Prisca Chaoui | Arabic interpreter at the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG)

Welcome to the United Nations Career Journey Podcast, brought to you by the Office of Human Resources at the UN Secretariat and UNDP, the UN Development Programme. In this series we interview colleagues from around the world working for the UN. We ask about their career paths and what working for this global organization means to them. My name is Kome Jaeger and today we’re going to hear from Prisca Chaoui, an interpreter at the United Nations Office at Geneva. She is also the editor of UN Today magazine.

Hello Prisca. It’s nice to see you. I’m excited to talk to you again. The last time we spoke, I told you that I wanted to wait to learn more about you just like the audience would when I interviewed you.

I grew up in Lagos, Nigeria, where there’s a large Lebanese community. Learning that you were Lebanese as well.

It seems like the UN attracts adventurous people.

Tell me a little about yourself and how you came to work at the UN.

Thank you Kome for giving me a chance to be a part of this programme and I find it really amazing as it offers a chance to staff to share their experience and to talk a little bit about their work.

I work as an interpreter in the Arabic booth at the Division of Conference Management, DCM at the United Nations Office in Geneva.

I joined the UN as an interpreter in September 2005. But actually, my journey with the UN started back in 1998. I left my country in 1997 and I headed towards Paris. As you said, you know, many of us are adventurous and then we leave our country and it happened to me. I left my country to go to Paris in order to complete my studies.

And then I was lucky enough to have an internship at UNESCO. And this was the beginning of my journey with the UN, because the internship opened the door for me to get the first contract at UNESCO and then I landed in Geneva, where I also studied interpretation. And this opened the door for me to work in different agencies like WIPO, ITU, ILO WMO, before succeeding in the competitive examination for Arabic interpreters in 2004.

And finally in September 2005, I was offered a job as an Arabic interpreter in the United Nations Office in Geneva. So my journey with the UN started in 1998. I’m quite old, if I may say that it has been really a great journey, full of fulfillment.

Sounds fantastic. What do you like about your job?

Actually, it’s very difficult to answer this question because I like my job. I like everything about my job.

But one particular aspect attracts me in my job is the fact that I am, every day able to learn new things. And when I say every day, I mean it. There are not two days that are similar in my job as an interpreter. You know, an interpreter is called upon to service different meetings.

At the UN in Geneva, we cover quite a big range of themes, such as human rights, because you know there is the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, that is based in Geneva. We have disarmament matters. We have trade and development with UNCTAD. We have climate change, not directly Geneva, but we service the meeting of UNFCCC, so this means that I am called upon as an interpreter to service all these meetings. And when I go to work at these meetings as an interpreter, I have to prepare, which means reading reports, which means getting knowledge about the subjects that are covered in the meeting.

So, what I like about my job is that it allows me to acquire knowledge every day. It allows me to be aware of what’s happening at the international level. I think it’s a very privileged position that very often we tend to forget, you know, when we are all the time in our work. But this interview really triggered some reflection in me and one of them I realized that… I was really privileged to be aware of what happens at the international level because the UN, through its meetings, plays an important role regarding international relations.

I’m so glad to hear that this interview triggered like a renewed zest for your job. I mean, it can’t always be perfect, and it’s not always great every day. So, what are some of the challenges that you face and how do you deal with them?

I have to be honest; I’m not going to cover all the challenges because obviously there are challenges, but one of the main challenges — and I’m not the only one who faces this challenge as an interpreter, is the speed with which the speakers of today deliver their speeches.

You know, working as an interpreter today it’s not like it was in the 70s or 80s of the last century, where you used to have delegates who used to have the time to deliver their speeches. In today’s world, there is a lot to say. There are a lot of things happening as you may be aware around us and very often the speakers, regardless of the type of meeting, tend to speak really at a very high speed. And, you know, the interpretation per se, it’s an act of communication. You need to be able to understand, you need to be able to interpret it in other language. And to be an agent for communication.

However, when people speak at a very, very, very high speed, it really makes our job more difficult and more challenging. How do I face these challenges? Obviously, you know the experience that I have acquired during the past years allows me, you know, to be able to adapt myself to the speed of the speaker.

Sometimes, I have to recognize — I go out of the booth completely frustrated because I wish I could do better, but what I got with the speed didn’t allow me to do my job properly. So, in this kind of situation, what I try to do, and I think other interpreters also do, is I try to summarize the message because my job as an interpreter is to deliver messages.

And I am not here, you know to transpose words and to be able to put one word with its equivalent in different languages.

That’s really interesting. I’m always curious to learn about what other people do at the Organization. I feel like we’re all making a difference in our own way.

How do you feel like you’re making a difference through your work? I mean, in what ways?

Very good question, because indeed very often we tend to think that as interpreter we are just repeating what others say. And we tend also, in today’s world to think that everybody speaks English, which is not true.

You know, you have participants meeting in the UN, who come from all over the world, and many of them might speak English, but they don’t master it very well, so they need an interpreter to be able to communicate.

And for me, we are able as interpreters, and I am able as an interpreter to make a difference because I am able to facilitate the communication among participants to meetings. And for me, if there is no communication, this means there is no recognition of a problem.

There is no possibility of dialoguing or discussing in order to find and reach an agreement and we all know that the UN is a place where agreements are reached. Sometimes agreements are not reached, but even if agreements are not reached, we are always here to try to facilitate the communication. So, for me, my job really makes a difference.

Again, I repeat this, you know the fact of thinking about all these questions made me really to be revitalized in my role as an interpreter. So again, I would like to thank you for this opportunity.

I remember as a young child seeing commercials for UNICEF on television. It felt so personal to me. There’s always a connection when you see yourself or someone who looks like you.

I just knew when I was younger that I wanted to be someone who could help those kids that I saw on screen. Is there a story in your personal background that motivated you to join the Organization?

Actually, you know, I was born and as you said at the beginning of the interview, and I lived all my youth in Lebanon, and I lived through the Civil War in my country, and I was 13.

I used to dream to become a medical doctor and when I got my baccalaureate, I wanted to study medicine and actually I failed in the competitive examination to accede to the Faculty of Medicine. So, I had to choose a different, you know, path and different type of studies.

So, I went to my mother and I told her I am going to go to study interpretation at the interpretation school. And then, I am going to join the UN and I will be working for the UN and for the Security Council. And you know, at my time, even though I’m not that old but in 1994, you know, we didn’t have the access to information that we have today.

Certainly not old!

And you know, the website, the meetings of the UN, all this was for me, something really very, very, very far, you know.

And again, for me, you know, being able to realize my dream was really something that marked me a lot because coming from where I come, you know, as a Lebanese not having access to all the information to access the UN, you know, because entering the UN is not easy. I think very often we tend to forget it. But it wasn’t that easy.

So, I started studying and then I concentrated on my studies and then when I landed in Paris to pursue my studies and I was able to get an internship at UNESCO.

It was really for me, a dream coming true, but my dream became only true when I became an interpreter and when I was able to interpret and the General Assembly in New York. I was at that time, still a freelance interpreter, and I will never forget when I was in the GA Hall.

The feeling that I got to have really achieved what I wanted. It was a feeling of pride, I have to say because it was out of my hard work, but also of recognition. You know, for the chance I got to be there because I’m aware that a lot of people might dream or dream to get into the UN, but they don’t realize their dreams.

So, for me, the day I was able to interpret, and the General Assembly Hall was really a memorable event in my career in the UN.

That’s a wonderful story. I mean, yes, you failed medicine. So, medicine’s loss is our gain.

As opposed to the private sector, our product isn’t something that you can buy from a store we are service providers who serve humanity. And, I say that with much humility and gratitude, there is a profound sense of responsibility with what we do.

So, when I hear what other colleagues do, I always wonder where does the stress come in because it has to factor in your life, when you feel such tremendous responsibility for other people.

So, the job of an interpreter is a stressful job. You know, and I think all jobs at the UN have their share of stress.

I can imagine.

I don’t think that there is a job that is not stressful. This stress in my job as an interpreter, stems from the fact, that you know, we listen, and we speak at the same time. As in every job there is a risk of error and mistake. And the sources of mistakes are really various.

Sometimes you know, as I mentioned before, you have a speaker speaking at very, very, very high speed. Sometimes you have some difficulties maybe to understand the main message of the speaker.

I have to be honest, it’s not that as interpreter we are not a machine. You know, we are human beings. Sometimes we might miss the message. It happens. Thankfully, it doesn’t happen every day, but it happens.

So, there is always a risk of error and errors in big meetings or in any meetings. I’m not going to say only in big meetings can really be very detrimental to the dynamic and the meeting per say. I cannot, you know, replace a word by another one.

I recall lately I was working in a meeting and some countries were using the word “regime” to mention a government of a particular country, and I was due to interpret the speech whereby also I had the speech in front of me. It was written speech. It shows in writing the word “regime”.

And I was wondering, is the speaker going to say regime or they are going to skip it? And I was saying, OK, if ever I say “regime” and they have changed their mind because they were very fast, I’m really going to cause a problem in the meeting.

So, this is really the type of stress that I have to say, I personally go through because we have always to be able to deliver a faithful message to the speaker, despite some different circumstances we have to work within.

How I face the stress? I think this is what you would like to know from me. I mean it’s really I think with the time and the experience I acquired a more sense of what the speaker is going to say and how the speech is going to go.

But as I said, there is no zero-risk when you are working as an interpreter, so I try to be fully concentrated. I’d like to have a good hygiene of life, in my everyday life, because obviously I cannot sleep at 3 o’clock and be fit to work at 10 o’clock the second day. I really try to have a good hygiene in my life.

I try to exercise also, to do sports so that sometimes all the stress I accumulated during meetings is really out of me so that I’m able to face this stress of the upcoming meetings. Also, you know we have meetings and meetings — some are more stressful than others.

But again, if you want to do your job as an interpreter, you have to be stressed. Otherwise, I don’t think that I can pretend to be a good interpreter if I enter the booth and I say, OK, I mastered it all. I have no problem. It will be stress-free today, yeah.

So, I was prepared to take all the tips that you were going to give me on how to relieve stress. I do hear you about getting plenty of rest. It is necessary for your mental mind to make sure that you get enough rest so that you’re capable the next day. I usually lean on my family.

Do you have a family? And how’s the work-life balance with that?

Yes, I have a family. I have two adolescents of almost 15 and 17 years old.

About my work life balance, you know the job of interpreter is before the meeting and during the meeting. When I say before the meeting; it means the preparation because obviously you don’t walk in a meeting without being prepared, without having the documents that are available, the report, without trying to gather the necessary information.

So, we have the before working and when we are working in the booth. And it usually depends on the meeting, you know some meetings are three hours. I mean generally it’s three hours now with the remote interpretation.

Some meetings are shorter than three hours, so when I work, I am really fully concentrated. When I am outside the booth, I can say I have to put things behind me to be able to go to another meeting, to the next assignment.

So, it’s a job where even though, you have really to be fully concentrated during three hours or two hours.

Contrary to maybe someone else who, if you are tired, you can afford one day to be less productive than the other and you catch up, you know, in the evening or the second day.

We deliver, I deliver as an interpreter what I have to do and when I am out of the booth, I have to say that I am able, you know to be having a normal life.

When I say normal life, is to take care of my children and to be having a good work life balance. So, the job of an interpreter is stressful, yes, but it also allows you, due to its nature, to be able to have the work life balance because I know I am aware that in other jobs in the UN sometimes, you are called to intervene at 10:00 o’clock in the evening, to answer an e-mail late in the evening because of the nature of your job.

And sometimes, even if we have shut down the computer, but sometimes it works all the time in your mind.

So, in our case, we prepare before the meeting, and we deliver our work during the meeting, which I think makes the job of an interpreter different from the other type of job, where you really have to be constantly in some instances called upon to be ready to intervene, or to react, or to answer an e-mail that is sent to you in an emergency.

I know there’s a percentage of Lebanese who speak French. Is that what influenced your decision to live in Geneva?

Not at all. I actually, you know, when I succeeded the competitive examination, my dream was to go to work in New York because as I told you, I wanted to be in New York…I wanted to serve in the Security Council…the General Assembly.

But my personal circumstances at that time didn’t allow me to accept a job in New York.

And I recall I cried when I realized that, you know, I wouldn’t be able to take the job in New York because at that time, an interpreter used to be offered primarily a job in New York.

So, when I realized that I will not be able to go to New York, I really cried, and I got a good surprise — the chance to be offered a job in Geneva, where I have already been living. Because as I told you, I finished part of my study at the University of Geneva.

So, I was already living in Geneva, and I was offered a job in Geneva.

Sounds like it worked out. This is the second time that something didn’t go your way, but it worked out perfectly. First, with medical school and now wanting to live in New York…. and you got your job while already in Geneva. You must have the best luck. You should play the lottery and see if you win!

No, I agree with you. Now, with the time and then with this discussion, I realized that really, I was lucky because I think it was my place to be there at that time and it worked well for me indeed.

What makes you proud of working at the UN?

I consider myself being a Lebanese already, lucky to be where I am today. And I don’t think I would have gotten the chance to be where I am if the UN didn’t give me the chance to be part of, you know, the Secretariat.

I’m proud of working at the UN because it vehiculates values and ideals that for me speak to everyone everywhere and in all circumstances.

But we tend very often to forget that, you know, the work of the UN is really work that is important for the lives of people everywhere.

When I work at the Human Rights Council and I hear, even if sometimes you would say there are just words, empty words, they are not empty words. When you see how the human rights machinery is trying to push for human rights to be respected all over the world.

I think this is really a justification for all of us.

To be proud that we are trying through our work, through the work of the Organization to make the life of others, mainly women, better.

Because I think the world really wouldn’t have been what it is today without the UN. It might look like a cliche what I’m saying, but when I think if the UN didn’t exist, I think the world would have been really, really in a worse situation than what it is now.

Thank you for highlighting the significance of the United Nations and the mandate that we all believe in. I just want to let you know again that I’m so grateful that I have this opportunity to meet with you and get to ask you some of these questions. Thank you for being very candid and honest about your experiences. You’ve lived such a rich life, both outside of work and inside as well.

So, thank you, Prisca hope to talk to you again soon.

Thank you a lot Kome for giving me this opportunity. Thank you.