Living in Peru : your everyday companion

By Dyana Gonzales

If you were in Lima, Peru, this Sunday and turned on Channel 2 to watch the Academy Awards ceremony, you might have wondered who the Spanish voices dubbing Natalie Portman and Colin Firth belonged to.

We thought it would be fun to go behind the scenes and get a peek at the faces of the two interpreters entrusted by Frecuencia Latina to play the voices of Hollywood stars: Rebeca Mego and Rony Gonzales (my older brother).

Hearing their interpretations alongside well-known radio and TV host Patricia Melgarejo, people who have heard but never met Rony and Rebeca have said they pictured them to be very serious and definitely older. But nothing could be further from the truth: Young, spontaneous and fun-loving, they shared their pictures and anecdotes with us, and gave us a behind-the-scenes glimpse at live TV interpretation.

The Frecuencia Latina production team for the Oscars.

First of all, what is an interpreter? A lot of people call you translators, but can you tell us the difference between the two?

Rony Gonzales: Interpreters do spoken translation. A translator does written translation.

Rebeca, you lived in Florida and Ron you in New Jersey and you both have Peruvian parents, which is how you became fluent in English and Spanish. But you weren't interpreting or translating majors in college...

Rebeca Mego: Not at all. I majored in Business administration.

Rony: My degree says Chemistry, but most of my credits were for Linguistics classes.

Which one has been your favorite interpreting gig?

Rebeca: The Oscars is definitely one of my favorites. I love fashion and acting. Working in front of the camera too. So, even though I get to interpret other interesting events, none of them are as much fun as interpreting about something I'm really into.

Rony: My favorite job, to this day, is having interpreted the Nobel Prize Awards Ceremony this year. When Mario Vargas Llosa received his lifetime achievement award. For a second there, I felt like I had been part of something really special.

How long did you prepare before the Academy Awards?

Rebeca: Actually, only about four hours before the show ...I would say maybe eight hours total.

Rony: It was spread out over something like six sessions, plus a few hours of going over stuff before the show. We were given a script of the whole performance in English, but they kept changing it and in the end it's just a tool to keep us all synchronized. The production team is amazing — they did some crazy research and got us a facebook of sorts of all the people that would appear in the order they would appear. But most of the work is done in real time.

What part did you find most challenging?

Rebeca: I think at the beginning, when we first go on the air; that's always the most difficult part. I get really nervous. But then it goes away.

Rony: The first few minutes are hell, when you first go on the air. You've spent the whole afternoon calibrating the audio, but somehow it's never OK! But then you just play.

Any interesting anecdotes from this year or last?

Rebeca: Yeah, the two of us elbowing each other whenever one or the other needed to jump in and interpret.

Rony: Also, someone left a cell phone in the studio and it went off while we were on the air. It was inside a purse. One of the producers literally grabbed the purse and stuffed it into the kitchenette fridge! It was hilarious.

What do your friends and family say when they hear your voices on TV?

Rebeca: They all get really happy and say they hope to see our faces on TV some time soon. They also all try to meet up in one place and watch it together.

Rony: This year my mom baked me a cake.

What would you tell any bilingual or polylingual person considering a career in interpreting?

Rebeca: They would meet so many people and get to learn a lot about different cultures and backgrounds. I would tell them it's a great way to meet new people and experience different things.

Rony: A career in interpretation is like a sampler platter of every industry out there. One minute you're a Los Angeles police officer, the next you're George Clooney. For every time you ever asked yourself: "I wonder how they..." Before you know it, you'll be in the middle of it all.

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5 Comments

# Janet Mitchell says :
2 March, 2011 [ 03:04 ]

I was really impressed to see peopl with little experienced doing such a great job, I was impressed. It is an honor to know they are from Peru. Well done.

# John S. says :
2 March, 2011 [ 03:06 ]

Nice job. I have been interpreting for years and want a gig like that one. Must be nice.

# Evelyn Chavez says :
2 March, 2011 [ 04:30 ]

I am so proud of my cousin Rony.  Growing up, he was so smart and very ambitious and curious when it came to gathering as much knowledge as he could.  Great job! So proud!

# Maria says :
2 March, 2011 [ 05:45 ]

Congratulations Rony and Rebeca!

# ONS says :
4 March, 2011 [ 08:35 ]

I'm very proud of you baby !

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