Interpreting Services for Scientific & Medical Companies
Quality Interpreting Services for Technical and Scientific Conferences, Training Workshops, and Teleconferences
Whether you are negotiating with an overseas company, hosting an international conference, or conducting training for your overseas technical support engineers, the interpreter's role is pivotal. Interpreting is an oral form of translation, enabling real-time cross-linguistic communication either face-to-face, in a conference setting, or over the phone.
To be effective, the interpreter makes the decision of how to best convey both the meaning of the words and the context in which those words were used. This requires a high level of expertise in a subject area, current knowledge of different cultures, and a great deal of experience. (The differences between the skill sets of translators and interpreters are discussed on the Difference Between Translation and Interpreting page.)
RIC International has an unsurpassed network of Scientific and Technical Interpreters providing both consecutive and simultaneous interpreting services worldwide. Whether your project requires on-site coordination or interpreting equipment, we have the resources and the experience to manage the project smoothly and ensure that information is conveyed accurately and appropriately.
Interpreting Services Come in Four Types - Which Interpreting Service Do You Need?
We provide four types of interpreting services: simultaneous, consecutive, escort, and over-the-phone interpreting (OPI).
Simultaneous Interpreting
Most frequently used for large conferences or meetings, simultaneous interpreting requires that the linguist "translate" what the speaker is saying as they speak. Thus, the interpreter is both listening and speaking at the same time. This takes intense concentration; simultaneous interpreters often work in teams, taking breaks every 30 minutes or so. Simultaneous interpreting generally requires equipment such as microphones, headsets, and in some instances, booths.
Consecutive Interpreting
Consecutive interpreting is the most widely used type of on-site interpreting services, and is most appropriate in smaller settings, such as training workshops, negotiations, and technical seminars. During consecutive interpreting, the speaker will speak for a few minutes (a few paragraphs), then pause. The interpreter takes notes and then translates the speaker's message during the pause. The key element in consecutive interpreting is note taking: the interpreter must record ideas and then translate them back into the words of another language without pause.
Escort Interpreting
Another form of consecutive interpreting is often called escort interpreting. If you are hosting a delegation of visitors from another country, you may want to use the services of an escort interpreter for meeting clients at the airport, city tours, and shopping excursions. Escort interpreters generally translate informal conversations.
Over-the-Phone Interpretation
Telephone interpreting (also called OPI or Over-the-Phone Interpretation) can be either simultaneous or consecutive. If the participants of a telephone call are content to hear only the voice of the interpreter, telephone interpreting can be conducted in a simultaneous mode; otherwise interpreting should be conducted consecutively. However, if the interpreter does not see the speakers and has no access to extra-linguistic clues to the speaker's meaning and context, the accuracy of simultaneous telephone interpreting tends to be significantly lower than for consecutive OPI.
More detailed information about Simultaneous, Consecutive, Escort, and Over-the-Phone modes of interpreting can be found in the section The Modes of Interpreting, and information on qualifications of RIC International interpreters in the section Qualifications of Technical Interpreters.
Contact Us
To learn more about RIC International's technical and medical interpreting services, or to request a quote or a proposal, please call us at 1-800-240-0246 or e-mail us at info@ricintl.com. |
