The Linguist

Chartered Institute of Linguists SUMMER 2025 The Linguist 33 OPINION & COMMENT The winner of the Chartered Institute of Linguists contest to find a collective noun to describe language professionals was announced at its Awards event in March. From a shortlist of ten, CIOL's Awards & Recognition Committee, Council and Educational Trust Board determined that 'a glot of linguists' was the most apt phrase. Andrew Bruce and Justin Koprowski beat more than 40 entries to the prize: tea at the House of Lords with CIOL Vice-President Jean Coussins and CIOL CEO John Worne. "This is all about fun – but with a serious message too," said Baroness Coussins, who came up with the initiative. "Creativity, wit and wordplay are skills that linguists have in abundance, thanks to our exposure to other languages and cultures." She is pictured with Justin (left) and Andrew (right) in one of the galleries at the Lords. And a group of linguists is… Nothing beats the joy that conference interpreters feel when they're handed a speech beforehand, whether translated or not. This feeling of readiness is sometimes underestimated. Being aware of what will be discussed in advance, preparing and creating a glossary if needed, and making a list of dignitaries attending the event and how to address them… that feeling is priceless. AI is on the verge of making this level of preparation ubiquitous through closed captions and subtitling, and it seems that RSI (remote simultaneous interpretation) is the first step in this trend. Since the pandemic, RSI assignments have grown exponentially with organisers realising that it's an effective way to reduce costs. Now, with the likes of Zoom and Otter.ai, closed captions (CC) and subtitling are becoming much more accurate. Of course, this accuracy depends on multiple factors: speaking speed, accent, enunciation, topic, technicalities, sound quality and language pair, with Romance languages yielding the best accuracy so far. However, when the topic is general and the presenter is a native speaker delivering their speech at a natural pace, CC delivers a decent result in most cases. If the speed and accuracy of subtitling continue to improve, we may soon welcome a new 'boothmate'. But what will AI-human interpretation look like, and will conference interpreters turn into de facto editors, editing texts on the fly? There is no doubt that having CC or subtitles would make an interpreter's job easier. It's like always having the material at hand. Instead of chasing organisers and speakers before an event to send their presentations, AI could provide interpreters with a real-time written text to use as additional material. This could be especially helpful in business, budget and economic meetings and events, where speakers rattle off a gazillion numbers per second. An interpreter would be able to read these numbers while focusing on condensing the ideas being presented. Platforms that were founded to match organisers with interpreters have already started providing full AI or hybrid interpretation services for international conferences. For instance, KUDO's AI speech translation was used at the 2024 World Congress of Philosophy in Rome, providing interpretation into English, Chinese, German, French, Italian, Russian and Spanish. However, the use of fully AI-driven services is still limited. We might be in an intermediate stage – one that allows us to leverage AI without being replaced by it, at least for now. AI could become an additional tool in the conference interpreter's toolkit, providing visual references and condensing talking points. This could be incredibly useful, especially when no material has been provided or when an assignment was rushed. This may take some time to materialise, but with recent advancements it is increasingly likely that we will need to make room for a third boothmate. Nassim Barakat A third boothmate? It is also advised that MENA universities establish a common framework that aims to harness the experience of foreign universities in teaching specialised translation and interpreting, and exchange expertise. This necessitates a transparent and clear statement of intention by every education institution regarding its needs, requirements, challenges, opportunities and potential. Mohamed Amer IMAGES © SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

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