We translators spend most of our working time critically examining the question, “What did this person mean by these words?”

Maybe that’s why over the years I’ve noticed myself at company meetings or music rehearsals or parties saying, “Fred, I think what Jane is trying to say is…” In other words, interpreting not between languages, but for people speaking the same language: helping them get their meanings across to each other when they’re talking at cross-purposes. When, very very occasionally, someone asks me about this, I just say “I’m a translator.”

Now I’m home in Minnesota for the holidays, and I notice myself playing conversational navigator at the lunch table: “Mom, what Grandpa wants to know is…” “Grandma, Dad is asking…”

I can’t say authoritatively that all translators have this habit, but I suspect many of us do. It’s certainly in line with the good translator’s skill set. At work, we navigate the waters between one language and another with phrasing and inflection as our guides; with grammar and historical context as our star charts. Why shouldn’t this prepare us to contribute to dialogue in our larger lives as well? There are also seas between people of different generations, people of different religious attitudes, people from different places. There are even seas between us and those closest to us in character: seas between all the islands of our individual minds. Who better than a translator to help navigate these waters?

I wouldn’t be surprised to find that many of my colleagues are spending their holidays a bit like I am. “Billy, I think Sally is wondering if…”

Happy holidays from snowy Minnesota.