It happened again! Twice in one day!
First: I have been translating for many years for a lovely museum in Cologne (mostly German > English). Now I happened to hear that there is a series of events going on there where simultaneous interpreting is needed. A colleague already has this particular job, and she is a very good interpreter, but I did find myself wondering why the didn’t ask him. Did the team perhaps not know that I not only translate, but also interpret, consecutively and simultaneously?
“No,” my Cologne contact wrote back, “we know that you’re an interpreter, and we’d have asked you – we often need interpreters in Cologne and Düsseldorf, but Berlin is a bit far away. Travel costs and hotel, you know…” “Wait a minute, why Berlin?” “Well, you live in Berlin, don’t you?” “No, it’s just that my name is Berlina! I live in Düsseldorf.” (Düsseldorf, or Duesseldorf, or Dusseldorf, however you spell it, is very close to Cologne…) Surprise!
And a few hours later: “Look, friends need an interpreter for a reading at the book fair in Leipzig. You live in Berlin, would you like to hop onto the stage and interpret?” “Yes I would, but I actually live in Düsseldorf…” Surprise N2!
Maybe I should change my name to Düsseldorf. Or to “Interpreter Düsseldorf”?
