Meet the UN’s Chief of translation and editing in Nairobi!

We caught up with Rosemary Ekosso (Cameroon), the recently appointed Chief of the Translation and Editorial Section at UNON:

How did you learn your working languages?

Cameroon is officially a bilingual country, so I started learning French pretty much as soon as I started school, and more formally at the age of 7 or 8. I began to learn Spanish almost immediately after I got my first job, with my national Government. I also took the free classes offered in my first UN duty station. I acquired Portuguese a decade and a half later, again through free classes offered in my duty station.

What attracted you to become a language professional at the United Nations?

I have always worked as a linguist and it seemed a natural progression for me, from national to international service. It sounded terribly exciting to join the UN and I jumped at the chance when a recruitment exam was advertised. I do not regret doing so.

You’ve worked in different United Nations system organizations. How are they different from each other? How do you find working for UNON?

One might be tempted to think that a translator (or interpreter, since I have been both) can function adequately in any duty station. But that would discount the enormous volume of new material that must be absorbed for the job to be properly done. There are different workflows, vocabularies, organizational contexts and, if you move countries as often as I have done, cultures. For a decade, I worked in tribunals which are necessarily transient. The switch to intellectual property and to a UN specialized agency when I joined WIPO was a jolt to the system, I can tell you.

Nairobi is something else entirely. I now have to get used to how DGACM works and that is no small feat. I am also in a purely managerial role now and that has its interesting moments.

You started out as a translator/interpreter and worked your way up to become Chief of the Translation and Editorial Section at UNON. What do you consider to be the key traits of a good translator? A good translation manager?

A good translator should be a good reader. I have found no other way of acquiring the knowledge and vocabulary that underpin all translation work. Other obvious skills are diligence and a willingness to accept other points of view. Teamwork is key, if you are working for an institution. No translator is an island, to borrow a phrase.

A good translation manager should know and understand something of translation. And management. Often, people are thrust into (or seek) management roles without training. But there is a reason for management courses and it would behoove us all to have some knowledge in this area. Another area is technology. The days are past when a manager could safely ignore CATT [computer-assisted translation and terminology] tools and view themselves as exclusively a lofty artist of the written word, called upon to serve chiefly as a custodian of the purity of language. No manager can perform adequately without at least some knowledge of trends and challenges in regard to CATT tools. And managers ignore client requirements at their peril. The difficulty is balancing all these demands, from both your internal and external clients, and still getting a good night’s sleep!

What part of your job do you consider the most interesting? Why?

I enjoy getting to know people because people are so interesting! I would not say I am a good student of human nature, but the diversity at the UN is one of its most interesting characteristics. This is largely why I find the pandemic so difficult to handle.

What challenges do you face in your daily work and how do you handle them?

In my current role, the challenge is to learn workflows and processes so that I can do my job well. I see myself as a facilitator: I make it easier for language units to do their jobs. Since I have only been here six months, my focus for now is to learn the job while actually doing it.

The pandemic has not helped because while virtual meetings are all we can do for now, it is hard to get a feel for how you should interact with people you have never actually met.

I have been a manager for over a decade, but I have also translated and interpreted in the meantime. I do miss translation quite a bit, but I am trying to see if I can sneak in a text from time to time.

What are some of the most difficult tasks you have worked on?

Just now, my prime concern is getting a handle on how work is organized within DGACM. As I said, the pandemic makes it very difficult to learn quickly, because you cannot just walk into a colleague’s office and ask questions if you don’t understand something.

Before Nairobi, it was juggling deadlines. That is the main source of anxiety for translators and their managers and, as I have played both roles, I have not been spared!

When I worked in the tribunals, it was the subject matter. Sometimes your job is to give voice (literally, if you are interpreting) to the suffering of others. That can be hard. Some things you take home with you. It was one of the reasons that I changed jobs.

What have you been doing to cope during the COVID-19 pandemic?

At the beginning, I thought it would be easy because there was reduced commuting time. But it quickly became isolating. I made a point of extending contact with family and friends (possibly a bit more than they would have liked!). I also exercised a great deal more. However, since I moved to Nairobi, I am better able to cope. The weather is wonderful and I am a lot less isolated than I was.

What do you think about the evolution of technology in the field of translation? How has it affected you?

I still have some of my old texts from when I started work 25 years ago. We translated in pencil because it was so much easier to erase errors and try again. Revisers made changes in ink. Then some poor typist had to make sense of our combined chicken scratchings.

A couple of years later, we were given computers and a whole new world opened up to us. I remember the awe with which I viewed earlier iterations of Dragon Naturally Speaking.

The speed which with translation technology has developed boggles the mind. I am all for the improvements these have brought, but the structure of the profession is changing and we do not yet know exactly how it will be in the next decade or so.

There are concerns that translators will be obsolete, but I think what will happen is that with cultures opening up to one another as a result of travel, the Internet and other influences, people will have a lot more to say to each other. In some cases, they will have to say it well and carefully. That is where good translations will come in. This does not mean that concerns are unfounded; in less regulated markets, it will be hard for some. But I think there is hope for us yet, not least with post-editing.

How does your work fit into the larger framework of the United Nations?

I work in DGACM as part of a service that helps nations to talk to each other on a vast number of subjects, so I consider that my role is clearly defined.

What is the most memorable story about your work?

I don’t have a specific story, but what my job has given me is the opportunity to move around the world and prove to myself the hypothesis that people are just people, for better or for worse. For me, there is no greater story.

Do you have any advice for budding language professionals? Any tips on how to prepare for the competitive examinations for language positions?

I could wax didactic about a lot of things, but the main thing I can ask them to do is read. Reading will give you the foundation for translation. It will broaden your mind and sharpen your curiosity. Otherwise, you will find translation boring, and that won’t do at all, either for you or for those with whom you work.

While continuing to strengthen this foundation, you might find it advantageous to cultivate an interest in the work of the UN. You could spend years reading its websites and still find a great deal to occupy you.

However, you should read everything, not just UN material. Read for fun. Read newspapers and journals. Read websites. Approach subjects from every conceivable angle. You will find that you think about things differently as a result.

A piece of advice I was given in interpretation school was to read “a daily a day, a weekly a week and a monthly a month”. We have now witnessed the explosion of available material on the Internet, so this advice seems rather quaint now. But it means that for translators, the world is very much our oyster. There is no longer any excuse for not knowing.

When you acquire the love of reading, the rest follows. You will want to know. That curiosity is the only thing I have really needed.

A good translator should be a good reader. I have found no other way of acquiring the knowledge and vocabulary that underpin all translation work.

Rosemary Ekosso