Considering the havoc brought about by COVID in peoples’ lives, its heavy death toll, the overcrowding of hospitals, confinement, supply chain disruptions, the negative impact on GDP and world economies and wide range of uncertainties, it is just fair to wonder about the impact of COVID on the interpretation industry.

One might expect the simultaneous interpretation industry to be a collateral victim of the pandemic considering that interpretation services are rendered in indoor settings housing hundreds of people attending a conference, an annual general meeting or an event of some sort. Surprisingly, it is turning out that the conference interpretation industry is one of the beneficiaries of the pandemic and, even more remarkably perhaps, became a win-win situation for both the suppliers and conference organizers. This is all thanks to communication platforms.

Let us look briefly at the benefits brought about by COVID to conference organizers. Traditionally, conferences were held in large places such as a town hall, a ballroom or in functions rooms offered by hotels. Since these rooms had to be rented – assuming that they were available on the desired dates – use of these rooms came at a cost. Renting the space was one thing. Securing the equipment was another. The equipment consists of a central booth equipped with a console, microphones, transmitters and receptors. Add to this transportation charges, the set-up and dismantling of the equipment and the presence of at least one technician during the entire conference, the costs can be quite substantial.

These costs are swept away owing to communication platforms. Organizers do not need to travel to the site, there no requirement for the traditional conference space or equipment. All that is needed is subscription to a communication platform whose bandwidth is large enough to support multi-users. The savings achieved are substantial. The same is true for the interpreters. Interpreters no longer need to travel to a conference. This is a remarkable achievement if one considers that travel time to a conference site and back sometimes exceeds the time actually spent at the conference itself, resulting in losses in productivity. Family life is enhanced with more time spent at home with loved ones. The profession has suddenly become more attractive…

The COVID situation seemingly is under control. Most people have received their shots, mask mandates have – save for a few places such as hospitals – disappeared. Since remote interpretation services were essentially brought about by COVID and that COVD is now on the wane, it bears asking ourselves what the future holds for remote interpretation and we are slowly returning to the pre-COVID mode of conference interpretation delivery. We shall address this in the next blog.