pne | Stake Conference, Day One: Philips speaks British English unexpectedly (Reply)

I was asked to interpret during Stake Conference.

During the leadership session, I interpreted consecutively (English to German) while Elder Oaks (the Area President) spoke; during the Saturday general session, I interpreted simultaneously (German to English).

The first session, I stood next to him; the second session, I sat on the first row with a headset on. The volume was pretty loud, so apparently I was talking rather loudly at first, too; someone pointed it out to me and I tried to speak a bit more softly. (I also put a paper handkerchief over each earpiece to try to muffle the volume a little.)

What I found interesting was that I had initially thought I would be using my American accent, since interpreting simultaneously means that you don't have much time to think and I thought that under pressure, my "default" accent would surface, and that that was American. (Mostly because I spent years and years during school speaking like that.)

However, after a while I listened to myself and found I was speaking British English, which surprised me. I suppose the three years of speaking to Amy have made that into my default accent now, since it's what came out naturally while unter time pressure. (Though without the "wh" sound—not that surprising, since it's a conscious affectation in my speech and I need time to think about the spelling when using it, rather than something that comes naturally to me because I picked it up from my father as a child, which is where the other 98% of my British accent come from.)