Bridge the Language Barrier: The Best Ways to Translate Your Conference
Conferences are your best friend when you want to deliver a message to a set of personnel. But when you’re working with people from various backgrounds and cultures, language barriers could cause many forms of communication gaps.
Although English is a popular and universal language, it isn’t as natural for many people as their native language is. When you’re communicating with such people, you must make sure your message is being accurately translated to a language they understand the best.
Simultaneous translation, also known as simultaneous interpretation, is a popular way to deal with this problem. In simultaneous translation, an interpreter translates the words coming out of the speaker’s mouth to a different language in real-time.
To help you reduce the communication gaps between you and your audience, here are 5 ways you can make sure you’re translating your conference in the best way possible.
Understand how many interpreters you need
If you want to translate your conversation to more than one language, you need to hire more than one interpreter. An interpreter can handle only one translation at a time, it’s obvious they can’t help you simultaneously communicate with more than one type of audience.
First and foremost, determine the types of audiences you’re going to address and note down how many interpreters you will need.
Hire top-notch interpreters
It’s arguably the most important pillar of a solid translation service. Translating the words of one language to another is an easy task; any rookie interpreter can do that. However, accurately conveying a message in a different language is an art that only the most experienced interpreters understand.
A word-to-word translation sometimes also changes the meaning of a sentence, and you might end up giving out the wrong impression. To avoid that, make sure you’re hiring the best of the best interpreters for your needs. Experienced translators are very less likely to mess up and convey the wrong translation.
Communicate with your interpreters beforehand
Communication between you and your interpreter is the key to a successfully translated conference. Talk to your interpreters much earlier than your conference date to make sure they’re aware of your content. If needed, feed them your industry-specific information so they don’t get confused during live translation.
Any science- or industry-related terminologies should also be conducted beforehand, so your interpreters don’t settle down when they have to translate them in real-time. You can also help them out by delivering documents, presentations, or recordings of your previous conferences. It will provide them with the necessary input to conduct their task effectively.
Get high-quality simultaneous translation equipment
Simultaneous Translation equipment enables interpreters to focus on the task at hand and avoid distractions, while also letting them deliver their services effectively. If you’re hiring an interpreter for a one-time job, you won’t have to worry about such equipment, as they bring their stuff with them. However, if you’re hiring a full- or part-time interpreter for your company, you might need to purchase your own equipment.
When you do purchase your equipment, make sure you’re getting high-quality stuff. Mediocre equipment can single-handedly diminish the performance of your interpreters — and you can’t afford that in important conferences, can you?
Make pre-conference preparations
Instead of stepping into the conference room for the first time on the conference day, visit it earlier and check it out in detail. Familiarize yourself with the room and how the interpretation works. Moreover, interact with your interpreters and also show them the conference space.
If needed, make any changes to the arrangements of different aspects of the setup. It will make sure you don’t have to rush and make last-minute changes to your setup just before the conference starts. Remember — prevention is better than cure — try to find potentially problematic aspects of your setup and fix them beforehand.
Translation plays an important role in accurate message delivery in conferences. It’s crucial to accurately convey your message to a varied audience and make sure you’re communicating effectively.
Using the above-mentioned ways will help you seamlessly set up your translation system for a conference. Hire the best interpreters, provide them with the best equipment, make necessary preparations — and you’ll never have to worry about misconducted communication in your conferences.
