TED Community » NIKI BOEHM

More About Me

I'm passionate about

Change. My work as an interpreter. Languages. Lexicography. Photography. Travel. Recycling. Positivity.

An idea worth spreading

Travel as part of compulsory education. Language learning outside the classroom.

Talk to me about

Interpreting, Translating, Photography, Travel, Latin America, Innovative methods of language learning/teaching, any book by Mario Benedetti & Paul Auster, Roadtrips, the power of colour, Tori Amos

People don't know that I'm good at

Thin slicing (Read Malcolm Gladwell's "Blink: the power of thinking without thinking" for more on that)

My TED Story

I have been watching TED talks online for quite a few years now (and have recently attended TEDxThessaloniki and TEDMED Live Athens), as many of the themes dealt with are of interest to me and to my line of work (conference interpreter/translator covering a wide range of issues, e.g. international relations/affairs, environmental issues, health care issues, financial affairs, humanitarian issues, development etc.). Having dabbled in subtitling in the past I decided to combine these two interests as a pastime and as a way to contribute to the TED initiative myself.

Comments

• TEDCred score: +5.50 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• +1

  A reply on Conversation: What is success to you?

  Apr 22 2013: Hi again Lizanne,
  so happy my words resonated with you. In my travels (especially in the US) I have listened to countless "unsuccessful" (by society's standards) musicians play live. Their music performances were an absolute treat (Leah Randazzo was one of many, just to give you an example) and have stayed with me ever since. To me their success lies in exactly that: their ability to enjoy what they do enough not to care if they are "successful" by the music industry's standards and to perform with the same enthusiasm, be it before an audience of 3 or 3.000 people.
• +1

  A comment on Conversation: What is success to you?

  Apr 20 2013: Hi Lizanne,
  
  I am somewhat disinclined to use the word success. However, as it is used here, "success" to me has always been about personal choices, personal achievement and fulfillment, tailored to one's own needs and desires. As you mention in a comment of yours further below, success "implies to me a state of being that is not determined by the individual, but by the masses". I fully agree, which is why the word success in that sense bears little relevance and meaning to me. It is important for me to take pleasure in what I do, to enjoy it. If through that I also help others, than this definitely adds to my sense of achievement, but it isn't defined by it. Not to mention that I am a firm believer in loving what you do as a means of doing it well. I have wanted to become an interpreter since I was about 9 years old, so I would be lying if I said that at that age my wish stemmed from my desire to help others and contribute to making their communication easier. It stemmed from my purely selfish desire to speak foreign languages and travel the world. Success is living your life the way you want (granted, you need to live in a democratic state to enjoy that freedom), while fully respecting those around you and the choices they make. It's not about being perfect in what you do (is there such a thing after all?), it's about doing it for the sheer pleasure it provides you and potentially those around you. It's about inner peace with the world around you. Success is not about blind perseverance (to attain goals that society has set for you), it's about recognizing what matters (to you and those around you, as "no man is an island") and letting go of the things that don't. Success is about being true to who you are and not being afraid to stand up for it.

• A comment on Conversation: Should we force democracy?

  Mar 25 2013: "Forcing" and "democracy" are two terms that preclude one another. If you force democracy, you basically deprive people of one of the main tenets of democracy, i.e. freedom of choice.

• A comment on Conversation: How many languages is it possible to know?

  Mar 11 2013: I want to say an infinite number of languages, but somehow I believe that the number is quite finite, if we mean speaking, understanding, reading and writing a foreign language at more than the average asking-for-street-directions-in-a-foreign-country level. Learning the basics is one thing, actually using a language for, let's say, professional purposes is a whole other ballgame. All in all, though, depending on whether one is bilingual or, even better, trilingual, I say depending on where you live (the Netherlands, for example) and how much time you invest in it, learning a fairly extended number of languages is feasible.
• +2

  A comment on Conversation: What is the most important thing you've learned on your own?

  Mar 10 2013: I learned Italian on my own, by watching (/listening to) Italian TV shows (or dubbed films) for a limited amount of time 5 days a week for a number of years (about 5). Gradually I started reading books and newspapers and eventually added Italian as one of the official languages I use as a conference interpreter (C language). Eventually, I also participated in the relevant language exam of the Greek Ministry of Education, which I passed (highest level available).
• +1

  A comment on Talk: Lisa Kristine: Photos that bear witness to modern slavery

  Feb 19 2013: Who can watch this and not want to scream at the injustice done to these people and so many others around the world? I applaud Lisa for her drive to expose modern day slavery and shed light on the plight of so many. This has been truly inspiring to watch.