How the UN Translates Everything in Real-Time

[@Artyomi]

I was once with a landlord who is German who needed to communicate to my Russian parents. He had a friend with him to interpret German->Spanish, but I didn’t know Spanish but my wife did, so she interpreted Spanish->English, then I interpreted English->Russian. I can imagine that thats a daily task in the UN

[@fuzzzone]

Spanish seems like SUCH an unnecessary step in that story. A German-English speaker couldn't be found? That's nearly inconceivable.

[@sherrillsturm7240]

There was an "I love Lucy" show about needing to travel three different languages to talk to a foreign policeman. It was very funny.

[@andersjjensen]

@@fuzzzone Depends on when this was. I tried to get by with English in Germany in the late 80s... Let's just say that didn't go according to my plan.

[@soacespacestation8556]

​@@andersjjensenIn the 1980s?

[@andersjjensen]

@@soacespacestation8556 Yes. The decade after the 70s but before the 90s.

[@bcrx5780]

1:13 The "unknown" option is just to hear the microphone audio feed without translations. Helps when there's a lot of reverb or if someone is speaking too quiet for some reason. 😊

[@riccriccardoricc]

Yes, I was going to comment that. I was once at a conference where they were mainly speaking French and English, and being bilingual, I found it much better to listen to that channel.

[@vincentwong1127]

Do you know why they don't just call this option "Mic" or "Original"? You know, like a normal person will call it

[@AklyonX]

The language you are receiving is unknown. Fits perfectly in the selector.

[@DeletedDevilDeletedAngel]

@@vincentwong1127 probably because it describes the purpose, if the voice you're hearing is unknown you switch to the unknown channel to hear what the original sounds like

[@JonathanCretton]

The original sound without translation is actually called "Floor". You can see it at 5:07

[@thomasww1582]

I used to interpret for medical appointments and it really is exhausting. Even though your brain gets used to spitting out what other people are saying, it’s so easy to mess up one word and then you’re behind and need to figure out how to convey what was said without getting further behind.

[@InsideInterpreting]

Sounds like a case for deliberate practice and cognition training.

[@benjaminlynch9958]

It’s not easy, but it probably does help to be in a face to face environment where you can interact with both parties and ask them to slow down or repeat things. I can’t even imagine the pressure the UN translators are under without the benefit of that. You get one shot, and you can’t screw up, take a break, or ask the speaker to slow down.

[@InsideInterpreting]

@@benjaminlynch9958 It is easier in person but remote simultaneous interpreting was really common during the pandemic. It was tough but we managed.

[@silverXnoise]

@@benjaminlynch9958Also, when you screw something up, the world might plausibly end.

[@JonatasAdoM]

It's like trying to remember what someone has said in a conversation while also paying attention to what they're saying now. I suppose it is similar to trying to understand what was said in a previous scene while not ignoring what is being said in the current one.

[@potats5916]

needing to know every regional dialect for your language AND a knowledge of a couple foreign languages is insane

[@jplayzow]

That's why they get paid the probably not big enough bucks

[@superzigzagoon]

The UK has 40 recognized dialects alone.

[@herrmannmunster]

@@superzigzagoon Though to be fair the UK:s representatives at the UN are hardly going to speak with a strong Scouse or Northern Irish accent. More often than not speeches at the UN are delivered using the standard/central dialect of the country and using pretty standard words rather than slang.

[@ArchiWorldRuS]

Russian doesn't have regional dialects thankfully. Arabic does a lot

[@nulnoh219]

@@herrmannmunster That's better than the Actual UK Parliament. I've seen English Parliamentarians not understanding Scottish or Irish ones.

[@mucaravci]

Hi. Wonderful video. As an interpreter (simultaneous and consecutive) this video touches pretty much all the basics. Just wanna add a few things: - Although interpreting seems hard to the laymen, much of it is an acquired skill, meaning anyone could do an ok job with some training/experience. It takes some time to get your bearings but once you get the hang of it, you can snap into that vibe in a couple of minutes. - As Sam put it, the reason there are at least two interpreters in a booth is mostly due to exhaustion. After about half an hour you start to slip up. Especially if you are interpreting in between languages with different grammatical, syntactical structures so two interpreters switch every 30 minutes or so. I have experienced my share of exhaustion during college years and at some jobs. I remember I forgot who I was, where I was for about 1.5 hours after interpreting for about 6 hours. - And as Sam stated, most of the job is the prep work. If done right, you can go through the day easily. - The gap between the original text and the interpretation is called decalage and it is a topic of heated discussion in the translation/interpreting circles. It is heavily dependent on the aforementioned differences. - Also, you can ask the speaker to slow down (preferably brief your customer in advance) or say "The interpreter missed this part of the speech due to technical/speed issues." It may not fly in the UN but most common interpreting jobs give you that leeway. Most politicians, executives, scholars etc have experience with interpreters so they tend to facilitate your work. - The same goes for jokes, uncommon proverbs, similes etc. you can just say "The joke cannot be interpreted. Please laugh." or localize it to the best of your abilities. - There have been a few instances of famous interpreting mistakes/failures and unfortunately, it is one of the professions in which you only get to screw up big once so the best way to avoid those is to prep the hell out of your upcoming gig but I think 90 percent of the jobs are really forgiving.

[@InsideInterpreting]

Sounds like freelance life to me!

[@mucaravci]

@@InsideInterpreting its the best 😃

[@InsideInterpreting]

@@mucaravci "Can you do a carbon fibre safety event on Monday and Tuesday and then mountain tourism on Thursday and Friday?" "Sure. Where am I staying?" ;-)

[@mucaravci]

@@InsideInterpreting lol. although I hate covid with every fiber of my being. I cant help but say that it has done wonders to the freelance economy. being able to work from home is a blessing.

[@x--.]

Oh! That's what all my jokes have been missing, someone to say "The joke cannot be interpreted. Please laugh," to whomever I am speaking to. Thanks for the tip!

[@evita9284]

I am a translator for the UN and to be a good translator, one needs to have a good working memory. It begins with an IQ test that is an hour or so long where you must repeat numbers and test for reflexes and some puzzles. However, they look at your working memory and processing speed scores. If you do them well, you can be a translator, which you are give a year of training first. My IQ was average, at 102, but I scored highly on speed and memory, and so was allowed to be employed. It was a nerve wrecking IQ test and my armpits never sweated so much for any test lol

[@sion8]

*+*

[@ElonMuskTheOne]

how do you feel about your job becoming obsolete due to modern NLP models?

[@artyfarty99changingtohoiii78]

Woah!

[@Hermoan4120]

​@@ElonMuskTheOne lmao lets trust whatever errors the computer makes and remove all accountability

[@Tinil0]

@@ElonMuskTheOne Hahahaha, look at this guy that knows nothing about NLP models

[@Inflight777]

Did amy had to become a member of the UN to sit there and test the headphones?

[@blohai]

Yes actually.

[@pixelorange]

She represents Canada

[@bosh__]

Nah, Amy had to petition for Half As Country to be a recognised seat in the UN so she could sit in on one of the sessions to test it

[@shinpugi]

@@bosh__ I agree. the "Unknown Channel 7" from 1:11 is probably being worked on for Half As Country

[@pixelorange]

@@shinpugi The Half as Language spoken in Half as Kingdom

[@jamium]

I was searching KZbin for a video explaining how UN translators work a few days ago out of curiosity and found no good videos. Thanks, Sam

[@dollymix5]

Big data

[@hiromiarash172]

Lovely sentiment and I’m also glad this video exists, but your story is an outright lie there’s literally: - a Ted-ed video on the subject - 2 WIRED interviews on the subject and - 3+ videos on the subject made by the UN itself And I could find all that in seconds.

[@InsideInterpreting]

Check out Inside Interpreting. Oh yeah, that's me. Lots of videos there on how interpreting works.

[@InsideInterpreting]

@@dollymix5 Machine interpreting? Yep. Human interpreting, nope.

[@gamingnerdgirlz]

@@InsideInterpretingI subbed thanks.

[@walpoleandworcester]

Amy deserves a raise for being such a workhorse for the channel!

[@kathrynstemler6331]

Yes! - but tbf everyone else has JetLag.

[@tomgidden]

@@kathrynstemler6331 you said the thing!! (Everyone's now contractually obliged to run around in circles yahooing obnoxiously)

[@idkWhatImDoingPlsHelp]

shes being held prisoner everyone knows sam doesn't pay her

[@SeptemberMeadows]

Amy is my Spirit Animal 😋

[@aromaticsnail]

Spoiler: Amy doesn't exist, she's not a real person

[@fodonogue3]

Hi, I’m an interpreter (not UN, but still)! Thanks for clarifying the difference between interpreter and translator because those are very different skills and interpreters so, so often work without the level of prep and time that translators have, even at the UN level! It is TOUGH, but it is also *SO* rewarding!!

[@ElonMuskTheOne]

not as tough for a computer though

[@fodonogue3]

@@ElonMuskTheOne You’re right- because they’re not nearly as efficient or culturally accurate!

[@InsideInterpreting]

@@ElonMuskTheOne It's harder for computers in terms of energy expenditure.

[@afurryferret]

@@InsideInterpreting humans expend quite a lot of energy, I wouldn't be surprised if in the near future computers pull ahead in efficiency for more complex tasks, they already beat humans hands down in "simple" ones like math. (Although I don't think HAI expressed how little room for error there is in interpreting, it will probably be quite a long while before the UN uses computer interpreters)

[@InsideInterpreting]

@@afurryferret It depends what we mean by efficiency. Training and running LLMs or neural models takes incredible amounts of energy. Also, neither of the current machine interpreting approaches is suitable for any interpreting that involves anything more than the emotionless passing of information. See the book, Interpreters vs Machines or the No, Mr Robot video on my channel. The Basics series on my channel also explains a lot of this stuff.

[@LaVerdad911]

I went to Colombia a few years back and was the only Spanish speaker among 10 people. After 2 day of constantly translating between English and Spanish, i was exhausted. I can't imagine being a UN translator

[@InsideInterpreting]

They just sit at their computers all day. Now the interpreters....

[@kevinl8440]

Thank you for spelling Colombia correctly. Even as an American it is annoying to see spelled incorrectly

[@seneca983]

And I assume you were doing consecutive interpretation, not simultaneous interpretation which is tougher.

[@Masahane]

I speak Japanese kind of well, and Portuguese and Spanish on top of that. I've never had to mix the later two, but on the very rare occurrence that I've needed to go back and forth between two languages besides English... Yeah definitely mentally exhausting

[@tunim4354]

It's different when you are paid for it. And you get to work for the UN. They are paid quite well. And they also have a great thing to add to their resumes

[@iac17]

I work in the control rooms of one of the UN's agency and can guarantee this informations are 100% accurate. in the agency I work in we only have 4 officials languages (arabic, english, french and spanish) relatively ch 1, 2, 3 and 4 on the taiden system we have equipped but we also have two spare channels ready for russian and chinese. I actually was surprised to see that at the general assembly they also have a taiden system. I always saw it as the low budget alternative to the bosch conference system. ps. most of the times the english interpreters do absolutley nothing during some meetings (since most participants speek in english) , it's hilarius to see them just chill out and get payid a fortune while the others almost never stop working.

[@imark7777777]

Darn lazy English Americans. The technical aspect of this is so intriguing. as somebody who does A/V stuff it's interesting to see where low budget things show up in higher and productions. My current fascination is how many times OBS get used in full on broadcast.

[@saturnv2419]

Reminds me the joke: Mark Twain went to listen to Kaiser speech in German, halfway through the interpreter stopped while Kaiser was still speaking. Mark Twain puzzled, he asked the interpreter why did he stop. Interpreter replied: I am waiting for the verb.

[@pwp8737]

LOL true, German has a tendency to park the verbs at the end of a sentence, and until to hear that the rest is difficult to conjugate.

[@christoffussenegger9377]

The European Parliament is working in 24 languages. All languages are spoken and interpreted, and all documents are published in all 24 languages.

[@sirBrouwer]

I did hear that in the Irish booth Gaelic is only translated out of Gaelic as there are just not enough people that speak it. Even in Irland it self but they have picket it as there official languish to use in the EU.

[@AliceTheSpider]

But when it becomes 193 nations it's actually better to lessen it to something around 6 so thy will learn those instead of trying to hundred or something languages

[@rschroev]

The reason (or so I heard) that the European Union didn't simply choose one official language, is that that would give the native speakers of that language an unfair disadvantage in debates. After Brexit though, none of the member states has English as their official official language. Maybe this is the time to switch over to English as the only official language of the EU: it's a second language for everybody now. Except Ireland ... even though the Irish official EU language is Gaelic, most Irish people are native English speakers.

[@memesthatmakeyouwannadie3133]

@@sirBrouwer I can't imagine there are that many Latvian or Montenegrin speakers either. They probably can ONLY translate to English, maybe French or Russian as well.

[@Emilio-gf8hm]

@@rschroevEnglish is official in Ireland and Malta, both of which are member states.

[@DudeRandom]

Sometimes the other speaker would crack a joke in their own language but its impossible to translate into, so the interpreter would literally say "He said a joke, please laugh".

[@chinguunerdenebadrakh7022]

That statement "he said joke, please laugh" probably is funnier than any joke the original speaker could have said

[@dabbinghitlersmemes1762]

@@chinguunerdenebadrakh7022 True, but only the first time.

[@COMPUTER.SCIENCE.]

The UN is not comedy central, folks! 😂 Do you happen to know the difference between LEGAL DOCUMENTS & essays/fictions?? The UN is NOT a buddies gathering, they are LEGAL presentatives of countries! Please self educate and be LESS ignorant! 😂

[@jgcodes2020]

"hey look he did the funny"

[@castlering]

I've been an Educational British Sign Language Interpreter before I had to stop work due to ill health, and to describe the process of receiving - processing - outputting (be it BSL to English or English to BSL) is hard. I relate it to driving a car; when learning, you're aware of everything that you have to do, and that awareness causes mistakes to happen. However, after a while, you're able to just get into the car and drive without needing to think too much about what you're doing - it's second nature - but when you then start thinking too much about what you're doing, mistakes happen. Tiredness is a definite factor, like with driving, and I know that when tired, the lag (the time between language 1 and the output of language 2 gets shorter, which impacts greatly upon the quality of the output. A 10 second lag is a good aim. It's quite amazing how our minds do it....but we can.

[@escha_b]

My uncle used to be an interpreter for the UN! Don’t realize how complicated this was until watching this, he definitely left out the nitty gritty details 😂

[@ElonMuskTheOne]

and now his job has become obsolete

[@a2falcone]

@@ElonMuskTheOne How so? I still haven't seen an AI do a good interpretation. Translations, yes... But speech to speech?

[@LadyViolet1]

@@ElonMuskTheOne You highly overestimate machine translations. Machine translations from similar languages are alright at best a decent amount of the time, but from languages that are really different (ex: Japanese and English) machine translations are still awful most of the time. I've also yet to see machine interpretation let alone good machine interpretation. Also basically all nuance can go out the window when it comes to machine translations. You would not want to have a machine interpret peace talks. You might get away with machine translating menus or something which only needs to be close enough, but something like a book would need more precise and context specific translations.

[@AfonsoBucco]

@@LadyViolet1 Once I tried to use ChatGPT to translate a text to tupi-guarani, it just invent random words and place it like it's true. One very known word or two: yes. A phrase? impossible.

[@ethanmartinez808]

Bro that is freaking insane.🤯 Live interpretation seems something unbelievable when I think about how they listen, translate and speak around same time. I can't even imagine how much their brains have to process for this. Hats off to all those interpreters.

[@goosenotmaverick1156]

If I had to do that, I don't think I'd have enough brain power remaining to blink, much less do something important like control my bladder. 😂 Some of us can barely walk and talk, and these folks over here are like living machines that just take language and spit out other languages. The fact that with everything we have for tech, we still use a human body instead, just shows you how powerful our brains are/have potential to be. Consider my little wrinkly walnut absolutely obliterated. 😂

[@InsideInterpreting]

And we self-monitor too!

[@atk05003]

@@goosenotmaverick1156 Computer translation/interpretation has improved dramatically in the last 20 years, but it still needs to improve a lot more before it can be trusted in business or politics. There are simply too many little details that matter.

[@goosenotmaverick1156]

@@atk05003 that's exactly my point, everything has come a long way even more recently, but we still aren't there yet, and we still use humans, I think that's neat.

[@ashton9699]

Why can some people not speak without saying or starting out with "bro"? Cringe

[@safebox36]

The reason there's two interpreters in the booth is also because of memory issues. The person taking notes translates so there's a written copy of the dialogue taking place, and so that any ambiguity between what the two people hear can be cleared up.

[@gavinkemp7920]

It's also to help to cross-referencing the documents they are given or to look up technical words that might have escaped the live interpreters mind while still keeping the live interpretation running.

[@InsideInterpreting]

Not really. The inactive interpreter is there to support the active one. Notetaking is a completely separate function, as is translation.

[@honor9lite1337]

Yeah? 😮​@@InsideInterpreting

[@InsideInterpreting]

@@honor9lite1337 It is indeed.

[@safebox36]

@@InsideInterpreting it depends on the situation but a WIRED interview with a former UN interpreter claimed that when he wasn't the one talking, he was still transcribing the dialogue from the origin language to English for later reference

[@alphaxalex1634]

Last time I was this early this series was called ‘That Wikipedia List’

[@anshagrawal254]

real

[@LucasMarian-x8f]

when someone is straight forward and good at what she does best. People will always speak for them. For me I can would say give Mrs Sonia Duke of finance education a try and you be happy you did

[@Writer_Productions_Map]

Here before the bots continue the thread

[@honor9lite1337]

Stop the Bot! ​@@Writer_Productions_Map

[@Xaviaaaaaaa]

​@LucasMarian-x8f Mrs Sonia Duke shit on my dog she did it we were all begging her to stop and she just kept going it was awful there was shit everywhere the dog was fine though

[@seanj3667]

0:10 Why does a robot have abs?

[@8yourpets]

To be sexy, why do you?

[@Tartarus4567]

It's made to be like a real human, so the muscles are made to be like that.

[@tuanmichigan]

Would you prefer that it has a big belly e.g. like mine?

[@Tartarus4567]

@@tuanmichigan same

[@cosmicbricks3339]

@@tuanmichigannahh😂

[@C2Talon]

Professional live interpreting has got to be some crazy exhausting work. I've tried casually doing it for some friends a few times and it's just so easy to get overwhelmed, especially if you're doing it for something on television or for something else where the person isn't going to stop talking just so you can catch back up if you stumble.

[@gayatriunni549]

i was once doing a two way interpretation (but after each sentence not live) and it was crazy-my brain was literally going to explode i garbled sentences and said it in the wrong language to the wrong person and this is after both of these being the languages i grew up speaking-i cant even imagine what it would possibly be like for un interpreters doing all that, and live, and from their third, fourth, fifth language

[@ZergrushEddie]

The stakes are also insane. Krushchev's "we will bury you!" statement was possibly mistranslated. It was taken by NATO as an explicit threat of nuclear war but it is possible that a closer translation would be "we will be at your funeral", more akin to "we will outlive you." That's far less of a direct threat and, again, the stakes are literally nuclear war.

[@CynicallySarcasticReserves]

Still can't fathom how they do it almost real time. I could _maybe_ manage 6 seconds of that, then my brain would fry and just speak gibberish. They can hear, translate and speak faster than I can think. Wild.

[@LRM12o8]

Years (or decades) of training makes incredible things possible

[@goosenotmaverick1156]

Very specialized brains It's absolutely insane, unbelievable, unfathomable, what we are capable of as humans when we use our wrinkly brains in specialized ways like that. It's so cool. We spend so much of our lives "changing gears" between tasks, it's amazing what happens when you spend so much time in just one "gear" The things this channel and it's comments makes me think about 🤔

[@InsideInterpreting]

Training, hard work, more training.

[@InsideInterpreting]

@@goosenotmaverick1156 Simultaneous interpreting involves true, 4-way multitasking, for an easy speech.

[@sino_diogenes]

I bet you'd be able to do it for a lot longer if you trained on doing it for years and years.

[@lesleyvids2610]

I experienced real time interpretation at the CJEU in Luxembourg this year and it was a truly magical experience.

[@sirBrouwer]

I had the same pleasured but then in the Brussels parlement. according to the people working there the UN version is in a way easier. as they use 6 official lingua franca. the EU has 23 (Austria and Germany bith use German) Belgium and the Netherlands both use Dutch)

[@jbird4478]

@@sirBrouwer 24 actually. English is still an official language of the EU, despite not being the primary language of any of its members.

[@varana]

@@jbird4478 While Ireland may list Irish first for political reasons, English is still an official language (and the one which 90+% of Irish people may want to have things translated into).

[@jbird4478]

@@varana Yes, true. I was kind of hesitant on how to phrase it for that reason, and that's why I opted for "primary" language rather than official or native. English btw is also an official language of The Netherlands (due to the Dutch Caribbean).

[@miguelpadeiro762]

Ludwik Zamenhof sitting in the back, brooding, "They could all be speaking Esperanto..."

[@thezipcreator]

I think Esperanto would be too eurocentric to be used at the UN

[@miguelpadeiro762]

@@thezipcreator Oh yeah, just find the whole esperanto experiment funny

[@keiyakins]

Schleyer crying in Volapük

[@doktorhabilitowanystanczyk]

​@@thezipcreatorfour out of six of the official UN languages are European, they're eurocentric already lol

[@seneca983]

@@thezipcreator Well, maybe they should then use Lojban instead.

[@isaiasabinadisosagarcia936]

3:03 As a former spanish-english interpreter, I felt that

[@ElonMuskTheOne]

and with modern NLP models, they are not even dime a dozen anymore :)

[@sohansaha4693]

2:55 the way i froze every part of my body just from reflex actions at this point

[@SsNiPeR1]

lmao

[@SimonASNG]

5:46 I spoke at one of these things and had to meet with the interpreters the day before. They went thru my speech, took notes, asked questions on the technical jargon, etc. so that as I was giving it, they all pretty much had it written out in their languages and were not live interpreting at all. Then there was a Q&A afterward for about half an hour and that was a live translation from the audience and back again. Pretty surreal experience.

[@Mantelinorsu]

Thank you for making a distinction between translation and interpreting!

[@InsideInterpreting]

Yey!

[@danielbishop1863]

There's a similar distinction in terminology with computer programming language. A "compiler" translates human-readable source code into an executable program, which can then be run without requiring the compiler. An "interpreter" reads the source code and executes statements at runtime as-needed, requiring the interpreter to be used every time the program is run. And there are hybrid approaches between the two.

[@DannyBeeVegas]

My cousin worked at the UN as an interpreter. She can translate to/from English, Danish, and Filipino/Tagalog.

[@mrobbins129]

Wendover productions would pay the 96 francs. Step it up!

[@JoeJaJoeJoe]

I think the Wendover guy stole money from the Half As Interesting guy

[@genevarailfan3909]

@@JoeJaJoeJoe He did, but then the Jet Lag guy stole it to pay for a flight to Australia.

[@deadboy9955]

If only it cost 48 francs

[@danielbishop1863]

That's 106.97 USD, in case anyone was wondering.

[@JoelNordlander]

Marshmallow-In-Mouth is actually just Danish

[@TXnine7nine]

And here I thought it was Dutch. 😂

[@nolimo2593]

😢😢😢😢😢😢

[@brianarbenz1329]

It’s Cajun.

[@ender7278]

That would be Danish-in-Mouth.

[@seneca983]

@@TXnine7nine Dutch may sound weird or funny, but that's subjective. Danish, on the other hand, has several rare (or even unique) phonological features making it more unusual.

[@IanHobday]

This is amazing very accurate picture of how interpretation works. It is SO much easier to interpret into your native language. Huge kudos to people who can do it both directions.

[@frondeskias]

You should do a video on the interpreter services in the EU parliament where they have 24 official languages!!

[@furTron]

This. And you can watch live translation from the Parlament in Internet and switch languages like tv channels

[@Alexandrosaur1]

every first gen immigrant had to be an interpreter for their parents at least once

[@sion8]

I call it “the designator interpreter”!

[@pwp8737]

simple sentences and thoughts are one thing, but getting into often heated political debates where nuance plays a major factor is on another level.

[@sion8]

@@pwp8737 Simple?! Have you ever taken a grandparent to their doctor's appointment and then translated what their doctor's were saying?

[@notfunnydidntlaugh68]

⁠@@sion8they're agreeing with you. They're saying that simple things are easy for every day, but political stuff and nuanced topics are harder

[@Sinthoras155]

Jokes on the UN, the EU has real-time translation in 24 languages for the parliament

[@InsideInterpreting]

Interpreting...

[@obinator9065]

just make it mandatory to speak English...

[@InsideInterpreting]

@@obinator9065 No.

[@keiyakins]

​@@obinator9065 why English? German is the most common first language in the EU. All three main cities where things are done use French. One of those would make more sense.

[@fuzzzone]

@@keiyakins Because English would mean that no one at the table had a native speaker advantage, now that the UK is out. Not technically true, since most Irish folks natively speak English but Ireland isn't generally considered either a problematic or a dominant power in the EU so it's perhaps less of an issue than German or French or whatever would be. That and nearly everyone sitting in the EU parliament already has at least a middling understanding of English, which can't be said of German etc. It is, after all, the lingua franca of the internet and global commerce.

[@InsideInterpreting]

Great video! I do that job but for commercial clients and churches. I have seen all sorts of conditions from interpreting in a field while dumper trucks drove by to a chateau in France with really fancy food.

[@BlankPictures-1]

I accidentally read the title as "How the UN untranslates everything in real-time."

[@SofaKingShit]

Misreading things is a sign of being a very good interpreter.

[@EEEEEEEE]

E‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎

[@A.H._]

dude, i read “how to untranslate everything in real time”. i was very confused but my interest was positively picked 😂

[@rohnkd4hct260]

Translators and interpreters “can” make very good money. It is not hard work but, take a lot of time in boring meetings. When I was a probation officer I talked to several court interpreters. These people really enjoyed the work.

[@m0basheri815]

UN Interpreter here; It was amazing & surprising at the same time seeing this stuff getting covered! Super niche subject. TYSM!❤️🇺🇳

[@yora554]

how can i apply

[@moinmeister2079]

i dont like the un stop interpreting

[@regexrationalist346]

That's so cool :D Any fun stories or facts you can share?

[@MrStrocube]

“English/Spanish interpreters are a dime a dozen.” Thanks so much.😢 It’s also true, lol! 😂 I work as a Spanish language interpreter for the LA Co. Superior Court. People have no idea what we do or how we do it. Thanks for getting the information out there.

[@ElonMuskTheOne]

with modern NLP models they are not even a dime a dozen anymore

[@MrStrocube]

⁠@@ElonMuskTheOne Actually, I know first hand, that at least the LA Co Superior Court cannot find enough qualified people to fill a major shortage of interpreters. NLP models or not. The court, at least for now, cannot use machines, they have to use actual human beings. I’ve also seem many of those machine translations, they are a joke. Interpretation is different than translation, because it is verbal and done in real time. Whereas translations are written documents. I have yet to see any machine that can interpret accurately in real time, in a courtroom setting. Does not exist, yet. And may never exist, for all I know, Elon. 🙄

[@shadymorsi4347]

i love it that this channel evolved from reading wikipedia articles (that wikipedia list) to actual having correspundents and live research... what a evolution... keep on the good work sam

[@atk05003]

I've done simultaneous interpretation for a bilingual congregation. It is exhausting. After the first Sunday I had to rest for about 10 minutes before I could hold a normal conversation. I'm barely fluent enough in my second language to interpret simultaneously (I still struggle with several accents). The idea of doing relay interpreting in a high-stakes setting is terrifying.

[@InsideInterpreting]

I help churches set up interpreting better.

[@ahha6304]

Back in 2015 I was a part of Universal Periodic Review regarding of LGBTIQs+ rights in Thailand, and what I saw is that they having real interpreter sitting in their boxes doing real-time translation from word to word in almost exact match to the sentence in such sudden time. I know myself I didn't need any translation tool but when someone who came from Malaysia and Indonesia and their strong part ain't English, I use it, and since I have Southern Thai Muslim Stepmum I know few Malay/Indonesian words and found that the accuracy and speed is just insane. I respect those people. I used to be interpreter 3 times, and no more because my skill ain't that high.

[@honjokun0615]

Oh my ... could I have possibly found a fellow Thai on an English based KZbin channel? ถ้าใช่ เย้ๆ นานๆ ทีเจอคนไทยในคลิปแบบนี้สักทีนึง 😊 Begitu, anda tahu Bahasa Malaysua sedikit-sedikit juga, ya?

[@ahha6304]

@@honjokun0615 ใช่ครับ แต่ไม่เก่งขนาดนั้น ต้องไปเรียกแม่ลงมาช่วยอ่าน ฮา

[@the_soggster3464]

My professor knows people who do real time interpretation and she had done it before. She said it is one of the most exhausting things shes ever done. Anyone hiring has always been opposed to the high price for hiring two interpreters to take turns. But they need it lmao

[@Chriss120]

I'd expect the unknown channel to just be the original, whatever language is spoken.

[@seneca983]

They shouldn't need a channel for that because you can the original sound directly without a headphone. Though, maybe that could be useful for the hard-of-hearing.

[@sonsofwar9819]

​@@seneca983 someone else said it's just raw audio incase the speaker talks low, or the room has bad acoustics

[@RannieRocket]

Actually they do ask the speakers to slow down, and sometimes stop interpreting altogether if the quality is too bad or it becomes impossible to interpret (some meetings interpretation is mot covered or if it runs over they leave). At that point usually the chair interrupts to have the speakers slow down

[@qtluna7917]

Every regional accent is the real struggle here I feel. At what point is a language not close enough to be a regional accent. For some this might be more chill, but given how fragmented the colonial powers languages got, and how some people have very strong accents, this can't be that easy.

[@InsideInterpreting]

Accent month in interpreting school is a whole thing!

[@atk05003]

@@qtluna7917 The lines between "accent" and "dialect" and between "dialect" and "language" can be poorly defined at times. Spanish and Portuguese are separate languages, but a given pair of a Spanish speaker and a Portuguese speaker may be more similar than a Southern US English speaker and some Scottish English speakers, who speak different dialects of the same language.

[@jinjysbro]

And then image that in English, where a large number of people speak it as a second language so the amount of accents you would be exposed to is probably bonkers!

[@Alex-zs7gw]

​​@@atk05003unless the Scottish person was speaking Scots or Scottish Gaelic - no ...just no. We have an incorrect understanding of dialects in Anglophone countries. Ask an Italian about differences in dialects ...or the difference between castellano and gallego. We have local slang, pronunciation variances, grammatical quirks sometimes considered outside the "standard" - but nothing to the same degree of difference between Spanish and Portuguese. There's more accents and 'dialects' in the UK than the rest of the English speaking world combined...but it's all the same language at the end of the day.

[@atk05003]

@@Alex-zs7gw My example was slightly tongue-in-check, and there are better examples that I don't remember off the top of my head, but I have heard southern Brazilians speak a dialect of Portuguese that is closer to Spanish than most of them will admit. The point is, the difference between a dialect and a separate language is a bit fuzzy and is largely a cultural difference. Two languages might be quite similar and two dialects within a single language might have a lot of differences.

[@Lillia-nu2xt]

Dude, your videos are awesome, keep it real

[@Stratelier]

3:41 - "I Google Translated a diplomatic negotiation through 100 languages and got this..."

[@poundlandvodka]

As a professional interpreter it's great to see HAI talking about my profession, and actually batshit insane to see you actually read the UN-AIIC rates and conditions agreement. Truly, no-one is doing it like Sam and Amy.

[@sethdaugherty5162]

So when is the brick 2.0 video coming?

[@jonahplayscello]

@@sethdaugherty5162 nebula

[@Game_Hero]

it already did?

[@TheHungarianMan]

This was a really interesting video, because I and my father did probide interpretation for conferences for many years in Hungary. It was great to hear how they do it in the highest level!

[@CompanionCube]

3:53 lichtenstein, sweden, and iceland certainly can speak english

[@jinjysbro]

In this word where everyone is learning English, I think it is less about the second language abilities of the speaker and more the possibility of being able to give a speech in your native language. For example, though the president of El Salvador speaks English quite well, he still gave his UN speech in Spanish.

[@belstar1128]

i am not sure about Lichtenstein since they speak German and if its like Germany then you find that over half the population only knows German or broken English

[@minamagdy4126]

Isn't Liechtenstein the only German-speaking country where no other language is widely known, though? Most of them there speak only German

[@Kaziriasatalve.]

I work for the UN in Bangladesh as a consultant and I was also amazed by when I first time saw they were translating everything live!

[@andrealauer4493]

That frazzled "BUT SAM!!" made me laugh so hard 😂😂

[@sherrillsturm7240]

Becoming fluent in French studying Italian, and starting German classes, being at the UN or an embassy was one of my college ambitions. Life got in the way, and I ended up teaching French, and later, Spanish, instead. When I traveled with my son throughout Europe for several months, I was able to instantaneously interpret for and from him. It was joyous. That said, speaking either of my other languages today does wear me out about 20 minutes in.

[@oliverfalco7060]

I love how amy teleports everywhere

[@sceptibob]

It would have been so neat to have a Babel sponsorship for this episode

[@kacperkonieczny7333]

That is a Babylonian mistake on their part.

[@VonNothias-f7h]

*No man is too rich til you leave the earth you leave with nothing*

[@RitaFredsham]

well at least the rich achieved something in life before that person dies. his kids will probably inherit the fortunes and pass on to the next generation. cycle of life.

[@EnocksonFerrall]

true.but.i.wont.die.poor

[@DelphineBarkley-r3g]

We live in this earth, we gotta play our part...He's living life while he is still alive...

[@PoshanMind-v7x]

Yeah got to play your part start early with diversified investments in stocks, bonds, and real estate. Maximize contributions to tax-advantaged accounts like 401(k)s and IRAs. Regularly review and adjust your strategy to ensure security.

[@RAKelBerquist-p7p]

People dont understand that the prices of things are never going back down. This inflation is deeper than we think. Those buying groceries are well aware that the real inflation is much over 10%. The increments dont match our income, yet certain investors still earn over $365,000 in stocks and assets. Wish I could accomplish that.

[@ourlessy]

Thanks for giving interpreters some love! It's a tough job! My mum worked freelance as an interpreter and translator for various organizations and it requires being really good at thinking on the fly- it's tricky when dealing with stuff like slang and turns of phrase and you really want to match the tone of the speaker because a simple change in how something is phrased can make it go from a neutral conversation to something confrontational, apologetic etc. which could convey unintended emotions. This is why AI translation still has a long way to go.

[@johncrwarner]

In the European Union when it was the EEC they said that the Danes always laughed last.

[@blendertests5493]

You mentioned that there are part-time translators that step in if there's more work that needs to be done, but that's not the only kind of part-time translator for the UN. The UN also employs some part time translators for more obscure languages, where they only occasionally need a translator for that language. My high school Spanish teacher also worked part-time as a UN translator. Her native language was Ladino, an endangered language originating from small Jewish communities in northern Spain. She was also fluent in 6 other languages, including English, Spanish, and French. The UN doesn't usually need a Ladino translator, but when they do, a professional translator who natively speaks the language and is fluent in at least 3 of the core UN languages is very valuable.

[@chaosfenix]

As someone who has done live interpretation I can attest that it is exhausting. It is probably the most exhausting mental task I have ever done. A few minutes is fine but if you do it for a couple of hours it really wears you out. It gets more exhausting when someone doesn't understand public speaking. The cadence of how you speak matters a lot and it can get really frustrating when you have someone who uses a lot of slang or idioms or has a habit of not finishing their sentences.

[@algotkristoffersson15]

Why the FUCK should people not use slang?

[@chaosfenix]

@@algotkristoffersson15 I am not saying that people shouldn't use slang but that it is very hard to translate properly. If you want your interpreter to actually be able to translate what you are saying properly you should try and speak at a pace they can keep up with and use words and phrases that have direct translations. Otherwise the word decision you are giving them .1 of a second to decide on may be wrong and you may end up communicating something completely different from what you intended. Edit: Again this is more important for like interpretation. For translation when you have an opportunity to discuss the meaning with the speaker before it is much less of an issue.

[@prathameshgosavi8033]

In India parliament assembly, every word spoken, is live translated into 21 language and member can listen to these translations via headphones.

[@jamcdonald120]

0:30 the illuminadi, obviously

[@rushikesh5250]

I always thought about it, how UN translates in real time and now I know, thank you for this amazing explanation video 😊😊

[@mistformsquirrel]

Honestly, this is really cool info. I think in my head I just assumed everyone had to know English or you'd have to bring your own interpreter from home. Like I had nothing to base that on, I think it was just one of those things that I'd never given active thought to and just assumed. This is honestly much cooler and more interesting. And also yeah that sounds like tiring work. The stress of it alone has to be pretty high just because of the potential ramifications of an oopsie.

[@backtoklondike]

When Gaddafi attended the UN, he was allowed 15 minutes to make a speech and because of that, they only had one Arabic interpreter in the booth. But then Gaddafi overextended his speech to over an hour and around 45 minutes, the interpreter got so exhausted that he fainted. After that, the UN put in a rule that there must be two interpreters in the booth, even if it is a waste, in case something like that happens again.

[@sirBrouwer]

having seen how they do it in the EU parlement the UN version seems like a easy day. there are 24 interpreter boxes (Belgium and the Netherlands and Germany and Austria share a booth) however most interpreters and also members just hook in to the English speaking interpreter.

[@mukkaar]

Yeah, most people nowadays, even if they are not that proficient in speaking English, can understand it really well. English to x language is probably almost most common translation, so meaning of things are probably best preserved listening to English interpreter if you anyhow can.

[@mikatu]

So, are you saying the Swiss don't share a booth with Germany as well, and France and Italy? And Belgium only shares a booth with the Netherlands but not the France?

[@edouardoneill]

​@@mikatuSwitzerland is, thank god, not in the EU

[@danielmartins4367]

@@mikatu switzerland is not part of the EU

[@sethteichroeb5201]

I took my undergraduate degree in translation in Beijing (between Chinese and English, and it included both translation and interpretation). All of our interpretation classes we took were only practicing consecutive interpretation (where the speaker takes pauses to let the interpreter interpret) because simultaneous interpretation was so difficult and required much more skill and training. It was a dream of mine at one point to work for the UN, but realising how much interpretation requires of you, I kinda decided to switch gears.

[@joseville]

RIP when a speaker uses a word that has no translation into the target language lol

[@ShaggyEye]

Almost never happens. In the worst case, you say the word as it is and insert a short explanation. Like, say, "Russian perestroika, a period of reforms in the 1980s..."

[@ClockMaster-mq2hm]

@@ShaggyEye German ... Schadenfreude "damage-joy" (““The feeling of pleasure derived by seeing another’s misfortune.””) Fernweh "remote~far~distant-sickness" (“desire to travel, a longing for far-off places”) Sturmfrei "storm-free" (“When your parents are away, and you have the whole house to yourself.”) Ohrwurm "ear-worm" (“when you get a song stuck in your head, and you (have to) keep singing it over and over again..”) Backpfeifengesicht “A face that begs to be slapped.” (self-explanatory, I guess ... ) Erbsenzähler "pea-counter" (“Someone who is obsessed with details and a bit of a control freak.”) Dreikäsehoch "three-cheese-high" (“a small child who is only as tall as three wheels of cheese stacked on top of each other”) zu verschlimmbessern "to enworsen-improve" (“To make something worse by trying to improve it.”) Wanderlust “A strong desire to travel.” Zugzwang "decision~move-enforcement" (“To be forced to make a decision.”) Weltschmerz "world-pain" (“Mental depression or apathy caused by comparison of the actual state of the world with an ideal state.”) ... amongst others ...

[@danielmartins4367]

Portuguese has that. 'Saudade'. I guess all languages sorta do. Roughly translates to Longing or Yearning, but not quite. Like feeling nostalgic or missing someone, something, somewhere..

[@Georgggg]

Thats where interpreter have to improvise and prove their skill.

[@InsideInterpreting]

@@joseville No such thing if the interpreters are good.

[@midnightstudio3742]

Here is one for the next error video: Pentecost was a name used in the Christian Greek Scriptures (The New Testament) to denote the Festival of Harvest (Ex 23:16) or Festival of Weeks (Ex 34:22), called also “the day of the first ripe fruits.” (Nu 28:26) It was to be celebrated on the 50th day (Pentecost means “Fiftieth [Day]”) from Nisan 16, the day that the barley sheaf was offered. (Le 23:15, 16) In the Jewish calendar it falls on Sivan 6. The presence of God’s spirit was manifesting in some 120 disciples causing them to miraculously begin speaking in different languages, occurred ON Pentecost of 33 C.E. Thus the miracle occurred on the date of an EXISTING Jewish Festival (Pentecost) and was not the start of it being a celebrated day.

[@d_duck1601]

I'd love to know how big is the delay between the speaker speaking and the listener hearing it.

[@CucuyoArts]

Really appreciate you making a fun, detailed video about our profession that helps clarify several common misconceptions. So awesome!

[@LoseMike-og9in]

My husband and I were fortunate enough to be able to pay off our mortgage early. We were both still working, and took the payment amount that we had been using to pay off our mortgage faster and we put it straight into investments. We were able to retire early because of almost 7 years of putting away what would have been our mortgage payment as well as maxing out our 401K/403B plans. Thankfully we were taught by both of our parents the value of living within our means. Thank you for your advice. I know it will help people. we are interested in investments that could set me up for retirement , I mean I've heard of people that netted hundreds of thousands during these crash, I listened to someone on a podcast who earned over $650K in less than a year, what's the strategy behind such returns?

[@LoveFrank-cp7tv]

Investing without proper guidance can lead to mistakes and losses. I've learned this from my own experience.If you're new to investing or don't have much time, it's best to get advice from an expert.

[@VeraW.Talley]

Even with the right strategies and appropriate assets, investment returns can differ among investors. Recognizing the vital role of experience in investment success is crucial. Personally, I understood this significance and sought guidance from a market analyst, significantly growing my account to nearly a million. Strategically withdrawing profits just before the market correction, I'm now seizing buying opportunities once again.

[@KateShawn-jv6wh]

How can one find a verifiable financial planner? I would not mind looking up the professional that helped you. I will be retiring in two years and I might need some management on my much larger portfolio. Don't want to take any chances.

[@VeraW.Talley]

Deborah Lynn Dilling is the licensed advisor I use.Just research the name. You'd find necessary details to work with to set up an appointment

[@VictorB.Henrickson]

She appears to be well-educated and well-read. I ran an online search on her name and came across her website; thank you for sharing.

[@aNAT01i]

This video is exactly what i needed when I only started this hobby. But, back then, i couldn't find anything like that. Glad to see, somebody made it at last, good job 👍

[@lastnamefirstname8655]

serious huge respect to the UN interpreters, must be a truly insanely important and difficult and necessary job!

[@notmenotme614]

Airline Pilots and Air Traffic Control solve this problem simply by having everyone speak English on the radio.

[@olfrygt]

When your communication is limited to about 100 predefined, highly standardised interactions that may fly (haha). For political discourse and the exchange of complex ideas you will end up with poeple saying only what they _can_ say, not what they _want_ to say.

[@birgerfurugard7259]

1:15 "marshmallow in mouth" Me: Oh, you mean danish

[@SnuffedBeans]

Sam, are you a fan of the UNs new policy on bricks?

[@Linterna001]

You mean the BRICS organisation?

[@Enes_Aydint]

WHY DOES HE SOUND LIKE THAT ONE GUY FROM JET LAG

[@TexanTurtle7]

Didn’t they use a method like this during the Nuremberg Trials?

[@PrograError]

That's probably where it came from... after all, that United Nations is the building blocks of the current UN

[@wiruwaruwolz]

Yes, they pretty much did. It was a lot more low-tech and the booths were open and not sound-proofed, but the Nuremberg Trials are regarded as the birth of modern conference interpreting

[@TexanTurtle7]

@@wiruwaruwolz thanks for the reply!

[@InsideInterpreting]

Absolutely. That was the first public trial of it.

[@InsideInterpreting]

@@wiruwaruwolz Actually, the birth of modern conference interpreting was at the start of the International Labour Organisation in 1919. I know that as I was at the conference interpreting centenary conference. All the talks from that are on KZbin.

[@Simoxs7]

Its astonishing how somewhat accurate that scene in the Bond movie was where someone was killed through a loud sound with these…

[@himssendol6512]

UN level interpreting is high stress. 🤷‍♂️

[@InsideInterpreting]

Try a business negotiation or a nuclear safety briefing.

[@ElonMuskTheOne]

not for a computer though

[@InsideInterpreting]

@@ElonMuskTheOne Actually, the current models take a lot of processor time for results that are still worse than humans.

[@himssendol6512]

@@InsideInterpreting I'd rather do a nuclear safety briefing than a political meeting. 🤷‍♂️ Science, technology and medical areas are more my thing.

[@NateJGardner]

I wonder how often someone in the UN zones out and just cycles through the languages

[@Zerpersande]

Simultaneous interpreters are actually magicians.

[@InsideInterpreting]

Depends on how many pastries you feed us.

[@ShaggyEye]

Wish we were also paid magical money for it 😂

[@creshiell]

Bless whoever wrote the ad read for this video. It comforting to know that im not the only one that delivery pad thai has in a choke hold

[@jamium]

3:30 apparently the russians can't translate from russian into russian??

[@UnbelievableHotdog]

Hey could you translate from Russian to Russian? I didn't think so.

[@Cycles42]

Ah yes, the floor is made out of floor.

[@felenov]

Very likely, channel 7 (Unknown) is probably used in cases where a representative who does not speak any of the six working languages but has supplied an interpreter, and said interpreter would be heard there when translating into their language.

[@robertsutherland9872]

Just Casually taking un picks

[@Randomm23_VR]

My 6th grade science teacher worked as an interpreter for Korean for a few years. It’s a cool story.

[@arpitgoyal189]

what if an interpretor do some big errors and how does it is ensure that big error doesnt happpen. Like how does they make sure the integrity of the interpretation.

[@InsideInterpreting]

Another reason why we work in pairs. Also, we are taught to self-monitor. Basically, if you are really good at your job, have a great team with you and if the client does their end, it'll all be good.

[@ShaggyEye]

That's why there's a very difficult entrance exam. It ensures people who get the job make very few mistakes if any

[@kuunib7325]

Honestly that is pretty hard work. I speak about 5 languages and I once tried to read a Dutch text out loud in German, so I had to read Dutch translate and then speak German. I had to stop after half a page because it's so hard.

[@GayGHvain87]

Gosh, these interpreters are MVPs, props to them !! I can't imagine translating important diplomatic, super sensitive stuff IN REAL TIME. I live in france. My stepbrother married a greek girl he'd met while they were both working in Edinburgh, UK. Celebrated once in greece, convenient for her family, though his close family went too. And also celebrated in france. In total, 17 greek people came and all of them spoke very decent english. But of course, SW france isn't known for its fluency in english, let alone greek. Only my stepbro speaks english (thick french accent), my mom a little bit, enough to have simple yet pleasant chat with the bride's parents; and the bride, though learning french real fast, at the time only spoke greek and english, sooooo YEAH X__X Between the chitchat, the visiting in town AND the ordering in noisy restaurants with french-only-speaking staff, at the end of hot summer days, I almost passed out !

[@LouisDillard02]

Imagine the precision needed to translate complex diplomatic talks on the fly. That's serious skill.

[@grkuntzmd]

Do they have translators from British English to American English? 😜Got to make sure that the American diplomats understand that when the Brits say "crisps", they really mean "chips", and when they say "chips", they really mean "fries".

[@JoeJaJoeJoe]

who is Lorry and why is she backed up at the border crossing?

[@nulnoh219]

I wonder if they also convert freedom units. WTF is a Kilometer? How much is that in football fields?

[@cczsus6513]

That’s my thoughts too different areas might have different ways they speak the same language

[@MichaelRafferty-xb7iy]

Please. I dunno what language the English speak but it sure as he'll ain't English. 1. They are called "cookies." 2. You store things in a "trunk" not in a "boot" 3. Hurricane has a long "a" like "walking cane". 4. There is no "d" in "zebra"

[@tomrow32]

@@MichaelRafferty-xb7iy The British don't pronounce "zebra" with a D. Stop being xenophobic

[@zv7ws]

I always wondered how they did it! Cheers to the interpreters

[@MeGrimlock55]

The UN Needs A Robo Diplomat