In the past post, we’ve talked about how a qualitative translation is a gesture of respect, and how it came to make communication between you and your audience much more fluid and natural. In that case the audience would not answer. But a meeting, be it a negotiation, first meeting, or general meeting your audience, client or provider will answer. You may know the language he speaks, but that doesn’t mean you will be able to avoid the downfalls of bad cultural communication.
Languages are not just about words, but about how we enounce them and put them together. In the same words are not just a dictionary meaning, but rather they bear cultural significance that can win you over your audience in a meeting. Having a professional interpreter on the meeting will shine a light on how much care you put into the relation with your peers or clients. Professional and respectful will immediately come to the mind of the other, but it does not stop being a tool for winning over your counterpart.
A professional interpreter is a direct link to the other person’s culture. They are able to transfer expressions and collocations, they are able to make a communication transparent for both parties, and to let it flow as if you had the same mother tongue, and you were raised in the same neighbourhood. An interpreter will unleash your human skill in the language of your choice, making you capable of having the same effectiveness in international meeting as you have in the local ones.
Hiring a professional interpreter earns you an image of professionalism and respect, and enables you to reach your counterpart and thoroughly understand his views and commentaries.