The translation industry is a sector composed of endless language services adapted to the specific needs of each client. That is why one of its most attractive aspects is the dynamic nature that is its hallmark: nowadays we offer clients a number of solutions that we feel are contemporary; in the past we used different solutions from which we have evolved and in the future we have the promise of learning new ways to understand cross-language relations, as well as the various means that we will use to ensure them. At present, the portfolio of language solutions offered by language service agencies is very extensive, since it is a result of ongoing market studies aimed at meeting demand in the internationalization scenario. Therefore, the term “translator” gradually ceases to encompass all the functions that we carry out in the sector, and we begin to define ourselves as “language professionals”, thus being understood in terms of intralinguistic and interlinguistic activities. Despite all this, professionals are often more familiar with services that they themselves provide and they are unaware of all the details of other services not comprised in their usual workload. As such, there will be interpreters who do not know the specifics of transcreation and there will be transcreators who get lost in the literal nature of highly technical projects, these transcreators, in turn, feeling more comfortable knowing they have more time to review their work and admiring interpreters who can reproduce textual material orally in a very short time. Therefore, we comprise an ecosystem giving form to a comprehensive, essential and respected industry that has every type of service.
In today’s article, we discuss a language service that may not be the first to come to mind when we think about translation solutions but is of great importance in specific cases and is part of protocols at institutions with a high level of responsibility. We are talking about telephone interpretation.
This service relates to oral translation, in other words, interpretation. As the name suggests, it is a language solution in which (usually) two interlocutors who do not speak the same language exchange communications through the mediation of a professional who translates the interventions in both directions of the corresponding language pair. So, what circumstances lead to the provision of these types of services?
Firstly, it is important to highlight that although scheduling conferences in which telephone interpretation is going to take place is highly recommended (so that the professional can prepare the topic or, if appropriate, request any document that may have a role in the conversation), the truth is that these services are mostly linked to immediacy, if not urgency. The need for telephone interpretation typically arises in cases in which an institution receives a person who does not speak the same language as the staff of said institution, meaning that a language barrier suddenly appears and makes communication impossible. What would happen if a person who only speaks Swedish arrived at the emergency room? In some circumstances there is no time for preparation and documentation; and the interpretation sector knows this all too well.
That is why, in order to offer this service, many language service agencies have a directory of readily available interpreters, so that they can always find professionals to interpret a particular case, regardless of the time of day. Agencies that provide this service always operate under the same protocol: they publicly share all information about this service so that the client understands it well enough, knows what to expect from it and is informed of quality assurance; subsequently, they focus on the client’s request and, depending on the needs, select the most suitable professional; and finally, they set up the conference by putting the two interlocutors in contact.
Needless to say, although we mentioned that agencies are prepared to provide emergency services, they are also responsible for organizing conferences in advance and even having the necessary equipment available.
This type of service is very beneficial in institutions that hold events attended by large numbers of people and where it cannot be ensured in advance that there will be no language barriers. The most common examples are: hospitals (like the previous example), government bodies (when communicating with foreign governments), meetings, customer service (especially complaints) and emergency situations (such as people visiting a foreign country who are overtaken by a serious setback). In fact, some countries are more aware than others and have clearly incorporated these services in institutions, recognizing the importance of promoting cross-language understanding between people of different languages.
Telephone interpretation, nevertheless, has two main drawbacks. On the one hand, it is subject to technical failures due to the type of technology used: for example, reception by one of the parties is not very good, the sound output or input is weak or there are power outages. The absence of non-verbal language is also worth noting, which, as we well know, plays a very important role in fully transmitting a message. This service, however, is typically used in contexts where priority is placed on transmitting objective information, so that misunderstandings rarely occur.
On the contrary, some of the advantages include the prestige brought to institutions when facilitating communications in this regard between speakers of different languages; the freedom of scope when reaching anywhere in the world; the savings that result from not having to hire an on-site interpreter; and the short time that it usually takes to organize conferences.
In essence, telephone interpretation may not be one of the most well-known language services, but it has a significant role in intercultural communication, which is why we should further encourage its use and implement it in a variety of areas in our society.
Ref. de la imagen: http://www.thenlpcompany.com/sales/nlp-persuasive-techniques-and-telephone-calls/
