Simultaneous interpreting
In simultaneous interpreting, the texts are translated while the speaker is still delivering his or her address. The interpreter sits in a more or less soundproof ‘interpreting booth’ and listens to what the speaker is saying via an electro-acoustic system – the speaker has to use a microphone and the sound is then transmitted to the interpreter’s headset. Once the interpreter has received enough information, i.e. a few seconds after the speaker has started delivering his address, he will start translating the text by speaking into a microphone. From there the electro-acoustic system transmits the translation to a number of receivers, and anyone equipped with one of those receivers can listen to the interpretation.
It is thus obvious that there will almost always be a few seconds' delay between the end of the speakers’ contribution and the end of the corresponding translation. (There can be exeptions when, for example, a German sentence must be ‘wrapped up’ grammatically but it is already obvious what’s coming – in that case the interpreter may have had to include the information earlier in the sentence so that very occasionally the interpreter can actually finish before the speaker does, with no loss of information.)
Information can be lost, however, when speakers speak too fast so that there is not enough time for the interpreter to consider how to translate something. Where this occurs the interpreter must make a judgement as to which information is non-essential and can be omitted – sacrificed to speed and the higher goal of getting the basic message across. When it becomes impossible to make any sense at the speed the speaker goes at – and this happens regularly – the interpreter will ask the speaker to slow down.
Even for reasons of rhetorics however it is generally better to speak at a measured pace, which is why good speakers do not generally give interpreters this kind of problem.
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