Jean Herbert

Last updated
Jean Herbert Flag of France.svg
UNinterpreterJeanHerbertChiefBook.jpg
Born(1897-06-27)27 June 1897
France
Died20 August 1980(1980-08-20) (aged 83)
OccupationInterpreter
ChildrenJanine Yates, Yvette Renoux

Jean Herbert was a French Orientalist and one of the first generation of interpreters for the United Nations organization. [1] He was a former chief interpreter of the United Nations interpretation service in New York City. [2]

Contents

Biography

Herbert was one of the pioneer, veteran and model consecutive interpreters from the League of Nations and the International Labor Office. [3] His father was an English-speaking Frenchman. He was married to an English woman, with whom he had two daughters, Janine Yates and Yvette Renoux. [2]

Herbert had worked between World War I and World War II for different international organizations. [3] Towards 1930, he became interested in Buddhism and the Far East prompting him to travel to India, China and other Buddhist countries, leading to the authorship of many books related to the Far East such as his Introduction to Asia. [2]

During World War II – in 1939 - Herbert saved 2,000 Alsatians from being shot by the Germans and spent the rest of the war in the French Midi, devoting himself to the study of sacred Hindu texts until he received a telegram from the Minister of Foreign Affairs of France requesting him to go to San Francisco, California for the founding of the United Nations. [2]

Jean Herbert said the interpreter must help people in understanding each other in the highest sense of the words, that is, to give more than a literal translation, so as to convey the deep meaning of what is said. It requires a deep knowledge and a vivid interest for foreign culture, customs, literature, history and ways of life. And that is exactly what Jean Herbert pursued in life.

Pierre Lambert, U.N. Interpreter, Tribute to Jean Herbert, during a lecture at the Tokyo School of Interpreting, 1982 [2]

From San Francisco, Herbert went to the preparatory committee of the U.N. and UNESCO in London. From London, he went to New York to function as chief interpreter. After spending two years in New York, he then moved to Geneva, taking part in the interpreter admission board of the Sorbonne and the Trieste schools. [2]

He published his Manuel de l’interprete (The Interpreter’s Handbook) in 1952. He also founded and directed two collections of multilingual and technical dictionaries published by Elsevier and sponsored by the Universities of Paris, Heidelberg, Mainz, Trieste and Georgetown University. Herbert also became a vice-president – and then president – of the International Association of Conference Interpreters (AIIC) for three years. [2]

After retiring from the United Nations in 1954, Herbert continued freelancing and traveled to the Far East, Madagascar and the Middle East. [4] He held the chair of Eastern Mythologies at the University of Geneva, where he taught from 1954 to 1964. [2]

He wrote Shinto the Fountainhead of Japan with details from visits from 1935 to 1964 and it was published in France in 1964 and in English in 1967 [5]

Jean Herbert died in 1980 at the age of 83. [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Religion in Japan</span>

Religion in Japan is manifested primarily in Shinto and in Buddhism, the two main faiths, which Japanese people often practice simultaneously. According to estimates, as many as 80% of the populace follow Shinto rituals to some degree, worshiping ancestors and spirits at domestic altars and public shrines. An almost equally high number is reported as Buddhist. Syncretic combinations of both, known generally as shinbutsu-shūgō, are common; they represented Japan's dominant religion before the rise of State Shinto in the 19th century.

The Humanity Declaration is an imperial rescript issued by Hirohito, the emperor of Japan, as part of a New Year's statement on 1 January 1946 at the request of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers. In the rescript, which started with his citation of the Five Charter Oath of 1868, the Emperor denied the concept of his divinity, which would eventually lead to the promulgation of the new Constitution, under which the Emperor is "the symbol of the State and of the unity of the people".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ame-no-Uzume</span> Goddess of dawn, mirth and revelry in the Shinto religion of Japan

Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto is the goddess of dawn, mirth, meditation, revelry and the arts in the Shinto religion of Japan, and the wife of fellow-god Sarutahiko Ōkami. She famously helped draw out the missing sun deity, Amaterasu Omikami, when she had hidden herself in a cave. Her name can also be pronounced as Ama-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto. She is also known as Ōmiyanome-no-Ōkami, an inari kami possibly due to her relationship with her husband. She is also known as Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto, The Great Persuader, and The Heavenly Alarming Female. She is depicted in kyōgen farce as Okame, a woman who revels in her sensuality.

Interpreting is a translational activity in which one produces a first and final target-language output on the basis of a one-time exposure to an expression in a source language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ame-no-Nuboko</span> Japanese mythological weapon

Ame-no-Nuboko is the name given to the spear in Shinto used to raise the primordial land-mass, Onogoro-shima, from the sea. It is often represented as a naginata.

<i>Tomoe</i> Japanese comma-like swirl symbol

Tomoe, commonly translated as "comma", is a comma-like swirl symbol used in Japanese mon. It closely resembles the usual form of a magatama.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Nations Interpretation Service</span> Team of interpreters at the UN

The United Nations Interpretation Service is a part of the Meetings and Publishing Division (MPD) of the UN's Department for General Assembly and Conference Management (DGACM). Its core function is to provide interpretation from and into Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish for meetings held at United Nations Headquarters, and those at other locations which the department is responsible for servicing. Interpretation is essential to the inter-governmental bodies for the proper conduct and smooth functioning of their deliberations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Igor Korchilov</span> Russian-English conference interpreter

Igor Korchilov is a top-level Russian-English conference interpreter who worked with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev from 1987 to 1990, a period that covered the Cold War era.

Herbert Feis was an American historian, author, and economist who was the Advisor on International Economic Affairs in the US Department of State during the Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt administrations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Asia</span> Subregion of the Asian continent

East Asia is a geographical and cultural region of Asia including the countries of China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. Additionally, Hong Kong and Macau are two coastal cities located in the south of China with autonomous status under Chinese sovereignty. The economies of China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan are among the world's largest and most prosperous. East Asia borders Siberia and the Russian Far East to the north, Southeast Asia to the south, South Asia to the southwest, and Central Asia to the west. To its east is the Pacific Ocean.

Danica Seleskovitch was a French conference interpreter, teacher and prolific academic writer on translation studies. Among other career milestones, she founded the Interpretive Theory of Translation.

Conférence Internationale Permanente d'Instituts Universitaires de Traducteurs et Interprètes, abbreviated as CIUTI, is an international academy associating translation and interpretation institutes affiliated to universities.

Kotoshironushi (事代主神), also known as Yae Kotoshironushi no kami (八重言代主神), is a Shinto kami.

Jean-Pierre Armengaud is a French music educator, musicologist, researcher and pianist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susanna Vernon</span>

Susanna Vernon was a pioneer conference interpreter, one of the first to practice simultaneous interpretation, in which the interpreter interprets while the speaker is still speaking.

Yakusanoikazuchi or ikazuchi is a collective name for the eight kami of thunder in Japanese mythology. Each one represents a different type of storm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marianne Lederer</span> French Translation Scholar

Marianne Lederer (born 1934) is a French translation scholar. Lederer further developed the Interpretive Theory of Translation together with Danica Seleskovitch, who first proposed the theory. Lederer also published several works on translation and interpreting pedagogy. Her works have greatly influenced interpreting and translation research and teaching internationally.

Kamo no Okimi was the son of Kotoshironushi and Tamakushi-hime, and brother of Himetataraisuzu-hime. He was an ancestor of the Kamo clan, and by extension through Ōtataneko (太田田根子) the Miwa clan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isono Shrine</span> Shinto shrine in Saijo, Japan

Isono Shrine (伊曽乃神社) is a Shinto shrine located in Saijō, Shikoku, Ehime Prefecture, Japan. It is a Beppyo shrine. It is notable for two different festivals: Saijo Matsuri, and Isono Jinja Sairei.

References

  1. "The Interpreter's Handbook". Goodreads. Retrieved 2024-07-16.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Baigorri-Jalón, Jesús (2004). Interpreters at the United Nations: A History. Translated by Barr, Anne. English translation from Spanish. Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca. p. 106. ISBN   84-7800-643-5.
  3. 1 2 Herbert, Jean (1978), "How Conference Interpretation Grew", in Gerver, David; Sinaiko, H. Wallace (eds.), Language Interpretation and Communication, NATO Conference Series, Springer US, pp. 5–10, doi:10.1007/978-1-4615-9077-4_2, ISBN   9781461590774
  4. Herbert, Jean (2010-10-18). Shinto: At the Fountainhead of Japan. Routledge. ISBN   9781136903762.
  5. Herbert, Jean (2010-10-18). Shinto: At the Fountainhead of Japan. Routledge. ISBN   978-1-136-90376-2.