My colleagues and I have completed the Feldenkrais training course – the first one in Russia! Awareness through movement. It was my first experience of interpreting in a joga centre – an exciting experience! The trainers were from Germany and though they spoke English well sometimes the pronunciation was a little bit unusual. For example, we had a funny incident on my first day. The trainer said that the day before the interpreter (my colleague) made a mistake and translated his words as “rolling like a beer”. I interpreted that smoothly while wondering what on earth he is talking about? And actually I said, says the trainer, “rolling like a – and I am starting to look for the right variant -pair, pear? I explain – couple, fruit? No, it was an animal 😂 a bear! At the 4th attempt the translation was correct at last😁
One more incident: the trainer tells a story: imagine, you are walking in the forest and holding a piece of paper and a Bumblebee sits on it. I have 4 and 6 year old kids, so I have only one association with Bumblebee – that of transformers. So I am translating – Bumblebee sits on the paper. Without a trace of doubt. After that the story continues. The trainer says: now imagine that you have a heavy backpack on your shoulders and a Bublebee sits on it. This time the audience could not bear it any longer: Who is Bumblebee??? And I understand that something is really wrong here – why should Bumblebee sit on anything at all)) We had a good laugh🤣
In general, the work with a trainer is very specific. During the training he or she creates a special atmosphere – something like a tranсe – and it is very important not to disturb it by imitating the trainer’s intonations. If you are starting to stumble the concentration breaks. Moreover, you become an expert in all the body parts, joints, muscles, including coccyx, sacrum, etc. The advantages of such work: you can come to work in a T short and leggins instead of a business suit and can lie with your eyes closed on the floor during the breaks and nobody will judge you. However, it is quite emotionally exhausting.