Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Getting interviewed

I was on the other end of the interviewing table the other day with Mr. Isao Tokuhashi, who has a Web page, and Podcast.
What a learning experience.
"You know..." "Hmmm" "...like..." "Whatever..."
A sophisticated speaker I am not.
Whatever!
I learned it's nerve-wracking to be interviewed.
And I developed a newly found sympathy for those I interview.
But it's also fun to prattle about yourself.
And to hear the sound of your own voice.
Isao Tokuhashi also taught me that interviews are to be enjoyed.
He is a special kind of person who genuinely likes interviews.
I'm not exactly sure what this means.
But we sometimes forget to enjoy the interview process as much as we should because we get caught up with trying to get something for a story out of the interview.
An interview is, after all, about getting to know someone.
It's a pretty fundamental form of human communication.
And that's an important thing to remember.
Mr. Tokuhashi also translated the interview into Japanese and posted photos of the AP office.
I got to know Mr. Tokuhashi after he visited our bureau with a clip of my AP article from the Fresno Bee.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

yoo kneed helps with inglish langwage lik mee?

Anonymous said...

徳橋です。ブログに載せていただけたなんて光栄です!
インタビューをし続けると、やがてはインタビューを受ける立場になるのかもしれませんね。
僕はフレスノでインタビューを英語で受けるハメになりましたが、当時の英語力は影山さんの1億分の1くらいだったので、冷や汗を流したことしか思い出せません。
英語でインタビューに答えるなんて、僕には無理です。だからインタビューする側にいるのです(笑)
本当にありがとうございました!

Yuri Kageyama said...

Mr. Tokuhashi, I wish you the best of luck with all your interviews. Even while I was growing up, I found that people would often tell me their deepest secrets, and I used to wonder why. I thought it was because my face gave the impression I was the kind of person who wouldn't be judgmental. It's important to be a good listener. And you are a good listener!

Anonymous said...

Yuriさん
Thank you very much! これからもより良いリスナーになれるように頑張ります。