“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart.”
Nelson Mandela
Welcome:
My name is Kasia Dubla. I am a professional Polish interpreter.
My work is my passion, a passion to which I have dedicated myself for more than fifteen years.
I live in Barcelona, my mother language is Polish and my working languages are: Polish, English, Spanish and Catalan.
Being a conference interpreter means working so that other people can understand each other. That’s why I love my job.
The profession of conference interpreter is an acquired trade, it is not an innate talent, it must be learned.
My professional career began at the University of Warsaw where I graduated in Hispanic Philology and then, in 2005, I graduated from the European Master’s Degree in Conference Interpreting at the University of La Laguna in Spain (EMCI MIC ULL). During my studies, I did internships in European institutions in Brussels and participated in an exchange program in the Master of Interpretation ESIT at the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris.
To be a good conference interpreter, you don’t just have to learn languages. You start with your mother language, in my case Polish, you learn a second and maybe a third language perfectly and only then can you start preparing yourself as an interpreter. Undoubtedly, the perfect command of several languages is an essential requirement to be able to start interpreter training.
We interpreters have to know languages, and we must take care of them throughout our career. We continually monitor our accent, pronunciation, vocabulary, and the nature of each of our languages. As interpreters, we must constantly train to face the difficulties of our profession.
We face continuous linguistic, cultural, ethical, social and technological challenges. It is not a monotonous job, nor is it easy. Our profession often demands of us endurance, both psychological and physical, versatility, diplomacy, flexibility and a willingness to always keep learning.
Interpreters work in direct contact with people. We interact with people from very varied socio-cultural backgrounds on a daily basis. For this reason, in my profession I must always be attentive, know how to adapt to, and manage, different situations.
The role of conference interpreters is only to convey the message, to go unnoticed, we must be discreet and “invisible”. When the communication flows without the presence of the interpreter being noticed, we have done our job well.
It is complicated but exciting.