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Whither the Profession of Interpretation?
An interview with the co-editor of Interpretasia
by Jean-Pierre Allain

Interpretasia: What is the most striking change to the interpreting profession since you started your career in the early 1970's?

Jean-Pierre Allain: When I started out, delegates actually made an effort to be understood by other delegates and, of course, by the interpreters. This seems to have been lost, except in negotiations. Interpretation is a necessary part of international meetings, but at many conferences, particularly scientific ones, delegates seem to be unaware of the fact that they are being interpreted. Few of them attempt to communicate ideas; most simply try to read through their text as quickly as possible, often in barely intelligible English. This is exacerbated by the demands of organizers who cram too much into a conference programme
and ask that all presentations be made in English, in the mistaken belief that everyone understands English. The task of interpreters, as communicators, has therefore become more difficult.

CIAP associate Manuel Pastor doing consecutive interpretation at a press conference with Roger Federer at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Consecutive interpretation, which does not require modern technology, is still used at some meetings.

Interpretasia: In what areas do you feel that interpreters and translators have been most affected by recent technological advancements?

JPA: Interpreters today make extensive use of Internet-provided information to prepare for conferences. Most organisers nowadays do not send documents, but indicate a website where interpreters can find conference information. Speakers
increasingly use PowerPoint for their presentations. Interpreters' booths need to be located close enough to the projection screen for interpreters to see the screen, the speaker and the audience. The speaker uses words, pictures and
gestures to make a point. The interpreter only has words.

Translation memory and machine translation have certainly facilitated written translation work, for instance to identify the same words or phrases in a text and instantly provide the corresponding translation. The human element is nevertheless always needed to ensure that technology has produced what the author intended. For this, qualified, trained and knowledgeable translators are essential. Only a human being understands that language is the expression of thoughts and feelings, not a string of words with an exact equivalent in another
language. Any written translation meant for publication must be checked by a human translator. Machines can't replace human brains, because they don't think.

This is even truer for interpretation. There is no software programme yet that is able to distinguish between different ways the same words may be pronounced
in different contexts or according to the intonation used. Between "what" and "what?" for instance!

Computerized interpretation is also difficult to achieve because of the widespread use of English. This beautiful language is mispronounced so badly by many nonnative and even native speakers at conferences that it is impossible to create a database that can fathom the different ways in which words are
pronounced or the way punctuation is used. An interpreter can recognize 'ship' when a speaker says 'sheep' or 'cement' when it sounds like 'semen' but a machine can't.

Interpretasia: What would be the dream technology to make the life of the interpreter easier?

JPA: A technology that automatically sends written statements that are to be read out at a conference to each interpreter well in advance would make interpreters' lives easier and contribute to their efficiency.

Interpretasia: What is your vision of the future of the interpreting profession?

JPA: There will be more conferences held exclusively in English, or should I say in what passes as English. There will be less need for interpreters with the formerly dominant world languages – French, Spanish, German – and more need for interpreters with less-frequently used languages, such as Indonesian,
Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Cantonese, Korean, Urdu, Bulgarian, Estonian, Slovak and other East European languages. In all cases English will still be needed, as the connection between languages.