simultaneous interpreting

11th year of interpreting at Nordic Business Forum

30.4.2024 by Delingua

Interpreting today

21.11.2023 by Katja Virtanen

This autumn, we had the great pleasure of being Nordic Business Forum’s interpreting partner for the tenth time in a row. All the fascinating presentations on the main stage at Messukeskus in Helsinki were interpreted simultaneously from English into Finnish and Estonian.

As before, interpreting was offered to almost 7,000 seminar participants at the venue as well as tens of thousands of livestream followers. Although many participants have good business English skills and listening to presentations in English is also a good option, this year’s audience was clearly more interested in interpreting than before and, for example, many people came to our stand to ask for instructions on how to use the interpreting application.

Now, why has interpreting suddenly become so popular?

Technology as a driver of growth

The language service industry as a whole has been growing for quite some time. The growth of translation services is driven by the internationalisation of companies, the development of technology and the exponential increase in content volumes. When it comes to interpreting, increased immigration and the use of new technologies have played a key role in increasing the demand for interpreting services.

The development of interpreting technology has provided easier access to services. It is no longer impossible to arrange interpreting at a very short notice or for very rare language pairs. Previously, it was necessary to think about getting a professional interpreter on site in person, whereas the focus today is more on the quality of interpreting and advising the customer on using the right interpreting technology. The number of languages available at meetings has also increased thanks to the development of technology.

Multilingual meeting

When remote interpreting got a significant boost a few years ago due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we also said that remote interpreting is here to stay. We were right, but the desire to meet other people was still there and led to the return of in-person meetings. Meetings with interpreting are still held in Teams and on other platforms but also frequently in the traditional way. The coexistence of remote and in-person meetings resulted in a completely new type of interpreting: hybrid interpreting. Technology makes it possible for people to listen to interpreting both on site and remotely, and it may even be the case that interpreters are not always present at the event.

In any case, the availability of interpreting has improved and the increased use of technology has also seen interpreting become more interesting. It is no longer just language work; instead, customers often also need advice on choosing an interpreting platform and guidance on how to arrange a meeting and interpreting. In connection with meetings, other language services may also be needed, such as translation of documents or transcription of meeting recordings. A whole new concept has been born: the multilingual meeting.

Technology will not replace interpreters

I have not yet written much about interpreters themselves in this article. In most cases, technology has had a positive impact on the way interpreters work. Various databases, such as term bases and searchable reference material databases, have made the work of interpreters easier. Similarly, remote interpreting has made it possible to accept several interpreting assignments for the same day as time is saved when there is no need to travel.

Although technology is developing in leaps and bounds and machine interpreting is also emerging as an option, it is unlikely that human interpreters will be replaced by machines in the near future. The work of an interpreter requires the ability to identify with the speaker, to adapt to different circumstances and to encounter people, which is something that machines cannot do, at least for the time being. And who would even want to listen to a monotonous machine voice all the time!

In the future, I believe there will be even more demand for interpreting and interpreters.

Have you already tried simultaneous interpreting in your Zoom meeting?

28.4.2020 by Katja Virtanen

All around the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has driven people to work remotely. At the same time, companies have been forced to find alternative ways of working and meeting. It’s the golden age of video conferencing, which can be seen, for example, in the way the number of users of services such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom and Google Hangouts has exploded.

As international meetings have moved online, many have encountered a new problem. How to break down language barriers in meetings or webinars so that language does not prevent participation?

Zoom interpreting feature

Many may not yet know that Zoom, a video call service provider, offers its users a real-time simultaneous interpreting feature. It’s a happy coincidence and great timing for the American company that they introduced and implemented the feature to their service at the end of 2019. Currently, Zoom is the only widely used video call service in Finland with this particular feature.

The Zoom interpreting feature is not available for Basic or Pro accounts, but it is included in Business / Enterprise accounts. The feature is easy to activate with instructions provided by Zoom. In practice, when a meeting is being created by the host, they can designate the interpreter role to agreed interpreter participants and select channels that fit their languages. All participants can take their pick from the languages available in the meeting and tune in to their preferred one instead of the speaker’s language. This is done by first muting the language of the meeting. The interpreter takes part in the meeting by listening to the original speech through their headphones and simultaneously interpreting it into the target language. Incredibly, no one even has to leave their home!

The pros and cons of Zoom interpreting

The biggest advantage of the Zoom simultaneous interpreting feature is that it is included in a service that many are already familiar with. Activating the interpreting feature and adding interpreters to a video call is incredibly easy. With Zoom, you’ll also save all the costs that would usually come with using separate remote interpreting software. Naturally, hiring professional interpreters will lead to some costs, but the benefits far outweigh the expense. Thanks to the interpreting feature, meetings can be held even under exceptional circumstances and without the need to travel!

The first downside that comes to mind is possible interference in internet connection and sound quality, which could cause problems for interpreting quality. Simultaneous interpreting requires extreme focus and high-quality audio. Any interference with connections and incoming sound quality is stressful for interpreters.

Another possible disadvantage could be that Zoom has chosen the nine languages that are available on the basis of American needs. Unfortunately, Finnish is not one of these languages, which means English to Finnish interpretation has to be listened to from, for example, the Korean channel. This may cause some confusion. It also has to be admitted that if the Zoom meeting host does not wish to become a virtual technician, it is probably a good idea to keep the number of interpreted languages to a minimum.

Zoom’s issues with data security have also raised discussion. F-Secure’s Chief Research Officer Mikko Hyppönen says that Zoom has reacted well to the highlighted issues. In his opinion, the software can be used safely for conventional corporate meetings, which means it should also be safe for webinars and seminars, for example.  

The time for remote interpreting is now

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the need for remote interpreting. During these exceptional circumstances, both customers and interpreters have faced something quite new and can no longer ignore remote interpreting technology. Of course, the technology has been coming for a long time, but no specific platform has gained a foothold yet in remote simultaneous interpreting.

Now that the need for remote work, video calls and remote meetings has surged, it is our opinion that Zoom offers a wonderful solution for webinars, remote learning and meetings with foreign business partners. Many cancelled annual general meetings could be rescheduled in Zoom and offered with, as always, high-quality simultaneous interpreting on the side.