221. Don’t Get Lost in Translation: Staying Cool When Every Word Counts

How do you stay clear, calm, and precise when every word counts and there’s no room for error? Staying calm and focused while translating high-stakes conversations in real time isn’t just a language skill — it’s a masterclass in communication under pressure. And for Giampaolo Bianchi https://www.fastersmarter.io/guests/giampaolo-bianchi/, simultaneous interpreter for the United Nations and World Health Organization, it’s a challenge he meets with presence, precision, and a whole lot of preparation. In this expanded conversation from our Spontaneous Speaking series, Bianchi offers a behind-the-scenes look at how he prepares for — and performs in — moments where being calm, in control, and adaptable are essential. “We don’t translate words — we translate ideas,” Bianchi explains, highlighting the mindset shift that allows interpreters to go beyond language and convey meaning with clarity and nuance. He shares the role of rigorous preparation, physical grounding, and mental focus in his work, and explains how tools like note systems, pre-session rituals, and active listening help manage cognitive load during live interpretation. In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart https://www.fastersmarter.io/, Bianchi and host Matt Abrahams explore how the principles of simultaneous interpretation apply far beyond the booth — offering valuable strategies for anyone who needs to communicate effectively under pressure, adapt in the moment, and ensure their smartest communication happens without a script. Episode Reference Links: Giampaolo Bianchi https://www.fastersmarter.io/guests/giampaolo-bianchi/Ep.197 Prep or Perish: Mastering In-the-Moment Communication (1 of 3) https://www.fastersmarter.io/197-prep-or-perish-mastering-in-the-moment-communication-1-of-3/Ep.198 Pause and Effect: Mastering In-the-Moment Communication (2 of 3) https://www.fastersmarter.io/198-pause-and-effect-mastering-in-the-moment-communication-2-of-3/Ep.199 Blunder Pressure: Mastering In-the-Moment Communication (3 of 3) https://www.fastersmarter.io/199-blunder-pressure-mastering-in-the-moment-communication-3-of-3/Ep.203 No Script, No Problem: Final Secrets to Speaking Under Pressure (Bonus) https://www.fastersmarter.io/203-no-script-no-problem-final-secrets-to-speaking-under-pressure-bonus/ Connect: Premium Signup >>>> Think Fast Talk Smart Premium https://www.fastersmarter.io/premium/Email Questions & Feedback >>> [email protected] Transcripts >>>Think Fast Talk Smart Website https://www.fastersmarter.io/221-dont-get-lost-in-translation-staying-cool-when-every-word-counts/Newsletter Signup + English Language Learning >>>FasterSmarter.io http://fastersmarter.io/Think Fast Talk Smart >>>LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/think-fast-talk-smart/,Instagram https://www.instagram.com/thinkfasttalksmart/, YouTube https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6caGRBUYZCmgDGM2RK6mxKB9jG_ccmm3Matt Abrahams >>>LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/maabrahams/ Chapters: (00:00) - Introduction (01:09) - Becoming a UN Interpreter (02:17) - Staying Calm Under Pressure (03:30) - Translating Emotion, Not Just Words (04:37) - Memory and Focus Techniques (06:18) - The Power of Preparation (07:44) - Pre-Meeting Rituals and Readiness (09:01) - Handling Mistakes in Real Time (10:11) - Interpreter Habits in Daily Life (11:12) - The Final Three Questions (14:52) - Conclusion ******** Thank you to our sponsors. These partnerships support the ongoing production of the podcast, allowing us to bring it to you at no cost. Learn more about how Notion https://www.notion.com/?utm_source=podcasts&utm_medium=thinkfast can support your business at notion.com/thinkfast. https://www.notion.com/?utm_source=podcasts&utm_medium=thinkfast Join our Think Fast Talk Smart Learning Community and become the communicator you want to be. https://learning.fastersmarter.io/?redirect_from=podpage

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Matt Abrahams?

  In the moment, conflict is difficult for everyone. In our October newsletter, out now, you will learn ways to help yourself handle these challenges better. Not only do you get specific advice, we're also providing an infographic to help you remember. Find our newsletter on the Think Fast, Talk Smart LinkedIn page or at fastersmarter.io under Resources. Meaning matters, especially in high-pressure negotiations or crisis situations. And we can all actively work to make sure our messages aren't lost in translation. My name is Matt Abrahams, and I teach strategic communication at Stanford Graduate School of Business. Welcome to Think Fast, Talk Smart, the podcast.

• 0:44Matt Abrahams?

  As part of our four-part mini-series on spontaneous speaking, we introduced you to a number of coaches whose jobs require successful in-the-moment communication. So many of our listeners found value in our coaches' advice that we wanted to provide you with an opportunity to hear our complete interviews. So today, I'm excited for you to learn from Giampaolo Bianchi. Giampaolo is a simultaneous interpreter who does work for the United Nations and the World Health Organization. His main areas of focus are on international diplomacy and politics, human rights, global health, and foreign policy. Let's jump right in and learn from Giampaolo. Giampaolo, welcome. I look forward to our conversation.

• 1:27Speaker 01

  Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure.

• 1:29Matt Abrahams?

  Excellent. Shall we get started?

• 1:31Speaker 01

  Let's.

• 1:32Matt Abrahams?

  So for over 10 years, you've been a high-stakes language interpreter for the UN and other governmental organizations. What languages do you speak, and what trainings and experiences led you to do this kind of work?

• 1:44Speaker 01

  Here in Geneva, I mainly work with English, Spanish, and French. As for my training, well, I started out 10 years ago at the University of Hawaii, and then eventually I obtained a master's degree in conference interpreting at the University of Geneva here in Switzerland.

• 2:00Matt Abrahams?

  I'm impressed that you went to school in Hawaii. I think that sounds awesome. So is a lot of the training just doing translation in real time? Is like somebody drilling you and making sure everything you said is accurate?

• 2:12Speaker 01

  More or less, yes. You start with simple speeches and you work on those. And then you gradually work your way up and do things that are more difficult. Until by the end of your training, you are, you know, working for a half hour at a time and interpreting very difficult speeches.

• 2:28Matt Abrahams?

  Wow, that's amazing. Could I put you on the spot? I'm gonna ask you a question. Would you mind translating the question that I ask and then answer it back in English? Would that be okay?

• 2:38Speaker 01

  Sure.

• 2:39Matt Abrahams?

  You've translated in really high-pressure situations with super important conversations happening. How do you stay calm and collected while also thinking on your feet during these tense moments?

• 2:52Speaker 01

  Usted ha interpretado en situaciones donde hay mucha presión y en donde se están celebrando conversaciones muy importantes. ¿Cómo mantiene usted la calma y la compostura a la vez que piensa rápidamente durante esos momentos de alta tensión? That's basically my interpretation of the question. And as for the answer, well, there are a lot of sort of smaller actions that you can take to help you focus. For example, just your posture, the way that you hold yourself while you're working. You know, you're sitting in the booth and you have both feet planted on the ground. You have, you know, you keep your back straight, try to anchor yourself to the ground, and that helps.

• 3:36Speaker 01

  Remembering to breathe is also very important. And on a mental level, zero in on the present moment. You know, just focus on what you're doing at that exact moment. Don't dwell on anything else.

• 3:52Matt Abrahams?

  I want to just point out for our audience who can't see you, but I can. Two things happened. When I asked you to translate, you actually did go into that position naturally. It's not that you were slouching or leaning, but all of a sudden I saw you become more formal. And I definitely saw you take a breath. I want to ask you a question that came from what you said in Spanish. You were clearly not just repeating my words, but you were inflecting those words to convey some of the same emotion that I was trying to convey. Talk to me about the role of conveying emotion.

• 4:30Speaker 01

  Sure. Well, in our profession, we often say that we don't translate words, we translate ideas. The idea is to try and embody the person that you're interpreting. You try and sort of get into their head, figure out what it is that they're saying and why they're saying it. And yes, you know, follow the tone or the inflection without exaggerating. You know, you don't want to, you don't want to become a caricature of the person that's speaking originally. You're almost playing a role in a sense.

• 5:00Matt Abrahams?

  That's really interesting. That's fascinating. It's scary that you're trying to inhabit, you know, what I'm trying to say because I'm not even sure what I'm trying to say. How, you know, I can imagine in these intense conversations, people go on for a long period of time. How are you remembering everything they're saying as they're saying it? Is there some way you do that?

• 5:20Speaker 01

  Well, it depends on the mode of interpreting. There is simultaneous interpreting and consecutive interpreting. A consecutive is just when a person speaks a phrase in one language, then you repeat it in the other language. And we do take notes when that happens. We have developed a system of notes to help you kickstart your memory and to sort of guide you along the speech as you're interpreting. And as for simultaneous interpreting, well, you are going to have to concentrate very hard for a sustained period of time. So it can, it's very taxing.

• 5:58Matt Abrahams?

  Would you mind sharing like one thing you do to try to maximize your cognitive bandwidth? I know that when I'm really trying to concentrate and remember a question somebody asks or something, I might look down in a way because looking at people's faces gets distracting to me.

• 6:12Speaker 01

  Sometimes I do something similar, you know, sometimes when I'm, I really need to concentrate, I'll close my eyes and put my, my head in my hands and try and focus that way. Sometimes, on the other hand, I do actually have to look at the person.

• 6:26Matt Abrahams?

  Sure.

• 6:27Speaker 01

  Because there are lots of non-verbal cues that can help me, you know, body language and so on. But I would say like the number one thing that I do to avoid cognitive overload is just preparation.

• 6:40Matt Abrahams?

  Okay, so tell me about that. What's that preparation look like?

• 6:43Speaker 01

  When a conference interpreter works at a meeting, they have to know almost everything about the meeting before it even begins. So if I'm interpreting a conference, I will look up the organization that I'm working in, figuring out who's the director general, who's the deputy director general, what's the structure of the organization, what do they do, why do they do it? And then I'll look up the specific meeting, why are they meeting, what are they there to discuss, what do you think is going to be said at the meeting?

• 7:14Matt Abrahams?

  I see.

• 7:15Speaker 01

  Given the delegates that are there, sometimes you might even go so far as to look up the delegates online and see if there are already recorded speeches of them, so that you can listen to them and sort of prepare by getting used to their accent. You can also look up the jargon that's used in the organization. Are there any important acronyms or any technical terms that you really need to know? Because if you prepare that information beforehand, and if you really study it and learn it by heart, you can almost automate the process of thinking about those things, so that you can then dedicate your mental resources to something else. Because if you spend, every second that you spend thinking about, oh,

• 7:59Speaker 01

  what does that acronym mean, is a second that you're not spending on understanding what is being said and interpreting it.

• 8:06Matt Abrahams?

  That's phenomenal. So it is in that in-depth preparation that you are freeing up your cognitive bandwidth in the moment. One of the things that you mentioned that I think is so important is, many of us are in interactions with people who don't necessarily speak the language we speak as their native tongue, so they have accents. And I love this notion of actually trying to see if you can hear the person speaking prior to ever being in the moment with them, so you can train your brain to be prepared for what they're saying. That's really important. I really appreciate you sharing. I'd like to go to the moment before you start, because I can imagine there's some anxiety, some excitement. What do you do to prepare yourself that helps you get ready to get started?

• 8:52Speaker 01

  Well, one of the things that I, that every good interpreter does is, they usually arrive At the venue, at least half an hour before the beginning of the meeting. You want to be there as early as possible so that you can iron out any technical issues that might pop up, talk to the technicians and perhaps even delegates and try and get information from them that way.

• 9:13Matt Abrahams?

  It sounds to me like it's almost a ritual and that ritual might actually also help you calm down and get prepared.

• 9:20Speaker 01

  Yeah, it is kind of like that, yes.

• 9:23Matt Abrahams?

  Yeah, it's interesting. So I've interviewed actors and actresses and a lot of what you're describing sounds similar to what they do. I am sure you're a human, that you have made mistakes or you've been less accurate than you intended. How do you recover in those moments?

• 9:38Speaker 01

  Well, the first thing that you have to do, if you're able to correct it immediately, then you can just correct it immediately. Above all, you just need to keep calm, sort of keep it in the back of your head and try and go back to it when, whenever you can.

• 9:54Matt Abrahams?

  Excellent. Well, yeah, and I think that's true for any of us when we make a mistake. You have to make an in the moment choice. Can I correct it now or do I have to come back to it later? Or maybe it's not significant enough to even matter. I'm curious, at the completion of a translation, do you ever talk to the people for whom you translated? Do they ever give you feedback? Do they ever say, hey, thank you or that was helpful? Or is that something that's you just don't do, that's not allowed or expected?

• 10:22Speaker 01

  It's not something I do very often, to be honest. We, interpreters tend to be more behind the scenes people. I know, we go into the booth in the back of the room and then we do our job.

• 10:34Matt Abrahams?

  Do you find, do you find it hard to turn off this way of communicating when you're just in everyday communication? You know, as somebody who teaches communication, I have had to learn over time to just turn off my brain and not be analyzing the things that I get paid to analyze, you know, the things I teach. Do you find yourself in like everyday interaction, switching languages or noticing things that get distracting from the moment of being real, can really present and connected with the people you're talking to?

• 11:04Speaker 01

  Yeah, it does happen a lot. I mean, I tend to use a lot of interpreter speak, even when I'm not interpreting and sometimes I need to stop myself and say, you're not, you're not interpreting anything. You are just having a normal conversation.

• 11:19Matt Abrahams?

  Conversation.

• 11:20Speaker 01

  And it also happens that you'll be Interpreting, sometimes I'm interpreting for so long that I'll find myself interpreting everything else in my head. So, you know, I'll be watching a TV show and interpreting it in my head.

• 11:34Matt Abrahams?

  Sure. We'll be right back to finish our conversation. But first, we're going to take a quick break for a word from our sponsors. Their support covers the cost of production so we can bring you this show for free.

• 11:46Matt Abrahams?

  This podcast is sponsored by Squarespace. The best communicators don't just get their message across, they make it easy for people to know what to do next. Your website can do the same thing. With Squarespace, you can build a polished online presence that clearly shows people who you are, what you offer, and how they can work with you. If you offer coaching, consulting, classes, or other services, Squarespace lets you showcase those offerings, take payments, and use Acuity Scheduling so people can book time with you directly. And with built-in analytics, you can see how people are finding and engaging with your site, helping you make smarter decisions about where to focus. So your online presence doesn't just look professional, it helps people take action. Go to Squarespace.com/thinkfast

• 12:31Matt Abrahams?

  for a free trial. And when you're ready to launch, use offer code THINKFAST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Hi, Matt here. Sometimes the biggest obstacle to getting something done isn't the idea, the plan, or even the budget. It's finding the right person to help you execute. And the longer that takes, the easier it is to lose momentum. That's where today's sponsor Upwork can help. Upwork gives businesses fast access to highly skilled freelance professionals across areas like marketing, design, software development, AI, and business operations. And with Business Plus, you can access the top 1% of talent on Upwork. AI-powered shortlisting

• 13:13Matt Abrahams?

  gives you a curated list of freelancers matched to your goals in under six hours. So you can spend less time searching for the right person and more time actually moving the work forward. Visit Upwork.com right now and post your job for free. That's Upwork.com to connect with top talent ready to help your business grow. That's U.P.W.O.R.K. dot com. Upwork.com.

• 13:38Matt Abrahams?

  Jim Paulo, this has been fantastic. Before we end, I'd like to ask you three questions that I'm asking everyone in our mini-series on spontaneous communication. Are you up for that?

• 13:47Speaker 01

  Sure.

• 13:47Matt Abrahams?

  So, this will fascinate me. Who is a communicator that you admire and why?

• 13:52Speaker 01

  I really admire Carl Sagan because he is so good at taking very complex ideas and explaining them in a way that is very easy to understand. He's just an expert at teaching you very complex ideas and doing so in a way that is very natural and almost spontaneous, and I think that's very admirable.

• 14:20Matt Abrahams?

  You're right. I mean, he was very good at doing that, and I'm not surprised that somebody who does what you do would admire somebody who, in a similar vein, translated very technical, scientific information for those of us who are less technical and scientific. Question number two. While those listening likely won't need to speak in the situations you do, what advice would you give for them to be better spontaneous speakers in the moment?

• 14:45Speaker 01

  Analyze what people are saying. What is the idea that they're trying to communicate? And how are they communicating it? Why are they using certain words and not others? Or why are they avoiding the use of certain words? And really try and analyze what people are saying and how and why. And that'll help you when you have to, you know, do it yourself.

• 15:08Matt Abrahams?

  Yes, so to be a really detailed observer of the communication, not just what's being said, but how and why and the language, to help yourself. But also, I think, as you shared, you get deeper understanding.

• 15:23Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 15:23Matt Abrahams?

  Final question. I'd like you to give me some homework. What is one communication thing that I could do in my life that simulates something you do regularly? What advice would you give me so that I could do that thing well?

• 15:38Speaker 01

  Well, I guess this goes back to what we were saying earlier about preparation. The language that we speak is our primary tool when we're interpreting. And...

• 15:49Speaker 01

  You should learn to use that tool as efficiently as possible. And one of the ways to do that is to practice different ways of saying things. For example, there's an exercise that interpreters do when they're preparing. They'll take a concept and they'll think of as many different ways of saying the same concept as they can. So, for example, how many different ways do you know of saying "go up"? Something can go up, but it can also grow. It can escalate. It can hike. It can balloon. It can skyrocket. And then the opposite, you know, for things that are going down. They can descend. They can plummet. They can bottom out.

• 16:32Speaker 01

  And really practice those things over and over and over. And then try to use them in your everyday language instead of instead of saying the same thing more than once. Just use a synonym.

• 16:46Matt Abrahams?

  Well, thank you for elevating our game without lowering our abilities. That was really helpful and I'm going to practice that. I think that's a wonderful tool. Well, Giampaolo, this has been incredibly educational. Thank you for sharing what you do on a daily basis and translating that so the rest of us can understand. I really appreciate your time. Thank you so much.

• 17:10Speaker 01

  Thank you. Muchas gracias. Me asebo.

• 17:18Matt Abrahams?

  Thank you so much for joining us for another episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, the podcast. To learn more from our spontaneous speaking coaches, listen to our four-part mini-series, Episodes 197, 198, 199, and 203. You can also go to fastersmarter.io/spontaneous.

• 17:39Matt Abrahams?

  This episode was produced by Catherine Reed, Michael Riley, and me, Matt Abrahams. Our music is from Floyd Wunder, with thanks to Podium Podcast Company. Please find us on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. Be sure to subscribe and rate us. Also, follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram. And check out FasterSmarter.io for deep dive videos, English language learning content, and our newsletter. Please consider our premium offering for extended Deep Thinks episodes, Ask Matt Anythings, and much more at FasterSmarter.io/premium. Before we wrap up, I just want to say thank you for listening. It really means a lot to hear how people all over the world are using these ideas in their own lives.

• 18:22Matt Abrahams?

  It inspires me and the whole team that brings you this show. If you want more episodes and resources, feel free to follow, subscribe, and explore past conversations. We're grateful for your support of Think Fast, Talk Smart.