On July 2018, Mastercard held the “Global Risk Leadership Seminar” in Bali Indonesia. The venue was a very luxurious hotel which is Sofitel Bali. I was chosen as one of their Simultaneous Interpreter for Japanese – English pair. There were 2 pairs of language which are Japanese – English and Mandarin – English. Each pairs of language was handled by 2 people so the total interpreters were 4 people.

*Inside the Japanese – English Simultaneous Intepreter Booth with my partner.

Some of the presentations were talking about AI prediction, Decision System Making, Fraud Detection etc. And I did feel at home because this Computer Science stuff was actually my Major when I was in college. And I do put a lot of interest in Computer Science world, especially in AI and or Algorithm topics.

*Mastercard event at Sofitel Bali

So in 2018, I have been to Bali twice and both of them because I was appointed as the Simultaneous Interpreter for Japanese – English pair. Such a coincidence that in both of the Seminars, some of the topics were also related to Computer Science, which is one of my strongest point.

 
*One of the famous view at Sofitel Bali

Overall It was a great experience. Too bad they didn’t give us some free time because we all need to catch a flight back to Jakarta at the last day of the seminar.

I have more than 10 years of experiences as Interpreter. And the technology such as Internet, VoIP, Phone Bridging System, Mobile/Web App has made something called “Remote Intepreting” possible.

My first experience as a Remote Interpreter was back in May 2016. Some Remote Interpreter Outsourcing Agency from China made contact with me via Linkedin. The way it works is as follow : I have to dial in (or they dial me) to a specific phone number at a particular moment to get connected between 2 parties that need my service as interpreter. Most of the cases, each of us were located in different cities or even countries because I also do the English-Japanese pair of language (I reside in Jakarta Indonesia). In some Outsourcing Agency, you can use your laptop as long as you have a good and stable Internet connection because they use their own proprietary web application on the net.

Last week June 12th, I have 3 Remote Interpreting calls in a row. What made it special is because all 3 of them were in different pair of languages. The first one is English-Bahasa Indonesia and we were talking about the Indonesian Government role in Corn Seed distribution in the nation, the second one is Japanese-Bahasa Indonesia and the topic was about IoT in home appliances, and the third one is Japanese-English regarding to the topic about how the pizza restaurant chain market works in Japan. So in one day I have connected people from Indonesia, America, Hongkong and Japan as Interpreter.

And last but not least, the beauty of Remote interpreting is that I could do it anywhere as long as I have a good Signal on my mobile phone or good Internet connection if they use the web Apps. Today is June 19th, 2018 and I have already finished 14 successfull remote interpreting calls only in this June. Most of them is English-Japanese pairs outside Indonesia.

Finally I got time to update this blog a little bit because currently we have entered the “Fasting Period” for Moslem, means everything will become less busy. This is because  Indonesia’s most population are Moslem, so during this period not much event or meeting will take place.

So let’s continue. Last April, I got assigned by ASEAN Secretariat for a Job in Bangkok Thailand. It was a wonderful experience. I finally got to ride the Bangkok’s subway and train. The job was in Kasetsart University. ASEAN Secretariat has a lecture event and invited the expert speaker from Japan to speak in front of international students at Kasetsart. The students are from Thailand, Laos, Indonesia, Cambodia, France, etc.
So I was hired as their Japanese – English Interpreter for the occassions.

*Pictures at Kasetsart university

On the same month later on, I got another Japanese – English Interpreter assignment too, although it doesn’t come directly from the ASEAN Secretariat as the above assignment, but they are certainly being involved. The job was in Surabaya and the Workshop title can be seen on the picture below. The participants are from neighbouring ASEAN countries.

*Pictures at Surabaya

It is in my nature that I like to meet and talk with people from various countries, this why I am quite suitable for any International Assignment and I am glad that I always finished successfully in all of my events.

Since a couple of months ago, I got the same Simultaneous Interpreting Job offer that came from at least 5 different agencies. I got call from India (1 Agency), Jakarta (2 Agencies) and Bali (2 Agencies). They are looking for Japanese English Simultaneous Interpreter which is quite a rare commodity here in Indonesia, I think that is one of the reason that I always appear on the top of their list. So this is really interesting because no matter who won the pitching process with the client, it is almost certain that I would be their interpreter anyway.

Several things that made me excited with this job are:

• The end-user is a Cyber Security company from Finland. And during my college years, I have been a huge fans of cyber security and hacking world.
• My major in college was Computer Science, so my background is quite strong and fit me really well with the client.
• The Presentation from the Finnish speaker was awesome, it filled me up with the latest updates from the Cyber Security world.
• The venue was in Bali, so I got the chance (although just for a brief time) to enjoy another sunset and sunrise by the beach.

*Private Me time. Enjoying the sun by the beach.

*Photo after the show

I am really glad the that I was chosen for this event and I was quite satisfied with my performance too as a Simultaneous Interpreter that deals with Japanese-English language pair.