Latest / Found in Interpretation Podcast / Ep. 63 - Interpreting among penguins — life as an interpreter on an Antarctic expedition ship

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Ep. 63 - Interpreting among penguins — life as an interpreter on an Antarctic expedition ship · Found in Interpretation Podcast

• 0:00
  The way to Antarctica is rough. We have the Drakes Passage, it's
• 0:03
  called the Drake Passage. And here you have to ocean
• 0:07
  currents meeting and that's why it is quite it can get crazy.
• 0:11
  It can get up to 10m waves. I mean the highest we had eight
• 0:15
  meters. Hello, hello and welcome to
• 0:18
  another episode of Found in Interpretation podcast, a
• 0:21
  podcast that talks about translation, interpretation,
• 0:24
  technology, AI, traveling, you name it and I'm here.
• 0:27
  Brian, Brian, how you doing? I'm doing great.
• 0:29
  And you can add another topic to our conversation because today
• 0:32
  we're going to talk about Antarctica with Louisa.
• 0:35
  How are you, Lisa? Hi, yeah, I'm fine.
• 0:37
  Thanks. I'm really happy to be here.
• 0:40
  Excellent. Alright, let's kick it.
• 0:54
  Let's get started with this. So, Louisa, how did you become
• 0:58
  an interpreter? Let's start from the basics.
• 0:59
  Here. Yeah, well, I've already loved
• 1:03
  like most interpreters loved languages from the start.
• 1:06
  Like I, I remember when I was reading the German Harry Potter
• 1:10
  and the English Harry Potter next to each other and comparing
• 1:12
  the translations, like I was really interested in how did
• 1:16
  that translate it and where did they leave out stuff?
• 1:18
  So yeah, very, very early on, I, I wanted to do something with
• 1:22
  languages. Yeah, kind of also due to the
• 1:27
  work from my father, we were quite often in London as a kid,
• 1:31
  so also getting very close to the language very early.
• 1:34
  And yeah, it was clear to me, something with languages and
• 1:38
  something challenging which interpreting is.
• 1:41
  So yeah, it was very like, it sounds like the perfect
• 1:45
  profession. Have to ask you offline and how
• 1:48
  they translated Griffindor and Slytherin and Hufflepuff.
• 1:53
  And those words bad. In Germany they kept most of the
• 1:55
  words in French it's horrible because French they kind of
• 1:58
  rename everything, but in German they they kept them.
• 2:03
  Yeah, they use the English names.
• 2:07
  That's cool. So then you ended up having the
• 2:09
  like, did you start off like as a conference interpreter
• 2:11
  immediately, or did you do other types of interpretation before?
• 2:15
  Yeah, no, I mean I did the way like the bachelors then the
• 2:19
  masters in between a year in New Zealand where did work and
• 2:23
  travel and do you know, and then after the masters is where where
• 2:30
  it starts where you're like, OK, what I'm going to do now?
• 2:32
  I mean, everybody's lost at the beginning and.
• 2:36
  What did you do a masters in? In conference interpreting.
• 2:40
  OK. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 2:42
  In which school? Like university, Ohhhhh yeah.
• 2:46
  So I I had the choice of there's not many unis in Germany where
• 2:50
  you can study it. And I my choice got even more
• 2:52
  limited because I was in New Zealand and some universities
• 2:57
  say you have to be there at present to do the the entry exam
• 3:02
  or you can once said you can do it online and I did it online.
• 3:05
  That was Heidelberg. And then lipstick you were
• 3:08
  allowed to do it an extra date if you were broad.
• 3:12
  So it came down to these two Someone's ringing a bell.
• 3:17
  OHP that that's. What happens in the life?
• 3:19
  Process I'm going. Do you wanna go answer?
• 3:22
  Go ahead. No, no, it's OK.
• 3:23
  I know that. I've, I'm expecting some
• 3:25
  equipment to come back from Vancouver.
• 3:27
  So that's, that's the life of an interpreter, you know.
• 3:32
  At least you were not in the middle of a gig.
• 3:33
  Yeah. Can you imagine?
• 3:35
  Yeah, that's the. Worst, I thought it's part of
• 3:37
  your podcast. I thought it was like this is
• 3:39
  the time for the. That is around when you start a
• 3:43
  new. Thing and like.
• 3:45
  You said back, come on down, you're the next contestant on
• 3:48
  found an interpretation. So yeah, so we went down to this
• 3:55
  universal like 2 universities, and I chose light stick in the
• 3:57
  end, which is close to Berlin, and we're moved afterwards as
• 4:01
  well. And yeah, I was really happy
• 4:04
  with it. Yeah, it's so you're stationed
• 4:07
  in Germany now, like you live in.
• 4:09
  Germany, I'm, I'm OK, Berlin. I'm based in Berlin.
• 4:11
  But as the introduction said, sometimes I'm in different
• 4:16
  continents and quite regularly at the moment in in the Arctic
• 4:20
  or Antarctica. Yeah, Tell us more about that.
• 4:23
  Because you were talking about New Zealand, so I thought that
• 4:26
  we were heading near Antarctica. No, it doesn't have anything to
• 4:29
  do with. It that was just my gap, yeah.
• 4:31
  Also like to to experience like a different country and English
• 4:36
  speaking, Yeah, yeah. And to discover New Zealand.
• 4:40
  Yeah, no. So what about Antarctica here?
• 4:44
  I'm very curious because are you working there as an interpreter?
• 4:46
  Is it still something? Is it still, is it something in
• 4:49
  the past? So tell us about.
• 4:50
  It so yeah, it did. During my masters, there were
• 4:54
  some people who were like one year above me who were already
• 4:57
  the the first ones to work for this company that I'm allowed to
• 5:02
  name the company. Well, because then there was so
• 5:06
  cool, though, you wouldn't expedition.
• 5:08
  And they were the first ones who were working like when they
• 5:11
  started working with professional interpreters for
• 5:14
  the expedition team and they sent out an e-mail to all of us
• 5:18
  who were still studying, like, hey, you're looking forward to
• 5:21
  your next exciting job. And that description was just
• 5:24
  like, unbelievable. Like, yeah, you'd be among the
• 5:26
  Penguins and you'd be in the Arctic or Antarctica, and this
• 5:30
  is your role there, the interpreter.
• 5:32
  And I was like, wow, this sounds amazing.
• 5:33
  And I applied then already. Um, but yeah, it took, it took a
• 5:38
  while until I got finally there because I had the interview and
• 5:42
  in the interview already they asked you questions like, would
• 5:45
  you be OK to learn how to drive a Zodiac boat and get training
• 5:48
  in there? Of course, like I had asking me
• 5:51
  that would you be ready to protect the Penguins from the
• 5:54
  passengers? I was like, yes, like you keep
• 5:57
  thinking in the interview, like sign me up for.
• 5:59
  This did you say protect the Penguins from the passengers,
• 6:03
  not the passengers from the Penguins.
• 6:06
  Like the Penguins don't attack. You to protect them that they
• 6:10
  don't get too close to them um, so you have to tell them like
• 6:14
  please, please keep away from like keep at least a 5 metre
• 6:17
  distance from the Penguins. So this is part of your job as
• 6:20
  well to. No, no, no selfies with the
• 6:23
  Penguins. Exactly.
• 6:24
  Yeah. And, and there's so many rules
• 6:28
  in Antarctica. I'll come to speak about that,
• 6:30
  which is good. Yeah.
• 6:31
  But we are kind of yeah, safeguards of the Yeah, that
• 6:36
  they that we all keep to these rules and that the passengers
• 6:39
  don't overstep the rules. And yeah.
• 6:42
  And I had this interview and I kept thinking, wow, this sounds
• 6:44
  so amazing and exciting. And they also in that time
• 6:48
  offered permanent jobs, like for a permanent role as an
• 6:52
  interpreter. But in that time, I didn't want
• 6:55
  that yet. Like to jump in straight away
• 6:56
  like this. So I offered freelancing.
• 6:58
  And as it always is, like this. Then I didn't hear from them for
• 7:02
  a while. A year later, I tried again.
• 7:05
  I was like, I really want this job.
• 7:06
  And I said, hi, I'm still here. I'm still interested.
• 7:08
  And then the people who choose, you know, the, the crewing
• 7:12
  people were already exchanged different people.
• 7:15
  So I had the interview again. I had the same interview again.
• 7:17
  I'm like, oh, my goodness, things again.
• 7:19
  Like, yes, yeah, yes, I'm ready to do all this.
• 7:21
  Yeah. And then again, they said, OK,
• 7:23
  cool. So you'll be a freelancer for
• 7:25
  us. Yes.
• 7:26
  And then Corona happened. You all remember COVID-19.
• 7:31
  I told the ships didn't go, no contract.
• 7:33
  Uh, yeah. And then I mean, third time
• 7:36
  lucky. I tried 1/3 time after Corona
• 7:38
  was kind of over in, in 22 I tried again.
• 7:43
  I was like, now is the chance. And I was just again, hi, I'm
• 7:46
  still here. I'm still interested.
• 7:47
  I do have a contract. And then I finally got my first
• 7:50
  contract. Yeah, it was amazing.
• 7:53
  Also. I mean, I was also recommended
• 7:55
  by a colleague who I know from university who was working
• 8:00
  there. And I mean, you always need also
• 8:02
  some, some I think some push get in and yeah.
• 8:06
  And then I was like, my first contract was Norway.
• 8:09
  They also do like Hamburg to the North Cape.
• 8:12
  And Norway is beautiful. It was really, really beautiful.
• 8:16
  And it is kind of, it's good to get started with, with that
• 8:21
  easier journey than straight away Hunter Arctica or
• 8:23
  something, which is quite different, Um, because in, in
• 8:27
  Norway you have different ports you go to.
• 8:30
  So you can also get off the ship and be in a city or in a town,
• 8:34
  which is different in nature. Uh, yeah.
• 8:37
  And I, I got introduced into the job slowly and it's very
• 8:40
  exciting to work on a ship is like to, to learn how this is
• 8:43
  you live where you work. Yeah.
• 8:45
  So who are you working for? Who are you interpreting for?
• 8:49
  The thing is, in that time it was from Hamburg to Norway, so
• 8:53
  we had a lot of Germans on the ship.
• 8:55
  So in this case, I was actually interpreting for the English
• 8:59
  speaking guests most of the time into English.
• 9:02
  But also some of our staff don't speak German, so they gave their
• 9:07
  lectures meaningless and then I interpret it into German.
• 9:10
  So I did both ways that time, but now it's always into German
• 9:14
  because now everything is English speaking.
• 9:15
  They're changed it. Now these passengers ships as it
• 9:19
  mostly for scientists or for tourists or who's the who's?
• 9:23
  Who's this catering? To I should really start from
• 9:26
  the beginning, Yeah, because some things don't get clear, of
• 9:28
  course. Sorry, look at the distance ship
• 9:31
  and expedition means it's it's a mixture.
• 9:33
  I mean, it's, they have scientists on board and they
• 9:37
  especially the bigger ships where they go to Antarctica,
• 9:40
  they even have guest scientists who do their actual science
• 9:43
  there and they give, they help them to get them out there and
• 9:47
  give them the chance to do their research.
• 9:48
  So it is one part is that then they have an expedition team and
• 9:53
  part of the expedition team are scientists as well to kind of
• 9:57
  lecture about the the things they see about the nature, about
• 10:02
  what's on climate change with the people who are coming there
• 10:05
  brought us because it's also for tourists.
• 10:07
  I mean, tourists come there, book this journey, but it's
• 10:10
  different from a normal cruise ship, like because you have the
• 10:13
  expedition team and it is all set out as an expedition as
• 10:18
  well. And yeah, these talks by the
• 10:22
  scientists, they interpreted into German for because they
• 10:27
  have a lot of German tourists. Germans love to travel.
• 10:30
  So they have so many German tourists every journey that it's
• 10:35
  worth it for them to have an on board interpreter, which is
• 10:39
  great for for us German interpreter.
• 10:43
  But on the ship itself, what kind of equipment are you using
• 10:47
  that I'm assuming? Is there a soundproof booth or
• 10:49
  what? How does it?
• 10:50
  Work, it's not a booth that we know from conferences, but it's
• 10:53
  like a, a room that is soundproof with like a heavy
• 10:55
  door, like chats. And it has it has some equipment
• 10:58
  in there with like what you call this like the, the electricity
• 11:04
  thingy is in there. It's like a room that was not
• 11:07
  built to be an interpreting booth, but was constantly like
• 11:12
  was made and interpreting books. And yeah.
• 11:15
  And you get 2 kinds of headphones because I mean, do
• 11:19
  you have headphones 1st to get the sound of the in the lecture
• 11:21
  hall. There's a lecture hall and it's
• 11:23
  in the back of the lecture hall and you get a screen so that you
• 11:26
  see everything and what's happening.
• 11:28
  There's a lecture hall on the. Ship the ship.
• 11:31
  Yeah, there's a whole science ships, I mean.
• 11:33
  It's different how big is the ship.
• 11:34
  Just give us a scale. How how big is the ship is like
• 11:37
  a big cruise ship. Or no, it's not like the huge
• 11:40
  this guy gigantic cruise ship that you know from Aida.
• 11:44
  It's not like that. It's way smaller, but they have
• 11:47
  also different sizes. They have smaller ships that
• 11:49
  have bigger ships are the biggest one has a capacity of
• 11:52
  500 passengers maximum. So I mean, these huge cruise
• 11:57
  ships, they take like 3000 people or something like this.
• 11:59
  No, it's not like that. And and the lecture hall is in
• 12:03
  the Science Centre. There's like a Science Centre
• 12:05
  where the scientists hang out, where the people can get a lot
• 12:08
  of information about the animals.
• 12:10
  But also, yeah, I mean, only ethologists.
• 12:12
  You have marine biologists, of course.
• 12:15
  What else do you have historian on board.
• 12:19
  Historian speaks about history. There's also what I interpret,
• 12:21
  for example. It's always interesting, umm,
• 12:25
  you have geologists, you have this, this, this, this whole
• 12:29
  science team who also have microscopes out there to show
• 12:33
  the people like what they found, if they if they collected water.
• 12:39
  But these are very challenging topics.
• 12:42
  As an interpreter, you've got to know about that.
• 12:44
  Do you have any science background?
• 12:46
  No, but it's, I mean the people, the tourists don't have a
• 12:49
  science background. So I mean the lectures are given
• 12:52
  in a way that everybody can understand it, of course.
• 12:55
  And also what is great about it is you live with these people,
• 13:00
  you interpret you, you kind of it.
• 13:03
  It's kind of like a, like a not like a shared flat, but it feels
• 13:06
  like it because you live together and work together every
• 13:11
  day. And yeah, it's, it's, it's a
• 13:13
  tough job as well because you work 12 hours a day and you were
• 13:17
  always with these people and the people you interpret you, you
• 13:21
  know them by heart at some point and it just makes it easier to
• 13:24
  interpret them. And also you can set aside with
• 13:27
  them, say, OK, tell me about what you're going to say.
• 13:30
  And then they go through with you through the whole lecture.
• 13:32
  And if you have questions, you can ask the person directly.
• 13:35
  You might get become friends with the person.
• 13:39
  So it's a complete different experience and yeah, that makes.
• 13:43
  It so you share, you share meals with them and everything
• 13:45
  everyone eats at the same place. So yeah, it's very, yeah, it's
• 13:48
  very intimate. That's that's really nice.
• 13:50
  Exactly. Yeah, and you can ask questions,
• 13:52
  you can give them feedback straight afterwards.
• 13:54
  Hey, you know, this was very fast that point.
• 13:56
  Can you next time slow it down in this moment or can you
• 13:59
  explain more what you meant that I was lost a bit?
• 14:01
  You can, you have direct feedback and and you get
• 14:04
  feedback from the guests as well, which is really nice
• 14:07
  because they live with you as well.
• 14:09
  I mean, you're, I'm not there just as the interpreter, that's
• 14:12
  my role, but I'm expedition team member, so I'm expedition staff.
• 14:16
  So I do everything that we need to do, but interpreting some
• 14:20
  main, main, main role. And the Germans, they are always
• 14:24
  so grateful and they often come to you in the say you're doing
• 14:27
  such a great job and and thank you.
• 14:29
  And this is like, because you see them every day.
• 14:31
  And this is also different than when you go to conference
• 14:34
  usually happens sometimes as well that people come and say
• 14:37
  you did a great job and thank you.
• 14:38
  But this is not the always the case.
• 14:41
  I mean usually you are very hidden and invisible and some
• 14:44
  people don't even know you were there and.
• 14:47
  Yeah, but you when you in the beginning you said that you
• 14:50
  wanted to be a freelance, but that sounds like a full time
• 14:53
  gig. So what was the difference?
• 14:57
  And isn't the result the same or it's just about the pay?
• 15:00
  No, I'm, I'm, I'm still freelancing for them.
• 15:03
  So it's just also. Because you live there and you
• 15:07
  interact with. So you're certain amount of
• 15:09
  time, yeah. OK.
• 15:10
  OK contractors like the one I posted about LinkedIn.
• 15:14
  That 40 day one was my longest ever before it was usually a
• 15:17
  month or even under a month. Sometimes I was just because
• 15:21
  they needed someone quickly for just one journey, which was way
• 15:24
  shorter. Um, but usually I went four
• 15:27
  months and this time I went 40 days, which was.
• 15:31
  A limit do you have a a booth mate to be able to to swap off
• 15:37
  I? Guess yeah, we're two people.
• 15:38
  We're two interpreters, sometimes 3.
• 15:40
  Like if there's like one journey with so many Germans that we
• 15:43
  were a team of three, which was amazing.
• 15:45
  Um, yeah, but usually you're 2 and the, the lectures are
• 15:50
  usually not longer than half an hour so that it's one person in
• 15:54
  the booth because there's not enough space to have two people
• 15:56
  there. But there's never longer than
• 15:58
  half an hour. And you, but during the day, I
• 16:03
  mean we have every evening meeting what we're going to do
• 16:05
  tomorrow. And then there is stuff
• 16:07
  happening either we're just on Etsy, then you have onboard
• 16:10
  program or we are in Antarctica or the Arctic.
• 16:14
  So we have operations and around these operations means bringing
• 16:17
  them on land and protecting the Penguins that described and
• 16:20
  doing all this. And at the same time you have
• 16:23
  support program for those who have to wait till it's their
• 16:26
  turn because in Antarctica you're only allowed to have 100
• 16:28
  people assure at the same time. So we need to have lectures.
• 16:32
  SO1 interpreter is interpreted. The other one is maybe out
• 16:34
  there. And then you swap and there's
• 16:36
  like 3 or 4 things to be interpreted in a day.
• 16:39
  And we separate. We have like separate, like, OK,
• 16:43
  I'm going to do this, I'm going to do this.
• 16:45
  And captain's announcement, I interpreted the captain is given
• 16:48
  like a announcement, how's the weather like today we have a 4°
• 16:53
  outside and we have a lot of ice in front of us and he's like
• 16:56
  giving this. Kind, are you saying, are you,
• 16:57
  did you say 4° in Antarctica? Yeah, it's summer when we're
• 17:01
  there. OK.
• 17:04
  That's summer. OK.
• 17:05
  And it's usually around 0 degrees, 1° - 1 - 2.
• 17:10
  But it's not crazy cold because we were just altering around the
• 17:14
  peninsula is where I was. I mean the I'm not on all the
• 17:17
  trips and it is summer because in winter you don't want to be
• 17:22
  there. Have you ever worked in the
• 17:26
  winter, either in the Arctic or the Enter?
• 17:28
  No, no, no, they don't go. They usually the ships, they are
• 17:31
  in the summer season. They are in our summer season
• 17:35
  there in the Arctic. Like this year I was in
• 17:38
  Greenland and Iceland, Greenland.
• 17:41
  And then they when it's around November, they start to go to
• 17:47
  Antarctica because then it's here winter and summer there.
• 17:50
  So yeah, they're only there in. Summer, are you from Berlin to I
• 17:55
  guess the closest port? Now to where you're going there,
• 17:58
  yeah. Buenos Aires, OK.
• 18:02
  Just like the Yeah. The buttery southern tip, the.
• 18:05
  Southern tip yeah and other ships go like I'm going on a
• 18:10
  different ship from their company this in March, middle of
• 18:14
  March and there will fly from Santiago de Chile and then.
• 18:20
  Down to Puntarenas. Yeah, put that in as exactly,
• 18:22
  OK. Yeah, so and to get to
• 18:26
  Antarctica, most how how's the seed?
• 18:31
  A lot, a lot of big waves you get seasick.
• 18:35
  And are there any security like like safety issues?
• 18:39
  Or yeah, I mean. Fear for your life.
• 18:42
  Expedition team members who get seasick, I'm luckily not one of
• 18:47
  them. I'm so happy I don't get seasick
• 18:49
  because, yeah, the way to Antarctica is rough.
• 18:52
  We have the Drake Passage. It's called the Drake Passage.
• 18:55
  And here you have to ocean currents meeting.
• 18:59
  And that's why it is quite. It can get crazy.
• 19:01
  It can get up to 10m waves. I mean the highest we had OHS 8
• 19:06
  meters um, it can get very bad, but we call it the the Drake
• 19:11
  lake or the Drake sake we had in the last train we had quite
• 19:15
  often Drake lake. So it is really not so bad.
• 19:19
  But yeah, Drake shake is when it it gets like this.
• 19:23
  But the. Word random.
• 19:24
  Does it depend on the weather? Do they?
• 19:26
  Do they know in advance? Always different.
• 19:27
  You never know. You never.
• 19:29
  Also the weather in Antarctica is crazy.
• 19:31
  Can change for like this. Yeah, it can be good weather
• 19:34
  forecast, then it all changes. It is a crazy continent full of
• 19:38
  extremes. It's like the windiest, the
• 19:40
  coldest, the driest, a lot of superlatives, so.
• 19:44
  What about sunlight? It's the whole time.
• 19:47
  That's also amazing. Yeah, it's the whole time you
• 19:50
  have daylight and it's crazy to see like you're out there at 11
• 19:53
  at night and it still feels like it's 3:00 in the afternoon.
• 19:58
  That you but you see the sun moving.
• 20:00
  The sun only. But it's always bright.
• 20:02
  Yeah. And it's just sets for very,
• 20:05
  very short time, like between maybe 3 at night and 5:00 in the
• 20:09
  morning or something like this. So I think I mean like I was
• 20:12
  there, but this year I was there 21st of around the 21st of
• 20:16
  December. So that's the time where you
• 20:18
  have the Yeah, well, it's the way it doesn't set wait, just
• 20:23
  tips the horizon. And I really wanted to see that.
• 20:26
  So I decided to stay up a little bit.
• 20:28
  I had to stay up between 12:12 thirty or something like this.
• 20:32
  And the problem was it was very cloudy then, so it was hard to
• 20:36
  see and there were like mountains in the way.
• 20:38
  So I did not see this happening, but I could see the sun was like
• 20:42
  setting in half an hour it was already rising again.
• 20:44
  So that was amazing to see this so.
• 20:48
  So can you go back to the Zodiac?
• 20:51
  Yeah, Like that? Yeah.
• 20:53
  I want to know more about why that you needed a license for
• 20:56
  that. Yeah, because I mean to get it,
• 20:59
  there's places in not only Antarctica and Greenland, places
• 21:03
  where you can't land, where you can't, Yeah, you can't take the
• 21:06
  people there. So what you can do is get them
• 21:09
  into the Zodiac boats and drive around with them, what we call
• 21:12
  crossings or sometimes we do one parts like as I just said, only
• 21:17
  100 people can go ashore. We have nearly 500.
• 21:20
  So, and while they are going ashore, others will go with us
• 21:24
  in cruising with the and then you discover the, the places by
• 21:28
  boat, by Zodiac and um, yeah, you need training for that, of
• 21:33
  course. So in the beginning I was not
• 21:34
  driving, but I always got, because our contractor, you
• 21:38
  know, it's always like, I'm not always long enough there so that
• 21:41
  they can, yeah, invest all this time in me.
• 21:44
  But I'm always, I'm a, what they call is they have a name for us
• 21:49
  that we are kind of permanent contractors or something like
• 21:53
  this, which doesn't really make sense.
• 21:55
  But yeah, we, we come back again and again.
• 21:57
  So I did get a bit of training here, bit of training here.
• 22:00
  And one time I was long enough there to get enough training to
• 22:03
  be checked out. And now I'm driving.
• 22:06
  So the last season I was there, I was actually driving as well.
• 22:09
  Yeah. Wow, so you've actually set foot
• 22:13
  and interpreted in the Arctic and in the Antarctic?
• 22:16
  Yes, yeah. Wow.
• 22:18
  The ends of the earth for. Interpretation and it's just so
• 22:22
  interesting that you you interpret about, for example,
• 22:25
  ways. I mean, the lecture about ways,
• 22:26
  I've done it so many times that is already I could, I could do
• 22:30
  that. But the cool thing is like in
• 22:35
  different areas, you have different rules, you learn
• 22:36
  different new way names or whatever.
• 22:39
  And then you see the whales in real life and you have all the
• 22:43
  knowledge and you see this. This is just so great that you
• 22:45
  get to see what you would interpret about Penguins, of
• 22:48
  course, or like. Tell me something about whales
• 22:51
  that nobody knows. Lots of facts I do know.
• 22:55
  I guess I mean that you know that they.
• 22:59
  Have something that I don't know, I don't know much.
• 23:01
  About whales and baleen whales, I mean, the Berlin Wall, they
• 23:06
  don't as like the, the, the huge big ones that like the humpback,
• 23:10
  they don't have. Yeah, yeah.
• 23:12
  And. They don't have teeth.
• 23:13
  No. They're vegetarian.
• 23:15
  They they eat krill, but they're not vegetarian or little fish
• 23:18
  that come through it, but they have these huge like these
• 23:22
  plates and with this that filter the water, the water gets
• 23:24
  filtered through it and then it gets stuck behind and the water
• 23:28
  get pressed out. It's amazing to see that as
• 23:30
  well. When they feed is really, really
• 23:33
  so cool to see. But for example, what I learned,
• 23:35
  which I was surprised about, is that orcas that actually dolphin
• 23:41
  and you would think they were dolphins.
• 23:44
  Yeah. I mean, this is like citations
• 23:46
  are where the dolphins. So, you know, they there's
• 23:50
  something that we're saying the lecture, the marine biologist,
• 23:52
  something like words can be dolphins, but dolphins can't be
• 23:54
  whales or something like this. But the other way around, yes,
• 23:57
  yeah. So that.
• 23:58
  Was like brandies and cognacs and we saw there the brand.
• 24:02
  They're the brandies in kayaks of the of the ocean.
• 24:06
  Brian, you're already thinking about drinking or.
• 24:08
  Something no 5:00. Sometime when you're in your
• 24:12
  place, something exciting as they have a sauna on board and.
• 24:19
  They have a sign. That yeah.
• 24:20
  And the sauna is like a glass wall and, um, it's just for
• 24:24
  guests usually, but we can use it after hours, like around
• 24:27
  10:00 PM, we might be allowed to use it.
• 24:31
  And then you sit in there and you have it always bright so you
• 24:36
  can still see. And you, you sit in a sauna and
• 24:38
  you see all these icebergs around you.
• 24:40
  And once we saw whales, why we weren't just experiences that
• 24:46
  you never forget. You're like, oh, look, there's a
• 24:48
  whale. And I was so unlucky.
• 24:50
  I don't have my glasses. Of course I would.
• 24:51
  I can't see any of my glasses. And then they fog up and I still
• 24:55
  don't see. But I knew.
• 24:56
  They were there. Kind of sold them, but not
• 24:59
  properly now. Back to interpretation is how do
• 25:04
  you gear up for these kinds of things?
• 25:06
  Because you're like, we need to be able to hear and speak.
• 25:09
  And so like, if you're dressed like parkas and tuques and
• 25:13
  everything, like it's harder to hear and then like with the wind
• 25:17
  and everything, like it would be the microphone might.
• 25:21
  Be. The.
• 25:23
  Not venturing outside. I mean if I incorporate outside,
• 25:27
  it would be consecutive happens as well.
• 25:30
  But I mean the simultaneous is just in the lecture hall.
• 25:34
  This is where all the simultaneous interpreting is
• 25:35
  happening. And there's not just lectures
• 25:37
  about, I mean, there is this Texas that talked about and
• 25:40
  geology, knowing biology and so on history, but also welcome to
• 25:47
  the ship or so where's everything on the ship or the,
• 25:52
  as I said, Antarctica has a lot of rules.
• 25:55
  There's the IITO, which protects the entity that it that it
• 25:59
  remains how it is so that we don't that we have little impact
• 26:03
  as possible. So we need to tell them about
• 26:05
  all these rules. And please stick to these rules
• 26:07
  as the whole lecture on that which you have to do every
• 26:10
  journey you have to do this lecture or the safety procedure.
• 26:13
  We have to do a safety briefing with the guests.
• 26:15
  Um, you have to, but that we don't have to interpret it to
• 26:17
  have to read out the German version next to the English
• 26:20
  version. But there's lots of other things
• 26:22
  or there's activity guides on board.
• 26:24
  They give a lecture about how can you kayak and Antarctica,
• 26:27
  What is important when you kayak there?
• 26:29
  If you do what tense they do camping, camping in Antarctica.
• 26:34
  I did this one season. You want to feel like step foot
• 26:39
  on you step foot on land and then you sleep outside.
• 26:41
  Yeah, you have a tent and a very warm sleeping bag and usually it
• 26:46
  means just for the guests, but, uh, you could be one of.
• 26:49
  The Yeah, the guests have a sleeping bag.
• 26:50
  You don't. No, yeah, of course you can't
• 26:52
  find. But it's not often that you go
• 26:54
  with them. It's usually the activity guides
• 26:56
  who take them out. But they often need extra people
• 26:59
  as guides. You know, when we go out, there
• 27:01
  were guides, like I'm a guide when I'm working there.
• 27:04
  And then you, you there to help, you know, help put up the tents.
• 27:08
  And then like one time, I was chosen.
• 27:12
  So in order to to become a guide, I guess you have to
• 27:14
  follow someone who's already trained and learned from them,
• 27:17
  and then you can become a guide. Yeah, I mean, you kind of learn
• 27:20
  on the on the job. I mean the IA certificate you
• 27:23
  have to do beforehand, you have to learn a lot about this
• 27:26
  Antarctica rules about how to behave there and what to teach
• 27:30
  them. And this is beforehand.
• 27:32
  But a lot, a lot, a lot you learn on the job.
• 27:35
  And also like before I drove, I could go with the cruising to
• 27:38
  see what my colleagues are telling them.
• 27:40
  I learn a lot from the lectures because when you're cruising,
• 27:43
  you're guiding and driving the boat and guide them.
• 27:46
  What they see, you tell them, look, here's the iceberg and it
• 27:48
  has this, the structure and whatever.
• 27:50
  And then everybody has their specific area where they talk
• 27:55
  about the marine biologist. Of course, they speak more about
• 27:58
  the yeah, about the sea, about these kind of things.
• 28:01
  That anthologist likes to point out which bird they're seeing.
• 28:03
  And the lucky thing is for the interpreters that we have a lot
• 28:07
  of knowledge from all the lectures that you could use as
• 28:10
  this is the guiding you do you the knowledge you have.
• 28:13
  And yeah, it's but the the people of the treat you like
• 28:17
  you're an expert for everything you get.
• 28:18
  You get asked a lot of questions like.
• 28:21
  Questions like are you become an expert at everything because you
• 28:25
  combine the knowledge of everyone else?
• 28:28
  But you don't know everything, but I think you do.
• 28:30
  And they're like look at you because you're driving a boat as
• 28:32
  we're one. One time a woman came like, oh,
• 28:34
  you really a Jack of all trades. So like we are.
• 28:38
  And then they ask you like, well, when you're not only
• 28:40
  driving the boat, also when you stand on the landing site
• 28:43
  telling them not to go too close to the Penguin, They also asked
• 28:46
  you like, oh, how deep can Penguin dive?
• 28:49
  And I and then I've luckily know from the lecture, like, Oh yeah,
• 28:54
  but they, they know someone asked me like, how long are they
• 28:57
  underwater? And I was like, I don't know.
• 28:59
  But I know that they've dive 150 meters deep because that's
• 29:02
  something I know. So they just give them a fact.
• 29:04
  And then, yeah, it's kind of how to juggle this kind of.
• 29:08
  Being. An expert and yeah.
• 29:11
  Now I'm assuming the the wildlife is completely different
• 29:15
  in the Arctic than the Antarctic.
• 29:16
  Like what? What would you be more likely to
• 29:18
  see in the Arctic as opposed to the Antarctic?
• 29:20
  And the Arctic, this is where you have the polar bears, Yes.
• 29:24
  I haven't seen one yet, but I hadn't done so many trips yet.
• 29:27
  I'm going there this summer. I'm going to swallow, but so I'm
• 29:31
  excited about. Yeah.
• 29:33
  And you don't have Penguins, of course, but yeah, in Greenland
• 29:37
  you have mascot. That's our polar fox.
• 29:41
  And I mean, in Greenland you also have other like you.
• 29:45
  You also have towns that you can go into and discover all these
• 29:48
  colourful houses. And it's completely different.
• 29:51
  So Antarctica, it's just nature. And this is also interesting
• 29:54
  because no one lives there. That's what makes it so
• 29:56
  interesting to be there. So there's more villages when
• 30:00
  you go to the Arctic as opposed to Antarctica has just the
• 30:04
  frozen tundra I guess. Yeah, I mean, just lives there.
• 30:07
  Yeah, it's just right. Antarctica is just covered with
• 30:11
  ice, yeah. Yeah, I mean, there's, there's
• 30:14
  scientists have camps there too. Though Yeah, scientists and
• 30:17
  scientists stations. Some of them we do see as well.
• 30:19
  We're not allowed to visit them only if they're empty, which
• 30:22
  sometimes happens and like abandoned.
• 30:26
  No, I mean they're not. Some are only used in summer or.
• 30:29
  Only. And, you know, or they, they're
• 30:33
  not there yet. We can go and see the the
• 30:35
  station, but we can go close, for example, to one.
• 30:38
  We went on the cruising and we came close to there.
• 30:41
  And then, for example, in this case, I need to read up on it
• 30:44
  because I'm going to guide about this.
• 30:46
  So I'm we get information and we'll read through it.
• 30:49
  OK, What can I say about this station?
• 30:50
  What's the history of the state? Because people want to know.
• 30:52
  So yeah, we prepare and you learn even more and.
• 30:56
  I want to know and not even on the cruise.
• 30:59
  Yeah, I it is. You but it's, it's a it's, it's
• 31:02
  like a 2 for one for you on, on one-on-one hand, you're on a
• 31:06
  cruise. This is amazing.
• 31:08
  You get to see amazing things that people pay thousands of
• 31:11
  dollars probably for this. And on the other, you get paid,
• 31:14
  you learn and you're an interpreter.
• 31:17
  This is like they did you. I don't know about you, but that
• 31:21
  would be my dream job. As well, always keep repeating.
• 31:25
  It is exhausting as hell. I mean, after that you're dead
• 31:30
  because you're working everyday. Management does not always know
• 31:35
  how tiring simultaneous interpreting is.
• 31:38
  You have to fight a lot. I mean, some do know quite well
• 31:42
  now because they've worked with interpreters like so regularly.
• 31:45
  But still you have to repeat and you have to remind them, I can't
• 31:48
  do a lecture and then straight away do this.
• 31:51
  I mean, this is it's a good practice actually stand up for
• 31:54
  you help and stand up for good working.
• 31:56
  Condition. You need a team of two other
• 31:58
  interpreters. Yeah, French.
• 32:00
  Interpreters. Yeah, yeah.
• 32:02
  I don't speak German, but you know, try to fake it.
• 32:05
  Become better because they've worked with them.
• 32:07
  They know by now they don't think I'm just being a diva,
• 32:10
  being like oh, I don't wanna work.
• 32:11
  They know. OK, it is OK.
• 32:13
  Yeah, well, I have to prepare the lecture, you know that this
• 32:16
  kind of. Thing, bring them the rulebook.
• 32:20
  People sometimes think the interpreters, they are very
• 32:23
  like, um, you know, they always they want to work less or
• 32:27
  something because they don't. Get me, I always have this,
• 32:32
  let's have this handy whenever I'm talking to anyone about long
• 32:36
  shifts, it's called prolonged turns and interpretation and the
• 32:40
  risks of, of having prolonged terms like on the whole, like
• 32:45
  quality, physiological and psychological stress impacts on
• 32:49
  interpreters. So I always have that on me.
• 32:51
  Just saying like why do we need 2 interpreters?
• 32:53
  I'm like. I'll frame that.
• 32:56
  I should frame it. If someone was way too fast, you
• 33:00
  can see them later at dinner and like, you killed me today.
• 33:03
  This was way so sorry and like, Oh my God, this is this is this
• 33:07
  was pretty. That's so good.
• 33:08
  You can really talk to the people and.
• 33:11
  The worst people at any conference is when they start
• 33:14
  and they're like, I'll try not to speak quickly.
• 33:18
  About 5, maybe 10 seconds at most.
• 33:21
  And suddenly warp speed. Oh my.
• 33:24
  God, or if they say like that was fast.
• 33:26
  I spoke slowly. No.
• 33:29
  Are they? Oh, I can make the I get.
• 33:31
  I'm gonna turn this three hour lecture into 45 minutes.
• 33:34
  Let's go. But the cool thing is they are
• 33:38
  so aware of us. This is what I love working
• 33:41
  there because they know you, they get to know you as well.
• 33:44
  You know, they, they say often say, oh, and one of the the
• 33:48
  historian, he always said at the end, Oh, yes, yes, you can
• 33:51
  applaud for me, of course. But now an even bigger applause
• 33:54
  for Louisa who is sitting in the back and she's interpreting this
• 33:57
  life. And he's like, they like they
• 34:00
  know we're there. They know like, oh, and before I
• 34:03
  say this word, I did not tell my interpreter before that I'm
• 34:06
  going to use this word. And they kind of today was just
• 34:08
  a little bit sometimes as well and our oh, this will be
• 34:10
  difficult to pull the interpreter.
• 34:12
  And because I know you, you're really a person.
• 34:14
  You're not just someone that you know, you know what I mean?
• 34:17
  Like you're. Not determined yeah, that's one
• 34:19
  thing I miss from pre COVID life to current life when we used to
• 34:24
  do I mean we used to be here at least in Canada, a lot more on
• 34:28
  site than we are now. And I remember this interaction
• 34:32
  between the speaker and the interpreter, but I'm I'm really
• 34:36
  happy to see that you still get have that feeling.
• 34:39
  Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's like a team.
• 34:41
  Yeah, meetings and your team, you're really like this is also
• 34:44
  great. You have big team and you have
• 34:47
  to function as a team or nothing will work.
• 34:49
  So it is so cool what interesting people you'll get to
• 34:53
  know. There of course, is sometimes
• 34:55
  also, again, it's everywhere you get, you can get conflicts, but
• 35:00
  here you have to solve them on site or you have a problem.
• 35:03
  So yeah, it's a lot of training in so many things, you know?
• 35:07
  What would be your biggest like risk or like to your health or
• 35:11
  like biggest danger like to to take on a job like this?
• 35:15
  What would my risk? Uh yeah.
• 35:16
  Exhaustion over extortion. Over exactly.
• 35:20
  Well, I was thinking about the 40 day trip.
• 35:22
  I'm like holy, like I've never interpreted for 40 days
• 35:24
  straight. Yeah, yeah, exactly right.
• 35:26
  You don't have days off, right? Yeah, that's the thing.
• 35:29
  But it's kind of like there's days where it's not something
• 35:33
  new that you interpret. Maybe it's, I mean, every
• 35:36
  evening there have a port presentation presentation where
• 35:39
  they say what we're going to do tomorrow.
• 35:41
  And that sometimes is just like, you know, you've done it many
• 35:45
  times. And it's not like it's not like
• 35:47
  every day a complete new lecture on a complete new topic.
• 35:50
  I think I would know one could survive that.
• 35:53
  No, those days where it's just the and also as you're two
• 35:56
  people and if it's just two things, then you just have one
• 35:59
  thing that day you do. Or maybe it's just the captains
• 36:01
  announcement and which is pretty easy as well.
• 36:04
  You know, it's always the same. Yeah, it's it is not like
• 36:08
  everyday super challenging speeches to do.
• 36:11
  They want to know why business. Maybe you get new expedition
• 36:13
  member who has new lectures. Then you have to really get into
• 36:16
  this lecture and prepare for it properly.
• 36:18
  But this is not like every day like this.
• 36:20
  So it's new for the new passengers, but it's not new.
• 36:23
  For you, For us. Yeah.
• 36:24
  Yeah. And also the ones who are
• 36:26
  permanent interpreters there. Of course, they must know all
• 36:28
  the speeches by by heart. I mean, there's just sometimes
• 36:31
  new expedition team members or the guest scientists.
• 36:34
  Guest scientists are always different ones with new topics.
• 36:37
  They are quite challenging. But I mean, you also get to meet
• 36:40
  them. You get to meet their signs.
• 36:41
  It's like what? So what they're researching,
• 36:43
  which is pretty amazing and usually with amazing people.
• 36:47
  Any Canadian scientists that have been on?
• 36:50
  There so far. When I was there they were
• 36:52
  mostly Australians. I think it goes.
• 36:54
  Australians. OK.
• 36:55
  Well, yeah, Americans. I was thinking the Arctic like
• 36:59
  hurricane maybe? Canadian Arctic so much yet?
• 37:03
  Yeah, OK. We have a Canadian marine
• 37:05
  biologist. Yeah.
• 37:08
  I mean, like people in the team, they're from everywhere from
• 37:11
  that's quite diverse. That's also suggesting, yeah.
• 37:14
  I don't know why whenever I hear marine biologists I think of a
• 37:17
  Seinfeld episode. Oh, yeah, the George was a
• 37:21
  marine biologist. And yeah, I would take a golf
• 37:24
  ball. Yeah, I think there's a custom
• 37:27
  but. Let's just be, yeah?
• 37:30
  George Catanzaro and Jacques Cousteau, OK.
• 37:32
  Very different. But you asked about the risk.
• 37:34
  I mean, it's also a risk kind of to be there.
• 37:37
  I mean, there's always something that could happen, but you're
• 37:39
  trained for that as well. You get all these safety
• 37:42
  trainings and we have safety drills every journey we have to
• 37:46
  do a safety drill so that you actually know in a case of
• 37:50
  emergency, you know what to do. But these risks are there, of
• 37:54
  course, and that's good if you're not sick because.
• 37:57
  If, if that were to happen, then you were, you were no longer in
• 38:00
  the role of the interpreter. You're in the role of like part
• 38:02
  of the crew, helping people. Yeah, yes, of course.
• 38:06
  Or maybe maybe they need a translation.
• 38:08
  Maybe someone doesn't speak English.
• 38:10
  I would be there or or as I speak French, sometimes the
• 38:13
  French people, I could, yeah, in this kind of case, maybe they
• 38:16
  would ask me to help in this case.
• 38:18
  But usually I'll be staff member.
• 38:21
  Yeah, expedition staff. Someone points to me getting a
• 38:25
  lifeboat. I don't.
• 38:26
  I also go no matter what language they're telling me that
• 38:29
  go in the life. I'm glad I was not in any
• 38:31
  situation like this anyway. Yeah.
• 38:33
  So that's good. Yeah.
• 38:35
  Yeah, it is. And do you have your own cabin
• 38:38
  when you're sleep or to rest? Or is it like when people work
• 38:42
  on cruise ships they have to share?
• 38:44
  Bunk beds to get our own rooms, but Kevin's but now it's it's
• 38:51
  changed and we we mostly if possible if you're lucky and the
• 38:54
  odd number you can be always lucky.
• 38:57
  But yeah, now it's sharing, sharing, so you even don't have
• 39:02
  your privacy afterwards. But is it with your colleague or
• 39:06
  just like with a random crew member?
• 39:08
  I was often paired with the other interpreter, which is
• 39:12
  quite useful because when she interprets I'm usually off.
• 39:15
  So then you have the cabin yourself, but it can be a random
• 39:19
  product. I also shared with the marine
• 39:20
  biologist once and yeah, it's or with the geologist one.
• 39:23
  It's really interesting as well too, to get to know different
• 39:26
  professions. Like you get to know each other
• 39:28
  quite well when you live together in a tiny cabin.
• 39:32
  And it also happens that you interpret a person that you
• 39:35
  share the cabin with. So even in like getting up in
• 39:39
  the morning, you'll be like, hey, I'm going to do your
• 39:41
  lecture now. So about this one thing, can you
• 39:43
  tell me again what is it while brushing?
• 39:46
  It OK, you're not. You're not in a cabin with
• 39:48
  another interpreter. Not always.
• 39:50
  Sometimes, yeah, it yeah. Is it too small for two
• 39:54
  interpreters, or is it that you were talking about the size
• 39:57
  being very small? I mean, I was talking about the
• 39:59
  Kevins now, are you? Talking about the sleeping
• 40:02
  quarters, yeah, so the sleeping quarters are shared with other
• 40:07
  people, but is the booth shared with with your?
• 40:09
  Colour the booth interpreting booth is this is for one person.
• 40:14
  That's why the lectures are never longer than half an.
• 40:16
  Hour. So that's, that's OK.
• 40:19
  So it's not the regular, you know it from conferences where
• 40:23
  you both in the booth. Now it's one person, but that's
• 40:26
  why they, all the lectures are told very often and very
• 40:29
  strictly don't go over the time because the interpreter needs
• 40:33
  the break. And I mean, if they go over all
• 40:37
  the time, you can always say I'm out, you know, I don't do longer
• 40:40
  than half an hour. Yeah, OK.
• 40:43
  But yeah, let's just play space for one.
• 40:46
  But they wanna change that, they wanna have proper inbuilt boost.
• 40:49
  That's these are plans for the future anyway.
• 40:52
  But so far it's been Booth, which is made for one.
• 40:57
  I picture you're surrounded like in a metal like container
• 41:01
  almost. No, it's like a little room with
• 41:05
  yeah, we're exactly where you have the electricity things
• 41:08
  going from. And it's the worst part to be
• 41:10
  when you have high seas because it's right by the bow and when
• 41:14
  you have high waves and you're interpreting Booth, it's really
• 41:17
  like this. So I heard comment over the
• 41:20
  colleagues who threw up while they were like, even when I was
• 41:22
  there, I had happened to my colleague that she was like,
• 41:25
  excuse me? And had to turn off the
• 41:26
  microphone and had to throw up because it was moving like
• 41:31
  crazy. And I'm so glad I don't get
• 41:33
  seasick. Yeah.
• 41:34
  I turn off to sneeze or to cough, but to puke?
• 41:37
  Never done that. Before quite a few questions.
• 41:42
  Right. Because I at first, you know, I
• 41:45
  thought about, OK, the high waves to get there, but once
• 41:48
  you're there and once you have to interpret, you're still on
• 41:52
  the ship, I mean. You.
• 41:54
  You haven't. I mean, although, yeah, you live
• 41:56
  there, it's not like when you reach your destination,
• 41:58
  everything gets calm. Again, when you reach
• 42:02
  Antarctica, then the operations start.
• 42:04
  Yeah, you might be driving, you might be standing in the on the
• 42:08
  landing site. You might help people out of the
• 42:10
  boats and in the boats to get them there.
• 42:11
  There's all different kinds of jobs you can get.
• 42:15
  I guess you have to cancel things if the waves are too
• 42:18
  strong or something like. That whether?
• 42:19
  It's called expedition. They always say that to the
• 42:21
  guests. So we are an expedition ship, so
• 42:24
  things can get cancelled. So we need to Plan B, we need to
• 42:26
  plan C and yeah, like this, yeah.
• 42:31
  This all sounds so fascinating then.
• 42:33
  Do you have a favorite animal to that you see like when you're in
• 42:37
  either or Antarctica? Penguins.
• 42:40
  But it's always amazing to see the whales and also especially
• 42:43
  when I was driving the Zodiac boats, driving around and then
• 42:46
  suddenly a whale pops up and you were like, OK, and we've gone
• 42:51
  through in the meetings, what do we do if we see whale, how we
• 42:54
  behave, what we do with the motor, with the engine.
• 42:57
  And in that moment, of course, I could get think, think, OK,
• 43:00
  nothing. I don't go into like, I don't go
• 43:04
  into that gear or like you have to really think.
• 43:06
  And then there's this massive animal there.
• 43:09
  This is majestic. Yeah.
• 43:11
  And the the people in your boat all go like war.
• 43:14
  And yeah, it's the first time this happens.
• 43:16
  It's crazy. And that didn't happen more and
• 43:18
  more and I got more used to it. But I've been there, done that.
• 43:21
  Yeah, but still when? One time another.
• 43:23
  When you should not approach the whales when they are there, you
• 43:26
  should not drive to them, but it happens.
• 43:28
  What happened to me, I was all the way back to the ship to
• 43:31
  bring the people back and, and whale just popped up right next
• 43:34
  to us and it it had come to us. So I was not approaching, but it
• 43:37
  came out and it was so close. It was like there so huge and I
• 43:41
  I didn't even couldn't take a photo or anything.
• 43:43
  They will take videos and photos, but I was just so
• 43:45
  shocked. I'm like, OK, wow.
• 43:48
  And yeah, they amaze me in Wales.
• 43:51
  There good. I wonder if they had that same
• 43:53
  protective nature like the to protect the calf too.
• 43:57
  Yeah, I wonder. Yeah, they yeah, you can see
• 44:00
  them other with a cough as well. And you should definitely leave
• 44:04
  them alone. I mean, not they attack, you
• 44:06
  know, but just just to like in general, we are always told like
• 44:11
  we should protect these animals. I mean they they live here like
• 44:14
  and we are just visiting and that's also what we have to
• 44:17
  convey to the people. Like you have people you have
• 44:21
  probably requesting can't we get clothes or other when you see
• 44:24
  seals, where can you get a little bit closer?
• 44:26
  And you're like, yeah, we we don't want to disturb the
• 44:31
  animals. Watch them from here.
• 44:33
  You. Know yeah remember what we said
• 44:34
  about no selfies with Penguins Yeah, this applies to.
• 44:37
  All the animals part of the job, but I would say the whales,
• 44:41
  yeah. Sometimes I want to become a
• 44:44
  marine biologist. Sometimes I think about that
• 44:46
  thinking about AI, you know, taking the interpreting jobs.
• 44:50
  You've heard it before. But I was not going to take your
• 44:53
  job and those on those ships, that's for sure.
• 44:58
  Yeah, it may not get seasick, but it will not take your job.
• 45:02
  Well, you know what that makes me think you're bringing a good
• 45:06
  point. But, you know, a lot of people
• 45:08
  think that AI is going to replace us all, but there's
• 45:11
  still going to be need for interpreters, for instance, what
• 45:14
  you're doing, right? Now.
• 45:16
  I mean, honestly, this is not going to be get replaced by a
• 45:20
  machine anytime soon. I know that these are they may
• 45:23
  be rare assignments, but they're still out there.
• 45:26
  So I think that if we dig long enough, we can really always
• 45:32
  find some opportunities. Yeah, yeah, I'm, I'm also
• 45:35
  subtitle. That's why I'm like this is
• 45:38
  happening so fast. You know, like I, as I said at
• 45:41
  the beginning or in my introduction, I work for
• 45:44
  broadcasting company in Germany. Where do the live subtitles for
• 45:49
  the deaf? And um, yeah, next year, yeah, I
• 45:54
  will replace us, that's for sure.
• 45:55
  That's already set in stone. So this last year I'll be
• 45:58
  working for them and then they will use AI.
• 46:01
  So it's already like OHT, but yeah, that's subtitles.
• 46:05
  It's different than interpreting still, but.
• 46:07
  Yeah, but you're, I think you're the first person who's come on
• 46:10
  on our podcast I did where something is gonna be 100%
• 46:14
  replaced with AI. Yeah, I mean 100% you can never
• 46:17
  do it. I mean, someone has to still
• 46:19
  review it. They can't just let the machine
• 46:21
  do it. Well, that's what my assumption
• 46:23
  is, right? So, and I'm just a freelancer
• 46:25
  there. So yeah, they're the ones that
• 46:28
  go first, you know, they. Yeah.
• 46:31
  I'm sorry to hear that that's but it sounds like you've got an
• 46:34
  adventurous mind and like you're willing to just try new things.
• 46:37
  So at the same time like it'll, maybe I'll open the door for
• 46:41
  some new adventure in your life. Well, I'm sure that your
• 46:46
  adventurous spirit will lead to a more adventures because I
• 46:51
  don't. I mean, not everyone would be
• 46:54
  daring to do what? You do a lot.
• 46:58
  I could not do that. Like I'm sometimes asked myself,
• 47:01
  how do I do that? I got it is.
• 47:04
  It if I'm if I may confess as we're closing on the episode for
• 47:09
  the first time on found an interpretation.
• 47:12
  I'm actually jealous of someone. Really old.
• 47:18
  Very first time I'm jealous. I wish I could do this at least
• 47:24
  once. Well, on German.
• 47:27
  Learn German. There you are.
• 47:28
  Yeah, pressure Deutsch. Chinese interpreters are more
• 47:32
  and more look like we say tapping the Chinese markets
• 47:34
  everywhere on these ships. We had a lot of Chinese people
• 47:36
  where the Chinese interpreter and they are also.
• 47:39
  Using will be easier for me than than Chinese, that's for sure.
• 47:42
  Chinese, they need even more. So yeah, German.
• 47:46
  Wow. Still it's it's yeah, that'll
• 47:48
  work with French if you know French, but not much.
• 47:51
  I mean, they don't use interpreters anymore.
• 47:53
  They're French guides now. So unfortunately, because that
• 47:56
  was nice also to work with friends and learn all these
• 47:58
  vocabulary and friends as well. Yeah, but.
• 48:01
  Yeah, I don't know if I would. I would want to learn whether
• 48:05
  I'm seasick, I get seasick or not on like a 30 day expedition
• 48:09
  and be sick for 29 of the 30. Days.
• 48:11
  No, just pretty rough seas. It's.
• 48:14
  Usually OK. Usually it's not so bad when
• 48:16
  you're in Antarctica. We must be there.
• 48:18
  Not there's not so many refugees just on the way there, on the
• 48:21
  way out. And the worst one was near
• 48:23
  Iceland. Actually, that was the worst one
• 48:25
  because it went on for nearly two days.
• 48:27
  And I was at some point, like, OK, I don't get seasick, but I
• 48:29
  want this to stop that you're in a constant roller coaster.
• 48:33
  At some point, you just want to get out.
• 48:35
  Even when you sleep, when you're in your bed and you're going up.
• 48:38
  And when you get back on, then it's still moving, right?
• 48:40
  It's. Weird.
• 48:40
  Yeah. The first night in the hotel
• 48:42
  I've still felt like as if it's moving.
• 48:44
  Yeah. When I was a teenager, I, my dad
• 48:48
  had a sailboat and he brought me some on month long expeditions
• 48:52
  when I was a teenager. Yeah.
• 48:53
  And I, I, I, I still remember in the Caribbeans, it's not as
• 48:57
  exotic as Antarctica, but yeah. And when we got on land, like I
• 49:02
  was, I was like, Oh my God. You know, like things are still
• 49:06
  moving. Exactly.
• 49:07
  Or just like after an earthquake in Japan, you're like, after
• 49:10
  that you think that everything's an earthquake.
• 49:14
  Yeah, that's yeah. Leave it like.
• 49:16
  That, but thank you so much for for for coming on our podcast
• 49:20
  and for telling us about how amazing this this opportunity
• 49:24
  was and is and will continue to be for you in the future.
• 49:28
  Do you have any, any parting words or any words of wisdom for
• 49:32
  the people who are listening to you today?
• 49:33
  And tips on for interpretation or this type of looking people
• 49:40
  who are adventure seekers. Yeah, Just beware how tiring it
• 49:44
  is, because this is, yeah, I mean, it is great, but it is
• 49:50
  some, I mean, it has these both sides, which you should always
• 49:55
  think about because everybody is always like, Oh my God, that's
• 49:57
  so great. What you do is like the dream
• 49:58
  job. Also the people on board, the
• 50:00
  guests say that. And I always think, yes, but it
• 50:03
  it's exhausting. Anyway, I don't know what to
• 50:07
  say. This is what I yeah, always just
• 50:11
  say it. You, you, you're, you're very
• 50:13
  passionate about it. And we can really feel it.
• 50:16
  Yeah, today on our. Podcast share it with you really
• 50:20
  I was very. Yeah, it's amazing.
• 50:22
  If I did and. I'm still jealous.
• 50:25
  I gotta admit. I'm still jealous.
• 50:27
  OK, I'm I was so excited to get invited on a podcast.
• 50:32
  That's that's the first so awesome.
• 50:35
  Thank. You alright everyone don't
• 50:36
  forget like share, subscribe and travel, explore the world, do
• 50:40
  things and get out of the the booth or the online conferences.
• 50:46
  Go out there, be like Louisa. Alright, thank you.
• 50:52
  Alright.