Found in Translation

participate in an immersion program in Russian for six weeks. They live with a
family, take intensive courses, and participate in cultural events. Those who do
not speak English must come up to speed very quickly by taking classes too.
But during the space walks, interpreters are on standby in case of any
emergencies. When tricky situations take place, all eyes are on the interpreter.
“Essentially, the life of the crew member is in your hands,” Yashkova notes.
Also at risk and in her hands? A very expensive space station.
Even before they can go up into space, the crew members rely a great deal
on interpreters to complete their ground training. In Yashkova’s case, before
interpreting for Expedition 6 space walks, she had to go through the entire
space walk training along with three astronauts (two American, one Russian)
for a period of nine months. “Space walks are very complex,” she points out.
“There are hundreds of connectors and very complex tasks that the crew
members carry out while in orbit.” Because of the complexity, the role of
language is extremely important. “Mission-critical procedures used by the
crew members have to be translated,” Yashkova explains.
As an interpreter, Yashkova rarely does written translation work—most of
that is handled by a small team of translators who specialize in the written
translation side, ensuring that all of the terminology complies with industry
standards. However, she, along with the team of translators, is heavily involved
in terminology and glossary development. “Our operational nomenclature has
thousands of entries for life-support systems, food items, and so on,”
Yashkova explains. “Interpreters have to be familiar with each and every term.”
She points out that interpreters use the operational glossaries as training tools
only. When they are in the midst of interpreting, they have to rely on their own
memories.
Could the space program actually function without translation? “I think it
would be very difficult, almost impossible,” Yashkova points out. “Many flight
controllers, engineers, doctors, and ground specialists speak English or
Russian on a basic conversational level. Using professional interpretation
enables them to concentrate fully on engineering, management, and safety
tasks, so their ideas can be rendered into another language accurately and
precisely.” She adds, “When professional interpreters create an illusion that
international specialists speak ‘the same language,’ that is when our job is well
done.”