KYR Communications can provide the best fit for your simultaneous interpreting and translation needs.

  Installed in a special sound booth for the occasion, the simultaneous interpreter looks quite like the “language magician” whose performance graces the international stage. Without exception, however, this conference was loaded with presentations, which amounted to arduous work, even when divided between interpreters. In fact, presentation materials were sent in advance to enable pre-reading. The administrative work to receive the presentations from the client and distribute to interpreters was also reasonably time consuming, while certain presenters could not deliver and that made it impossible to obtain all presentations in advance. Nonetheless, efforts to minimize last-minute material drops at the conference were critical for smooth conference interpreting.

  Moreover, since presentations were mostly prepared in the source language, interpreters receiving the texts confirmed terminology in advance and mulled over the translation in the target language. Unknown areas involved consultations with the client. And the conference schedule remained vital, since interpreter teams typically decide on load handling by looking at the time allotments in advance. In these ways, this conference provided a reminder of the significant amount of preparation made before the days of the actual program.

  Once the conference began, the interpreters were ready to “flex their muscles,” but interpreting performance varied with the cooperative stance of the presenter. Although the name is “simultaneous” interpreting, in reality interpreting is voiced as immediately as possible after hearing the speaker utter. So the speed of the speaker affected the proportion of content interpreted. Honestly, more measured speech, in comparison to an event where no interpreting would be done, was greatly appreciated. As an alternative means, the interpreter could catch up, if the speaker waited momentarily before advancing to the next slide.

  For this conference, KYR Communications did not handle the simultaneous interpreting systems (booth, microphone and mixing/transmission units, receivers for conference attendees), although we can arrange these set-ups. In such cases, details on the venue are reviewed for accurate system preparations that avoid problems arising at the venue. In conclusion, considerable work must be undertaken earlier than the conference dates for both interpreters and systems used for interpreting.

  Instead of the regular call for interpreting from a multinational corporate client, KYR Communications assisted with Japanese versioning of a training package developed at headquarters. In the beginning, the main task was translation of training materials. During the project, however, we received a question: “Can you do subtitles?” Of course, we have experience, but translation of video is a specialty. Professionals regularly translating from source text to target text are not adept at creating target translation text by listening to audio narrations or audio scripts in the source language. A professional who regularly produces subtitle translations should take this on. And in fact, there is quite a bit of expertise involved to complete subtitle texts corresponding to the video time code and proving readable within the available screen time.

  Thus, despite the confidence in translation ability for the documentation and training material at hand, subtitling called for the cooperation of this special type of translator. To ensure cohesiveness, attention to the subtitling translator included input regarding the circumstances of the client, review of completed subtitles, and in certain cases discussions with the translator to complete final versions.

  Once the client stamped its approval of the actual text, the actual video was borrowed. That’s right. Delivery included a completed training video with subtitles inserted by a digital video specialist. In the digital media age today, unlike in the past where film reels were carted around, all media can be transported with telecommunications. No longer is the expected answer to “Can you do subtitles?” merely completion of a translation text, but completion of the final video, ready to use. Such reality marks a measurable difference between translation companies today and 10 years ago.