Can anybody share their experience with remote interpreting/interpretation?
Thread poster: ALMIAAD
ALMIAAD
ALMIAAD
Tunisia
Local time: 11:36
English to Arabic
+ ...
Apr 7, 2020

Can anybody share their experience with remote interpreting/interpretation?

If you have recently used remote interpreting, please share your experience and post your advice.
Is it feasible to use an application on a website for real time audio-video interpreting?
Is Skype, or any other platform, practical?


 
Liviu-Lee Roth
Liviu-Lee Roth
United States
Local time: 06:36
Romanian to English
+ ...
remote interpreting Apr 7, 2020

There are several ways to do remote interpreting:
1) the most used form is the OPI - Over-the-phone-interpreting; there are OPIs through agencies (their platform) and directly for the client. If you work for agencies, you may expect UTIs (Unscheduled Telephonic Interp) or scheduled tel.interp., when the agency or the client asks you to set aside a certain time to be contacted by the parties who need the interpreter.
2) lately, due to the pandemic, some federal courts in the US have s
... See more
There are several ways to do remote interpreting:
1) the most used form is the OPI - Over-the-phone-interpreting; there are OPIs through agencies (their platform) and directly for the client. If you work for agencies, you may expect UTIs (Unscheduled Telephonic Interp) or scheduled tel.interp., when the agency or the client asks you to set aside a certain time to be contacted by the parties who need the interpreter.
2) lately, due to the pandemic, some federal courts in the US have started using Zoom (similar to Skype). Zoom offers(at no cost) a digital background for video conferences.

What do you need, as an interpreter:
- a good set of head phones with microphone (I prefer the ones with noise cancelling- they cover completely your ears);
- a quiet room with no family traffic;
- a note pad and 2-3 pens;
- a glass of water.

What to expect:
- background noise on the other side - politely ask them to kick the kids out of the room (immigration interviews where the responded comes with the 2-years old who screams in the mike or starts playing with the mike, blasting your eardrums,; medical settings, same as the the previous;
- court settings - too far, too close to the mike, attorneys forgetting that there is an interpreter waiting for a pause, etc.)
- financial institutions (banks, credit card) and insurance agencies - the LEP getting upset or frustrated and starts cursing the customer service person; (usually I ask them if they want me to translate all the curses ... and they stop);
- long distance interviews or investigations - usually, they are the best.

What to do:
- if things get out of hand, ask for permission from the judge, officer etc. to instruct the LEP to wait for your interpretation before answering, even if he understands the question.
- be flexible and keep calm; if you don't understand something, ask for a repetition, don't guess.

I could go on and on but, in a nutshell this is all about remote interpreting. It is fun!
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Hedwig Spitzer (X)
Mohammad Naim
Zoe Rompou
 
Azucena Puerta-Diaz
Azucena Puerta-Diaz  Identity Verified
Local time: 02:36
English to Spanish
+ ...
OPI Rates Apr 9, 2020

I know most professionals don't like to discuss rates in public forums, but the information I found shows a very wide range for minute rates for OPI and remote interpreting (from $.25 to over $3.00 per minute). Is anybody willing to share information about this topic?

 
Liviu-Lee Roth
Liviu-Lee Roth
United States
Local time: 06:36
Romanian to English
+ ...
It depends on the language pair Apr 9, 2020

Azucena Puerta-Diaz wrote:

I know most professionals don't like to discuss rates in public forums, but the information I found shows a very wide range for minute rates for OPI and remote interpreting (from $.25 to over $3.00 per minute). Is anybody willing to share information about this topic?




In the US, SP-EN is among the lowest paid, while for languages of lesser diffusion the rates go up.

It also depends on the agency. I work with four different agencies and the rate ranges from .75 - 1.00/min.

For scheduled assignments, it is $50/hr.

For court hearings (can last from 10 minutes to two hours) it is half-day ($225).


 
ALMIAAD
ALMIAAD
Tunisia
Local time: 11:36
English to Arabic
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
IOP Apr 13, 2020

Thank you for sharing these details.
But, is it possible to integrate the OIP on one's website?
Has anybody tried Skype?


 
MollyRose
MollyRose  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 05:36
English to Spanish
+ ...
Skype Apr 13, 2020

They let us take a laptop home with a VPN connection to use our desktop at the office remotely. As long as we don´t shut down the desktop, it is working. That way we can use all the programs on that computer, including MemoQ, without them having to pay to install it on the laptops, too.

We use Skype for Business, and it has been working pretty well for me--much better from home than when I had to use it at the office. At the office, we had difficulties hearing each other, but at
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They let us take a laptop home with a VPN connection to use our desktop at the office remotely. As long as we don´t shut down the desktop, it is working. That way we can use all the programs on that computer, including MemoQ, without them having to pay to install it on the laptops, too.

We use Skype for Business, and it has been working pretty well for me--much better from home than when I had to use it at the office. At the office, we had difficulties hearing each other, but at home I don´t have anybody around talking and making it difficult for the others to hear me. I also hear them much better using it at home. (I use a headset that covers both ears.) With Skype, we can add participants, and if someone needs to leave, they can while the rest of us remain on the ¨call.¨ We can also click on where it shows the number of participants and hang up somebody if they leave but we still get background noise from their end. You can use a web cámara or not. So far, I have not used it, but starting next week I think I will have to. So I need to make sure that whatever can be seen on my cámara is acceptable for them to see. ( Camara. I have my Spanish keyboard on and it automatically put the accent mark on there.)
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Liviu-Lee Roth
 
MollyRose
MollyRose  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 05:36
English to Spanish
+ ...
P.S. Apr 13, 2020

I just remembered, though. They plan for us to use "Teams" instead of Skype for our IEP meetings (for special ed). I don't know if it is because Teams is more confidential than Skype. I think Teams is part of Office 365. Teams can be downloaded, or it can be used in a browser.

They also suggested Zoom but prefer that we not use it. They prefer Teams.


Liviu-Lee Roth
 
cherrypick
cherrypick
China
Local time: 18:36
English to Chinese
+ ...
Zoom Dec 15, 2022

I think zoom is perfect for a larger meeting with 100+ people, for example.
If you have partners and you want to hear them in the meeting, you need to ask the moderator to turn your interpreter mode off.
Since in interpreter mode, you can't hear the sound of your channel in your earphone.


 


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Can anybody share their experience with remote interpreting/interpretation?







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