CIAP provides interpreting services in Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and many other Asian languages. We specialise in the Asia Pacific region, but interpreting services in languages such as Chinese are needed worldwide, and not just for business purposes.

This study reveals that an Asian language is the most common language spoken after English and Spanish in 11 states across the United States. With Chinese ranked as the 3rd most common language in New York state, interpreting services in Chinese are also in high demand there. From Tagalog in California to Korean in Virginia and Georgia, from Hmong in Minnesota to Vietnamese in Texas, if you are not hearing English or Spanish, the words you are most likely to hear will be pronounced in an Asian tongue. Chinese speakers who have yet to master English will require interpreting services as they interact with their host country’s administrative and court systems.

The maps tell an interesting story of how immigration has globalized our region’s languages and why translation and interpreting services into and from Asian languages like Chinese, Korean etc are key, and not just in the Asia Pacific region.

Contact us at info@ciap.net to learn more about our interpreting services in Mandarin Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Bahasa Indonesian, Bengali, Burmese, Cantonese, Hindi, Japanese, Malay, Khmer, Thai or other Asian languages. We also provide interpreting services in non-Asian languages, from French, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, German and Italian to Arabic, Turkish etc.

Tagalog, Vietnamese, Hmong, Chinese, Korean are all commonly spoken in the US

Visit www.slate.com for more language-based maps and insights into the USA’s linguistic geography.

“You cannot stop to ponder. You just can’t. If you do, you fail. (…)

An interpreter at that level cannot – not ‘should not’ – simply cannot make a mistake.”

– the late Russian interpreter Victor Sukhodrev, 1932 – 2014

As the chief interpreter for every Soviet leader from Krushchev to Gorbachev, the late Russian interpreter Victor Sukhodrev attended more meetings of the Cold War superpowers than almost any person in history. His words will resonate with any interpreter, Russian or otherwise, involved in high-level, high-stakes meetings, international conferences, court hearings, contractual negotiations etc. For professional interpreters, every word spoken matters and conveying your exact message is our priority.

Here, the Washington Post pays tribute to Sukhodrev’s outstanding career as a Russian interpreter in the Soviet era and sheds some light on what drove him to such a mastery of the English language.

Interpreter Viktor Sukhodrev (centre) with Leonid Brezhnev and Richard Nixon.

Help interpreters in the Central African Republic repair their ransacked homes before the rainy season.

Former staff interpreters at the International Criminal Court now find themselves in a dire situation due to the fighting in the Central African Republic, but we can help by donating here.

This is their story:

In March 2010 a group of Sango field interpreters joined the ICC to be trained as simultaneous court interpreters, the first Sango booth in the world. After qualifying as simultaneous Court interpreters at the ICC, they went on to interpret between Sango and French in the case The Prosecutor v. Jean-Pierre Bemba for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in the Central African Republic. The trial started in November 2010 and continued until November 2013, when their contracts ran out and they had to leave the Court.

As you will know, civil war has once again broken out in the Central African Republic. One interpreter has sought asylum in Paris, leaving behind his home in Bangui that was ransacked and his car stolen. Another made it to Cameroon with his family, but is running out of funds. Others remain trapped in Bangui. One had the entire contents of his house ransacked by a mob on Christmas day 2013, only to have what little was left (roof, doors) stolen or smashed by another mob on 23 January 2014: “Le sacrifice consenti pendant plus de dix ans pour construire cette maison s’est envolé en moins de deux heures”. On 20 February he was held up by a group at gunpoint and had his car stolen. He and his family are now internally displaced persons who cannot go back to their homes due to the security situation. Those out of the CAR are out of danger but have major financial difficulties. Those in the CAR are just glad to be alive at the moment.

But all is not lost. We can make a real difference. All the interpreters need funds, whether for essential repairs to a home before the rainy season renders it completely uninhabitable, or to pay for transportation out of the CAR to a safe location, or for basic subsistence until they can find or are allowed to work in the countries to which they have fled.

Make a difference today! Thanks so much for your support!

Click here to give to the appeal fund.

The world media has given wide coverage to the fact that the sign-language interpreter who was standing next to world leaders interpreting their speeches at the funeral for Nelson Mandela badly botched his job and may have been an impostor. As testified by many deaf people present at the ceremony or following from all over the world, his sign language was gibberish and incomprehensible. As a result, they did not get the message.

An interpreter’s role is to convey the message of the speaker in a different language. More than translate the words spoken, she or he conveys the message of the speaker. In that regard, this interpreter failed.

Unfortunately, similar situations occur fairly often with spoken language interpretation too. That is because those who recruit interpreters often are not interpreters themselves, do not understand what is needed, nor the difficulty of the task, and tend to go for the cheapest.

In this case, the interpreter was hired by a fly-by-night agency that has since disappeared. He was left to work alone in a high-pressure situation without a second colleague and was clearly out of his depth. Now the poor fellow is being put up for international ridicule, and the government (i.e. the client) is also under attack, all because they used a bad agency.

The interpreter (right) next to President Barack Obama.

The South African deputy minister for women, children and people with disabilities has since recognised that Guidelines say we must switch interpreters every 20 minutes.“That is because interpreting is a highly stressful activity that requires full concentration all the time. The level of concentration needed cannot be sustained for more than 30 to 40 minutes, after which it is likely that lapses and errors will occur.

The International Association of Conference Interpreters (AIIC) has established professional standards and recommended working conditions that make it possible for interpreters to perform their difficult art under the best conditions.To find professional conference interpreters, members of AIIC and others, your best bet is to contact an AIIC accredited?consultant interpreter. CIAP is a network of AIIC accredited consultant interpreters.

Research has shown that the brain doubts the accuracy of messages delivered in a foreign accent. While this is indeed bad news for proponents of Globish as the new lingua franca, the good news is that hiring qualified simultaneous interpreters can level the playing field. Skilled conference interpreters allow speakers at international events to use their native language to bring their message home and communicate fully without the distraction of a foreign accent or hesitant speaking.

Read more here, from AIIC conference interpreter and trainer Michelle Renée Hof writing on the AIIC blog.

The United Nations Building in Bangkok

Organisations within the United Nations system are major organisers of international conferences requiring simultaneous interpreting services. All CIAP members work regularly for UN agencies and their related projects, and even the UN assisted Khmer Rouge Tribunal in Cambodia.

This recent article from the UN News Centre?highlights some of the challenges faced by UN interpreters, especially when dealing with delicate diplomatic matters. As interpreters at some of the international community’s marathon negotiations, we are in a unique position to watch the debates unfold and see how sticking points are resolved.

This article in French from Le Monde offers a glimpse behind the scenes of the 5th session of the International Seed Treaty’s governing body, held in Oman in September 2013, where former CIAP associate Annie Trottier was part of the interpreting team.