Honored Alumni lecture speaker Barry Slaughter Olsen shares life stories and lessons from his career.
Successful careers evolve through a conglomerate of experiences and hard work, as exhibited by Barry Slaughter Olsen’s (Spanish Translation and Russian ’95) decades-long interpreting career. During the annual Honored Alumni lecture on October 19, 2023, Olsen shared experiences that can guide students in their own journeys toward fulfilling careers in the humanities.
Olsen introduced his stories by explaining how interpreting and other language-related fields require flexibility and pragmatism, especially in a changing world of technology. He specifically advised those who hope to go into the field, saying, “What you have to understand is that [translation and interpreting] professions are not going to disappear, but they are adapting radically . . . you have to be flexible and continue to learn.”
Olsen then shared specific experiences from his career that exemplify the traits needed to succeed in his field. He recounted an instance when adaptability and persistence helped him turn a daunting task—holding an interpreting conference in Mexico City in 2019—into an exciting success.
The conference in question, called Lenguas, took place just two weeks after a terrible earthquake razed Mexico City. Facing many unknowns, Olsen and his team decided to move forward with the conference. It turned out to be a great event that provided training and networking opportunities for attendees. Many interpreters of indigenous languages in Mexico, who, according to Olsen, had “never been taken into account as professionals,” attended the event. Helping them learn and introducing them to his colleagues at the conference (including members of the United Nations and national governments) became one of the most satisfying moments of Olsen’s career.
He also described his noteworthy experience helping the company Zoom develop multilingual video conference capabilities. Though the partnership underwent some complications, Olsen fully realized the impact of his contributions when the pandemic hit in 2020. During that time, he worked with the Church as an interpreter using the Zoom technology that he himself had helped create, and he watched as that technology allowed Church leaders to communicate with people all over the world. The experience taught Olsen that not all success is monetary, since the resulting benefits for the Church and others mattered much more than any personal benefits associated with his efforts.
Near the end of his lecture, Olsen circled back to a moment early in his career, during his first high-level assignment overseas, when he recognized how much the government official he was interpreting for relied on him. This realization pulled his focus away from himself and helped him adopt a more service-oriented mindset.
Above all, Olsen stressed the importance of interpretation work and other language-related fields, saying, “I have a deep belief that when people can truly understand one another, then they can live in peace with greater ease.” He encouraged BYU students to always put in effort, seek guidance from the Lord, and be ready to make mistakes and accept course correction when necessary.
View past Honored Alumni lectures here.