Sending the Elevator Back Down
“If you’re lucky enough to do well, it’s your responsibility to send the elevator back down.”
A colleague of mine who is a freelance conference interpreter recently told me that she has been contacted by many students inquiring about interpreting studies, what the working conditions of interpreters are like and how does one become an interpreter. Some of these students are already studying in interpreting departments at universities, others were from humanities departments aspiring to become an interpreter.
She was very energised and motivated by these young & talented people wanting to learn more, craving for and seeking out information with a spark in their eyes. So she decided to help some of these driven, bright young people by firstly advising them to follow the official bodies such as AIIC (The International Association of Conference Interpreters) and TKTD (The Conference Interpreters Association of Turkey), to keep up with other international organisations such as the European Commission’s interpreting service DG Interpretation through their online and social media accounts, and to discuss their ambitions with their instructors. But she also wanted to do more personally, to provide a helping hand by actually inviting them to some of her assignments — depending on the client approval and type of assignment — so they can experience and observe the real environment. They can listen to the professional interpreters and gain insight on how they work.
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A few years ago I listened to the actor Kevin Spacey talk about his mentor John Lemmon, and his philosophy of sending the elevator back down. Spacey said that Lemmon believed in him when no one else did, helped him realise his ambition and Spacey in fact credits his success down to Lemmon. His philosophy, later to be adopted by Spacey too, was: “If you’re lucky enough to do well, it’s your responsibility to send the elevator back down.” “If you’ve been successful in your chosen path, then you should help those who are just starting out.”
This is in no way ruling out the importance of hard work or innate ability, but to recognise the role of the people that shape us from very early on. And this is true for any field including interpreting where a strong mentor-apprenticeship model prevails. And just like our mentors helped us, we could perhaps help others too.
Interpreting isn’t a hierarchical profession yet the market could be very challenging for new entrants. It takes a very long time to gain experience and respect of other colleagues, and it could be very intimidating for beginners.
If you are a beginner, seek support from your instructors, talk to members of the profession, gain experience, seek to become a member of your professional association where there is tremendous amount of support and opportunity to share practices with more senior colleagues.
If you are a well-established professional then consider spending a portion of your time giving back to the profession, become a member of your national association if you are not already, support people who are doing great work and send the elevator back down for others.
