Experts in the Industry: Stefan Mikulin, French, German, Polish, English translator and interpreter

Stefan Mikulin is a freelance interpreter and translator covering French, German, Polish and English. He was trained at the University of Salford in the UK, where he now lectures part time, and the Jagiellonian University in Poland. He is currently studying for the UK’s Diploma in Public Service Interpreting. At the session for recent graduates on 16th May, Stefan will present a paper based on his MA thesis on the evolution of simultaneous interpreting at international criminal tribunals. (If you miss him there, you can also hear Stefan present on this topic at the International Association of Forensic Linguists‘ 9th Biennial Conference in Amsterdam later this year.) Check out the rest of the ITI conference programme here.

1. In two sentences, please describe what you’ll be talking about at the conference, and what translation and interpreting (T&I) professionals will gain from hearing it.

“The evolution of simultaneous interpreting at international criminal tribunals: Nuremberg to the ICTY” [International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia]. The presentation is aimed at highlighting the difficulties faced for simultaneous interpreters and for simultaneous provision both due to the nature of international criminal tribunal interpreting (neither conference interpreting nor court interpreting interpreting training is sufficient) and due to language acquisition outside imperial languages.

2. If you could wave a magic wand and change one thing to make your workplace more sustainable, what would you do?

Increase the general level of professionalism among some “peers” through internationally recognised, and enforced, minimum educational requirements.

3. Which business leader, politician or public figure do you most respect?

Tony Benn

4. To what degree do you feel involved in and supported by your professional community, and why?

I feel very involved as I am also a part-time lecturer and as well as freelance translator and interpreter. Poorly supported due to poor networks, institutional guidance and working conditions/external view of the profession.

5. Freeform – here’s where you are free to riff on anyone or anything, good or bad, or just share a pearl of wisdom.

1% of the outside world understand what we do
5% of the outside think they understand what we do
10% of the outside world think they know what we do
The rest haven’t got a clue

30% of the profession know what we do and how to do it
70% of the profession think they do

Thanks for your time Stefan, and enjoy the conference.

This is the second in a series of short interviews run in the lead-up to the ITI International Conference on 16th – 17th May.