Articles

Maha El-Metwally talks to Richard Littlewood of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Domestic Office about a translation and interpreting service which has weathered calm and storm.

I was recently asked to contribute a presentation to the Innovation in Interpreting Summit organised by the amazing duo Nora Díaz and Josh Goldsmith. I was assigned the topic 'The Nomadic DigiTerpreter', which I thought very relevant for the interpreting community. Covid has created new realities for us – and thankfully, not all of these are...

Remote interpreting increasingly became part of every interpreter's toolbox with the first lockdown. The learning curve was steep for many of us but we managed to a large extent. Ever since, remote interpreting has become an integral part of many an interpreter's life.

How I used my Coronavirus imposed Home Stay

In any field, witnessing a centenary celebration is usually a once in a lifetime experience. On 3-4 October 2019, the interpreting community celebrated a hundred years since the birth of conference interpreting. This took place in Geneva at the International Labour Organization (ILO), which hosted a landmark conference called '100 Years of...

On Tuesday 18 December 2018, World Arabic Language Day, the United Nations celebrated the 45th anniversary of Arabic becoming the UN's sixth official language. As a conference interpreter for Arabic myself, I have always wanted to know more about the circumstances surrounding the adoption of Arabic as a UN official language and about how the first...

We all watched President Donald Trump being greeted in Spanish by the Argentinian President Mauricio Macri at the G20 Summit. Mr. Trump then tossing the mobile interpreting system on the floor while commenting that he understood him in Spanish better than when using the interpretation. Before commenting on this from the perspective of the...

As conference interpreters, we know that the real start of simultaneous interpreting was at the Nuremberg trials in 1945. Until then, the modus operandi was consecutive interpreting. However, it became obvious soon after the Allies created the International Military Tribunal following World War II that consecutive interpreting was not going to be a...

As any interpreting trainer will tell you, monitoring yourself when interpreting is vital to ensuring a delivery of good quality. In my continuous endeavour to improve my performance as an interpreter, I regularly record my rendition and listen to myself. When I noticed a couple of bad habits creeping into my performance, I sought the advice of a...

As a conference interpreter and university instructor, I'm always on the lookout for technological developments that can benefit the interpreting profession. This includes devices that will allow the user to transfer handwritten notes and illustrations into a digital format.