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                The Future for Simultaneous Interpreting: Online or Offline?



Speaking of simultaneous interpretation, I believe that most people will recall the scene of a "small black booth", where two interpreters wear headphones, cooperate with each other, take turns to interpret. Traditional simultaneous interpreting booth and devices are based on infrared or radio frequency technology. Today, we focus on RSI (Remote Simultaneous Interpreting), which is based on internet technology. During simultaneous interpreting, video and audio are sent to a laptop or desktop terminal via a cloud server on the internet.The interpreter will see a software interface with functions such as volume adjustment, microphone on/off and relay interpretation. Interpreters can do this with a mouse, and listeners no longer need any expensive audio receiver but rather just wearing a pair of headphones is enough.




Meetings may be held in different locations, in order to perform centralized management,reduce costs and improve efficiency, traditional simultaneous interpreting  booth is located in a fixed position of the place where meetings are held. Each booth is equipped with screen display, which could help interpreters understand what’s going on in the meeting. Besides, video and audio signals are transmitted to the booth in real time through physical connection, via satellite transmission or rental of high-speed lines, so as to ensure thaton-site audience can receive the same transmission without technical delay (orultra-low millisecond delay). That is how traditional interpreting booth works,which carries high cost.



(Babel Tower interpreters in working)

                                                                                           
Remote simultaneous, by adding an interface similar to a traditional one, can greatly reduce costs, and clients don't have to pay for flights, hotel fees for interpreters and interpreters can work at home "in their pyjamas."


You may worry about the delay caused by the unstable network in remote simultaneous interpreting. Non-technical delay already exists in simultaneous interpretation, and one of the key points for using the remote simultaneous interpretation is that technical delay will not affect the stability of language service to ensure the meeting goes smoothly.


With the constant breaking down of technical barriers, communication is about to enter the 5G era from 4G. On May 19, 2020, Xinhua News Agency launched the first series of 5G holographic in-situ screen interview to tell the stories of NPC deputies fulfilling theirduties. The interviews adopted 5G network transmission and holographic image technology to allow delegates and journalists in different places to"meet" across time and space. The low delay, high speed and low power consumption of 5G will further accelerate the remote simultaneous interpreting trend. In the near future, we will meet more and more interpreters who are"thousands of miles away".