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INTERNATIONAL ENTERPRISE HAS A `VOICE' IN MANCHESTER
Hartford Courant- November 18, 1999- Brenda Sullivan
"It's exciting. I get up in the morning and I don't know what the day will bring," said Elby Pagano, owner of Interpreters and Translators, Inc. in Manchester.
One morning, it was a call from a Florida-based business, looking for a Russian interpreter. Another day, it was a Southington manufacturing company preparing for a visit from a Chinese delegation of businessmen.
Probably the most exciting client, so far, was the one that provided a private jet to fly one of Pagano's interpreters to Mexico for a week.
The seeds of what has become an international enterprise were planted about 25 years ago, when Pagano worked as a clerk for the bankruptcy court of the Connecticut Judicial Department. A native of Puerto Rico, Pagano was asked from time to time to help interpret for Spanish-speaking clients.
She liked the experience, and decided to freelance, acting as an interpreter for criminal trials.
"Interpreting for businesses is different from trials. In a trial, you're interpreting simultaneously," translating the speaker's words almost as they're spoken, she said.
In a business setting, which can include such things as contract negotiations, "things are more sane," Pagano said. A person finishes a statement or question and this is translated for the listener, who then speaks and his or her comments are translated, in turn.
When discussions degenerate into unpleasant exchanges -- particularly in a courtroom, where expletives may fly -- "every word is translated," Pagano said, and laughed. Usually, it doesn't embarrass her, she said.
Pagano's freelance work at the court led to a full-time job as interpreter and then, in 1980, she became chief interpreter for the Connecticut Judicial Department. In this role, she oversaw a corps of interpreters speaking dozens of languages including Hindi, Urdu, Polish, Russian and a whole host of Slavic and African languages.