Everyone who has worked with me for a while knows that I’m a sucker for cultural events. Anything that facilitates a transfer of ideas between two radically different cultures cannot be encouraged enough IMHO! And as a trilingual interpreter-translator and avid facilitator of cultural exchange between Japan <> US <> Latin America, one of my favorite cultural events every year is Anime Expo, in Los Angeles, California. Every year this convention is held over Independence Day weekend – a true melting pot of culture, language, ethnicity, food, entertainment, design, clothing, cool ideas, and of course international business.
Every year in late June, dozens of Japanese companies flock to Los Angeles in droves to deliver their panels, Q&As, previews, premieres, experiences, product announcements, new production unveilings, and anything else that could possibly pique fans’ interest and keep them engaged, often with the help of interpreters. Since leaving my full time position as in-house interpreter at Honda R&D Los Angeles in 2016, I’m lucky enough to have been hired as a linguistic liaison by several of these Japanese companies on many occasions, and as a staff interpreter by Anime Expo. However, in early June of 2024 I received a very different request: a Chinese gaming company that produced several successful mobile games needed an interpreter with stage chops to interpret during their newest event idea: a modest panel of voice actors in front of a live audience that would max out at 500 participants – not a bad haul for a first time event, by any measure. My mission would be to assist them over 2 days, during rehearsals & prep, and be on stage with the VAs during their panel: Honkai Star Rail: Live Voice Acting @ AX 2024.
At first I was puzzled but also intrigued. Why would a gaming company from China need a Japanese interpreter? Were they confusing languages? Such confusion wouldn’t be impossible coming from an US-based agency or client (it has happened before), but this surely this company knew what they were doing, right? And that’s where things got interesting! As it turned out, the company Hoyoverse, had dubbed their game Honkai Star Rail into Japanese and English, hiring, among others, celebrity voice actors Kaori Nazuka and Tomori Kusunoki, which led to it being a big hit with Anime fans in the US. These two celebrity VA’s were going to be present at the this AX panel and they needed an interpreter to interact with the other voice actors and the audience on-stage, which is why they reached out to me through their Mandarin Chinese interpreter, who also interpreted for a directors’ Q&A during this fascinating event (and very well, I might add).
“Interpreting voice actors live on stage! Now that’s different!” I thought. I had never interpreted for voice actors before, but I director Makoto Shinkai did do a live voicing during the Latin American premiere of Suzume no tojimari, in Mexico city, and it was definitely fascinating. Hoyoverse was happy to know that I have also interpreted for video-game events in the past and was generally familiar with gaming lingo, etc. and would be glad to learn the basics of the game and the character names in order to hit the ground running. And since they had experience working with alumni from MIIS (Middlebury Institute of International Studies), they already had a term glossary and even a detailed script in both English and Japanese. These prep materials made a huge difference in the success of their event with interpreters. Without it, my job would have been much more difficult, requiring dozens of hours of research and possibly even a few gameplay hours, which I really didn’t have the time for. Summer for California interpreters with a family is busy, busy, busy!
Surprise・びっくり・Sorpresa!
After all the arrangements were made and my prep was finished, I was ready for day 1: our rehearsal at the hotel next to AX (also a venue of AX for some events). I felt certain the whole engagement was going to be smooth sailing, but as I learned from Director Takashi Miike when working with him: ”nanigoto mo daihon doori ni wa ikanai!” (not everything plays out according to the script). I should have assumed as much, but alas, I was hoping this time would be different and spare me all the surprises.
The first surprise of this assignment was very stressful, albeit not all that surprising: At AX 2024 EVERYTHING was overbooked, and so there was no parking for guests at the hotel where we were holding the rehearsal. The nearest parking lot was 10 minutes away. Although under normal circumstances, arriving 30 minutes early should be more than enough, when you combine punctuality requirements for professional interpreters with downtown Los Angeles traffic, with a recording breaking Anime convention, you have a trifecta of potential disasters on your hands. I panicked a bit, then stopped to analyze the situation. “Surely I can reason with the valet guys”, I thought, and proceeded to call one over and ask if they could PLEASE let me park there.
[valet guy] “Are you a guest at the hotel?” [me] “No, I’m just here for a rehearsal”. [guy] “We only have parking for registered guests right now” [me] “Ok, but I have an important rehearsal for AX, can you please make an exception?” [guy] “No, no exceptions”. I was getting really flustered. I looked at my watch and noticed that the rehearsal started in 20 minutes and I was going to have to walk a bit to get there. And I didn’t wanna be that guy who pushes people around, that’s not me. So I decided to appeal a higher power: The valet supervisor. (And I probably said a little prayer too, but that’s for a different post). I asked if I could speak to him and surprisingly, he came right over. I patiently-yet-dramatically explained that there was no way I could park somewhere else, that I was here to meet with their VIP guests for a critical rehearsal and was wondering if I could simply tip the valet team generously enough to leave my car parked outside. After making a quick call on his radio (to the supervisor’s boss?), to my delight, he finally accepted, called the valet guy over, told him I’m super special and get to park there. Chuckling inside, but also with my nerves shredded to pieces, I got out of my car and proceeded to walk briskly to the rehearsal, making it there with 10 minutes to spare.
What’s the big lesson here? There are a few that come to mind: If you’re the only interpreter, you are literally the only person who cannot be late or absent. Of course you can’t cancel the day of or the day before, but being late will also throw a monkey wrench in the gears, so you have to take extra precautions to make sure there is literally no possible way you could be late. At important, public multilingual events, everything hinging on the interpreter being there to make it all happen, in two languages, without putting up a fuss or making excuses. There are no exceptions to this, unless of course the next surprise happens… [to be continued next week]
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