Taiwan
and his teacher, Chen Tze-wei, who was trained at
the Graduate School of Translation and Interpretation
of Monterey Institute of International Studies in California.

Chen also holds a doctoral degree in economics
at Cornell University.

Asked to offer her comment on Hsu’s remarks,
Joy Hung, a first-year student at Graduate Institute
of Translation and Interpretation Studies (GITIS) of
Fu Jen Catholic University, said that Hsu should not
look down on the interpreters.

Alex Jiang, another GITIS student present at the
event, said that he noticed many of the audience
did not use the interpretation service, which he
claimed was of good quality.

Jiang noted that he happened to have overheard
a conversation among a group of students who
seemed to be asked to listen to the laureate’s
speech by their teacher.

One male student complained that listening to a
speech in English gave him a headache, while another
girl student said she took some notes, but did not fully
comprehend what the speaker said, according to Jiang.

“All of them were not wearing the headsets,”
Jiang stated. “They should have,” he added.