How To Educate Your Clients
I’ve just written one important letter and I feel better now.
Last week, I mentioned an assignment that was promising to go rather badly.
It did go quite badly in the end, and I certainly have been mis-used, not to say ab-used.
But rather than making a big fuss about it, once I had mentally and physically recovered from the incident, my decision was to turn this into an opportunity.
My feeling is that the organization had absolutely no clue as to what interpreters are for (apart from translating). I am saying ‘my feeling’. Even if it is misguided, I am acting on that feeling.
So I wrote a very nice Thank you letter for all the good things, adding a memento in 3 parts on the proper hiring and use of conference interpreters: Needs Analysis, Technical Resources, Contracts and Documents.
The Needs Analysis section is, not surprisingly so, the longest; looking back, that was the source of all the misunderstandings that ensued.
One of my regular clients had one of its staff invited to speak at a conference. I don’t usually interpret for that person directly, so I was not aware of her actual knowledge of French.
My brief, on which my understanding was based, was to assist her for her presentation, or rather for the questions following her presentation, with a last-minute add-on, a press conference. All this was fine, and I made a proposal to the organizers on that basis. In other words, I was hired by the organizers of the conference, not by my client who was just a guest.
But that wasn’t the only need, hence the problem. My client was part of a panel, and most importantly she was to stay all the time. That was never mentioned.
I could have refused to cooperate in the end. You have to think fast in those circumstances, and my very good business relation with my client, and the personal relation that has developed over the years, meant it was difficult for me to storm off. So I stayed. I also stayed because I was ashamed on behalf of the organizers. (Stupid of me, I know!)
The Technical Resources issue is an extension of the initial defective needs analysis.
The Contract/confirmation bit was another oversight on the organizer’s part, but they did sort it out quickly.
I may or may not work again with these organizers. After all, their conference only takes place once a year and I am not even looking beyond now. But I felt that a little education was necessary. Translators and interpreters are not bilingual secretaries with oversized egoes and remunerations. Our work is recognized as difficult and for most people, it is impossible. But because it is not very well known, it is easy to abuse us, and we have to be very careful about that.
