Asian Development Bank is one of the most prominent international financial institutions in the world with hundreds of programs and activities that influence the lives of thousands of people all over the world.
Well, it has had a profound influence on my professional life, helped me launch my international career back in 2004 when I had the privilege to provide simultaneous interpretation services to its CAREC program for the first time, and to a great degree made me the interpreter and translator I am today.
Over the 16 years and counting of my cooperation with the Asian Development Bank I have been exposed to hundreds of events in a growing number of areas, including transport, energy, trade facilitation, international finance, tourism and so much more.
ADB is meticulous about event preparation and planning, and their sense of purpose and discipline transcends into translation and interpretation. For each international event, the ADB staff prepares dozens of presentations, information notes, background papers,
summaries of proceedings, and analytical reports. They have been consistent in having the same interpreters that provide simultaneous interpretation at their meetings, do the translation of the documents, which assists with the terminology, quality, and consistency of the translation and interpretation effort in this huge international effort.
ADB Secretariat is always on top of every little detail of event preparation, and the privileged few interpreters that they work with can always count on having the speeches, presentations, agendas, and other documents in their mailboxes and then in their booths for each and every event.
Staffed by highly motivated and professional personnel, ADB has managed to train a whole cast of top-notch interpreters and translators that feel truly privileged every time they can make a modest contribution to the success of an event or an undertaking by this truly inspiring organization.
I owe ADB much of my professional knowledge and experience in so many spheres. Thanks to ADB, I have made friends for life, traveled to dozens of countries, earned a stellar reputation among ADB’s development partners and government partners, and excelled in my amazing profession.
If I had to name one customer that has had the most profound effect on me as a professional interpreter and translator, and as a human being, it would be the Asian Development Bank.