Conference Interpreting

Conference interpreting is the high-level, real-time interpreting of speeches and proceedings in international settings, mainly in simultaneous and consecutive modes.

Definition

The interpreting of speeches and discussions in conference and multilateral settings, performed chiefly in simultaneous or consecutive mode.

Scope

This topic covers interpreting at conferences and in international organizations: the simultaneous mode performed from a booth while the speaker continues, and the consecutive mode performed after a passage with the aid of note-taking. It treats the interpretive (theory of sense) approach developed in Paris, cognitive effort models, note-taking technique, booth practice and relay, and the standards and working conditions established by professional bodies. The treatment is descriptive and grounded in the professional history of the field.

Core questions

• How does simultaneous interpreting differ from consecutive interpreting?
• What cognitive resources does conference interpreting demand?
• How do interpreters take notes for consecutive interpreting?
• What standards govern professional conference interpreting?

Key theories

Interpretive theory of translation (theory of sense)

Seleskovitch and Lederer's Paris-school view that the interpreter understands and deverbalizes the sense of the message before re-expressing it, rather than transcoding words, making meaning the unit of interpreting.

Effort models

Gile's analysis of simultaneous interpreting as a fragile equilibrium among listening, short-term memory, speech production, and coordination efforts, with overload producing omissions and errors.

History

Conference interpreting emerged from consecutive interpreting at the Paris Peace Conference and the League of Nations, then shifted toward simultaneous interpreting with the equipment used at the Nuremberg trials in 1945-46. Training schools in Geneva and Paris and the interpretive theory of sense professionalized the field, while later cognitive research refined understanding of its demands.

Debates

Sense versus form in real-time rendering

Researchers debate how far interpreters work from deverbalized sense versus tracking surface form, a question sharpened by studies of how syntactic and lexical correspondences affect simultaneous performance.

Key figures

• Danica Seleskovitch
• Marianne Lederer
• Daniel Gile
• Jean Herbert

Seminal works

• herbert1952
• seleskovitch1978
• gile2009

Frequently asked questions

What is simultaneous interpreting?

Simultaneous interpreting is rendering a speaker's words into another language almost in real time, usually from a soundproof booth while the speaker keeps talking.

Why do conference interpreters work in pairs?

Simultaneous interpreting is so cognitively demanding that interpreters typically work in pairs and rotate roughly every twenty to thirty minutes to maintain accuracy.