How Professional Language Interpreters Listen Translate And Speak Simultaneously?

Obviously, this is not possible in the practical world that we live in. But, yes, they do have the ability to carry out all these three tasks at the same time. Don’t know how? Scroll down a little and discover how professional interpreters undertake such activities.

History Of Professional Simultaneous Interpreting

Before understanding the how do simultaneous interpreters manage to perform simultaneous tasks, lets get a brief about when did it actually started. Looking back at the history, we can say that the meaning of simultaneous interpretation came into existence in the early 20th century. It was in 1927, at the International Labour Conference in Geneva that the first ever professional interpretation took place. But till this date, interpretation was not carried out on a large scale. It got such recognition at the Nuremberg trials, the end of World War II. Even the United Nations began to use simultaneous interpreting and established it as a permanent service.

How Do Interpreters Listen Translate And Speak At Once?

Performing all the three tasks at the same time is not a new concept. Most of us do it in our regular lives, without realizing that we are actually performing different tasks simultaneously. If you understand what is eavesdropping, you would easily be able to connect the dots. Have you ever been in a situation where you are in conversation with someone (not actively participating), while also secretly listening to someone else’s conversation happening near you? Majority of the people in the world would have experienced it at least once in their life. Its just that either we do not realize it, or are simply used to performing only one task at a time.

As far as professional interpreters are concerned, there is no hard-and-fast method of interpretation that allows them to listen, translate and speak at the same time. It is only sheer dedication and practice that helps them develop the ability of quick simultaneous interpretation for meetings, conferences etc. However, the process of interpretation, as followed by the interpreters can be summarized as follows –

1. Listen:

The first stage is listening to the message of the speaker.

2. Understand:

After listening, the meaning of the message is processed and understood by the interpreters.

3. Coding:

The meaning of the message is finally coded in the target language, i.e. the interpreter translates the source language message in the target language.

4. Speak and error-checking:

The message is conveyed to the audience in this stage. While speaking, the interpreter is constantly checking for errors so that the output received by the audience is free from any type of errors.

5. Coordination:

Through all the steps, the interpreter makes sure to have presence of mind, stay alert and do not lose track from the original message.

Jotting down the process in words makes the procedure look huge. However, it is just a matter of few seconds. Professional interpreters are so talented that they effectively carry out English to Korean language interpretation, English to Japanese interpretation and others in real time.

Neuroscience And Interpretation

There have been a number of studies on multilingual speakers by the neuroscientists. One of the researches on real-time interpreters highlight attention towards the caudate nucleus region of the brain. This region is known for its varied cognitive functions, such as decision making, building trust, goal-directed action and learning. In simple words, it is known for carrying out complex behaviours across multiple regions of the brain. It can also be inferred that most of the specialist tasks we do, is often the result of the coordination between brain regions which specializes in handling very general tasks, like hearing or moving body parts. Hence, according to neuroscientists, simultaneous interpreting is one of the abilities of our brain.

Get Started With Professional Interpreting

Interpretation must always be carried out by professionals, as otherwise, the outcome may result in hilarious pitfalls. For a business owner, such a situation can become very humiliating and even risk business image. Therefore, one must always seek for accurate interpretation in Canada, Dallas, Texas and other global locations. Although we are located in India, yet our services are spread worldwide. Hence, no matter where you reside in the globe, we can provide you with instant and professional-grade interpreting solutions in any language pair.

For more information on what we do and how our simultaneous interpreters work for you, do give us a call right away..!! call us at +91-8527599223 or mail us at [email protected]