Remote interpreting

Remote interpreting is a mode of providing interpreting services in spoken and signed languages characterised by the remote location of the interpreter(s). The demand for remote interpreting services has been growing over the last decades, along with improvements in telecommunication technologies. This has led to a real revolution in the language services market, with interpreting companies offering remote services through their own platforms or commercial systems. Remote interpreting can take many forms and can be used in a wide variety of settings and subjects. Dialogue interpreting, conference interpreting, consecutive interpreting and simultaneous interpreting can all be provided remotely by telephone or videoconferencing. The first and main dividing line in an attempt to define remote interpreting can be drawn between dialogue interpreting and conference interpreting, which today is almost exclusively offered in simultaneous mode. Dialogue interpreting is the oldest form of remote interpreting and is mainly carried out via telephone and videoconferencing systems. It has many applications in business and public services. As a matter of fact, one of the first telephone interpreting services in the world was established in Australia in 1973 in the form of free service for the public sector (health care, legal, police, etc.). Remote Simultaneous Interpreting (RSI) is more recent and is usually offered through commercial platforms. This entry offers an overview of the characteristics of remote conference and dialogue interpreting, focusing in particular on the constellations of interaction, the main features of communication, the configuration of workstations and the possible consequences from the point of view of cognition and quality. Finally, it outlines promising research prospects on remote interpreting and their consequences for teaching, practice and research