AKR Interpreting and Ms. Paula Waragi

My Christmas present from Paula

 

Had an absolutely brilliant night last night. Paula from Gahini visited. She is flying home to Armagh for Christmas today, and needed a place to crash. We started off with Mel at Bar Stella for a beer, then we planned to go for Italian at SoleLuna but when we walked down there it was closed. I think something must have been going on as there was barely anyone on my walk to work. Instead, we took a wander down to the bar I went to with Philip last time, and ordered tilapia (huge fish) and chips which you eat with your hands. Paula, the dirty, filthy influence that she is, bought a bottle of waragi (surprise, surprise) which we split - and finished! - with coke.

We were blottoed by the time we got back. Which may explain how we managed to walk up an incredibly uneven hill without falling down any man-eating holes, or getting hit by a moto. Everyone knows alcohol improves your night vision and balance ;)

Had a gorgeous, relaxed breakfast this morning. It was lovely as I rarely eat breaky, but I'd done a shop the day before. She even bought me a Christmas/thank-you pressy. It's a beautiful batik of three women carrying pots in the sun. I was utterly touched.

So, we wandered towards VSO about half-eight this morning and she hopped on a moto. I was wandering into the office to pick up the RNAD office keys which I'd left with Betty (our interpreter) yesterday. She was going to lock up, then drop off the keys at VSO when she went to do a Sign Language lesson for the staff there. Apparently the lesson didn't take place, and there were no keys to be found. It was very fortuitous I went in though, as I bumped into Martine, who told me about a major partnership funding meeting taking place that morning! None of my lot professed to know anything about it so I texted them the details.

Léon turned up, then left to sort out the office keys. 

Augustin turned up later.

Which was interesting.

Because I ended up interpreting :op

It was the weirdest set-up in the world. A meeting conducted largely in French, and some Kinyarwanda, with English translation for me so that I could translate into AKR (Rwandan Sign Language)!

I did really well, though. Almost four hours straight, into a sign language that I'm still learning. Augustin said it was very clear and he understood everything! I was so proud, but utterly, utterly shattered by the end. 

Quad-lingual and even bi-lingual meetings don't really work. In Wales it was usually concurrent interpreting between Welsh/English: people wearing headsets and listening to the translation at the same time it's being spoken in the first language, which isn't bad at all. 

This was all consecutive interpreting, so we had to stop every few minutes to translate the next chunk. The people translating French and English, like me, were all also participants, so they'd get engrossed in what was being said and forget to interpret a lot of the time. 

It was a bit hectic. Luckily, Augustin lip-reads Kinyarwanda perfectly and could also understand a lot of French, and some English, depending on who was talking. I know I started well, but after the first couple of hours I started to lag badly because it's so tiring. Especially after a night on the waragi. So much listening to chunks of conversation you don't understand is tiring, too. Certainly makes for long meetings.

But it was an experience, and I'm glad I did it. I get the feeling it might not be the last time now that people know I can. It's been a long time since I was last flapping my hands about in such a capacity - it's fun in small doses lol My AKR is certainly improving no end!