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INTERPRETATION

Thanks to our extensive network of professional interpreters worldwide, we can offer premium interpreting services in numerous language combinations.

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YOUR EXPERT IN INTERPRETATION

For over 30 years now, we have built close ties with our freelance conference interpreters. We follow a stringent process to select the best interpreting teams assigned to your event, taking into account the linguistic requirements of course, but also their experience and knowledge of the subject matters.



Our conference interpreter portfolio includes more than 300 experienced freelancers, most of whom are graduates from the best interpreting schools, and classified by specialties.

We egularly travel across Europe with our clients for their international events where we either recruit local conference interpreters or organise the travel arrangements for the required interpreting teams.

SOLUTIONS TAILORED TO THE NEEDS OF YOUR EVENT

SIMULTANEOUS INTERPRETATION

Simultaneous interpreters work in a sound-proofed booth for the comfort of the audience and for isolation to facilitate their concentration capacity. They listen in their headset to the speaker feed and speak into their console microphone to translate orally the speaker’s words quasi simultaneously. Listeners select the appropriate channel on their personal receiver headset to hear the interpreting feed in the language of their choice. Simultaneous interpreting follows the dynamics of your event, by preserving spontaneous and interactive exchanges. For each language combination, a team of 2 interpreters is assigned, each working in shifts of 20 to 30 minutes during a work day, since no single interpreter can work solo for more than one hour at the most. Depending on the length of the meeting, complexity of the topics addressed and languages required, we adapt the number of interpreters necessary on a team to guarantee their optimum concentration and interpreting performance. 

CONSECUTIVE INTERPRETATION

The interpreter stands close to the speaker or sits around the table, listens to the speaker deliver his/her message and takes notes, before rendering the speaker’s words into another language. Good note-taking and memorising skills are essential to enable the interpreter to alternate with the speaker and subsequently deliver the translated message in short sequences once an idea has been developed. Because consecutive interpreting doubles the speaking time needed for a presentation, it can sometimes become fastidious for the audience. This interpreting technique however remains useful for short speeches in two active languages, and in selective contexts such as working lunches, negotiations, formal political events or awards ceremonies. Consecutive interpretation is regarded as the most exacting technique in the profession, and accomplished and highly trained interpreters alone are able to perform the exercise efficiently. 

WHISPERED INTERPRETATION  

The interpreter stands or sits in the audience, without any special equipment, and whispers the oral translation simultaneously for a very small number of participants (1 or 3 at most) sitting or standing together. The whispered interpreting technique is used for short-duration meetings, and primarily in bilateral meetings or groups where only very few members do not speak the common language. Beyond 45 minutes of work, a team of 2 interpreters is needed. For larger numbers of foreign participants or if several languages are needed, we recommend using a tour-guide HF portable system, for the comfort of listeners and to ensure optimum interpreting performance.  

LANGUAGES AVAILABLE 

EU languages

German, English, Spanish, French, Italian, Bulgarian, Danish, Estonian, Finnish, Flemish, Greek, Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovene, Swedish, Czech

East & Central European languages

Albanian, Armenian, Bosnian, Croatian, Georgian, Russian, Serbian, Chechen, Ukrainian

Asian languages

Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, Indonesian, Japanese, Malay, Thai, Vietnamese.

Other languages

Turkish, Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Bengali, Farsi, Hindi, Hebrew, Icelandic

WHAT IS INTERPRETATION?


Interpretation and translation should not be confused.


The single purpose of interpretation is to facilitate oral communication during a live event.


Translation refers only to written texts, even though “conference interpretation” is often misnamed “simultaneous translation”.


International events are attended by people from different cultures and countries, speaking different languages. The job of an interpreter is to enable them to communicate by translating orally into another language the ideas that are expressed by participants and speakers, rather than a word-for-word rendition.


Several types of interpreting techniques can be considered depending on the context of your event, and on the languages spoken or understood by your participants.




FAQ INTERPRETATION 

The interpreters’ working languages are classified in 2 groups and 3 categories:


. Active language: language from and into which the conference interpreter translates.

A Language or mother tongue: Language into which the interpreter translates from all other working languages

B Language: Language into which the interpreter can also translate from all other working languages, even though the B language may not be a mother tongue.


. Passive language: A language that the conference interpreter understands perfectly but into which he/she does not translate.

C language: Language from which the interpreter translates into his/her active languages.

Some international meetings use a large number of language combinations. In such cases, using another, more dominant language, as a common medium becomes necessary.


In France, the relay language is primarily French, but English can also be used in some circumstances.


This technique enables interpreters to translate a speaker from a language that is not one of their passive languages by listening to the interpretation made by their colleagues from another booth (so-called “pivot” interpreters) into the relay language.ollègues (interprètes "pivot") dans la langue relais.

Simultaneous interpreting is one of the human activities that requires the highest level of concentration.

It is a demanding exercise that cannot exceed much more than half an hour at a time.

Consequently, interpreters work in teams of two or three, and take turn at the microphone every 20 or 30 minutes.

The interpretation is intended solely for immediate audition during the conference. No recording, not even by the listeners, may be made without the prior consent of the interpreters involved, in accordance with the provisions of international copyrights agreements.

If a consent is granted by the interpreters to release their copyrights, an extra fee may be billed for such recording and/or on-line broadcasting (telephone, video, webcast, etc.).

CONFIDENTIALITY 

All of our freelance interpreters are bound by an obligation of absolute professional secrecy and full compliance with requirements of data security and confidentiality of the information they receive.


They are prohibited from deriving any personal interest or profit from the confidential information of which they may gain knowledge in the course of their assignment.


All documents received in print or electronic format are intended strictly for purposes of the interpreters’ preparation of their assignment and are destroyed after use.
Specific and personally signed non-disclosure agreements may be delivered at your request

Why choose BCO?

We stand by your side! Ask for advice

From the definition phase of your project up to its execution, our project manager is at your disposal to guide you, share our passion for our job and make your project an unforgettable experience.

Each conference is unique in terms of format, audience and topics. Our project manager will first define with you which languages will be used during your event (spoken and heard by speakers and participants). We can then advise you on the most suitable interpreting technique and number of interpreters needed, based on an analysis of the meeting format and duration.

The solutions we propose are tailored to suit the duration of the meetings to be interpreted, the number of parallel meeting rooms if any, language combinations required and topics addressed in your conference.

Appropriate planning in advance will enable us to assign the right interpreters and to ensure optimum performance and cost efficiency.

Our quotes detail the nature of the fees for the planned services and include estimates of all other related expenses.

Some additional expenses (travel, accommodations, meals, etc.) may be warranted by the event schedule, geographic location of the venue or by the availability of interpreters to be booked for some rare language combinations.

We recruit experienced and skilled freelance interpreters, most of whom are graduates from major French or international interpreting schools (e.g. ESIT, ISIT, ETI, EII, Heidelberg, Monterey).

Although generalists by education, all of our interpreters have however gained unparalleled experience and extensive knowledge in many specialised areas over the course of their careers (politics, economy, law, finance, automotive, aeronautics, energy, medical…).

We schedule the optimal teams tailored for each topic and each interpreting mode (simultaneous, consecutive or whispering) where different aptitudes and techniques are required.

We select interpreters based on their language combination, geographic proximity and experience in the topics to be addressed.

When assigning multiple interpreting teams, we always try to have one single pivot language.

Due to the seasonal nature of our business, we recommend that you plan for interpreting needs as early as possible. Early planning will give you a broader and more relevant choice of available freelance interpreters, or to ensure some continuity by booking interpreters who have already worked on your events in the past.

Appropriate preparation of the interpreters in advance is essential to ensure a high quality performance. Although interpreters do their own documentary research ahead of time to understand your context and issues addressed at your event, don’t be surprised if we contact you to ask for more specific information (e.g. agendas, copies of speeches, PPT presentations, meeting minutes, etc.) or for existing terminology related to your business (in-house glossaries, documentation, etc.). Our project manager is responsible for collecting this information from you and disseminating it to our teams of interpreters. In preparation for your event, our translation department is available to translate your documents, presentations and reports in the various languages of your conference as needed.

During your event, our project manager will be on site to coordinate interactions between the teams of interpreters and the organiser. Whether to collect and circulate new documents to the teams, or to organise last minute changes, the project manager will be present on site and proactively help you achieve efficiently the goals of your conference.

In liaison with our technical assistance crew, our project manager will ensure the proper working conditions for the interpreters and the comfort of their listeners attending the conference.

CLIENT TESTIMONIALS...

“I wish to thank you for your choice of interpreter yesterday. His presence and his smooth translations into Chinese were highly appreciated by our teams. I’ll be sure to contact you again in the future for our next sale event.”
Francoise L. G.
Sales Manager
“Just a brief message to thank you for your services yesterday. Friendly, efficient and attentive technical crew, charming and high quality interpreters. We had more German speakers than Flemish speakers who attended the convention, and all of them greatly appreciated the quality of the translations that faithfully reflected the tone of the speeches. Looking forward to the pleasure of working with you again in the future.”
Corine A.
Project Manager
“Just wanted to tell you that we had an excellent feedback on the services of your technician and your interpreter who charmed us with his calm voice and efficiency! A big thank you too for their patience and professionalism, considering the unexpected changes!!”
Léa C.
Company D.

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