Before COVID-19, remote interpreting was making slow, but steady, inroads into our profession, primarily over platforms specifically designed for providing interpreting services. Almost overnight, any kind of orderly progression for adopting over-the-phone (OPI), video remote (VRI), and remote simultaneous (RSI) interpreting was overtaken by market demand during the pandemic.
At the end of 2020, every platform offering remote communication was being used to deliver interpreting services—from telehealth to Google Meets, Zoom, Facetime, Facebook livestream, and more. To stay in business, interpreters and language companies were pushed to work remotely using whatever platform the client had chosen, regardless of its suitability for the job.
The result? Interpreters are being asked to accommodate a never-ending number of hacks to force square pegs through round holes in order to make these platforms work. They are often providing ad hoc technical services, juggling multiple phones and digital devices, and working with new clients unfamiliar with interpreting best practices.
Register to attend “Back to the Hack” to learn how to make sense of the new remote landscape and learn strategies for handling remote work.
What will you learn?
- Difference between remote interpreting and video conferencing platforms
- How to categorize remote meetings over video conferencing platforms
- How to identify the technical requirements for different kinds of meetings
- How to evaluate your skill set to decide on assignments—setting reasonable limits
- How to talk to clients about what is needed to provide services over the platform
About the Presenter
Katharine Allen is a community and conference interpreter with more than three decades of experience interpreting, training, and teaching. Her clients have included the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Kaiser Permanente, the Department of Defense, and Cross-Cultural Communications.
Katharine’s career also includes designing curricula for academic and licensed training programs. She currently teaches for the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s Translation and Interpreting Studies Certificate program. She previously taught at Glendon|York University in the school’s Master of Conference Interpreting graduate program.
Katharine has an MA in Translation and Interpretation from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. She is co-founder of InterpretAmerica, an organization dedicated to raising the profile of the interpreting industry.
Code of Conduct
ATA is committed to providing a safe, productive, and welcoming environment for all participants. By registering for this event, you agree to abide by the Code of Conduct for Virtual Programs.