First day of stake conference

Yesterday was the first day of stake conference, with priesthood training session first at two and then a meeting for all members over eighteen at five.

In the first meeting, I translated simultaneously German into English, since the designated interpreter didn't show up in time—since I was sitting behind Elder Rasband, I just spoke into his ear, as it were. And, of course, I interpreted consecutively for him when it was his turn to speak, standing next to him at the pulpit.

In the second meeting, the simultaneous de–en translator was there, sitting on a bench with a headset, so I only did the en–de bit.

A lot of people complimented me on my interpretation afterwards, which made me feel nice. (Though it means I'll likely be called on more often in the future; I'm not yet sure how I feel about that.)

A couple of people even said they felt it was the best interpretation they had ever heard *blush*. The mission president was kind enough to point out an error I had made, and another one I several people pointed out to me while I was still speaking (which was good, because what I had thought he had said didn't make much sense to me; "the colours of their gang" had sounded like "the colours of their game" to me).

One person asked me whether I was employed to interpret by the Church :) And Nadine van Impelen asked me "ob ich das gelernt hätte" (whether I had studied that [i.e. interpretation, I suppose])… that kind of amused me and made me happy, too, especially coming from her.

I'd found her kind of cute (and a bit haughty) for years and I like being noticed by her, especially if it's in so positive a way. (Must be something in the name; I also rather like Nadine Langbehn. Incidentally, they're both from the same ward originally, and there even used to be a third Nadine there, one of them told me once.)

Second day of stake conference

Second day of stake conference, interpreting for Elder Rasband again. Just before the meeting started, Nadine van Impelen told me "Viel Erfolg!" ("[I wish you] a lot of success!"), which made me happy again.

It went fairly well again; I only really struggled for words once. At the beginning of Elder Rasband's talk, it was a bit embarrassing because he said what a great translator I was. Having to interpret that made me a bit self-conscious; the fact that lots of people laughed at what he was putting me through didn't help :) But I survived.

Afterwards, a bunch of people thanked me again and told me what a good job I did. Some comments I liked included:

• They felt that my translation was fluid, that it wasn't choppy the way it sometimes is (especially when they forget in the middle of the sentence how it started out and so the grammar is all wonky). One specifically compared me to some General Conference interpreters who, they say, do a pretty bad job, especially since they're given the script beforehand to translate.
• They felt that my words carried conviction and that they bore the same spirit as Elder Rasband's.

Especially the second one made me think… because I'm still trying to figure out my convictions a bit. At several points, I felt that I wanted to believe what I was saying (in translation for him) but I wasn't sure whether I could have been saying it out of my own conviction or not.

I asked him for his calling card afterwards and he said I could write to him. Perhaps I'll do so and mention my feelings in this respect.