Danica Seleskovitch is probably the most famous name in interpreting. Every year AIIC, the only worldwide association of conference interpreters, discerns the Danica Seleskovitch Prize. My feelings about her have wavered down through the decades. Every week during the school year from the autumn of 1983 to the spring of 1986 I would enter into the dreaded Salle 7 of ESIT (Ecole Supérieure d'Interprètes et de Traducteurs) for her class. It's hard to imagine if you are from the American higher education system, but I have always said that you could have me interpret on stage for the world's highest leaders. Fine. It would be less terrifying than to be called upon by Seleskovitch. Yet, those are the words of a young student way too impressed by the aura of that place. The truth is that she, along with all the other instructors there who had themselves learned so much from her, taught me to be an interpreter. Her Interpretive Theory of Translation is all about understanding the meaning of an utterance in the source language, making it yours, and saying it as you normally would, without interference from the source language form. Throughout my career this theoretical understanding has been the bedrock of those millions of split-second decisions that go into producing the target language message. Check out the video about her below.
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