interested to go to Guinea-Conakry & contribute train soldiers in Africa? Below offer

Warning Conakry is not Vincennes France;-)

Would an one year translation / interpretation assignment in Guinea-Conakry, Africa be the ideal job for you?12 hours / day. Feasable? How many interpreters are needed? Your estimation?

Some thoughts: What would unions say if a similar job was in Europe?
In France with the 35 hours week per shift 7x 24 = 168 per week divided by 35 = 4,8 persons per Week.
If we have about 220 working days a year that makes x 7 hours per day = 1540 hours per person per year.

24x365 = 8760 hours per year. Divide this figure by 1540 per one persons shifts = 5,7 persons. And this is just hours, without taking into consideration any intellectual fatigue or speciality, or habits, or professional uses and customs.

Airplane pilots used to fly 80 hours per month. What about conference interpreters? Some I know manage to work 100 days par year, very few 125, many 80 days per year. Read Workload study bellow.

Here is the job description posted as in Pr oz  & No use of drugs :-)
--
* Job description:
Dates: 09 Dec 2013 thru 08 Dec 2014. One year long interpretation Contract

 

* Hours: 12 Consecutive hours, 0600-1800 and 1800-0600 3-4 interpreters needed per 12 hr shifts.
* Location (address): RCO Vicenza office in Guinea-Conakry, Africa
* Language: French Language Interpreters
* Scope: Provide linguist support for US military training operations within Guinea-Conakry, Africa
* MUST be able to provide oral translation from one language to another at a sustained rate of 100 wds/per minute
* MUST be fluent in reading, writing, and speaking African French and English

Special Requirements:
* General Background Check to be free of negative police reports and criminal charges
* No use of Khat (or any other drungs ... I suppose)
* Applicable country permits and licenses

* Subject field: Military / Defense

Outsourser:  Co mpass or drop me a line & I'll send you more info by mail

Deadline next Monday (November).

By the way my colleague Marc Went to Cambodia for one Year UN (international tribunal) contract and is now back in Europe.

That's all for today.

--

according to an aiic workload study

Annual number of days worked (for 2001)
The mean for freelancers is 100 days and for staff interpreters 167 (Standard Variation 59), the higher the number of days worked, the higher the level of satisfaction. A low positive correlation was found between the number of days worked and burnout.
Interpretation Stressors
The factors mentioned most frequently were fast speaker (78% of all respondents), speaker reading from text (71%), frequent change of subject matter (64%) and lack of background material (60%). Frequent travel was mentioned by 47%. When asked to rate various factors for their perceived level of stressfulness, fast speaker was rated highest, followed by reading from text, poor equipment, difficult accents, booth discomfort, poor visibility of speaker and visual aids, lack of background material, textual complexity, too little time to prepare, undisciplined speakers (poor mike discipline, interrupting one another) and uncomfortable seating, in that order.
Interpreters Burnout
Levels of burnout in interpreters were compared to those of teachers, high-tech workers and senior Israeli army officers, using three indices (mental and physical exhaustion, cognitive fatigue and mental stress) derived from the questionnaire. Interpreter mental stress levels were the highest of the four groups and also the highest of the three indices. Cognitive fatigue was the index with the lowest value. Staff interpreters reported more burnout and mental/physical exhaustion than freelancers.
Videconferencing & Interpretation
is perceived as raising stress levels and reducing the quality of interpretation. It is also perceived as reducing physical comfort.


Recommendations for optimum interpretation
Recommended practice:
1. in order to reduce stress due to poor delivery, read texts, etc. AIIC may find it useful to formulate recommendations for speakers to the effect that they speak their mother tongue wherever possible, that they minimize the reading of written texts, that background material and written speeches be distributed to the interpreters in advance of the meeting, that means be installed to enable interpreters to signal problems to speakers.
2. give interpreters as much advance notice as possible regarding forthcoming assignments, especially if they involve travel.
3. limit the number of turns an interpreter does in a working day to prevent a decline in performance due to exhaustion.
4. make sure that booths are large enough for the number of interpreters to be accommodated in them (ILO standards stipulate 6 sq. m. per worker).
5. ensure that the airflow into booths provide for seven changes an hour (ISO standard) and that the air supply be 100% fresh (not recirculated) air.
6. temperature and humidity regulators should be installed in each booth and regularly maintained.
7. ventilation systems should be turned on one hour before the start of a meeting and left on all day.
8. although interpreters may choose to work with low levels of light (to avoid the goldfish bowl effect), levels in permanent booths are below ISO standards and ways of providing adequate lighting that avoid undesirable effects should be explored.
9. perceived decline in the prestige of the profession

source aiic dot net / page  / 888

--

Among other Audits, Depositions and Training, I interpreted for Tyco, Otsuka, Alcatel-Lucent, Alstom, Microsoft, HP (Hewlett Packard), Siemens, SAP, BNP, Societe Generale, City Bank, Bred…Chyprus, Greek and Turkish army participated in meetings and training where I was interpreting in 2016. 

As 2016 I have a Security Clearance for Europole / inter alies confidentiality from the Netherlansd valid until 2025.