THE EAST OHIO CONNECTION:

Interpreters’ Lounge provides fellowship for people around the world

By Sharon Seyfarth Garner

At General Conference, there is a special area called the "Interpreters Lounge" where the family of Interpreters can gather during breaks from translating. We come here to receive information & equipment, check email, eat cookies (remember the tables full of cookies in Cleveland in 2000!), get a bottle of water and enjoy the global community that has gathered here. On the table behind me are resources printed in French, Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, Russian, Swahili, Chinese and German. As I type this email, several of the Portuguese translators are singing and dancing along with the plenary session that we can see via a closed caption tv here. Across the room, several Swahili translators are laughing and enjoying some of the many bags of cookies in a basket nearby. The director of language services, an absolutely delightful woman from Argentina, is on the phone coordinating where the translating equipment (headphones for the delegates and microphones for the interpreters) needs to be next. It is a significant coordinating effort to be sure that all 140 interpreters and necessary equipment get to the correct places at the correct times. This is a vibrant place full of the many languages spoken throughout our family of faith. It is a blessing (and an awful lot of fun to boot!) to be a part of this ministry of Interpretation that facilitates the participation of our global community in this increasingly diverse movement called Methodist.

Peace and joy,
Sharon