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SPA Intérprete de conferencias SWE Konferenstolk |
origins
The task of the conference interpreter can be traced back through history to the Ancient Egypt, and also the Spanish, Ottoman or Austro-Hungarian empires. Yet, it can be argued that the modern conference interpreter profession saw the light at the dawn of the 20th Century (Baigorri, Fernández-Sánchez & Payàs 2023). The profession was forged through the emergence of international conferences and organizations in the aftermath of wars and colonialization that had formed the world up until then. As powers came together for conferences and negotiations rather than opposing in war, a new breed of interpreters was formed (Baigorri 2014).
other names
Interpreters can be categorized according to the modality they interpret into (e.g., sign language interpreters), the interpreting mode they use (e.g., simultaneous interpreters) or the setting they work in (e.g., conference interpreters, public service interpreters). Sometimes, these categories overlap. Conference interpreters can be referred to as simultaneous interpreters, and, depending on the setting, also as diplomatic interpreters. Conference interpreter is chosen here as it encompasses all the different modes, tasks and settings of this type of interpreter profession.
abstract
Conference interpreter is the most professionalized of the different interpreting professions. Conference interpreters work for national and international public institutions as well as for companies and organizations on the private market. A conference interpreter is a trained, multilingual professional who masters the different modes of interpreting, simultaneous and consecutive, as well as other interpreting techniques, such as sight interpreting, whispered interpreting (chuchotage) and simultaneous with text. The conference interpreters interpret from several different languages into their A-language (L1), and sometimes also from their L1 into a B-language (strong L2). This entry will give an overview of the origins, and the task of the conference interpreter. It will also briefly describe the conference interpreter training. The entry does not aim to provide a definition of the term conference interpreter, but will describe the requirements, job profile, potential employers and other job opportunities. Finally, the entry addresses research avenues focusing on the conference interpreter.
record
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Elisabet Tiselius |
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2024 |
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Tiselius, Elisabet. 2024. "Conference interpreter" @ ENTI (Encyclopaedia of Translation & Interpreting). AIETI. |
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https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10938865 |
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https://www.aieti.eu/enti/conference_interpreter_ENG |