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Life Onboard |
LAST UPDATE
July 12, 2005
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| site design imagesparkle.com |
| March 10, 2004 |
Communication Coordinators – Building Bridges for Understanding |
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| CCs in their trademark red T-shirts |
For every voyage, Peace Boat invites guest educators (known as "mizu-saki-annai" or "navigators" in Japanese) to give educational lectures and interactive workshops in order to share their knowledge and experiences with the participants onboard. The vast majority of the participants are Japanese who have little experience communicating in languages other than their native tongue.
So how does Peace Boat manage to organize educational voyages with indispensable contributions by many non-Japanese speaking guests and at the same time make sure that the guests' short stay onboard is a fruitful and enriching experience as well? The answer is the presence of "communication coordinators" or "CCs" as Peace Boat refers to them - interpreters whose roles go far beyond the standard.
For Peace Boat's 44th Global Voyage, there are ten volunteer CCs: Yumi Horiguchi, Mine Karaki, Ayami Moriizumi, Earth Bennett, Hanako Eguchi, Hazuki Yasuhara, Ralph Ittounen Hosoki, Makiko Abe, Minoru Mitsui, Yuka Suzuki, and the coordinator of communication coordinators, or CCC for short, is Rei Kanno. All of them are able to communicate in Japanese and English, with a number being trilingual, speaking fluent Spanish as well.
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| CCs in action |
Onboard, CCs interpret in lectures and workshops and translate various documents including the daily events timetable. At port of calls, in vivid red T-shirts, CCs become essential bridges between Peace Boat participants and the local people with whom we interact. Additionally, they help the volunteer language teachers from the Global English Training (GET) programme with their lessons, and also participants and non-English speaking staff when they have casual conversations with non-Japanese speaking persons onboard.
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| Preparing for lectures in the CC room |
In a nutshell, CCs are an essential part of Peace Boat's educational voyages. But for many participants, they are somewhat of a mystery. In order to offer the participants a glimpse into their diverse backgrounds, the CCs gave a presentation "Get to Know the CCs".
The audience learned that, CCs also come from all walks of life. With the youngest CC being 23 and the oldest 33, they represent a diverse range of interests and cultures. Their academic backgrounds reveal specialization in fields as diverse as sociology, Chinese, Spanish, international relations, education, anthropology, and neurology from academic institutions around the world. The CCs on the 44th voyage can be found and their voice heard at every corner of the ship as they help weave together the intricate fabric of life onboard. |
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