The importance of a good interpreter in business meetings

 

One of the biggest concerns we have when we are trying to expand our business is that in the meetings we have, it is clear what our working methods are, what we contribute, our way of relating to our clients, etc.. 

These starting points, which seem so obvious, are not well defined and can lead to misunderstandings with our customers. Well, if this lack of communication occurs when we express ourselves in our own language, it goes without saying that when we have business meetings with people who communicate in a language other than ours, the difficulty increases considerably. 

In the world we live in today and thanks to globalization, every day it is more feasible that we find business possibilities outside our borders. These opportunities make businesses not as limited in scope as they had before, but we must be careful with how our message is transmitted in a language that is not ours.. 

Sometimes we think that by managing the basics of a language like English we will be able to get ahead. However, there are a number of problems that may arise that will greatly complicate a fluid communication between the two parties:

 

• Our expression in a language that we do not fully master can be worse than we think.
• The company with which we are having the meeting is perhaps not from an English-speaking country and neither is its workers, so its level of English is going to be unknown.
• Cultural differences can cause misunderstandings with which an image of us that we do not want is generated.
• The terminology According to which sector it is going to be very difficult to express if we do not have absolute control of the language in which we are having the meeting.
• The security of both parties of having understood what it is going to do is an important factor that we may not have 100% controlled if we do not have a person who handles communication languages perfectly.

 

Simultaneous interpretation 

 

The Simultaneous interpretation It is the type of interpretation that we see, for example, at meetings of the Council of the European Union, congresses or online meetings. As its name indicates, it is a working method in which the interpreter and the interlocutor speak at the same time so that the translation reaches people who do not understand the language in a matter of seconds. Normally Headphones are used for receiving the message.

In this working method, the interpreter has a space to carry out his work isolated from the participants, usually a perfectly equipped cabin with a microphone, headphones and rest of the necessary equipment.

 

Consecutive interpretation

 

In this way of working, the interpreter listens and takes notes of what is being expressed from one of the parties without make no type of intervention until the person has finished the sentence. It is common in press conferences, for example, of sporting events, where journalists they do Questions in several different languages. Once the intervention is over, the interpreter begins to transmit what has been said in another language so that the message reaches people who have not understood what was meant.

It is important to establish the times so that the interventions are not too long. In these cases, the loss of information can be a factor that makes the meeting not as satisfactory as it should, so the interpreter professionalism And the note taking will be decisive for the information to be transmitted in its entirety.

 

Whispered interpretation

 

The whispered interpretation is what we observe when the interpreter whispers to the companion all the information translated that the other person is communicating. As in the case of simultaneous interpretation, the interpreter speaks at the same time as the interlocutor, but in this case it is carried out in a much less technological way, making it ideal for business meetings with few participants or lunches/dinners where it makes no sense to have such means sophisticated.

 

business meetings Online

 

Face-to-face business meetings are being replaced by meetings Online through a screen. It is a trend that had already been implemented before the pandemic because it reduces costs and time invested, but That, with the arrival of COVID-19, has increased notably.

The need for a good interpreter in business meetings is important for many reasons that we have already commented on in the article, but when we add that it is not done in person, the importance of his work is even greater. The loss of expressions of the face, the bad sound of a video call or the lack of other forms of expression that we would have in a face-to-face meeting make the figure of the interpreter, his quality and his professionalism decisive when the message arrives as we want.

If you have more doubts about how you work in meetings of business or you need to hire this type of service, do not hesitate to contact us And we will be happy to solve all your doubts.