Conference Interpreting

Conference Interpreting: A Student’s Practice Book brings together a comprehensive compilation of tried and tested practical exercises which hone the sub-skills that make up successful conference interpreting Unique in its exclusively practical focus, Conference Interpreting: A Student’s Practice Book, serves as a reference for students and teachers seeking to solve specific interpreting-related difficulties. By breaking down the necessary skills and linking these to the most relevant and effective exercises students can target their areas of weakness and work more efficiently towards greater interpreting competence. Split into four parts, this Practice Book includes a detailed introduction offering general principles for effective practice drawn from the author’s own extensive experience as an interpreter and interpreter-trainer. The second ‘language’ section covers language enhancement at this very high level, an area that standard language courses and textbooks are unable to deal with. The last two sections cover the key sub-skills needed to effectively handle the two components of conference interpreting; simultaneous and consecutive interpreting. Conference Interpreting: A Student’s Practice Book is non language-specific and as such is an essential resource for all interpreting students regardless of their language combination.

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. The first edition of this book was published in the series Translation Theories explained, at a time when St. Jerome had no separate series for books on practice as such. Happily, it has now found its rightful place in the Practices series. Modifications with respect to the first edition include an updated reading list, an index, and guideline tasks for training sessions. The popularity of the book since its first appearance in 1998 suggests that little else needs to be changed.

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.

This companion volume to Conference Interpreting – A Complete Course provides additional recommendations and theoretical and practical discussion for instructors, course designers and administrators. Chapters mirroring the Complete Course offer supplementary exercises, tips on materials selection, classroom practice, feedback and class morale, realistic case studies from professional practice, and a detailed rationale for each stage supported by critical reviews of the literature. Dedicated chapters address the role of theory and research in interpreter training, with outline syllabi for further qualification in interpreting studies at MA or PhD level; the current state of testing and professional certification, with proposals for an overhaul; the institutional and administrative challenges of running a high-quality training course; and designs and opportunities for further and teacher training, closing with a brief speculative look at future prospects for the profession.

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 andâ "perhaps inadvertentlyâ "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.

'Conference Interpreting: What do we know and how?' is the title of a round-table conference (Turku 1994) organised to assess the state of the art in conference interpreting research. The result is collected in this volume with fully coordinated reports on the round tables. The book presents an exciting coverage of the field, touching on methodology, communication, discourse, culture, neurolinguistic and cognitive aspects, quality assessment, training and developing skills.

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.

'Conference Interpreting: What do we know and how?' is the title of a round-table conference (Turku 1994) organised to assess the state of the art in conference interpreting research. The result is collected in this volume with fully coordinated reports on the round tables. The book presents an exciting coverage of the field, touching on methodology, communication, discourse, culture, neurolinguistic and cognitive aspects, quality assessment, training and developing skills.