Abstract:

Simultaneous interpreting is the mode of oral translation that the conference interpreter performs by following the speech of a speaker in real time. Until very recently, the education provided to students trained in conference interpreting has been exclusively face-to-face, due to the difficulties inherent in the delivery of distance classes in real time, especially for the simultaneous interpreting modality, where the teacher must listen to the students who are exercising in order to correct possible errors on the spot and guide the students' learning.

Technological advances and digitalization can facilitate interaction (group training of all the students practicing at the same time and individualized listening to the teacher are particularly difficult to resolve) and the personalization of the training of future interpreters. In this area, the distance mode of delivery of classes in real time solves many problems of lack of access to quality and affordable higher education. It is also much more sustainable in terms of cost and reduction of the carbon footprint of unnecessary travel and allows access to the best trainers regardless of their place of residence. Finally, at the current juncture, it also helps to solve the problems of social distancing imposed by the severe COVID-19 crisis and other possible future pandemics or restrictions.

The mobility in interpreters' work has been imposing a social barrier too. People with visual functional diversity might be rejecting accessing interpreter grades or courses due to a frustrating and limiting future work perspective based on physic displacements. Both emerging remote simultaneous interpreting tools and the remote classes to learn using these tools must guarantee accessibility to break down this social barrier.

The industry can emerge stronger from the current difficult situation with the adoption of new technologies designed to meet the specific needs of distance learning in interpreting and become a disruptive element in the industry. This paper presents Smarterp Educational, a virtual laboratory that adapts this type of highly specialized teaching-learning to the new circumstances, offering a paradigm shift in the training of simultaneous interpreting, providing a reliable technological solution for the delivery of real-time distance classes (synchronous virtual classroom) based on instructional design.

Smarterp Educational is integrated into the SmarTerp tool, an ISR (Simultaneous Remote Interpretation) solution for conference interpreting. This tool has universal access and is equipped with real-time CAI (Computer Assisted Interpretation) tools that incorporate artificial intelligence to improve both the quality of the interpreted speech provided by the human interpreter working in isolation and without the support of his booth partner, and the working conditions of the interpreter himself.

Keywords:

Remote interpreting, e-learning, Videoconferencing, Accessibility, Virtual classroom, Simultaneous Interpreting.