Be Com Ing A Conference Interpreter

This study offers a novel view of Conference Interpreting by looking at EU interpreters as a professional community of practice. In particular, Duflou’s work focuses on the nature of the competence conference interpreters working for the European Parliament and the European Commission need to acquire in order to cope with their professional tasks. Making use of observation as a member of the community, in-depth interviews and institutional documents, she explores the link between the specificity of the EU setting and the knowledge and skills required. Her analysis of the learning experiences of newcomers in the professional community shows that EU interpreters’ competence is to a large extent context-dependent and acquired through situated learning. In addition, it highlights the various factors which have an impact on this learning process. Using the way Dutch booth EU interpreters share the workload in the booth as a case, Duflou demonstrates the importance of mastering collaborative and embodied skills for EU interpreters. She thereby challenges the idea of interpreting competence from an individual, cognitive accomplishment and redefines it as the ability to apply the practical and setting-determined know-how required to function as a full member of the professional community.

This book condenses the important lessons learned at key points during the author’s 30-year career as an intergovernmental conference interpreter and trainer, seeking to define what constitutes good interpreting and how to develop the skills and abilities that are conducive to it, as well as fostering practices and technologies that help to maintain high professional standards. The book places interpreting in its historical context as a time-honoured discipline and discusses the effect of modern technology on translating and interpreting, identifying areas where it is most useful (electronic communications media, broadcasting) while stressing that professional education and training of linguists are more important than reliance on technological shortcuts. The book is an invaluable resource to all those working or training in conference interpreting, as well as being a stimulating read for those engaged in the wider work of interpreting.

When Woodrow Wilson, David Lloyd George, Vittorio Emanuele Orlando and Georges Clemenceau met in Versailles in January 1919, they ushered in the modern era of multilateral diplomacy and—perhaps inadvertently—laid the foundation for a new profession. Indeed, communication among these statesmen was only possible thanks to the first conference interpreters. For the following 100 years, these interpreters would become a permanent fixture at all international multilateral conferences. As we celebrate one century of conference interpreting, this volume takes stock of some of the most important milestones throughout the history of this exceptional profession and looks at its future at a time when the global COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the world of international meetings. Thanks to its refreshingly interactive format, this volume gives a voice to different stakeholders in the world of conference interpreting today, including practitioners, managers, researchers and trainers. The result is a surprisingly candid and critical discussion of some of the most hotly debated topics in the world of conference interpreting.

Roderick Jones adopts a very practical approach to both consecutive and simultaneous interpreting, providing detailed illustrations of note-taking, reformulation, the 'salami' technique, simplification, generalization, anticipation, and so on, including numerous tricks-of-the-trade such as how to handle difficult speakers and how to interpret untranslatable jokes. Numerous examples are offered at every stage, all in English or 'foreignized' English. Although primarily written as a practitioner's explanation rather than a theorist's speculation, the book includes notes on concepts such as units of meaning, translation units and discourse structure, as well as stances on more polemical issues such as the use of omission and the ethics of interpreting mistakes. The book concludes with a comment on the pleasure of conference interpreting, as well as a glossary and suggested further readings. In all, it fills a major gap in English-language publications on interpreting, providing an introduction for beginners, a down-to-earth guide for students, and a handy compendium for teachers.

This groundbreaking study explores Simultaneous Conference Interpreting (SI) by focusing on interpreters as professionals working in socio-cultural contexts and on the interdependency between these contexts and actual SI behavior. While previous research on SI has been dominated by cognitive and psycholinguistic approaches, Diriker’s work explores SI in relation to the broader and more immediate socio-cultural contexts by investigating the representation of the profession(al) in the meta-discourse and by exploring the presence of interpreters and the nature of the interpreted utterance at an actual conference. Making use of participant observations, interviews and analysis of conference transcripts, Diriker challenges some of the widely held assumptions about SI. She suggests that the interpreter’s delivery represents not only the speaker but a multiplicity of speaker-positions, and that this multiplicity may well be a source of tension or vulnerability, as well as strength, for interpreters. Her analysis also highlights how interpreters negotiate meaning in SI, and underscores the need for more concerted efforts to explore SI in authentic contexts.

This book is now in its Third Edition having recently been revised and updated. It is also available as an e-Book (Kindle). It has been described by Sherrill J. Bell, Executive Director of NAATI at the time of its first publication, as "one of the most significant contributions to the field of interpreting and translating in Australia in the past decade. It represents the only major publication in Australia on this specific aspect of interpreting in recent years. As such, it provides an all-encompassing reference work for prospective conference interpreters, for conference organisers, for interpreting and translation educators and for individuals generally interested in the profession." "The book is written in a very free style that clearly reflects the enthusiasm and vibrancy of the author. Its content is informative and practical, often based on scientific principles, while at the same time interspersed with humour and fascinating anecdotes. The book has the remarkable quality of conveying serious and important concepts in a format that is user-friendly and enjoyable to read. In summary, Conference Interpreting is a most significant contribution to the field of interpreting in Australia and internationally. It should be required reading for all those involved with the profession. It begins with the history of interpreting in Europe and Australia, then looks at how it is done today, and what lies ahead. The different modes of interpretation are explained; there are tips for beginners such as how to overcome stage fright, what to do if you miss something, booth behaviour and microphone manners, how to become a graceful scapegoat, economise your voice and make delegates laugh as well as how to deal with Australianisms. A chapter is devoted to conference organisers, another to protocol and etiquette, after-dinner speeches and press conferences, as well as the duties, responsibilities and ethics of the profession, how to improve your performance, working for radio and television and the special requirements, gravity and complexity of court interpreting. The bodies that make up UN and EU are detailed and the languages used. Finally a comprehensive bibliography is given with suggestions for further reading. This book is intended to help language students, would-be interpreters, conference organizers and delegates as well as those who have studied interpretation techniques but lack booth experience and are reluctant to launch themselves into this challenging but satisfying, stimulating, even exhilarating, profession. It is not about the theory of interpretation but rather a 'hands-on' manuel explaining how simultaneous interpretation works, how it is done, the pitfalls to avoid, which languages are most in demand and where.

Providing comprehensive coverage of both current research and practice in conference interpreting, The Routledge Handbook of Conference Interpreting covers core areas and cutting-edge developments, which have sprung up due to the spread of modern technologies and global English. Consisting of 40 chapters divided into seven parts—Fundamentals, Settings, Regions, Professional issues, Training and education, Research perspectives and Recent developments—the Handbook focuses on the key areas of conference interpreting. This volume is unique in its approach to the field of conference interpreting as it covers not only research and teaching practice but also practical issues of the profession on all continents. Bringing together over 70 researchers in the field from all over the world and with an introduction by the editors, this is essential reading for all researchers, ​trainers, students and professionals of conference interpreting.