ather difficult for young interpreters to work for NHK in the first place because it is a very competitive environment and most of the positions have already been taken by experienced interpreters. Had it not been for the emergency situation presented by the war in Iraq, many interpreters might not have had a chance to work for the NHK.broadcasting interpreters work for two channels: BS - 1, a satellite news and sports channel; as well as General TV, a terrestrial channel. In both cases, broadcasting interpreters work for the news programmes only. NHK has many overseas documentary programmes but these are translated separately by broadcasting translators. Voice-over is also done separately by voice actors and actresses. Although BS - 1 has a larger and more constant demand for interpreters, because it broadcasts many foreign news programmes, I would like to limit my explanation below to the case of General TV.tasks of interpreters working for General TV are:
(1) Simultaneous interpretation: this is applied when something urgent happens and there is no time to prepare a translation beforehand. In the case of the War in Iraq, there were three 8-hour shifts a day (00: 00-08: 00; 08: 00-16: 00; and 16: 00-24: 00), and two interpreters were always standing by. When the initial air strike took place, NHK ran the live coverage of ABC News, which was interpreted simultaneously. Interpreters were also asked to monitor other news channels such as BBC, CNN, and Fox. If editors decided to run any of these channels, interpreters were asked to interpret simultaneously. In addition to simultaneous interpreting, interpreters are asked to provide whispering interpreting (chuchotage) for NHK editors. For this task, interpreters covered mainly the news conferences of the White House or the US Central Command. Editors listened to the chuchotage in order to decide which part of the news conference should be cut out and used - usually with subtitles - in the news bulletin following. In this kind of work interpreters are then asked to pin-point the footage with the video technician. Having found where the footage begins and ends, interpreters are asked to interpret the contents. In most cases, the interpretation is used to make subtitles in Japanese and, when there is a shortage of manpower, interpreters are also asked to help with the subtitling.
(2) Monitoring of foreign news channels in case editors decide to use short footages from these.
(3) Reading the Japanese translation of short footages: sometimes interpreters are asked to voice-over the Japanese translation in the actual telecast. Professional voice actors and actresses are rarely used for this task unless it is something very important and there is enough time to do so.
(4) Providing translation to make subtitles for short footages.last two tasks are assigned to interpreters who have not reached the level of simultaneous interpreting or who have opted out of simultaneous interpreting. They follow similar working shifts as simultaneous interpreters and two to three interpreters are assigned to each shift. The difference in the functions between simultaneous interpreters and other interpreters is clearer in NHK than in the BBC Japanese Unit. Despite helping with the above two tasks, simultaneous interpreters and other interpreters basically work separately, dealing with different types of tasks.policy and quality controlperson responsible for the selection of interpreters considers accurate interpretation very important together with a high degree of fluency in simultaneous interpretation. As in the case of the BBC Japanese Unit, interpreters are expected to edit and to organise the information. It is also important to avoid words which are not allowed to be used on air, such as terms which may be considered discriminatory.on BS - 1 and General TV, the interpreter s name appears on screen. The programme is shown in the NHK news room where editors can watch it and, in the event there is a problem with the interpreting, they can quickly point them out to interpreters.for the standardisation of certain translation terms, there is at least one set of guidelines for the General TV team. BS - 1 channel provides a bulletin board that interpreters can refer to for the translation of new words and on some occasions they hold study sessions, as happened before the War in Iraq broke out.between BBC Japanese Unit and NHK (General) TVare employed in-house, full-time at the BBC Japanese Unit, while interpreters employed by NHK work on a freelance basis. This may be because interpreters at BBC World TV have to cover an entire news bulletin, whereas interpreters at NHK have to interpret only parts of the news bulletin.job security is not guaranteed at NHK, interpreting fees are higher than those paid by the BBC Japanese Unit. Working five days a week, int...
