Finding the Right Interpreters For Your Event (pt 1: Going Direct)

If you want your next international event to go off with a bang, you need the right interpreting team. But how do you find them? That is the question I intend to answer here.

As I wrote in my last article, there are some occasions when simply calling an  interpreting agency won’t do. For certain events, especially when these events herald the start of a long-term partnership, you really do need to build your own team. So how do you do it?

Let me first dispense with the obvious: it is almost certain that few, if any, events managers will want to sit down and assess the quality produced by lots of interpreters, even if they had the time and skills to do so. It simply doesn’t offer a good enough return on your time to be worthwhile. What you need therefore is another set of signals that will help you get the right team first time. Here are 4 solid tips to get you started.

1)    Start with one excellent interpreter.

No, this isn’t some zen-like “every journey begins with a single step” idea; it is far more practical than that. Even the best directories and the best professional associations will lack the resources to know exactly how well interpreters are performing right now. What they can measure is how well interpreters did during their last exam or assessment.

On the other hand, excellent interpreters will have recent, hands-on experience with fellow professionals. Since their reputation depends on how well the rest of the team works, they will know exactly who is and isn’t on their game and they might even know the areas in which each of their colleagues excel.

Since every conference needs more than one interpreter, finding someone who can simplify that process for you will pay dividends. So how do you find that one person? Simple, run the following triple-check.

2)    Pick someone serious.

Most countries have professional associations and in most cases, these associations will have membership grades that say something about the experience and career stage of each individual interpreter. In the UK, the Institute of Translation and Interpreting has several categories of professional membership, from Graduate Affiliate (for those fresh out of university) through to Fellow (for those who have at least 10 years of experience and are committed to continued professional development).

When you will want interpreters to be on top of their game, membership of a professional association is a great indicator of their commitment to their profession and to developing their skills. It is worth the few minutes that it takes to locate your local professional association and check out their membership grades. There are also associations, such as AIIC (the international association of conference interpreters) where interpreters can only get membership after a certain amount of experience. When looking for that vital first interpreter, make sure you pick someone whose professional membership indicates that they already have experience under their belt.

3)    Pick someone respected

On top of some level of professional membership, you also want to look for an interpreter who is respected by their peers. There are two good indicators of respect. The first is for an interpreter serve in some kind of leadership capacity, on top of their professional work. Being on the board of an interpreting association or chairing an official committee tells you that you are dealing with an interpreter whose standing is high enough that their fellow professionals are happy to support them and perhaps even follow them.

A second indicator of respect is the production resources for other interpreters, especially if you can see that this work is getting positive feedback. As common as blogs might be nowadays, it is still rare to find an interpreting blogger who gets sustained positive comments. Having a book in press is even rarer.

If an interpreter is respected by their peers, you benefit. Not only will they have industry contacts necessary to put together the kind of team you want but these interpreters will want to work with them. In most countries, the pool of interpreters is still small enough that bad work is found out quickly. By starting with a respected interpreter with good contacts, you increase the likelihood that your team will be full of winners.

4)    Pick someone inquisitive.

The last check might seem counterintuitive. Why would you want an interpreter who is going to fire questions at you?

The answer is simple. The more information the interpreter has, the better they can build and brief the team and the better the results you will get. You might think your event is a simple press conference but for the interpreter, the audience, format, location, language combinations and likely main topics are vital pieces of information. If you are working with an interpreter for the first time and they haven’t asked you any questions, you should wonder what’s wrong.

An interpreter who asks useful questions is an interpreter who cares and an interpreter who cares is one who will perform.

So there you have it, a simple checklist for finding interpreters directly for your next job? Next time, I will look at finding a good agency. In the meantime, what checks do you run when you are looking for interpreters directly?

Jonathan Downie MSc BA(Hons) AITI is a speaker, conference interpreter, and writer trading under the name Integrity Languages. His columns in the ITI Bulletin and VKD Kurier examine how translators and interpreters can use the latest research to add greater value to their clients. He loves working with clients to build them an interpreting dream team, whatever the event.

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