In a virtual world - What advantages do virtual scenarios have for interpreter training?

With the professional interpreting landscape changing rapidly and its future becoming increasingly difficult to predict, institutions offering interpreter training programmes are facing a double challenge. They need to cover a broad range of skills to prepare students for a volatile market – but within a tighter budget that means reduced contact hours and a shortage of suitable training resources. There is also a need for clients of interpreting services to understand more about the challenges of working with an interpreter. If this is the situation in the real world, how then can the opportunities offered by virtual worlds be harnessed for interpreter training purposes? 3D virtual worlds are online environments in which users can interact with each other. Far from being the preserve of videogame creators and gamers, they are already being used in many educational contexts, including language learning