In 2021 Japan and Germany will celebrate 160 years of international exchange. The exchange between Germany and Japan takes place in a wide range of political, economic, and cultural fields. For this purpose, German interpreters are also needed. By the way, Germany is not the only country where German is an official language. There are also differences between countries and regions with regard to what is called German. How do interpreters deal with the many variations of the German language?

130 million native German speakers

First, some basic information about the German language; there are about 130 million German native speakers worldwide, about the same number as Japanese native speakers (140 million). There is a total of nine countries where German is an official language. (Germany, Austria, Belgium, parts of Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, parts of Hungary, Switzerland and Namibia)

German is spoken differently in each of these countries. Although Switzerland is an immediate neighbour of Germany, it is sometimes difficult even for Germans to understand Swiss German.

Germany also has a number of regional dialects. The German spoken in Hanover, in the centre of Germany, is called Standard German. Munich, Berlin and the rest of Germany have their own distinctive dialects. In this sense, there are very few people who speak standard German as their mother tongue.

If you want to take it even more precisely, you can also find differences in the way people speak in different age and profession groups. Depending on how someone is raised, their life history and personality, there are peculiarities in pronunciation, speaking habits, speech volume and communication. The same applies to Japanese.

An interpreter needs communication skills that go beyond language skills

As in any other language, there is no one who speaks German like from a textbook. Interpreting under such uncertain conditions is not an easy task even for professional interpreters, but each interpreter deals with it in his or her own way.

The more experience the interpreter has in a particular field, the better he or she can handle it. If the interpreter has knowledge of the speaker’s background and additional information, in addition to what has been said, he or she can also deduce what is said between the lines and guess what has been said if the pronunciation is unclear.

Interpreters spend more time preparing in advance than one would think. Ideally, top interpreters are expected to have the same level of knowledge as the speaker and are expected to be able to handle the situation professionally, regardless of how it develops.

This requires a detailed preliminary discussion with the client and the actual speaker. Such a meeting is also a good opportunity to build up trust with the client and to familiarise oneself with his/her language and accent habits. During such a meeting one can make small talk that at first glance has nothing to do with business, tell jokes to break the ice and provide information that is of interest to the other person, offering more than just an interpreting service.

No interpreting app or interpreting software can provide such a warm-up talk. It is no exaggeration to say that it is a task that only human interpreters who can also pay attention to subtle signs are up to. In order not to be confused by the many variants and to communicate smoothly in German, it is not only important to be fluent in the language, but also to have flexible social skills.

The interpreters at transeuro have excellent language skills and social competence. Please contact us if you are interested in our interpreting service.

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