ศาลาชุมนุม

[paulen]

I am looking to hire the services of a Thai translator/interpreter to translate some conversational dialog.

I will be in Bangkok for a few days beginning April 29th, 2012. I need to have a sit-down discussion with a personal acquaintance and need to be assured that the discussion is completely understood by both parties. Initially, I expect I will need the services for 2-4 hours and am willing to either pay by hour or a flat fee up-front. There may be additional work after this initial service.

NOTE: I am primarily concerned with reliability/availability. Therefore I am willing to consider less fluency if necessary. In other words, it is OK if you are not 100% fluent, I'm still willing to work with that.

Please reply here or preferably via email to:
Paul Enfield
paul_enfield@hotmail.com

Please provide:
- Your expected availability Sunday, April 29 2012 - Tuesday, May 1st 2012.
- Your fees/cost (fixed amount, or hourly rate)
- Your first language (also dialect if applicable)
- Your fluency level in Thai and English. Please indicate familarity with idioms and slang also.
- Contact information, email and preferably phone also

[claude06thailand]

As a former translator (nor for thai language), please allow me to give you some advice :

What you need is a Thai native with a good command of english.
It will be easy for you to check the level of this person in your own language.

Of course, a professionnal thai native translator would be the best.

Hope it helps.

[paulen]

Thank you, I agree. I can certainly simplify my grammar and vocabulary when necessary.

[tod-daniels]

This is my two satang's worth on the subject of "live translations" provided by Thais who happen to speak English. ..

I hate to rain on anyone's parade , but what you don't want is a Thai native who grew up here and just happens to speak English . To a person they are completely unable to break out of that "Thai Mindset" (which means they follow the often times oxymoronic thai cultural rules which dictate conversations here).

These types of translators often "water down" what you're saying in English when they translate it into Thai so that they better follow "Thai rules of conduct". This can and does lead to a loss of comprehension and a loss of emphasis on what you want to say versus what they're really saying in Thai to the person for you.

If you can be lucky enough to find a Thai who grew up in the US and is back here now, you'd get FAR better results that going with an English speaking Thai who grew up here.

I've sat in on a few people who secured the services of "live translations" from English to Thai and what was related in Thai had only a very loose resemblance to what was said in English. You definitely need someone who will say what you "mean" instead of what they think you want to say or what they think is appropriate to say given Thai cultural restrictions.

It's not as easy as you might think, although there are enough businesses out there who tout their services as if it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. Sadly they yield very little "bang-4-the-baht" in terms of quality.

I do know one Thai kid (I say kid because he's 22) who grew up in Texas, speaks and understands English like a native American English speaker (as in he knows idioms, cynicism, sarcasm, rhetorical questions, etc) and would probably be a "good fit" for your needs.

Given he's a Thai national, he is well aware of "thai cultural protocol", and seeing as he's Thai, he'd be compelled to act within them, because even Thais who grew up abroad are still locked into that mindset . However, his understanding of English is far and away superior to Thais who grew up here.

If you're interested, P/M me with at least a rough idea of the specifics as far as the content of the expected translation, I'll see if he's up for it and put you two in touch. Seeing as he’s going to college, and knows what he bi-lingual ability is worth, he probably ain’t gonna be bottom of the barrel price range. But as my grandfather used to say "Good work is not cheap and cheap work is not good", so only you can decide what you're willing to pay . ..

FWIW: While I can speak Thai easily well enough to be understood by almost any Thai I interact with about any subject which I'm interested in; if I needed a “no misunderstanding” type of translation between me and another Thai, That kid would definitely be my first go-to choice.

[Toffeeman]

I have to agree with Tod here. Recently I conducted an interview with 2 English people for a Thai audience. I asked the questions in Eng and did my own translation of those questions in Thai but the answers were translated by native Thais. On at least 1 occasion I had to correct the Thai as they watered down the words used by the English person. One of those words was the whole point of his answer.

[jamesduglas]

A successful Court interpreter is one who has a genuine capability of genuinely observing neutrally, any case, regarding the content and impartiality between parties. Thanks.

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[bifftastic]

If you've got something 'bad' or something that the person won't really like to hear to say, then you will most likely find that your translator will attempt to 'water it down' so it sounds less 'bad' and doesn't upset the listener.

You may end the meeting with everyone agreeing that they have fully understood what has been said and find out later that something completely different has been understood!

In my experience, things like this are often done by way of third parties talking around the subject at great length, hinting and suggesting alternatives, changing circumstances etc. before mutual understanding actually occurs!

It's often not just a question of translation, but a kind of strange (to us) linguistic dance ritual that never really 'gets to the point' as we would see it.

Good luck! (I think you'll need it!)