Setting the record straight on Sports Interpreters, especially those in Major League Baseball.

Dear Colleagues,

From the beginning of spring, sports interpreting, especially Major League Baseball interpreting, and particularly Ippei Mizuhara, the former Japanese interpreter of baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani have brought our profession to the center of controversy. Mizuhara’s unlawful actions, including bank fraud, and the way they were portrayed in the international sports media motivated people who otherwise were unaware of sports interpreting to write about interpreting, language and cultural diversity in professional sports, and the conduct of professional interpreters without really knowing who we are or what we do.

Those who know our profession better remained silent at the outbreak of the controversy. Although a baseball fan myself, due to professional commitments I let it slide for too long until it was an even bigger mess. Some professional interpreters and translators wrote opinions, but knowing little about the work baseball interpreters do, these opinions muddied the waters and created more confusion.

As expected, the first thing to be published was the usual outrage at those who dare to call us “translators” instead of interpreters; an understandable exercise if you look at it from the perspective of taking every opportunity you must educate the public. The next thing that was widely written about, and another aspect of the incident these writers had right, was the need for baseball interpreters, and sports interpreters in general, to abide by a code of ethics. Unfortunately, this is where the confusion comes into the discussion because these “opinionated experts” advanced the idea that baseball interpreters should act like public service interpreters, and therefore be subjected to the Code of Ethics of court or healthcare interpreters. If your goal is to educate the public by correcting the use of baseball “translators” and clarifying that they are baseball “interpreters,” please do not come back with a statement that describes them as public service interpreters because they are not.

Public service interpreters, such as court, healthcare, school, and other community services interpreters, practice a type of interpreting that involves access to a service by the public at large. The administration of justice is a public service accessible to everybody, even if they do not speak the language of the court. The same can be said of healthcare services, education, and other services provided to the public. Sports interpreting is not a public service. It has nothing in common with the way healthcare, legal, and other community services are provided.

Let us see what sports interpreters do:

• They interpret for a particular athlete or set of athletes in a team.
• They provide simultaneous interpreting during strategy and informational team meetings.
• They interpret consecutively or simultaneously during contract negotiations and similar meetings with the team’s front office.
• They interpret simultaneously of consecutively media interviews and press conferences.
• Sometimes they provide whispered (chuchotage) interpretation during certain events when accompanying the principal.
• They are retained by a league, team, or sports/news network to perform these professional tasks.

The services described above are those of a conference interpreter, not a public service interpreter. The International Association of Conference Interpreters indicates on its website that conference interpreting happens in a “wide range of multilingual events, including…industry events, international meetings, press conferences, and interviews.” (https://aiic.org/site/clients/working-with-aiic?nav=sidebar)

I am not saying these interpreters are members of the association, but if the services they provide are those of a conference interpreter, the natural conclusion is that sports interpreters should abide by their own code of professional conduct, and until there is one, they should observe a conference interpreter code of ethics. Professionalism, confidentiality, integrity, loyalty, reliability, are some of the essential ethical principles all professional conference interpreters abide by. They are all part of AIIC’s Code of Ethics (https://aiic.org/company/roster/companyRosterDetails.html?companyId=13403&companyRosterId=120)

Strictly reviewing Major League Baseball interpreters’ job description, we immediately notice that, even if they could be considered conference interpreters, certain duties are not common among conference interpreters, and others cannot be compatible with the work of a conference interpreter. Such duties include:

• Escort interpreting when opening a bank account, leasing an apartment, or buying a car.
• If interpreting for a pitcher, accompanying the coach to visits to the pitcher’s mound during the game.
• Assisting the principal with baseball practice and training when no one else is available.
• Explaining the team’s “unofficial rules of conduct” to the principal. In one team this includes explaining to the player that during his first year with the team he must carry the beer cooler on airplanes.

Perhaps the best way to solve these issues would be to eliminate some of these chores from the job description, and hire a non-interpreter to do them.

Despite the unethical, illegal actions of Ippei Mizuhara, the main message for the profession should be that sports interpreters are here to stay, they are a consequence of globalization, and should be dealt appropriately to make sure they service is provided professionally by competent individuals. Some 25 percent of all Major League Baseball players are from Latin America and need interpreting services. Asian players are becoming a common sight in American ballparks. There are players from 19 countries playing baseball in the United States, and since 2016 MLB has required that every team carry 2 full time staff Spanish interpreters at the club’s expense (with a subsidy of $65,000 for each team every season). Most of these interpreters have little professional experience, and most are former college or minor league ballplayers in need of interpreting training. Most Asian players handpick their interpreters and they are usually included as part of their contract. Mizuhara himself was an interpreter with the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters in Japan during the time Ohtani played there and was especially requested by the player when he came to the United States. Edwin Stanberry who currently interprets for the two Japanese players in the Chicago Cubs roster, is a Japanese citizen himself; he was born in Fukuoka, and played college baseball as a catcher for the Hilo Vulcans in Hawaii.

The time to approach these interpreters, and others in many sports worldwide, has arrived. Some agencies are already advertising sports interpreters on their websites, and they will send them out there with no interpreting skills and ethical knowledge. These colleagues must be trained. The first step is to acknowledge they exist, and then to stop treating them as public service interpreters.    

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