For light reading during the holidays, I've put a short article on my Academia.edu page. It relates an incident from my 20-year career (1970-1990) as a freelance conference interpreter in Canada, and incidentally it quotes a story that throws some light from an unexpected source on professional interpreters in Victorian England. To read it, click [here] or go to https://independent.academia.edu/BHARRIS. The title is My Greek Interpreter.
The reason I think Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had a real-life model for the character of Mr Melas in the quoted story is the verisimilitude of the latter's description of his work. He says that he knows "all languages – or nearly all," (Conan Doyle obviously describes him with tongue in cheek) and this reminds me of an interpreter who used to work in the Toronto courts. His first language was Russian, but he claimed that he could interpret all the Slavic languages. Eventually he was found out by a lawyer of Polish extraction who then had to do the interpreting himself for one of his Polish clients. (It was admissible in those days.) It was the lawyer who told me about him.
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Illustration by Sidney Paget for the first publication of The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter in The Strand Magazine, 1893. Mr Melas is on the right.
Merry Christmas!
Thanks for your great work. keep doing.
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This is a great article, that I really enjoyed reading. Thanks for sharing
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This is a fascinating read! The story about your encounter with the overzealous interpreter in Toronto highlights the importance of qualified interpreters. The connection you draw to Conan Doyle's character Mr. Melas is interesting, and it makes me wonder about the real-life characters behind fictional portrayals. Thanks for sharing this personal anecdote and the link to your article. I'll definitely check it out!
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