Playing the Interpreter

Before I get into today's topic, I have to apologise. I know I forgot to post on Wednesday, and I feel bad about it. I had the post written in my notebook and had planned to type and schedule it on the weekend. Well, my weekend got kind of messed up due to nervousness, and by the time my boyfriend arrived here on Tuesday, I still hadn't managed to put it up. As you can guess now, I didn't find the time to post it afterwards....

Which brings me to today's topic: playing the interpreter. So far, I haven't worked as interpreter. My main tool was always the written word, whereas interpreters work with the spoken word. At the moment, however, I need to play the interpreter for my boyfriend, who is visiting me in Germany. He doesn't yet know much German, and not everyone around here knows English, so I need to switch back and forth between English and German during conversations. It is interesting for sure, and I think it is a great training for me. However, I have noticed that I am at a loss for words every now and then, even though I am certain I know that word...I simply can't remember at that moment.

Another phenomenon that I noticed is that I actually catch myself using the wrong words in a conversation. I mean, my boyfriend still knows what I mean, but it's annoying, really. And it works both ways.... My guess is that the constant changes back and forth between two languages are hard to process so quickly in my brain, and that I basically talk faster than my brain can think and "proofthink" what I am going to say. I really hope this will get better with time (although, since my boyfriend is learning German, I might not have the opportunity for long enough) and that my mind will learn to process the language changes more quickly. It would be neat to be able to interpret without problems at some point, but I doubt I'll reach that stage of skill soon enough before my boyfriend is able to keep up conversations in German. There is a reason I highly respect interpreters, and I totally understand why their professional training lasts for several years.... While translating is difficult, interpreting is the real mastery of language skills.