Remote Simultaneous Interpreting: perceptions, practices and developments

Abstract

This paper seeks to address the issue of remote simultaneous interpreting (RSI) focusing on the rapid spread of this interpreting mode since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020. To this end, practising conference interpreters were asked to participate in a survey aimed at exploring their perceptions of several RSI-related issues, from a quantitative and qualitative standpoint. The current paper analyses part of the results of that survey, offering an initial overview of the situation regarding RSI in the freelance conference interpreting market, its implications for the profession, advantages, disadvantages. From these initial results, conclusions can be drawn regarding the relative preference of interpreters for remote or on-site interpreting, the different forms of remote interpreting, the most widely used platforms, the locations from which RSI takes place, their advantages and disadvantages together with the solutions adopted to mitigate the impact of such disadvantages.