Interpreting for international organizations

Abstract

Interpreting at international institutions refers to the interpreters' work in contexts with relatively stable sets of related norms and rules that pertain to the international system, the actors in the system and their activities (Duffield 2007). Interpreting is a common practice in this context, and involves organisational, ideological and historical aspects of the institution where the interpreting takes place and the impact of the institution on interpreters (Moore 2018). In this entry, the focus will be on global intergovernmental organisations (IGOs), such as the United Nations and the European Union. This entry provides a survey of the characteristics of interpreting in this context, through a summary of the research carried out thus far, and drawing on my own experience as an interpreter at international organisations. It will examine different aspects of the issue, such as language combinations, interpreting modalities, admission exams and challenges faced by the interpreter. Interpreters are indeed faced with manifold challenges that have been driven by new realities, including the following: the combined increase of speeches written to be read and textual material in meetings, and the reduction of speaking time allocated to speakers have resulted in an increase in delivery rate. The growing use of English as a lingua franca in international fora and the fact that speakers come from different parts of the world results in a growing palette of non-native accents. The rise of paperless work has reconceptualised the processes of preparation, documentation and information management. In addition, organisations are keen to save on travelling costs, which, together with the need for interpreters with rare languages, has led to the increasing use of videoconferences and remote interpreting. The entry concludes with some general remarks on potential avenues for research.