Is it possible to learn interpreting online? Thread poster: Toby Wakely
|
|---|
Toby Wakely 
Spain
Local time: 07:55
Spanish to English
+ ...
I am thinking of branching out into interpreting? There are many master´s courses offering a one year course, but they tend to be presential. Moving to another city is very complicated for me at my time of life, so I was wondering is it possible to learn interpreting with on-line resources?
| | | | Liviu-Lee Roth
United States
Local time: 01:55
Romanian to English
+ ...
| Go to the NAJIT web site or FB page | Jun 12, 2022 |
Toby Wakely wrote:
I am thinking of branching out into interpreting? There are many master´s courses offering a one year course, but they tend to be presential. Moving to another city is very complicated for me at my time of life, so I was wondering is it possible to learn interpreting with on-line resources?
Plenty of free or paid seminars/webinars to choose from.
Good luck.
| | | | Daryo
United Kingdom
Local time: 06:55
Serbian to English
+ ...
| To some extent, maybe | Jun 14, 2022 |
but no amount of online training is going to prepare you for the experience of doing it live, especially not in front of a crowd of hundred or two paying attention to every nuance of what you say.
About a year ago, at the height of the Covid mass panic, I renewed my fist aid certificate through an online training, more an unavoidable formality than any real need. Having done it the first time around with live people, not on a computer screen, I can tell the difference. You ca... See more but no amount of online training is going to prepare you for the experience of doing it live, especially not in front of a crowd of hundred or two paying attention to every nuance of what you say.
About a year ago, at the height of the Covid mass panic, I renewed my fist aid certificate through an online training, more an unavoidable formality than any real need. Having done it the first time around with live people, not on a computer screen, I can tell the difference. You can be for sure that the "online certificate" in First Aid is for any practical purpose meaningless. Not sure to which extent you could make a parallel with interpreting, but I'm rather sceptical about "online" training for interpreting. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 07:55
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
| Maybe for intermediate/advanced levels | Jun 14, 2022 |
It may work for practicing interpreters to additionally improve their skills, but I am not sure how it could work for complete beginners.
| | |
|
|
|
| A lot of resources online can be used | Jun 14, 2022 |
You can find a lot of free courses and seminars online, enjoy!
| | | | Liviu-Lee Roth
United States
Local time: 01:55
Romanian to English
+ ...
| I started interpreting about 25 years ago | Jun 14, 2022 |
Toby Wakely wrote:
I am thinking of branching out into interpreting? There are many master´s courses offering a one year course, but they tend to be presential. Moving to another city is very complicated for me at my time of life, so I was wondering is it possible to learn interpreting with on-line resources?
I started interpreting long time ago, without any formal training, without graduating from a linguistics college (graduated from a law school) and my skills improved while doing the actual interpreting. Since then, I successfully performed the whole spectrum of interpreting (conference, international high level delegations, court and medical). If you feel you can do it, go for it!
Good luck
Lee
| | | | Daryo
United Kingdom
Local time: 06:55
Serbian to English
+ ...
| How you do that "online"? | Jun 18, 2022 |
Liviu-Lee Roth wrote: Toby Wakely wrote:
I am thinking of branching out into interpreting? There are many master´s courses offering a one year course, but they tend to be presential. Moving to another city is very complicated for me at my time of life, so I was wondering is it possible to learn interpreting with on-line resources? I started interpreting long time ago, without any formal training, without graduating from a linguistics college (graduated from a law school) and my skills improved while doing the actual interpreting. Since then, I successfully performed the whole spectrum of interpreting (conference, international high level delegations, court and medical). If you feel you can do it, go for it! Good luck Lee
"skills improved while doing the actual interpreting"
That's the key point. In my case "doing the actual interpreting" was all of the the actual training I've done before I switched to interpreting.
Training done "in vivo" in actual conference rooms under the mentoring of experienced practicing conference interpreters (not by being mentored by practitioners of "theories"). There was nothing "theoretical" - just a lot of practice, each time followed by a barrage of comments. Lasted only three months, not three years. But then it was a training where you get invited after a test with about 90% failure rate.
Not exactly the same as paying out of your pocket a lot to spend years on learning all sort of theoretical stuff and not doing that much practical interpreting, all organised by some University who would happily accept practically anyone willing to pay, without bothering to check if the candidate has the right psychological predisposition. Yes, I'm quite sceptical about wasting 3-4 years on a mostly theoretical formal education "in vivo", so I'm even less impressed by an "online" version of the same.
What do I mean by the " the right psychological predisposition"?
Here is a parallel: I know of people who have invested not so small sums AND several months of their life in getting a diploma for tourist guide, only to quit for ever the first time they had to speak in front of a bussfull of actual clients. Or another example, closer to home: very competent translators who had a terminal mental block when they dabbled in interpreting.
| | | | | It may not be worked | Nov 30, 2023 |
It may work for entry-level interpreters to learn basic knowledge about interpreting. However, when it comes to reality workplaces like online interpreting and face-to-face interpreting, it is hard for you to handle situations like clients becoming emotional without pre-practices in simulation training.
| | |
|
|
|
| Very high focus, no distractions | Dec 1, 2023 |
Daryo wrote:
Here is a parallel: I know of people who have invested not so small sums AND several months of their life in getting a diploma for tourist guide, only to quit for ever the first time they had to speak in front of a bussfull of actual clients. Or another example, closer to home: very competent translators who had a terminal mental block when they dabbled in interpreting.
This is why I never even considered interpreting. I just assumed I'd mental block and took it as 'not a thing I will ever even try'. Then I found myself in a situation where I had to interpret, from and into languages not my native one, as there was nobody else there to do it, and I predictably made an awful job out of it. It was for a friend, conflict situation at home with all kind of public services of different degrees of unwillingness involved ... it was very emotional.
On the other hand, nobody else is around who can do exactly this job. I speak three languages on a not too rotten level, there's a clear need in my community, I have started reconsidering somewhat. I guess it would be a kind of mediator/interpreter job. It would be a thousand times more meaningful to spend at least part of my time helping to find solutions for community members around where I live than translate another series of marketing drivel.
The second interpreting session, same case but immediate conflict situation gone, went a lot better, and I found a focused mindset where I really managed to zoom in on the words said and get the meaning across. For about half an hour, then I started to confuse the two languages again ...
Is there a European Association of Interpreters perchance? The Najit page looks interesting but they're American-based.
| | | | Olga Kurzel
United Kingdom
Local time: 06:55
English to Russian
+ ...
You can certainly practice the skill, however, you will only know whether you have prepared yourself well when you are faced by a real client in a real setting. I would suggest considering training online if this is where you want to work. If you plan to be a face-to-face interpreter, you may struggle a little bit at the beginning.
*I do not believe online trainings equip one well enough to be a conference interpreter.
Let us know what you end up doing!
| | | | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » Is it possible to learn interpreting online? | Trados Studio 2022 Freelance | The leading translation software used by over 270,000 translators.
Designed with your feedback in mind, Trados Studio 2022 delivers an unrivalled, powerful desktop
and cloud solution, empowering you to work in the most efficient and cost-effective way.
More info » |
| | CafeTran Espresso | You've never met a CAT tool this clever!
Translate faster & easier, using a sophisticated CAT tool built by a translator / developer.
Accept jobs from clients who use Trados, MemoQ, Wordfast & major CAT tools.
Download and start using CafeTran Espresso -- for free
Buy now! » |
|
| | | | X Sign in to your ProZ.com account... | | | | | |
Login to reply/comment 
Translation news
