Whispered interpreting does not require technical equipment and is immediate.
Whispered interpreting, or chuchotage, is a type of simultaneous interpreting in which the interpreter, without the need for any technical equipment, sits next to the person for whom they are interpreting and translates the speaker's words by whispering.
It is used for a small number of people, at most three, when the majority of the room can understand the speaker, except for that small group. Or for a specific intervention. For example, in a conference where there is only one person in the audience who needs the interpretation into a specific language, there is the possibility of providing an interpreter to whisper the intervention to them. Or if in a meeting where most of the participants speak English, for example, a very frequent case, but there is a delegate who is not comfortable and does not want to miss anything that is said in the meeting, they can use the services of a whispered simultaneous interpreter who is next to this person and translates everything that is said in the meeting. Or if in an international conference via Skype or with any other software you want to be sure that you understand everything that is said, without interrupting the rest of the participants, one of our interpreters can accompany you and, as long as the sound quality allows, translate what is said in the conference simultaneously; the other participants do not even need to know.
It is unidirectional, that is, it is interpreted into the target language for a specific audience. Although its combination with other techniques allows for bilaterality. For example, in a meeting where whispered interpreting is used for one participant, but their interventions are interpreted consecutively so that the rest of the participants understand them.
It has the advantage of not needing simultaneous interpreting technical equipment and being immediate, but it has some drawbacks. The interpreter or interpreters who do the whispering must have a lot of experience to know how to position themselves appropriately in the room, to modulate the tone of their intervention at all times so as not to disturb the rest of the audience, and to maintain the level of concentration necessary in simultaneous interpreting, taking into account that the sound reception will not be ideal for the development of the interpretation. Often there is ambient sound, noise or interruptions that make their work difficult and the interpreter has to make an extra effort to concentrate. For these reasons, we carefully choose the conference interpreters who will be able to provide this service.
We often work with whispered interpreting and we can provide you with the appropriate interpreters to make your intervention go smoothly. Call us.
