Simultaneous Interpreting
As its name implies, simultaneous interpretation happens at the same time as the speaker's speech, with a delay of a sentence or half a sentence, according to the interpreter's habits and linguistic combinations. Participants thus listen to the interpretation of the speaker in their own languages through personal headsets tuned to the selected sound channel.
In each interpretation booth, two interpreters, in turn, provide simultaneous interpretation into a language (their own) by transmitting it - via a mike linked to an infrared (or cabled) transmitter - to receivers in the audience. There have to be as many booths as there are languages, of course.
The second interpreter - in addition to taking over every 20-30 minutes - can interpret during cut-offs or debates. It goes without saying that the quality and totally exhaustive character of these types of interpretation depend on the speaker's precision and good rhetoric structure.
The interpreter however, will try, in his translation, with voice intonation, variations of rhythm in elocution and with true mini syntax restorations to make the interpreted speech intelligible despite the lexical and morphological faults of the original.
Whispered interpretation only differs slightly from simultaneous interpretation: instead of talking into the mike from the booth, the interpreter whispers his translation into the ear of a person or to a very small group gathered apart.
