Interpreters’ brains are extraordinary. When we are hard at work, our brain is carrying out multiple processes simultaneously, in demanding bursts of mental gymnastics that would be impossible for most non-interpreters. We also use our short-term memory in more complex ways than other people do. We first have to listen and understand the speaker’s...
Interpreting is one of the most stressful jobs there is. So how do we make sure we stay on top of our game? One of the ways to do that is by eating healthy. The term superfood has been used to describe a foodstuff that contains a lot of beneficial substances such as vitamins and antioxidants, or that offer some form of protection, like helping to...
Count Smorltalk takes a look at the 2nd Edition of Gillies’ seminal work I was contemplating sending these notes into Mme Blog as proof that I had read the book I was asked to review. And I thought I might leave it at that. But I had a niggling feeling I’d get sent away with a flea in my ear and told to do the review properly, so I have...
Count Smorltalk takes up rocket science As I was just saying, I’m going to give up interpreting and try something a little easier. You see, I just don’t know if I can do this much longer. It’s not the interpreting. No, that’s the easy bit. Bring on the interpreting! No, it’s all the other stuff. All the stuff that has to happen before I even get...
Count Smorltalk pulls his hair out It lies in wait in at the cheese counter – Cornish Yarg? Bath Blue? Double Gloucester?… Decisions, decisions! It ambushes you in the socks department – cotton Argyles? woollen cable-knits? thermal ribbed?…. Decisions, decisions! It has you by the short and curlies in the Ford dealership –Oxford White? Sterling...