The interpreter’s role in institutions

If you’ve ever been interested in translation but didn’t think written translation was for you, you may want to pursue interpretation instead.

Interpreters are required in a variety of settings, including institutions. They are necessary to make multilingual communication easier and more accessible.

The Various Types of Interpreting and their Work

In institutional interpreting, interpreters work in institutions and administrations at three different levels: national, regional and international. This means that you could work for multilingual or monolingual administrations, depending on these levels.

One of the first things an interpreter has to take into account before working for an institution is their official languages as well as their working languages, languages that can be used on request. What will also determine their work is the interpreter’s own working languages. Usually, interpreters work from foreign languages into their mother tongue, their active language. However, some institutions do allow interpreters to work with their passive languages, meaning languages that aren’t their mother tongues, but in which they are fluent, or languages that they understand perfectly well but don’t work with.

In their work for institutions, interpreters use two types of interpreting: simultaneous interpreting and consecutive interpreting.
In simultaneous interpreting, interpreters will interpret at the same time as the speaker speaks. In certain situations, they use chuchotage, or whispered interpreting, in which the interpreter directly whispers in the ear of the other person present at the meeting or conference. Another method of working with simultaneous interpretation is to use special equipment such as earphones and a microphone, which interpreters use in a soundproof booth. If interpreters are unable to work in a booth, they can use the bidule, a portable device with a wireless microphone and a headset for listeners. Simultaneous interpreting is most widely used at the European Union and the UN.
Sometimes, interpreters are given documents that will be discussed during the meeting or conference, such as amendments that the speaker(s) can read aloud. While this can assist interpreters in their work, it can also be difficult because these documents are more complex to translate but read faster.
The second type of interpreting is consecutive interpreting where the interpreter will interpret after the speaker has finished talking. In this situation, interpreters take notes while the speaker is talking, which they translate and then interpret.

Interpreters work in multilingual settings, including meetings, conferences, working groups, legal proceedings, or even court settings. In these circumstances, interpreters make multilingual communication easier and guarantee the accessibility and transparency of institutions and even help in applying and interpreting laws.

In international organizations, interpreters are essential to decision-making processes and assist individuals from different countries in attending meetings and conferences, or in communicating with other participants.
Hiring is the hard part, as it includes competitive examinations and tests to become an accredited worker.
In national institutions and public services such as healthcare, administrations or the police, interpreters can help the users who don’t speak the majority language to access these services. For example, you could help facilitate communication between public services and refugees, migrants or asylum seekers. Recruitment for these institutions can vary.

Challenges of the profession

Although interpreting for institutions is very interesting, the profession can be very challenging.

First, the types of interpreting we explained previously have their own difficulties. Listening to information told in one language to then interpret it in another requires extensive knowledge in both languages as well as attention, concentration, and speed. They must be able to think quickly to interpret information that is sometimes hard to translate, such as cultural references or idioms. Sometimes speakers can be hard to understand, whether it is because they have an accent, because they don’t speak loud enough or too fast, or because of technical sound difficulties caused by the equipment. Sometimes the information given by the speaker can contain specific numbers or locations that they must be able to remember as they interpret.
For simultaneous interpreting, it is especially difficult and demanding, and that’s why interpreters will usually only work for up to 20 minutes at a time.

In general, it is essential for interpreters to respect a professional code of ethics which includes principles such as confidentiality, integrity, or neutrality. They must be able to produce high-quality work while abiding by these rules. It is important to respect confidentiality rules, before, during and after any meeting. Their personal opinions and beliefs can’t influence their work. They also have to remain faithful to the information they interpret.
The various institutions they work for also have their sets of norms and rules that interpreters must follow.

Interpreters can also sometimes find themselves in unusual circumstances. For example, an interpreter working with refugees or victims of crimes or violence, for institutions such as the police, a hospital or a court, may find themselves in delicate situations where the person has gone through a traumatic experience. They must remain impartial and be able to work with people who may be uncomfortable or have difficulty speaking.

Interpreters will occasionally encounter technical difficulties. The equipment provided for interpretation can be difficult to operate, either because of poor quality or technical issues, or because they are unfamiliar with it.

Another difficulty is that interpreters can be hired quickly by institutions that require them at the last minute, leaving them with very little time to prepare as they normally would by studying the topics to be discussed, going over specific terminology, or becoming acquainted with the technical conditions and equipment. This can make the meeting or conference more difficult.

There is also one challenge that has become more prevalent these days: remote interpreting. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, interpreters have had to work remotely through video-conference services. As this method and related technology have increased since pre-pandemic times, remote interpreting is still used today, as it is easier for interpreters to find jobs and for institutions that need interpreters quickly or want to avoid traveling costs. However, this can further reduce the time of preparation for the interpreter before a meeting or a conference, and sometimes interpreters are required to go from one meeting to another with very little available time in between. And of course, working remotely always involves the possibility of technical difficulties as well.

To conclude, interpreting for institutions can be challenging, and interpreters have to maintain and improve their skills as well as their knowledge in different fields in order to provide high-quality work. However, it is a very rewarding profession, and interpreters are necessary in every situation in which they work. They act as a bridge between languages and cultures, all the while representing people and assisting institutions.

Written by Khadidja Baz

Webography:
Ruiz Rosendo, Lucía, « Interpreting for international organizations », Encyclopedia of translation & interpreting (ENTI), AIETI, 2022, https://www.aieti.eu/enti/interpreting_international_institutions_ENG/. Accessed March 16th 2023.

Europa, « Interpreting for Europe », European Union, https://knowledge-centre-interpretation.education.ec.europa.eu/en/international-organisations. Accessed March 16th 2023.