For decades professional interpreters have leveraged digital platforms to provide remote services to clients around the globe. Now Zoom, along with other securely encrypted video platforms, offers remote simultaneous interpretation services for corporations, delegations, NGOs, and other organizations worldwide.
Chang-Castillo and Associates (CCA) is a leader in the language services industry, and our conference interpreters excel at delivering clear, streamlined communication across the professional video conferencing spectrum. While it may seem like “Zoom interpretation” is synonymous with “remote simultaneous interpretation,” CCA interpreters are also proficient across the spectrum of corporate video platforms such as Skype, GoToMeeting, and RingCentral.
Zoom interpretation for every language and culture
We provide remote simultaneous interpretation (RSI) services in virtually any language spoken on the planet, with a special focus on the world’s major business languages, including:
Visit our Language Services and Locations page to learn more.
We understand that business negotiations demand far more than word-for-word accuracy. Conference interpreters go far beyond their language and business fluency level compared to their community interpreter counterparts. Your interpreter must have a tremendous amount of experience and expertise to convey both language and cultural sensitivity and clarity across the Zoom or general video interpreting spectrum.
What to look for when hiring a Zoom interpreter?
The ability to consistently work from home is a newer evolution of the global communications spectrum. However, working from the comfort of home or the convenience of a local executive briefing center still demands the same high level of professionalism. In fact, we would argue that virtual conference interpreting services require an even higher level of professionalism because of the added cognitive load of potential variances in internet connections, audio and video quality, clarity, delays, etc.
Clients must trust that the professionals facilitating their remote simultaneous interpretation services can remain calm, cool, unphased, and spot-on in their interpretations, no matter what the online realm may dish out.
Like conference interpreting, real-time video-based, remote interpreting services require acute attention and mental multitasking. This can create fatigue if meetings run long or are in multiple succession across several days. Working with a team of interpreters rather than a solo interpreter is the best way to keep things fresh, accurate, and positively charged.
Vet your interpreters using the following criteria:
Where did they receive their linguist-centric degree(s)?
Your interpreter should have a diploma (preferably graduate level) from a school specializing in educating and training language services providers (LSPs). Examples include:
- The Middlebury Institute of International Studies (MIIS) at Monterey, California. This is the alma mater of CCA’s co-founders.
- The University of Maryland (UMD)’s Graduate Studies in Interpreting and Translation
- The Institute of Intercultural Management & Education (ISIT), in Paris, France. This is the alma mater of CCA’s translation services manager.
- École Supérieure d’Interprètes et de Traducteurs (ESIT), in Paris, France
- University of Geneva (ETI), in Geneva, Switzerland
- The University of Mons, Belgium
- The University of Bath, England
Degrees from these schools, paired with international conference experience, are primary foundations for conference-worthy work.
They should have years of simultaneous interpreting experience.
Everyone has to start somewhere, and interpreters are no exception. Typically, we start working in teams or at very small functions and work our way up to higher-stakes events. While all post-grad, professional interpreters may pine for the limelight of UN delegation-worthy events, the best professional interpreters know to bide their time and gain valuable experience and references so they can evolve into the level of acumen required for high-profile meetings and delegations.
On average, we recommend that CCA interpreters have at least five years’ experience (roughly 200 working days) before we pair them with high-profile clients or interpreting contracts requiring diplomacy or high-stakes calm. To learn more, read The Path to Becoming a Simultaneous Interpreter.
A professional demeanor, regardless of the occasion
It is a given that your Zoom or video interpreter present him/herself with impeccable professional decorum. However, that level of decorum should translate into any meeting or pre-event planning engagement. People joke that one of the benefits of working from home is wearing PJs all day, or wearing PJ bottoms with a professional top. That is never acceptable for teleconferencing sessions.
You never know what glitches or scenarios may require getting up from a desk or table to adjust a modem, reconnect wires, or troubleshoot a technical glitch. Your interpreter should be dressed for success from head to toe, whether s/he’s sitting at home, in a public library study room or a corporate office or an event center.
Our interpreters at Chang-Castillo and Associates take “The Interpreter’s Code” seriously, and we show up professionally whether we’re meeting you for an interview, behind the scenes to prepare for the event or working from home.
Streamlining the remote interpretation services experience
Technical glitches and troubleshooting are not a matter of “if” but rather of “when.” This can be challenging for Zoom interpretation sessions, where sound clarity is essential to hear the speakers’ words, tone, and intent.
A consistent connection is invaluable because it keeps participants at ease, minimizing frustrations. This helps provide a clear and constant video feed that is essential because so much of what is communicated happens through body language and facial expression (an example of how interpreters translate culture as well as words since every culture is different in how they reflect their emotions).
As a real-world example: in Japanese culture, it is considered rude to state a flat “no” in business and most personal conversations. Instead, the Japanese use the word tabun (meaning “maybe”) to indicate a more polite and gentle “no.”
On the contrary, in the United States, the word “maybe” can indicate a possible “yes.” Your Japanese interpreter knows this, but the Japanese perspective may be misrepresented if s/he misses the word tabun due to a sound or video glitch and can’t see a face clearly due to a buffering connection.
The more clients (and their interpreters) streamline remote interpretation services experience, the more successful the interaction will be.
Optimize Zoom and other remote interpretation services
You can do several things to optimize Zoom and other remote interpretation services for your clients.
- Engage the highest-speed internet access (wired rather than WiFi, when possible)
- Make sure all computers or tablets have the latest software and hardware updates.
- Update your software regularly.
- Create a soundproof space as much as you can (click here to learn how)
- Use professional interpretation equipment whenever possible (CCA offers high-quality interpreting rental equipment)
- Keep meetings short (a series of shorter meetings more often is more productive than longer meetings to prevent video fatigue. This also supports your interpreters.)
- Engage onsite tech support whenever possible to minimize technical glitches and keep key team members out of the troubleshooting trap.
Work with the Zoom interpreting team beforehand.
While an experienced, professional interpreter may be able to work on the fly, it is certainly not our preferred method of operation. Our Zoom interpreters’ goal is to act as a seamless yet multilingual member of your team. To do that, we need to become as familiar and fluent in the language of your brand or organization as we are with your target audiences’ languages.
This requires preparation in multiple forms:
Schedule meetings to familiarize yourselves
When your team or meeting participants take time to meet with interpreters before the event – in conversation about your company, objectives and goals, any relevant backstory pertaining to other meeting participants, etc. – it allows us to familiarize ourselves with your brand culture. Doing so supports our ability to “get into character,” so to speak, enabling us to facilitate interpretations as if they were spoken directly by your own team members.
Share historical information
We want to research anything we can about you and how you operate. The more materials you share with us – such as videos of previous presentations, speeches or engagements, marketing materials, brand development goals, etc. – the more we can create a seamless connection between historical and current conversations or negotiations.
Create glossaries and style guides
Outside of the meetings we have with you and the historical/marketing information you provide, we’ll also want to review any past glossaries or style guides you’ve created for translators or interpreters. If you don’t have one, we will work with you to create one, one of our best resources, to ensure our remote interpreting services remain as word-perfect as possible.
Decide which mode of interpretation makes the most sense.
Simultaneous interpreting is the automatic setpoint for interpreting outside of smaller social events or intimate gatherings at large-scale delegations or events that take place in the multinational arena. If your video meeting is shorter or requires only a small amount of interpreting, you may decide that consecutive interpreting services make more sense.
As your language services provider, we will work with you to determine which model is best for our preparation meetings. To learn more about the difference and ideal applications for each one, read Selecting the Ideal Mode of Interpretation for Your Meeting.
Contact Chang-Castillo and Associates to discuss Zoom interpretation services
The interpreting team here at Chang-Castillo and Associates is always prepared to provide the platinum standard in remote, Zoom interpretation services.
Contact us today at +1 (877) 708-0005 or via our online contact form to discuss your needs. We provide competitively priced language services and look forward to serving your organization while representing its multinational interests to impeccable standards.