Adapt or Perish: How Forced Transition to Remote Simultaneous Interpreting during the COVID-19 Pandemic Affected Interpreters’ Professional Practices
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12797/MOaP.27.2021.54.08Keywords:
remote simultaneous interpreting, RSI, interpreters, COVID-19 pandemic, technological turn, professional practicesAbstract
This article discusses the results of a survey carried out among 132 simultaneous interpreters with Polish as their working language, summarising their professional experience during the first 10 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the context of the forced transition to the remote mode of simultaneous interpreting and the related technical and organisational challenges, this survey captured the early experience of working remotely (mostly from home), as well as the adaptations necessitated by the new situation in terms of changes in working modalities and tools, particularly in the home environment. The article also presents the surveyed interpreters’ expectations regarding the role and place of remote simultaneous interpreting in their future professional practices.
Downloads
PlumX Metrics of this article
References
Brach, B., Lewicki, M. (2020), “Flow, płaczące dzieci i dziesięcioręki budda – o pracy z domu w czasach pandemii”, online presentation during the 21st Congress of Market and Opinion Researchers [online] https://kongresbadaczy.pl/2020_program/flow-placzace-dzieci-i-dziesiecioreki-budda-o-pracyz-domu-w-czasach-pandemii/ – 02.02.2021.14
View in Google Scholar
Braun, S. (2007), “Interpreting in small-group bilingual videoconferences: Challenges and adaptation processes”, Interpreting. 9(1): 21-46, https://doi.org/10.1075/intp.9.1.03bra.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/intp.9.1.03bra
View in Google Scholar
Braun, S. (2015), “Remote interpreting”, [in:] Franz Pöchhacker (ed.), Routledge Encyclopedia of Interpreting Studies, Routledge, London–New York: 346-348, https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315311258-16.
View in Google Scholar
Braun, S. (2019), “Technology and Interpreting”, [in:] Minako O’Hagan (ed.), Routledge Handbook of Translation and Technology, Routledge, London: 271-288.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315311258-16
View in Google Scholar
Bree, R., Gallagher, G. (2016), “Using Microsoft Excel to code and thematically analyse qualitative data: A simple, cost-effective approach”, All Ireland Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education – AISHE-J. 8(2): 2811-2819.
View in Google Scholar
Bryman, A. (2012), Social Research Methods, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
View in Google Scholar
Chesterman, A. (2017), Reflections on Translation Theory: Selected Papers 1993-2014, John Benjamins, Amsterdam, https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.132.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.132
View in Google Scholar
Fantinuoli, C. (2018), “Interpreting and Technology: The upcoming technological cturn”, [in:] Claudio Fantinuoli (ed.), Interpreting and Technology. (Translation and Multilingual Natural Language Processing 11), Language Science Press, Berlin: 1-12.
View in Google Scholar
Gentile, P. (2018), “Through women’s eyes. Conference interpreters’ self-perceived status in a gendered perspective”, Hermes – Journal of Language and Communication in Business. 58: 19-42, https://doi.org/10.7146/hjlcb.v0i58.111658.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7146/hjlcb.v0i58.111658
View in Google Scholar
Hale, S., Napier, J. (2013), Research Methods in Interpreting. A Practical Resource, Bloomsbury Academic, London–New York–New Delhi–Sydney.
View in Google Scholar
Hanington, B., Martin, B. (2012), Universal Methods of Design. 100 Ways to Research Complex Problems, Develop Innovative Ideas, and Design Effective Solutions, Rockport Publishers, Beverly.
View in Google Scholar
Inghilleri, M. (2005), “Mediating Zones of Uncertainty. Interpreter Agency, the Interpreting Habitus and Political Asylum Adjudication”, The Translator. 11(1): 69-85, https://doi.org/10.1080/13556509.2005.10799190.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13556509.2005.10799190
View in Google Scholar
Jenkins, R. (1992), Pierre Bourdieu. Key Sociologists, Routledge, London–New York.
View in Google Scholar
Koskinen, K. (2014), “Kääntäjän habitus fiktiivisten rakkaus- ja erokirjeiden valossa”, MikaEL Kääntämisen ja tulkkauksen tutkimuksen symposiumin verkkojulkaisu.
View in Google Scholar
Electronic proceedings of the KäTu symposium on translation and interpreting studies, Vol. 8, [online] https://www.sktl.fi/@Bin/533357/Koskinen_MikaEL2014%20(1).pdf – 10.01.2021.
View in Google Scholar
O’Leary, Z. (2014), The essential guide to doing your research project (2nd ed.), SAGE, London.
View in Google Scholar
Pöchhacker, F. (2009), “Issues in Interpreting Studies”, [in:] Jeremy Munday (ed.), The Routledge Companion to Translation Studies, Routledge, London–New York, pp. 128-140.
View in Google Scholar
Risku, H., Dickinson, A. (2017), “Translators as Networkers: The role of virtual communities”, Hermes – Journal of Language and Communication in Business. (42): 49-70, https://doi.org/10.7146/hjlcb.v22i42.96846.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7146/hjlcb.v22i42.96846
View in Google Scholar
Runcieman, A.J. (2020), “Community interpreting and the COVID-19 crisis: Present relevancy and future directions”, Tilburg Papers in Culture Studies. 242, [online] https://www.tilburguniversity.edu/sites/default/files/download/TPCS_ 242-Runcieman.pdf – 30.01.2021.
View in Google Scholar
Saldanha, G., O’Brien, S. (2014), Research Methodologies in Translation Studies, Routledge, London–New York, https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315760100.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315760100
View in Google Scholar
Shlesinger, M. (2009), “Crossing the divide: What researchers and practitioner can learn from one another”, Translation & Interpreting. 1(1): 1-14.
View in Google Scholar
Simeoni, D. (1998), “The pivotal status of translator’s habitus”, Target. 10(1): 1-39.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/target.10.1.02sim
View in Google Scholar
Stępowska, D. (2020), “Technologia cyfrowa – narzędzie do wspomagania i jednoczesnej dekoncentracji w czasie pandemii COVID-19”, [in:] Krzysztof Marcinkiewicz, Paweł Nowak, Dominika Popielec, Magdalena Wilk, (eds.), Koronawirus wyzwaniem współczesnego społeczeństwa. Media i komunikacja społeczna, Polskie Towarzystwo Komunikacji Społecznej, Kraków–Wrocław, pp. 133-149.
View in Google Scholar
Ziegler, K., Gigliobianco, S. (2018), “Present? Remote? Remotely present! New technological approaches to remote simultaneous conference interpreting”, [in:] Claudio Fantinuoli (ed.), Interpreting and Technology. (Translation and Multilingual Natural Language Processing 11), Language Science Press, Berlin, pp. 119-139.
View in Google Scholar
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
