Interpreting at Sheffield Chinese Christian Church (by Enoch Cheng)
Interpreting at our Chinese Service
Because Mandarin and Cantonese are similar languages (in terms of their sentence structures, though the pronunciation can be rather different), it is possible for most parts of our Chinese service to run in just one single language. Although the service leader would use only one language, during the service individual congregation members would read Scriptures, sing and respond liturgically each in our own tongues, and, because of the similarities of the languages, this does not seem to be overly chaotic. However, whenever there is an important church notice, as well as during the sermon (and also for prayer in response to the sermon), we would use an interpreter to ensure everyone at our church understands what is going on. If the speaker speaks Cantonese, then the interpreter would speak in Mandarin, and vice versa. Interpreting is done consecutively, i.e. the speaker and the interpreter take turns to speak.
Interpreting enables us to utilise our pastoral resources more efficiently. Although our church does prefer to have two separate services for speakers of Mandarin and Cantonese (and did so in the past), we do not currently have the human resources to host two Chinese services on Sundays. Having interpreting is therefore a way of using our resources more efficiently, as this would mean only one preacher (and one sermon) is needed for the two groups of language speakers.
Challenges for consecutive interpreting of services
However, interpreting at our Chinese service is not without its challenges. In terms of requirements, the interpreter has to be fluent in both languages, and, ideally, to have a certain degree of Biblical and theological literacy, as well as Christian maturity (as interpreting is considered a semi-public role in the service). The pool of interpreters is therefore small. Alternatively, the speaker could provide a full script for the interpreter to aid the accuracy of the interpreting, but this would mean extra preparation time for the speaker.
Moreover, despite the similarities between Mandarin and Cantonese, there remains a cultural gap between the two groups of language users. Hong Kong society (where Cantonese is used) is different to mainland Chinese and Taiwanese societies (where Mandarin is used), and they each have their own cultural artefacts and phenomena that are unique to their respective societies. This cultural gap poses a challenge to the interpreting process: just because Cantonese has a word or a phrase to describe a Mandarin phenomenon, that expression of the former does not necessarily capture the deeper meaning of the latter. This cultural gap has a particular effect on sermon illustrations: a story that is told by the speaker about a Cantonese family in Hong Kong might be met with roaring laughter from the Cantonese audience, but with utter puzzlement from the Mandarin audience (despite the latter understanding every word that was spoken by the interpreter). In order to face this challenge, the speaker is encouraged to make the illustration more inclusive for both audiences, either by the choice of the material (e.g. using a British phenomenon rather than a Hong Kong or a mainland Chinese / Taiwanese one, as both groups are now living in the UK), or by accompanying the illustration with a short explanatory note.
Furthermore, there are also challenges associated with interpreting “consecutively”. First of all, it doubles the amount of time being used: a 20-minutes sermon would usually become a 45-minute event. This is why we never do consecutive interpreting at our joint trilingual service (see below). Secondly, and especially for those who are more fluent in both Cantonese and Mandarin, the sermon just “feels” long and repetitive, as, for them as bilingual speakers, the same idea will have been repeated throughout: a crisp three points becomes a repetitive six points. Lastly, much is lost in terms of the rhetorical force of the sermon when interpreting is done consecutively: building up to a climax feels laboured; the punchlines of the jokes are easily missed or lost; classical rhetorical techniques (such as antithesis, rhetorical questions, tricolon - to name just three) also lose much of their power. As a result, the sermon feels more “information sharing” or “lecture-like”: it is much harder to “correct, rebuke and encourage” (2 Timothy 4:2) when the sermon is constantly paused for the purposes of interpreting.
Interpreting at our trilingual joint service
The Chinese Church puts on a joint church service that is trilingual (English, Cantonese and Mandarin) every Easter, Christmas, and church anniversary. Although the service itself presents some logistical difficulties (as it would involve a larger serving team than usual and a vastly diminished list of songs that can be used trilingually), it is thought that, on these special occasions, the benefits of worshipping God as “one church” outweigh the difficulties of organising the service.
At our joint service, we would always have a main speaker (service leader or preacher) and two interpreters: one speaking on stage, and the other on a bench speaking into a microphone transmitter. The microphone transmitter would then relay the interpreted message into earpieces given out to specific church members (matching the language of the off-stage interpreter) before the service. During the Service, the main speaker and the on-stage interpreter would speak consecutively, but the off-stage interpreter would speak simultaneously with the on-stage interpreter: a 20-minute sermon would therefore be a 45-minute event, rather than an hour-long one.
Usually, either the main speaker or the on-stage interpreter would speak in English, as, all of the congregation members would understand some English, however some English-speaking members who cannot understand a word of either variant of Chinese.
Challenges for simultaneous interpreting
Given that simultaneous interpreting can reduce overall speaking time, why don’t we use it for the entirety of our joint service, or even for our Chinese service?
There are two reasons for not doing so. The first is to do with our current set of transmitter and earpieces: we only have one set, with one channel, and so we can’t do simultaneous interpreting in two languages at the same time (at the moment).
However, the more important reason is that of confidence. Arguably, simultaneous interpreting requires more confidence from the interpreter, as in the case of what they say, unlike a consecutive interpreter operating on-stage, there isn’t the option of the main speaker double-checking what the interpreter has said, and, if necessary, correcting it instantly. Interpreters are therefore nervous about “delivering God’s message wrong”. As a result, few interpreters would prefer to do simultaneous interpreting, although they are more willing to do so if given a full script in advance.
Conclusion
The Chinese Church is still in the process of working out how to do interpreting well. Even if our Mandarin group and the Cantonese group were to start worshipping separately (as in the past), the need at our occasional joint services means that we would need to keep thinking about how to do this well.
We do hope though that our church's experience will be helpful for our brothers and sisters in the UK to think through different aspects of interpreting at a church service. And may God indeed bless the preaching and teaching of His Word in multiple languages, so that Christians with different tongues would be united by His grace and His Gospel, praising Him together, in anticipation of the multi-lingual worship that is to come.
Enoch Cheng was born in Hong Kong but moved to the UK in 2004 for education. Born to Christian parents, he nonetheless only became a believer in the UK and has spent most of his Christian life in English-speaking churches (including 2 years as an Apprentice at a local church). After finishing his theological degree at Oak Hill College, Enoch has taken up the role of Pastoral Worker at Sheffield Chinese Christian Church, where he is still serving to this day.
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