Have you hosted an event that required conference interpreting? Have you yourself attended a conference where you benefitted from conference interpreting? What is conference interpreting? Why should you bother investing in this professional service?
Conference interpretation utilizes at least one team of two interpreters to render a message from one language (known as the source language) into another language (hereinafter, the target language) in simultaneous mode. It is practiced at professional conferences, seminars, international summits, and national and global meetings. The setting may involve private enterprise, commerce, government functions, and international agencies. This profession, in its modern form, emerged during the 1945-1946 Nuremberg trials. Sophisticated interpreting equipment along with highly skilled interpreters make this a successful reality.
However, how can you actually use this profession and its associated technology to grow your profits? First, consider your event. Are you hosting a three-day event for aircraft engineers? Will engineers from other countries attend this event? Have you considered their potential delegation fees as additional income? Or perhaps a good deal of your company’s workforce is limited in its English proficiency. How do you ensure that those employees participate in fringe benefits program or quarterly meetings? Achievement is driven by knowledge and teamwork. When the group receives the correct information at the same moment, goals can be planned and implementation methods can be set to attain them.
This sounds promising. Now that you have determined what type of event you have, you need to decide on a location, as well as how many individuals will require interpretation into their native language. Success is highly dependent on adhering to professional standards set by ISO and ASTM. Any deviance will likely cause some level of dissatisfaction or worse, failure. Any conference interpreting venue will require most of the following:
- Interpreting booths (installed, mobile full size, or mobile tabletop)
- Audio/Visual technician for setup, break down, and troubleshooting
- Transmitters, interpreter headsets, and microphone
- Receivers
- Backup equipment
- Stage microphone and podium for speaker
- Background/supporting information
- Event translation
- Audio/Visual tapes of speaker
If you’re interested in more information, please feel free to visit the
International Association of Conference Interpreters (AIIC) website. A number of companies have retained Alfonso Interpreting in order to accomplish their language access objectives.
