Interpreter Breaks Down How Real-Time Translation Works | WIRED



Conference interpreter Barry Slaughter Olsen explains what it’s really like to be a professional interpreter. Barry goes behind the scenes of his vocation, breaking down the many real-life scenarios he faces on a day-to-day basis. From simultaneous and consecutive interpretation to chuchotage and décalage, take a peek behind what it really takes to be a professional interpreter.

Barry Slaughter Olsen is the Professor of Translation and Interpretation at Middlebury Institute of International Studies.

NOTE: The techniques employed in this video are not all applicable to interpreting in a courtroom setting, where expectations regarding accuracy and completeness can be quite different. In this sense, legal interpreting is unique. More information on standards for interpreting in the U.S. courts can be found here: https://www.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/standards_for_performance.pdf

Footage of Muammar Gaddafi at the 64th General Assembly provided by the United Nations. (The views in the film are not those of the United Nations).

Conference Earpiece courtesy of Conference Rental.

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Interpreter Breaks Down How Real-Time Translation Works | WIRED

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20 Comments

  • this video is so funny

    @kiwibottles

  • Marvellous! 🎉
    Excelente explicación que refleja la realidad.

    @Luisko1

  • Japanese to English sentences can be totally reversed when translated, so you have to wait for the whole sentence to finish, which makes simultaneous translations a little more difficult.

    @YuriKinjo

  • It is how we should take notes in toefl 😂 I cannot pay attention and write at the same time in English. It is a real talent 😮

    @LauraJimenez-Ba

  • In the age of AI, this shouldn't be a problem anymore

    @aswinkrishna790

  • This is so interesting!! Thank you to all translators and interpreters

    @natalieriv28

  • Who’s guessing America and Spain

    @dylanpatel7912

  • All before AI . Now less job xD

    @Bronxsahh

  • Wow . Amazing . But what type of interpreters we need to d.mb poeple? Causing troubles with their actions without understanding anything they being told ?

    @Bronxsahh

  • Missande 😢

    @juliosanchez9115

  • Whale meat the beef of the sea

    @inchipp

  • Why are there two interpreters?

    @tonik1488

  • Being an interpreter seems like the toughest job, mentally. After a few hours my brain would be k.o.

    @danii_maciasr9866

  • Shouldn't there always be more than one interpreter just for confirmation. This gives WAY too much power to the interpreter if they wanted to mistranslate something.

    @BeanieBots

  • He became the brigde, quite literally

    @rodrigoapaza8086

  • and then Trump grabs the interpreter notes.

    @johnrussell5715

  • This is luxury because it’s 2 people, one for each language direction. I have done this as a single person translating in both directions a few times, and these things often happen: If you’re doing simultaneous, the speaker will often get distracted and start to listen to you instead of continuing to talk. So the whole process just stops. Another thing is: If you’re doing it alone, you are going to get brain-fog after about 15-20 minutes. You will start to speak the wrong language to the wrong person, completely forget what was just said and so on. It’s an unbelievably hard thing to do for more than a few minutes!

    @martinstent5339

  • as a person who uses captioning the captions are really funny

    @nickashkir

  • As a bilingual person whose job is completely unrelated to languages, I gotta thank you for this video. Simultaneous interpretation always seemed so mysterious to me, I had no idea how it was possible to listen to someone while also speaking yourself, let alone translate in real time between 2 languages whose word order are completely different.

    @FairyCRat

  • That's how you guys talk about serious topics??!!! No wonder world is seeing so many wars lately.

    @Donda_00