Reinventing Interpreting in times of Covid

As March 2021 starts, I look back to the year gone by, since #Covid became a new way of life for all of us.

One year of life changes, of strengthened though distant family ties, of strained friendships, of lost income, of hardships, of questions, of sickness and disease around us, of people taken away from loving families and friends….

So where do we stand? Where do you stand?

For myself, most of my work has shifted online, mostly #RemoteSimultaneousInterpretation on web-based platforms, such as #Zoom, like most other #interpreters around the world.

Pre-Covid, most of our work as conference interpreters was tightly linked to the event industry, international programs and projects, donors, with a lot of travel involved.

The physical aspect of our work in the booth, being in a small closed space with a partner, with the use of audio equipment, often shared with colleagues, in conference rooms with large audiences, represents a high risk in Covid times.

For a while, in the beginning, most clients held off on their events, waiting for things to “go back to normal”. Remote events were rare and everyone was learning the way around #OnlineInterpretation, clients, agencies and interpreters alike.

More and more projects, programs, and events are now happening on RSI platforms, with additional stress, fatigue and an increased cognitive load.

Over the past few weeks, our profession has been trying to catch up, take charge of the transformations around us, and support professional interpreters.

Most of us have not been specifically trained on the use of technology in #interpreting. With remote work, we find ourselves, in addition to the interpretation aspect, dealing with technical aspects, guiding clients on platform choices and management, assisting with event hosting. We also have had to invest in equipment such as headsets, speakers, cameras, microphones, all sorts of cables and adapters. With less income, spending money on tech products was sometimes painful.

We also have to learn to market ourselves, our services in a different manner. Learning digital marketing, personal branding, the use of social media for professional purposes, these are new skills required for us.

We find ourselves tracking news about new updates for the platforms and software solutions.

Networks, support groups, practice sessions, seminars, online training conferences, newsletters are emerging.

The market of RSI is still too small to provide work for all interpreters. The competition is raging, in the absence of agreed norms about details such as number of hours, number of interpreters per event, rates, cost of investment, training, switch frequency, etc. Agencies are lagging behind on most aspects, more focused on acquiring new business to make up for lost income.

Thus, we, interpreters, have to reinvent our industry, our work, our practices, our interaction with others. Some interpreters find themselves repurposing as trainers, coaches, and speakers at community talks.

I have had my fair share of online assignments. I didn’t know much about the practices, the technology, the etiquette, the business of online interpretation, one year ago. The stress prior to assignments was overwhelming. Like most other interpreters, I managed with the equipment I had, meaning what most people have in their homes.

With time, I have been able to cope better, to learn a lot, to be confident. And I have learned to value something: the sense of community. We don’t get to work in pairs, in booths, anymore. We don’t see the colleagues that have become friends over the years. We can’t count on agencies to provide as much work. We don’t have a technical team handling equipment for us. But a new sense of belonging is unfolding. A global community of interpreters, a remote community, is appearing on social media, such as Linkedin.

Interpreters used to be invisible, hidden in booths at the back of rooms, voices without faces, speaking the words of others. Today, they have faces. They write about themselves, about their work. They speak their own words. They share knowledge. They post information.

So to all the freelancers, in their homes, working from their kitchens, bedrooms, dining tables, sofas, trying new hairstyles, light arrangements and backgrounds for the camera, striving to make ends meet, learning new talent and skills, entangled in cables, you’re not alone. We’re a village.