Bilingual Emcee Job

I should have posted this article just after my first job experience, but...you know, from my laziness...I'll tell you about it now!

My first bilingual emcee job was an international wedding ceremony & reception at a gorgeous hotel in Shinjuku(Guests from overseas were 30 out of 100.)
The meeting was a week before the wedding.
Usually, there are supposed to be just newlyweds & emcee at the meeting, but there were...me (an English emcee & interpreter,) a Japanese emcee (the event planner ordered her because the couple couldn't find a bilingual emcee...until they found me,) and en event planner.(why was he there? He said, "because it's a special case," he meant, an international wedding.)

In Tokyo, I used to be a wedding emcee at restaurants or estate-style wedding venues.
So, I didn't know that...traditionally, hotel weddings have "event agents" for wedding.
I got this job offer from an event agent of the hotel, therefore, I should have asked everything not directly a hotel wedding planner, but an event agent. However, the event agent didn't know much about my bride and groom, so everything was unclear until I met the couple at the meeting. For example, the agent said, "the groom is American." But it turned out he was Australian! Why do many Japanese think "All westerners are the same!??"
THEY ARE DIFFERENT!!
They have different accents, different cultures, different characters...
My attitude was right to prepare for the meeting depends on which country he was from, but, you know... it happens. There are many people are involved in business, so, I need to be flexible all the time.

Anyway, (if I need to write so much even "before the meeting," how much I would write until the wedding was over!? Prepare for the worst, baby!!) eventually, the meeting was very successful.
I was afraid if I didn't understand the groom's Aussie English, but I completely could.
My communication was perfect between the newlywed, that made the event agent relieved.

I tried to communicate well enough to make the couple confirmed that I am professional.
We exchanged e-mails a lot after the meeting in a week (for Japanese couples, sometimes it's annoying if an emcee asked too many questions. But in western culture, it's a good attitude to ask if something is unclear.)
Via e-mail, the Australian groom said, "Keiko, you seem a lovely person & very professional.
We're (he and the bride) happy to have you one of our MC's!!"
That words made me lighten up.

On the wedding day, I noticed...
I wanted to be a "go-between" for two culture, I mean, international newlyweds and their families.
But eventually, I was a "go-between" for staff crews and the clients ( I mean, the newlyweds and their families!!)
Hotel staff crews, who were supposed to be very professional for weddings, were very confused at the international wedding.
Because;
The couple basically lived in Australia. They were just visiting Japan to tie the knot in the bride's home country. It means, the groom didn't understand Japanese at all.
However, he was the one who had many plans for their wedding. Firstly, many staffs didn't understand his original plan clearly. Secondly, when we noticed his plan needed to be changed slightly on site, other crews were afraid to communicate with him because they don't speak English.
Therefore;
from the rehearsal of the ceremony to after the ending of the reception, I ran between the groom & stuff crews to "interpret."

I imagined before...but realized vividly ON SITE...international wedding is exactly, mixture of two cultures!!
For example, they had a non-religious ceremony at the hotel's lobby.
But they (the groom) didn't want a Japanese-style-non-religious-one （人前式。）　　
They wanted to have me as a celebrant, who let the couple repeat their vows.
I knew western style wedding was so, and the couple said their vows, exchanging wedding rings... But Japanese staff crews had no idea about it, so I needed to advise them for everything. Even a Japanese emcee and I had a practice for emceeing on the phone, the Japanese emcee was so nervous & misled some orders!! That's why I kept saying, there was no need for "just a Japanese emcee" at international weddings!! A bilingual emcee can do everything!!

For some reasons, ( I want to talk about it more, but please talk to you in person some another time!!) their reception started 50 minutes behind from the schedule.
What I was frightened the most was... speech translation.
I have never worked as an interpreter, but I practiced for that, watching wedding speeches on YouTube etc, and I got some clues from my mentor bilingual emcee, Ryoko.
So, overall, I did good...but again, I realized "ON-SITE" is different from "IN-CLASS."
For example, I learned I could ask a speaker to show me his note for the speech. But one speaker didn't have a note, and another speaker had a lot of spelling mistakes on his note.
I asked them what they were going to speak beforehand, so I could confirm the context while I was listening their speeches, then I summarize them.

I was very busy during the reception because many staff crews asked me to interpret...
Then, a captain said to me, "Keiko, want should I say to the groom?"
I didn't get what he meant, "Say...what??"
"A congratulatory comment! I kept talking to him in Japanese, even he didn't understand... At least after the ending, I want to talk to him in English to celebrate. How do you say, "ご結婚おめでとうございます。　すばらしいご家庭をつくってくださいね。" in English??"
I smiled. "Oh, you could say, " Congratulations for your wedding! I wish both of you build a wonderful family!!"
He repeated, but forgot, so I wrote it down on a memo.
Then, a Japanese emcee and assistant captains surrounded me asking,
"Teach me English! Is there any way to shorten the sentence??"
"Would you write the sentence in Katakana?" etc, etc...
My emcee stand became an "instant-today's English-class."

As the reception was going to the end, a braid maid(hotel staff) told me.
"The groom asked you about speech or something... would you go to him to ask what?"
I asked him, and he said, "I just thought if someone wanted to speak a few words..."
I said to myself..."There he comes! A westerner!!!"
Usually, western wedding parties are "spontaneous," as I wrote in the "Wedding from American point of view" article. They don't decide who will speak except for a maid of honor and best man.
Those who want to speak ON SITE will speak!!

I thought the Australian groom understood Japanese wedding parties, which are "everything is planned beforehand."
But...as he became relaxed, the western part of him appeared.
I wanted to make his request come true, but there were some "red tape" at the wedding.
I needed to ask a Japanese emcee, assistant manager, and a manager...

After all, we couldn't ask, "Does anyone want to say a few words?" because of time restraint.
Frankly speaking, "the red tape" included my inexperience. I thought I would like to avoid "spontaneous, simultaneous interpretation" for table interview...
I asked my mentor the feedback about it later. I should clear about the simultaneous interpretation thing someday!!

Behind one hour and ten minutes from original schedule, the long wedding was over.
My instant students, I mean, captains and a Japanese emcee, who asked me how to say congratulatory messages in English, were about to use the "today's English key sentence" to the groom... But ON SITE, they got scared & let me say that as a representative.

The groom and groom's father said, "Because of the staff crews' hard work, all the guests enjoyed our wedding. We appreciate it."
I translated that, then staff crews, who had been caught in cultural gaps, were so relieved.
The groom told the bride, "You are the perfect bride. Please stay beautiful forever in our married life."
I translated that to a captain. He was astonished,
"We, Japanese guys, never imagine to say so to our girls..."
He, also was caught in another cultural gap.

The couple gave us a gift to me as their acknowledgement.
I wrote a thank you e-mail. They individually replied to me after they were back to Australia.
The bride said, "I hope we could meet some other time privately, or please be our emcee again for another occasion!"
The groom said, "Your help as much appreciated as MC and you were very professional."
Can you imagine how I was glad to hear that?
I think I was very lucky to have them as my first clients. They were very generous, thoughtful, kind, and unique couple.
But some Japanese hotel crews were afraid & didn't know how wonderful the newlyweds were just because didn't speak English!
In fact, we had some issues might become complaints. However, because the bride and groom were so nice & I communicated with them well...( I think I could get a credit about it!) everything was ended fine.
I learned a lot from this job experience!!

By the way, besides the bride and groom, a person who showed me appreciation most was the groom's father. He said, "Keiko, you were the most helpful! You told me everything what we should do next, so we could be relaxed here. Thank you!" He hugged me.
He spoke typical Aussie English, and had many spelling mistakes on his speech note...
God bless me, it was a miracle I didn't have a major mistake when I translated his speech!!