The Linguist is a languages magazine for professional linguists, translators, interpreters, language professionals, language teachers, trainers, students and academics with articles on translation, interpreting, business, government, technology
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30 The Linguist Vol/54 No/5 2015 www.ciol.org.uk INSTITUTE MATTERS DIVISIONS & SOCIETIES A t the Interpreting Division's sell-out 'Meet the Interpreting Clients' event on 18 April, members gathered to hear about client expectations, building trust and the latest developments in the sector, and to network with colleagues and established businesses over lunch. Four companies presented in the morning, followed by a Q&A panel after lunch. Alina Cincan, co-Founder and Managing Director of Inbox Translations, began by emphasising that, although quality is an overused word, their company takes it very seriously and expects interpreters to be as committed to ensuring high quality as they are. Alina's very thorough presentation included particularly good advice in terms of CVs: ideally not more than two pages, a professional format and style (crucial in attracting a client's attention), and accompanied by a perfectly proofread covering letter. She recommended Marta Stelmaszak's e-book, You Need a CV that Works, adding that membership of relevant professional bodies, such as CIOL, is of great benefit. Alina also recommended that interpreters should make themselves as visible as possible by creating their own website and writing a blog on their interests. Lisa Wilson is Interpreting Manager at Eclipse Translations (part of the RWS Group), offering interpreting across Europe, Russia, the Meet the clients Christine Pocock and Diana Singureanu share insights gained at an Interpreting Division event USA and the Middle East, from one-to-one meetings to medical conferences and multi- language European Works Councils. She stressed that interpreters need to embrace the challenges and opportunities created by a changing industry. Agencies constantly have to find creative and flexible solutions that meet both client and interpreter requirements, without compromising standards. An emphasis on cost efficiency means that it has become increasingly difficult to offer interpreters paid travel time, for example. When recruiting, Eclipse looks for native speakers of the target language, specialist subject knowledge, security vetting and, in particular, a flexible and friendly manner. Languages currently in demand are Chinese, Arabic, Turkish, Russian and Portuguese, and, for public service interpreting (PSI), rare languages such as Lingala and Sinhalese. Ubiqus is one of the leading providers of conference interpretation in the UK, with offices across the globe. They offer complete conference interpreting solutions in 27 spoken languages and British Sign Language, and expert advice to clients about what is required to deliver a successful multilingual conference. Phoebe Hall, Manager of the Interpretation Department, explained that Ubiqus looks for job applicants with a Masters in Conference Interpreting, recommendations from colleagues, membership of appropriate professional bodies, requisite experience, a professional and flexible approach, and the ability to act with integrity and comply with confidentiality requirements. She also stressed the need to keep up with technology. Paul Stewart is a Director of Wessex Translations, the longest standing member of the Association of Translation Companies, having won the ITI Best Translation Company award for the last three consecutive years. Their provision of face-to-face interpreters for the public sector has been seriously affected by the ALS contract, as they were not prepared to compromise on quality. When recruiting interpreters, they not only look for appropriate professional qualifications but also integrity and reliability. Opinions were divided over the development of remote interpreting. Paul envisages that, due to financial constraints in the public sector, remote PSI will become the norm. Phoebe is not convinced that remote conference interpreting is the way forward, as being off-site makes it virtually impossible to deliver the same quality. However, Lisa feels that it is slowly but surely gaining ground and interpreters need to re-train and keep themselves informed as, to quote Bill Wood, Founder of DS Interpretation: "Interpreters will not be replaced by technology but they will be replaced by interpreters who use technology."