One of my most difficult moments as an interpreter involved a fight between a Minister of the Colombian national government and some very respected academics during a meeting at one of Bogotá’s fanciest hotels.

The academics did not want to fight. The Minister did. This is the story.

A very unexpected increase in volume

I was interpreting a very normal meeting at a government-owned hotel near Bogotá’s downtown district. It was early in the day, I’d had my two coffees and was settling in to work. There were about 20 people sitting around a long table and conversing about Colombian public policy for early childhood while eating breakfast. One of those working breakfasts – as the interpreter, I work, everyone else gets to eat breakfast. The academics were from one of the most famous universities in the world and were politely recommending that the Minister of Education, who was the special guest at the meeting, increase the nation’s investment in early childhood education. The academics made a very strong argument that investing in this population would lead to exponential growth for Colombia’s economy when they reach adulthood.

Despite the logic behind this thinking, the Minister didn’t like being told what to do. While Colombians are known for being strong, tough and unafraid of conflict, this Minister really took it to the next level. After being given this recommendation, she stood up and started yelling at the academics about how hard her job was and how everyone asked her for money that she didn’t have. She was aggressive, furious and acting like an angry teenager who had her phone confiscated.

“Why is the Minister screaming at us?”

The academics turned and looked at me, as the only person who could speak English in the room, their frightened eyes asking me, “why is the Minister screaming at us?”. I tried to make my eyes say, “this is not normal and I apologize on behalf of the nation of Colombia and its beautiful people”, but they probably just said “I’m as scared as you are”.

I instantly faced a conundrum. Do I yell into my interpreting microphone too? Do I translate the swear words that peppered each sentence? Do I convey her aggressive tone? After a moment’s thought, I decided to maintain my regular relaxed style and speed and decided to omit the swear words, providing the decency and professionalism that the Minister severely lacked.

The tirade ended with her repeating the question, “What the $%&^* do you expect me to do when we have no money?”. She finally stopped the rant and finished her coffee. The academics were in shock. The Minister gathered up her things immediately and left the room without saying goodbye to anyone.

A suitable end for the screaming Minister

Thankfully, we had a number of other meetings and events during the week and no one else screamed at the visiting academics. When the Minister was fired from her job by Colombia’s President a few months, I breathed a sigh of relief on behalf of Colombia’s children and young people, and anyone who worked at the Ministry of Education.

ONG Traducciones provides interpreting for high level meetings and avoids screaming and swear words. For more information about this service, please click here.