[JITF2020] Cross-Cultural Communication from the Perspective of a Spanish Interpreter – Personal Experiences

Rika Yoshida

Graduated from the Department of Spanish Studies, Faculty of Foreign Studies, Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, and while enrolled there studied overseas at the University of Navarra.  She worked in the secretary office of the Spanish Embassy and as a Japanese Language Education Specialist for the Japan Foundation (Mexico City), after which she studied discourse analysis at graduate school in the University of Amsterdam (course not completed).  She started working as a freelance interpreter from 2000.  Wanting to know theoretically what it means to “interpret exactly as spoken” as required for court interpreting, she completed a PH. D. course in the Graduate School of Intercultural Communications at Rikkyo University.  Next she served as Associate Professor, Faculty of International Liberal Arts, Juntendo University.  Currently she is a Spanish conference interpreter, guest researcher at the Institute of Interpreting and Translation, Aichi Prefectural University, and part-time lecturer at Rikkyo University, Sophia University and Juntendo University.  Her area of specialization is court interpreting discourse studies.  She started Acerkate K.K. with her husband in 2014.

Cross-Cultural Communication from the Perspective of a Spanish Interpreter – Personal Experiences

Spanish interpreting is a cross-cultural communication experience that is very enjoyable and exciting and that satisfies the sense of curiosity as it allows one to interact with Spanish-speaking people who are affectionate and kind to others, become familiar with the common aspects of Spain and Latin American countries as well as their different sociocultural circumstances, and experience values that are completely different from those of Japan.  Spanish isn’t the only language I’ve learned or touched on in my life.  I imagine many interpreters have had a similar experience.  For instance, I came in touch with (the Osaka dialect), English, Dutch and Chinese.  Though my level of acquisition of these languages may not have been very high, they certainly had an influence on formation of my “sense of self” as an “interpreter and speaker.”  With such circumstances as a backdrop, I will share some case studies of Japanese-Spanish interpretation and cross-cultural communications on the basis of my personal experiences as a Spanish interpreter resulting from multilingualism.