Why Video Remote Interpreting is here to stay

Soaring demand – the virtual shift

The constant disruption to business meetings and world travel have resulted in shift of emphasis to virtual meetings and events. Albeit the transition from real to virtual was registered in all sense significantly, one critical financial aspect of this less well known is the shift of corporate budgets from business travel to web-conferencing services. This has enabled participants from around the world to interact, learn and share ideas in their native language during the virtual sessions, which has resulted in high demand of virtual real-time interpretation services like never before.

Interpreting technology advancements have empowered the smooth execution of multilingual meetings with simultaneous interpretation in fully remote settings. As the world has adapted to functioning virtually, it is of absolute importance for businesses and industries to pace up and get equipped for multilingual expansion.

Video Remote Interpretation on the roll

VRI (Video Remote Interpreting) is a service that uses web cameras/video phones to deliver sign language and spoken language interpretation services. VRI is here to stay as it can reduce costs dramatically with the consumer getting access to an interpreter almost instantly – anywhere, anytime.

It also successfully addresses the challenges of cultural sensitivities while taking critical aspects such as body language, hand movements and facial expressions into consideration. Even before social distancing became a common phrase for the world, VRI enabled communications without parties needing to be in the same space.

VRI not only facilitates highly cost-effective but flexible interpretation too, by waiving the travel part and no compromising on the clarity and quality of multilingual communication. It also allows clear and easy communication, where you need to just have a device such as a laptop/smartphone/tablet and internet connectivity and you are all set to use the service. It’s ideal for (and used by) almost any industry which aims for global communication.

Ensuring a successful VRI session

With shifting views on remote work, options like VRI are being used in various businesses. But communicating with an interpreter who is not in the same room as you can be sometimes intimidating, especially when you must rely on technology to do so.

These tips will help you feel more prepared and confident:

1. Check your equipment before each session to make sure it works properly and isn’t in the vicinity of any other loud machine that can hamper the conversation.
2. Know how to effectively use your equipment by acquainting yourself with the device settings and the process, so you can help troubleshoot if needed.
3. Familiarize yourself with the interpreter protocol to avoid making comments to the interpreter that you don’t want to be communicated, as interpreters in most cases must interpret all words they hear.
4. Speak directly to the receiver, not the interpreter and avoid talking about your counterpart in the third person to the interpreter.
5. Keep your messages concise to help the interpreter retain and relay the conversation accurately and completely.
6. Enunciate clearly and avoid rushing through theconversationby keeping a regular tempo to assist the interpreter understand and relay the message precisely.
7. You need to lead the agenda as the interpreter is there to just facilitate your conversation as a neutral third party — not to intervene, add or omit information, or interject their own opinions. Treat them as a communication bridge not an expert to lead the conversation.

VRI with WordSynk  

thebigword understands the importance of non-verbal communication (including body language and facial expression) in certain situations, to facilitate empathy and clarity of understanding. We strive to provide an outstanding service that allows a more personal connection and breaks down language barriers in a variety of scenarios.

Our high-speed video interpreting service gives you instant access to trained interpreting professionals, specialising in spoken or sign language services via our advanced web-access solution available through WordSynk. WordSynk is a cost-effective, advanced system that enables you to access all services such as online ordering, tracking and invoicing via a single, centralised web portal.