The whole world has changed in the most unpredictable ways due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Every single industry has been impacted in one way, and job roles have had to adapt incredibly quickly on an almost daily basis. Translators and interpreters are no different, experiencing their challenges in their work.
Usual face-to-face interpreting became difficult given social distancing and lockdowns. This has meant many businesses resorted to using online platforms for communications instead. The pandemic has highlighted the importance of essential key workers in keeping life moving forward, but it’s also showed us the importance of interpreting and translation services UK.
Here, we discuss how the role of translators and interpreters has changed with Covid-19.
Less Face-to-Face Interpreting, More Remote Interpreting
As briefly mentioned above, the rise in virtual events has meant more interest in remote interpreting. Many industries, including government conferences, court hearings and assisted learning, normally host in-person conferences, but with them now occurring online, they only require remote interpreters.
Even though there has been a lot of uncertainty about the permanence of online events, one positive is that remote interpreting has provided better accessibility and inclusivity for everyone.
New and Uncommon Phrases
The pandemic has brought many challenges, but the explosion of new words and phrases is a big one to contend with for translators and interpreters. Words such as “covidiot” and “doomscrolling” have become common in our everyday language. Plus, other phrases are now heard daily, such as “self-isolating” and “social distancing”.
The main challenge here is that translators and interpreters must bridge the gap between global meanings and translated words. For example, the UK uses “lockdown” to describe the closure of businesses and people staying home. However, the term “circuit breaker” is used in Singapore.
The UK and global translation and interpretation services, including sign language, is ensuring words and phrases are understood and translated for the proper contexts to avoid miscommunication.
More Time Online Means More Web Localisation
Web localisation describes the process of adapting an existing website to a local language and culture. The translation must be taken seriously for this to be done well. With the need to bridge the gap between new phrases and meanings in the aftermath of Covid-19, and more people spending time online, web localisation has become very important.
Covid-19 has brought many difficulties upon translators and interpreters, with many still finding themselves in precarious positions. Their ability to overcome these problems will likely rest on anticipating future work and adapting their working methods.
Indeed, the pandemic has caused a shift in many businesses operating online and using translation and interpretation services to help with that. It ensures efficiency and accuracy for businesses to grow sales and reach new audiences. Perhaps this will be the primary way forward for many translation and interpretation services.
