6 Types of Interpretation Services: Which One to Choose?

As the world goes more global, the need to understand each other regardless of the difference in languages is important. This is where interpretation services come in. The interpretation has many different forms that can come in handy in different situations involving people who speak different languages.

Torjoman has a large team of talented and experienced interpreters with the high-tech equipment needed for interpretation in multiple situations. We offer onsite interpretations in the form of consecutive and simultaneous.

Which Interpretation Service Should You Choose?

Here are the main types of interpretations used in different situations. This will help you in deciding which interpretation service is right for you.

1. Simultaneous Interpreting:

The interpreter translates the spoken sentence into the target language while listening to and understanding the next sentence simultaneously.

This type of interpreting is commonly used in big meetings, trade shows and conferences. Typically, the interpreter sits in a booth while wearing headphones and speaks the translation into a microphone.

2. Consecutive Interpreting:

The interpreter stops every 1-4 minutes (at the end of every paragraph or complete thought) before speaking the translation. One of the important skills required for consecutive interpreting is note-taking, as it is difficult to memorize a full paragraph. This type of interpreting is beneficial for business meetings or in courts on the witness stand.

3. Escort Interpreting:

Interpreters in this kind of interpreting behave more like assistants and help the client navigate through meetings as they travel around on business trips. Interpreters are not just translators in these settings but they also act as cultural liaisons – responsible for closing deals, ordering food and explaining the cultural aspects for positive outcomes.

4. Whisper interpreting:

It is very similar to simultaneous interpreting but the interpreter does not speak the translation into a microphone, rather sits next to the person who requires interpreting and speaks softly to him. This kind of interpreting is used in one-on-one business meetings or in courtrooms where someone in the seating area needs to understand what is being said.

5. Scheduled telephone Interpreting:

Also known as OPI or Over-the-Phone interpretation can be consecutive or simultaneous. This type of interpreting is done during an appointment where the interpreter cannot see both parties in person but performs interpretation over the phone.

If the participants of the call are satisfied by just hearing the voice of the interpreter, then simultaneous interpretation can be performed. Otherwise, interpreting will be conducted consecutively.

6. On-Demand Phone Interpreting:

This is for organizations and individuals that need to communicate beyond language barriers immediately. It is usually performed when a party calls a service and selects the required language pair. The interpreter comes online and performs an interpretation of the conversation.

This type of interpretation is commonly used by customer service call centers, organizations, pharmacies, legal and medical institutions.

A Classic Reason Behind The Need for Interpretation

Interpretation can come in handy in all the types of situations mentioned above. It is a great service that helps facilitates communication between people of different languages in situations where communication is very important.

For example, sometimes doctors need to converse with their patients and need interpreters to help them convey their message in the most accurate way. Similarly, lawyers in foreign countries need to accurately communicate with their delegates and clients across countries without room for error in communication.

Will Technology Take Over Human Interpretation?

The demand for real-time interpretation services has grown over the past few years. The globalization of businesses is a big factor behind it as opportunities for international trade have increased and opened international markets for businesses all around the world.

Seeing this trend, the tech world is working very hard to create technology that facilitates interpretation. Applications for smartphones are available that ‘hear’ the spoken language, transcribe it and analyze the content before offering an interpretation.

A machine interpreting solution offered by Lexifone is available in the market since 2013. A translation application called ViceTra can translate and interpret more than 26 languages for text and speech. A startup called Mymanu, based out of the UK has created Clik earbuds with a microchip, a microprocessor and a ‘brain’ that listens to the conversation and offers simultaneous interpretation/translation. Google Translate is another technology that has to switch from PBMT ( Phrase-Based Machine Translation) to GNMT (Google Neural Machine Translation). The latter is a new AI tech which saves the meanings behind phrases instead of just offering phrase translations.

One may question if technological advancement will replace human interpretation in the future?

Despite the advancement and popularity, these applications and technologies receive strong criticism. They cannot infer an accurate meaning of the conversation. A huge difference between machine based translation and human interpreters is that the latter use context to understand and convey the meaning of what is being conversed. Humans use context while technology does not.

It is important to note that not all communication is verbal. Talented interpreters pick up the conscious and subconscious expressions and gestures and bring that in the communication involving multilingual dialogues. This is not something the tech can replace easily.

What do you think is the future of interpretation?