{"id":4522,"date":"2012-12-13T10:15:16","date_gmt":"2012-12-13T17:15:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stirringthefire.org\/blog\/?p=4522"},"modified":"2013-07-03T16:47:02","modified_gmt":"2013-07-03T23:47:02","slug":"lost-in-translation-the-importance-of-a-good-interpreter-when-on-location","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/13\/lost-in-translation-the-importance-of-a-good-interpreter-when-on-location\/","title":{"rendered":"Lost in translation – the importance of a good interpreter when on location"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Alice Reeves<\/p>\n

There are language barriers, and then there are language barriers.\u00a0 So often overseas many of us seem to muddle by with a combination of badly pronounced phrases that are apparently hilarious to locals, and a copious amount of wild gesticulation.\u00a0 And maybe\u00a0I\u00a0am speaking for myself here, but it is definitely very rarely I get the result I want!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Our guide and translator, Thao<\/p><\/div>\n

Communication is crucial when you\u2019re telling someone\u2019s story, and with our tight, action-packed schedule, avoiding cultural faux-pas is of the essence. Fortunately we have been lucky enough to have most of our language dilemmas and miscommunications result in being given yet more delicious Vietnamese food, but now we\u2019re on location in Thanh Hoa documenting to film the lives of our two female borrowers, something more is required to make things roll smoothly.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Thao making sure the team gets to where they need to go<\/p><\/div>\n

Into that breach has stepped our fantastic interpreter and guide Thao.\u00a0 While our joint STF and Kiva team has been grappling with the intricacies of a complex tonal language where if you get the sound wrong you may offend someone, Thao has been enabling us to speak to women we are filming and get a more detailed insight into their worlds.\u00a0 But communication is more than just words, especially in Vietnam.\u00a0 Smiles, laughs, nods and gestures hold a bewildering variety of meaning we are utterly unused to, and as Thao continues to remind us: \u2018You must read between the lines!\u2019<\/p>\n

Without Thao we could never have achieved this kind of understanding of the lives of Ms Ngan and Ms Bich.\u00a0 Her effortless switching between Vietnamese and English and continuous interpretation has allowed Phil and the team to capture the families, neighbours and friends of our heroes going about their daily lives.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Thao and workshop participant Michael have become quite the pair<\/p><\/div>\n

Through Thao we have learned all about the local custom of offering beautifully intricate handmade objects that can be anything from a flowery display to a large paper ship to household gods or dead relatives.\u00a0 We now know that once women here marry, they move in with their husbands families.\u00a0 We have been teased about being alarmed at the prospect of eating dog (for all you pet-lovers – no, we have so far not succumbed!) and been introduced to the delights of handmade local peanut brittle candy.<\/p>\n

With only a few more days left to go there is a genuine feeling that the team has found a small way of getting under the skin of the local culture here, and we are now working hard to illustrate this in the short films… Thanks Thao!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Alice Reeves There are language barriers, and then there are language barriers.\u00a0 So often overseas many of us seem to muddle by with a combination of badly pronounced phrases that are apparently hilarious to locals, and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[133,22],"tags":[155,58,164,165,157],"class_list":["post-4522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-social-documentary-training","category-stirring-the-fire","tag-joinfite","tag-kiva","tag-microloans","tag-translators","tag-vietnam"],"yoast_head":"\nLost in translation - the importance of a good interpreter when on location - Phil Borges<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/13\/lost-in-translation-the-importance-of-a-good-interpreter-when-on-location\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lost in translation - the importance of a good interpreter when on location - Phil Borges\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Alice Reeves There are language barriers, and then there are language barriers.\u00a0 So often overseas many of us seem to muddle by with a combination of badly pronounced phrases that are apparently hilarious to locals, and\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/13\/lost-in-translation-the-importance-of-a-good-interpreter-when-on-location\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Phil Borges\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PhilBorgesStudio\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-12-13T17:15:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-07-03T23:47:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/PhilPort_JeffGima-square.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Phil Borges\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@phil_borges\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@phil_borges\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Phil Borges\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/13\/lost-in-translation-the-importance-of-a-good-interpreter-when-on-location\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/13\/lost-in-translation-the-importance-of-a-good-interpreter-when-on-location\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Phil Borges\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/501b83d3a6a02e2de750e14a8260baba\"},\"headline\":\"Lost in translation – the importance of a good interpreter when on location\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-12-13T17:15:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-07-03T23:47:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/13\/lost-in-translation-the-importance-of-a-good-interpreter-when-on-location\/\"},\"wordCount\":484,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/13\/lost-in-translation-the-importance-of-a-good-interpreter-when-on-location\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/stirringthefire.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/932A7053.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"joinFITE\",\"Kiva\",\"Microloans\",\"Translators\",\"Viet Nam\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Field Apprenticeships\",\"Stirring The Fire\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/13\/lost-in-translation-the-importance-of-a-good-interpreter-when-on-location\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/13\/lost-in-translation-the-importance-of-a-good-interpreter-when-on-location\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/13\/lost-in-translation-the-importance-of-a-good-interpreter-when-on-location\/\",\"name\":\"Lost in translation - the importance of a good interpreter when on location - Phil Borges\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/13\/lost-in-translation-the-importance-of-a-good-interpreter-when-on-location\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/13\/lost-in-translation-the-importance-of-a-good-interpreter-when-on-location\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/stirringthefire.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/932A7053.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-12-13T17:15:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-07-03T23:47:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/501b83d3a6a02e2de750e14a8260baba\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/13\/lost-in-translation-the-importance-of-a-good-interpreter-when-on-location\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/13\/lost-in-translation-the-importance-of-a-good-interpreter-when-on-location\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/13\/lost-in-translation-the-importance-of-a-good-interpreter-when-on-location\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/stirringthefire.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/932A7053.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/stirringthefire.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/932A7053.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/13\/lost-in-translation-the-importance-of-a-good-interpreter-when-on-location\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Lost in translation – the importance of a good interpreter when on location\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Phil Borges\",\"description\":\"Social Documentary Photography and Film\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/501b83d3a6a02e2de750e14a8260baba\",\"name\":\"Phil Borges\",\"description\":\"I create visual stories that bring awareness and inspire support for individuals and organizations that address social issues around the world.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.philborges.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Lost in translation - the importance of a good interpreter when on location - Phil Borges","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/13\/lost-in-translation-the-importance-of-a-good-interpreter-when-on-location\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Lost in translation - the importance of a good interpreter when on location - Phil Borges","og_description":"By Alice Reeves There are language barriers, and then there are language barriers.\u00a0 So often overseas many of us seem to muddle by with a combination of badly pronounced phrases that are apparently hilarious to locals, and","og_url":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/13\/lost-in-translation-the-importance-of-a-good-interpreter-when-on-location\/","og_site_name":"Phil Borges","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PhilBorgesStudio","article_published_time":"2012-12-13T17:15:16+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-07-03T23:47:02+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/PhilPort_JeffGima-square.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Phil Borges","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@phil_borges","twitter_site":"@phil_borges","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Phil Borges","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/13\/lost-in-translation-the-importance-of-a-good-interpreter-when-on-location\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/13\/lost-in-translation-the-importance-of-a-good-interpreter-when-on-location\/"},"author":{"name":"Phil Borges","@id":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/501b83d3a6a02e2de750e14a8260baba"},"headline":"Lost in translation – the importance of a good interpreter when on location","datePublished":"2012-12-13T17:15:16+00:00","dateModified":"2013-07-03T23:47:02+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/13\/lost-in-translation-the-importance-of-a-good-interpreter-when-on-location\/"},"wordCount":484,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/13\/lost-in-translation-the-importance-of-a-good-interpreter-when-on-location\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/stirringthefire.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/932A7053.jpg","keywords":["joinFITE","Kiva","Microloans","Translators","Viet Nam"],"articleSection":["Field Apprenticeships","Stirring The Fire"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/13\/lost-in-translation-the-importance-of-a-good-interpreter-when-on-location\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/13\/lost-in-translation-the-importance-of-a-good-interpreter-when-on-location\/","url":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/13\/lost-in-translation-the-importance-of-a-good-interpreter-when-on-location\/","name":"Lost in translation - the importance of a good interpreter when on location - Phil Borges","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/13\/lost-in-translation-the-importance-of-a-good-interpreter-when-on-location\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/13\/lost-in-translation-the-importance-of-a-good-interpreter-when-on-location\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/stirringthefire.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/932A7053.jpg","datePublished":"2012-12-13T17:15:16+00:00","dateModified":"2013-07-03T23:47:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/501b83d3a6a02e2de750e14a8260baba"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/13\/lost-in-translation-the-importance-of-a-good-interpreter-when-on-location\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/13\/lost-in-translation-the-importance-of-a-good-interpreter-when-on-location\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/13\/lost-in-translation-the-importance-of-a-good-interpreter-when-on-location\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/stirringthefire.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/932A7053.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/stirringthefire.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/932A7053.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/13\/lost-in-translation-the-importance-of-a-good-interpreter-when-on-location\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lost in translation – the importance of a good interpreter when on location"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/","name":"Phil Borges","description":"Social Documentary Photography and Film","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/501b83d3a6a02e2de750e14a8260baba","name":"Phil Borges","description":"I create visual stories that bring awareness and inspire support for individuals and organizations that address social issues around the world.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.philborges.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4522"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4522\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5398,"href":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4522\/revisions\/5398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}