Translations - Melody of 4 Languages

The majority of participants in the first International ACYO Assembly spoke Armenian. However, there were a few Delegates who only spoke English. I was designated as a Translator of Armenian to English - as such, I had quite a bit of exposure to the Assembly at large and had opportunity to meet almost all the delegates. It truly was an honor to serve the Assembly in such a capacity.

That said, however, at one point I was pulled from my small working group to translate for a couple delegates in another working group. What happened next earns the

"YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS UP AWARD"

one of the most prestigious awards handed down by this blog. Congratulations!!

Scene: a small, somewhat warm and muggy classroom at the Seminary with about 10 people sitting around, waxing philosophical about various issues. I find myself seated next to the two folks who don't understand Armenian and now attempt to translate Armenian to English for them, then English to Armenian back to the group.

ACTION: at first, I would translate the Armenian dialect being spoken (yes, there are several dialects of Armenian, each with their own unique mannerisms, speaking style, and some different vocabulary, also!) - anyway, I was translating the Eastern Armenian to Western Armenian (in my head, this is what I understand), then to English for the two guys. Then, when they had a comment, I would translate that back to Western Armenian and TRY to throw in some Eastern Armenian speaking style for the group. This was working well, until...

One of the delegates from Russia preferred speaking Russian to make his point. Fine. But now it meant that Russian was spoken for about 10 minutes (these people can't make their points in any sort of efficient manner - those of us from North America decided this is a cultural thing), then that was translated to Eastern Armenian, which I then translated to Western Armenian in my head and then to English. Then, in return, I translated the English to Western Armenian, to Eastern Armenian, which another delegate translated to Russian for the dude from Russia. This worked for about 10 minutes, until.....

One of the delegates said she was unable to understand my accent with which I was speaking Armenian. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?! As a result, Russian was translated to Eastern Armenian, to Western Armenian, to English, back to Western Armenian, my version of Eastern Armenian, then another delegate would restate what I said in a more "understandable" Eastern Armenian, and then the other dude translated to Russian.

My neck is still recovering from having to turn to so many people just to translate "God Bless You".

UPDATE: Thank you to my friend Laura T. for sending this YouTube clip from "I Love Lucy" - it truly captures the essence of the whole translating ordeal. Enjoy and thanks Laura!