By Joseph Rawlings
It?s Conference morning. A man?s throat is dry and he nervously sweats as he steps up to the podium, reviewing the opening joke of his talk in his mind one last time. At the same time, over 50 other people in the Conference Center feel just as nervous as they wait for him to speak ? they are his translators.
Every Conference session, there is a bustle of translating activity that few people get to see. The Church Web site, lds.org, shows that Conference translations are available in 57 languages.The Church simulcasts these translations to hundreds of locations around the world so members can hear in their own language the Conference talks as they are given.
BYU student Wayne Funk will be going to Conference this weekend to help translate for his second time.
The Church usually requires translators to be native speakers, but Funk learned to speak Latvian while serving a mission in Latvia.
?There are very few native speakers that live within the state that are members,? Funk says. ?One of my MTC teachers is in charge of the Latvian translations and he asked me if I wanted to be a translator.?
The Church sends the talks to native speakers in Latvia and many other countries first to have native members help in the translation. A few days before Conference, the translators receive both the English and the translated copies to ensure they are correct and to practice. And in case you thought otherwise, Funk says some things can?t be prepared for.
?Prayers are not scripted, so they can be scary to translate,? he says.
?The Church sends you the talks already written out in English and then in Latvian,? Funk said. ?You practice reading it so you can read it clearly. Then there are revisions.?
Oftentimes there are last-minute revisions to talks, and translators must hurry to make notes in the margins about the changes. Sometimes, translators are caught off-guard as a speaker says something not at all scripted.
?When the new Apostles were announced last Conference, I stayed up all night translating one of the new Apostles? talks that we got last minute,? Funk says. ?Then I gave the translation the next day.?
Funk says the translating takes place in rooms in the Conference Center.
?They are small rooms that about two people can fit in with headsets and TVs and microphones?everything needed for good translation,? Funk says.
Funk?s greatest satisfaction comes from knowing that his efforts help others.
?It is a great honor to know that the people I knew on my mission will be able to hear conference and that I can still help them after my mission,? he said.
Another translator at BYU, senior Petter Svanevick from Fredrikstad, Norway, has been translating conference for three years already.
?There were some relatives that needed help and I signed up and volunteered,? he said. ?I like to help the Church out in any way I can.?
Petter says his translation is now being done through a new program in which the translation is done in Norway, but that he still goes to Salt Lake every Conference as a backup. His mantra:
?You just have to use your imagination, pay close attention and do the best you can,? he said. ?Especially when they crack jokes at the beginning.?