To interpret is to express in another language, using the spoken word.
There are two main kinds of interpreting – consecutive and simultaneous.
Consecutive Interpreting
Here the interpreter waits for the speaker to speak then provides an interpretation of what has been said. The speaker needs to ensure that he doesn’t say too much in one go, otherwise the interpreter will not be able to remember
everything. Interpreters often take notes with ‘enthusiastic’ speakers or those unused to interpretation, then provide a summation.
The client should bear in mind that consecutive interpretation will increase the meeting time substantially.
Simultaneous Interpreting
Here the interpreter interprets at almost the same time as the presenter. This is highly skilled and tiring work and any assignment longer than 30 minutes will generally be carried out by more than one interpreter. For a conference, it would be normal to use professional equipment comprising a soundproof booth for the interpreters and headsets for the conference participants.
An interesting aside is that in Japanese the verb always comes at the end of the sentence. Thus the full meaning of a sentence often only becomes clear right at the end. This has an obvious bearing on simultaneous interpretation from Japanese and means there is sometimes a slight time lag. This can be of relevance if a ‘relay’ is involved, where the interpretation from Japanese into English is then further interpreted into other languages.
Whispered interpreting
This is used mainly to keep a client in touch with the proceedings of a meeting or conference. If a person has an inadequate grasp of the meeting language, the interpreter will sit next to him/her and whisper an interpretation of the proceedings into his/her ear. This is also a rather tiring exercise for the interpreter. It is a kind of simultaneous interpretation, often within a noisy environment, the voice has to be pitched artificially low for long periods of time and the work can be rather ‘intimate’. Some interpreters decline to perform this type of work and the client should be aware that performance will inevitably flag after two or three hours.