Pecha Kucha: Problems EU interpreters face

http://languagerichblog.eu

One of our biggest projects this semester was the Pecha Kucha presentation in December. A Pecha Kucha presentation is a presentation style in which 20 slides are shown for 20 seconds. This means that the whole presentation lasts for exactly six minutes and 40 seconds. The advantage of this kind of presentation is that the speakers only can talk during a limited time and the audience stays interested.  

For our presentation my partner Dijana and I We had to choose a topic that was related to the EU. We picked the topic “Problems EU interpreters face”, as it is particularly important for our future profession. Moreover it is really interesting as you learn more about interpreting at the EU, especially about the obstacles and problems that may occur during an interpretation. First of all, we created two Google Docs, one for the draft and the other one for the final transcript. Before we started to look for sources we wrote down everything that came into our minds when thinking about problems that EU interpreters could face. Then we thought about where we could find the information we needed. As it is a topic that obviously involves the EU we looked at all the EU websites. There is also a blog called translationtimes, written by EU interpreters for people interested in EU interpretation and translation. There you can find all the information about the entrance exam for future EU interpreters, how the  workday of an interpreter at the EU looks like and which obstacles he might face. There is also a high number of forums that can be useful when looking for information regarding this topic. After we found all the sources we needed for our presentation, we read as many articles as possible. As we study transcultural communication we also knew some things from our classes. After we had gathered all the relevant information, it didn‘t take us too long to finish the presentation. Then we recorded our transcript and practiced again before the big day finally arrived.

Although the Pecha Kucha presentation involved quite a lot of work, I really enjoyed doing it. The topic was more than interesting and I think that many English students got an idea of what it means to be an interpreter at the EU and which obstacles he or she might face.