Let me tell you something more about the task filling the first position according to its importance, difficulty but also challenge.
One of the best but also the most difficult tasks at the embassy is interpreting, i.e. translating live. I like the challenge and obviously also the torture of putting myself in stressful situations, since being stress-resistant is really not part of my resume skills.
Once in a while I have to go the Dutch parlament to interpret a parliamentary debate about something the embassy is interested in. After all, their job is to provide the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at home with information on Dutch position and point of view in certain matters. For example, the thing they have been most interested in lately is the EU-enlargement: what the status of the candidate states (Turkey, Iceland, but especially Balkan states) is, what the Dutch government thinks about this and what they will consequently support in the EU parliament.
The Dutch board for European issues - representatives of parties and the Minister of Foreign Affairs - comes together once in a while. Their debates are public so this is where I go with the consul to intepret the debate for her and write a report on what each separate party thinks about the issue and what it is that the Foreign Minister thinks. At these meetings it is almost as coming home since there are representatives (ambassadors, consuls and small fish like me, hahaaha) of the embassies of all Balkan states. So, we talk simply our own languages and at the end, we walk up to each other to check whether we got the main points right, hahaha.
At the end of the last meeting, the Serbian ambassador walked up to me, because he knew I was there to translate for the Slovenian embassy, and asked me how I understood the main issue concerning Serbia, that was whether the Dutch government would support the stability and accession agreement of EU with Serbia or not, because he and his interpretor didn't quite catch it. I answered they would and tried to sound as persuaded as possible. I have to admit it felt pretty good, darn good actually. Later, our consul told me I was one of the few that got it right. I really doubt myself too much sometimes. But seriously, if I've always admired interpretors, now I do so even more. Such debates usually last for two hours (and luckily they stick to the schedule) and you have to be completely concentrated the whole time because you never know when somebody will say something important. And there is no break! Besides, the conclusions come at the end, right? And that's the part that once again sums up every viewpoint and makes up the final decision of the government.
I assume you all know politicians well enough to know they talk a lot but don't say much and this is the catch. It is not just that you have to understand the words, you also need to understand what they say implicitly. I guess that was also the problem why there was such a confusion about that Serbian issue, so I was in fact very proud I got it right. And so was the consul. She kept repeating how well I did. Still, I felt so confused. And exhausted. I don't know. It's just so difficult but so darn challenging and interesting.
It is very important though that you know the subject of the debate in advance, that you read whatever there is about the subject, to know the vocabulary and to anticipate a bit what the disscussion will focus on or try to achieve. Luckily, the consul provided me with the reading material, which I spent translating the day before. Needless to say, at the end of the day, I was exhausted. Luckily, there was dinner waiting for me, so I took the rest of the evening off. Let's say I deserved my desert today, hahaha.
When I was busy typing the report of the debate the following day, I made a typing mistake that actually turned out to be quite appropriate for the context, hahaha. I wrote: Medtem se bodo pohajanja nadaljevala. (In the meantime, the wanderings will continue.) Instead of 'pogajanja' (negotiations) I wrote 'pohajanja' (go travelling or just wandering about with no destination. :)
One of the best but also the most difficult tasks at the embassy is interpreting, i.e. translating live. I like the challenge and obviously also the torture of putting myself in stressful situations, since being stress-resistant is really not part of my resume skills.
Once in a while I have to go the Dutch parlament to interpret a parliamentary debate about something the embassy is interested in. After all, their job is to provide the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at home with information on Dutch position and point of view in certain matters. For example, the thing they have been most interested in lately is the EU-enlargement: what the status of the candidate states (Turkey, Iceland, but especially Balkan states) is, what the Dutch government thinks about this and what they will consequently support in the EU parliament.
The Dutch board for European issues - representatives of parties and the Minister of Foreign Affairs - comes together once in a while. Their debates are public so this is where I go with the consul to intepret the debate for her and write a report on what each separate party thinks about the issue and what it is that the Foreign Minister thinks. At these meetings it is almost as coming home since there are representatives (ambassadors, consuls and small fish like me, hahaaha) of the embassies of all Balkan states. So, we talk simply our own languages and at the end, we walk up to each other to check whether we got the main points right, hahaha.
At the end of the last meeting, the Serbian ambassador walked up to me, because he knew I was there to translate for the Slovenian embassy, and asked me how I understood the main issue concerning Serbia, that was whether the Dutch government would support the stability and accession agreement of EU with Serbia or not, because he and his interpretor didn't quite catch it. I answered they would and tried to sound as persuaded as possible. I have to admit it felt pretty good, darn good actually. Later, our consul told me I was one of the few that got it right. I really doubt myself too much sometimes. But seriously, if I've always admired interpretors, now I do so even more. Such debates usually last for two hours (and luckily they stick to the schedule) and you have to be completely concentrated the whole time because you never know when somebody will say something important. And there is no break! Besides, the conclusions come at the end, right? And that's the part that once again sums up every viewpoint and makes up the final decision of the government.
I assume you all know politicians well enough to know they talk a lot but don't say much and this is the catch. It is not just that you have to understand the words, you also need to understand what they say implicitly. I guess that was also the problem why there was such a confusion about that Serbian issue, so I was in fact very proud I got it right. And so was the consul. She kept repeating how well I did. Still, I felt so confused. And exhausted. I don't know. It's just so difficult but so darn challenging and interesting.
It is very important though that you know the subject of the debate in advance, that you read whatever there is about the subject, to know the vocabulary and to anticipate a bit what the disscussion will focus on or try to achieve. Luckily, the consul provided me with the reading material, which I spent translating the day before. Needless to say, at the end of the day, I was exhausted. Luckily, there was dinner waiting for me, so I took the rest of the evening off. Let's say I deserved my desert today, hahaha.
When I was busy typing the report of the debate the following day, I made a typing mistake that actually turned out to be quite appropriate for the context, hahaha. I wrote: Medtem se bodo pohajanja nadaljevala. (In the meantime, the wanderings will continue.) Instead of 'pogajanja' (negotiations) I wrote 'pohajanja' (go travelling or just wandering about with no destination. :)
Let me tell you one embarrassing part of my going to the parliament last week, hahahaha. I agreed to meet the consul in front of the parliament instead of going to the embassay first. What I forgot was that before entering the building you need to go through the scan control like at the airport. That wouldn't have been a problem at all, if I hadn't had a huge rucksack with me becauseI was going to Rotterdam after work. I really didn't think about the things I had inside when I put it on that conveyor belt. But I wasn't paying attention to that thing while on its way through the scan, because I was busy taking off first my boots (with metal parts) and then my jacket (with metal parts) – I have to remember what I wore back then not to wear the same clothes next time, hahaha. When that scan thing was finally happy with me - the consul gave up on me a while ago and went to fetch the sticker for the entrance – I wanted to grab the things and just go but the officer asked me to open the rucksack because they detected a small knife (mesje) in it. He spoke English to me and I really couldn't think of a small knife in my bag, so I said it was most unlikely there was a knife in there. Then he asked a colleague to check the scan again and mentioned mesje in Dutch. At that moment it hit me because what I had in there was a razor (scheermesje). It was so embarrassing to have to take it out there in front of all those police officers.
Ok, things taken care of, I proceeded to the gate where they stuck a red sticker on my jacket. Then we dumped the bags in the lockers and went to the room where the meeting was to be held. While looking for some space, the consul shook hands with all the ambasadors and other important people. :) After the debate, we exchanged information, as said, and went home.
After fetching my luggage, I still needed to collect that notorious razor of mine. Of all things, this was even more embarrassing. I mean, there was my name on the sack. And I gave the man the number of that sack. They matched. Ok, can't you just give the sack to me ... just hand it over, mister, just … ok. Whatever. No, he had to open it, lift the razor up for me to recognize it and for all other people to see, and then he finally gave it to me. Em-bar-ras-sing!
I might have as well let it be thrown away in the first place. Argh!
Yep, going to the parliament doesn't always mean being bored after all. hahaha
