The decade of observation that built Slots v. Loops™

Some systems arrive as ideas. This one arrived as a pattern: noticed once, then again, then so consistently that ignoring it stopped being an option. For the better part of a decade, I worked as a diplomatic interpreter. My job was to be invisible: present in some of the most sensitive British-La...

by Cecilia Lipovsek — Aug 25, 2026 slots v. loops™

Your LatAm counterpart's English isn't your English

In 2004, Jean-Paul Nerrière coined the term Globish — a blend of global and English — to describe the English spoken around the world by non-native speakers. It is not broken English. It is functional English, shaped by its speakers' own languages, carrying traces of how they think, structure sen...

by Cecilia Lipovsek — Aug 25, 2026 conversational dimension

The meeting went well. Then nothing.

You know the feeling. The meeting was warm, engaged, maybe even overran by twenty minutes. Everyone left smiling. You sent the follow-up that evening. Then silence. Not a cold silence. A polite one. Which, as it turns out, is harder to read. The situation A British consultant I know, senior, expe...

by Cecilia Lipovsek — Aug 25, 2026 temporal dimension the friction dispatch™

There’s a season inside The Season and you're missing it

Between late March and September, something shifts in the way British professionals relate to each other. The diary fills differently. Conversations have a different register. There are invitations that carry more weight than they appear to, events that function as professional rituals disguised ...

by Cecilia Lipovsek — Aug 25, 2026 relational dimension the friction dispatch™

When ‘now’ means different things on each side of the call

There is a phrase that became a kind of shorthand during the pandemic years, when every meeting moved online and every delegation that used to fly into London started joining from a screen instead. ‘Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening, whatever applies to you.’ I heard it dozens of time...

by Cecilia Lipovsek — Aug 25, 2026 temporal dimension the friction dispatch™

Why I Follow the Othello Principle

Confidentiality is at the centre of the interpreting profession and drives interpreters to guard the content of conferences, meetings, depositions, and medical consultations all over the world. Our responsibility to do so is listed in every professional association’s code of ethics and profession...

by Cecilia Lipovsek — Aug 25, 2026 multilateral way musings

When your body says more than your words

Most professionals preparing for a British-LatAm meeting think about what they are going to say. Very few think about what their body is already saying before they open their mouth. The spatial dimension of the Slots v. Loops™ systems is the one that operates entirely below the level of language....

by Cecilia Lipovsek — Aug 25, 2026 spatial dimension the friction dispatch™

The conversation your counterpart is having in their head

Most people assume an interpreter’s job is to translate what is said. It is. But only partly. The more interesting part of the job is managing what goes unsaid. The moment when someone understands perfectly well but cannot find the words, or finds them and hesitates, or has the words and the conf...

by Cecilia Lipovsek — Aug 25, 2026 conversational dimension the friction dispatch™

The sandwiches gave it away

I have accompanied a lot of technical missions over the years. British hosts, Latin American visitors, a full programme of back-to-back meetings, and lunch served in the same room where the morning session just ended. Wraps. Sandwiches. Crisps on the side. Eaten standing up, between conversations...

by Cecilia Lipovsek — Aug 25, 2026 relational dimension the friction dispatch™

Argentine Spanish, LatAm, and why I sound like this

People occasionally ask why the Spanish on this site sounds distinctly Argentine rather than what they call "neutral." The short answer is that there is no such thing as neutral Spanish, and the longer answer says something useful about how Latin America actually works. But let me start with me, ...

by Cecilia Lipovsek — Aug 25, 2026 latin america

The much-coveted back effect

Over the years, I have noticed there is a very curious phenomenon that happens in every meeting or event where good interpreting is provided. I call it The Back Effect. It goes like this: Delegates or attendees enter the room and are given headphones and receivers. There is concern in their face...

by Cecilia Lipovsek — Aug 25, 2026 musings

Are you fluent in body Spanish?

As you know, I am always bridging between Latin America and the UK. And, although generalisations must be used carefully and sensitively, they can help us shed light onto the two ends of the cultural bridge so that we can bring them closer and find the ‘happy middle’ where we understand one anoth...

by Cecilia Lipovsek — Aug 25, 2026 spatial dimension

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The Desk

My notes on the friction that costs British and Latin American executives and diplomats trust, deals, and influence. Observations and systems for the real work.

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My notes on the friction that costs British and Latin American executives and diplomats trust, deals, and influence. Observations and systems for the real work.

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