Protocols for Remote Interpreting

Protocols for Remote Interpreting

Course description: 

Protocols are the procedures and best practices that help you manage a successful session. If you’ve performed face-to-face interpreting, you’re familiar with basic protocols, such as performing a professional introduction, positioning yourself effectively, intervening to manage the flow of communication and so on.

The questions this lesson addresses:  

• How do protocols change when you interpret remotely?

• How do you apply them effectively in a remote (OPI or VRI) setting?

In this lesson you’ll learn the details of how to adapt protocols from face-to-face interpreting to remote interpreting. You will also learn a few other protocols that apply only to remote interpreting.

While the primary focus of this lesson is over-the-phone interpreting and video remote interpreting (OPI and VRI) some of the protocols discussed in this lesson can also apply to remote simultaneous interpreting (RSI).

The seven protocols we will focus on in this lesson include:

1. How participants, equipment and interpreters need to be positioned.

2. What to include in a professional introduction and how to perform it.

3. The use of direct speech, also known as first person, and exceptions to that use.

4. How to manage the flow of the conversation by turn-taking.

5. When and how to intervene or mediate.

6. How to manage hold times.

7. When and how to use shadow communication, which is often referred to as shadow interpreting.

After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

1. Assess how interpreters should position themselves and equipment for remote interpreting.

2. Perform a professional introduction as a remote interpreter.

3. Decide when and how to manage the flow of communication.

4. Evaluate how to manage hold times and when and how to use shadow communication.

Course length: 2.5 hours

Course access period: 60 days from purchase date

Once purchased, course access cannot be paused. See our FAQ for information on purchasing course access extensions.

Course completion requirements: Pass one exit test (score of 70% or above).

Certificate: Downloadable certificate available immediately upon passing the exit test.

CEUs

• Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters (CCHI): 2.5 CCHI CE hours

• International Medical Interpreters Association: 0.2 IMIA/NBCMI CEUs

• Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf: 0.25 RID CEUs

• Ontario Council on Community Interpreting: 2.5 OCCI PDUs

Learning objectives:

After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

1. Assess how interpreters should position themselves and equipment for remote interpreting.

2. Perform a professional introduction as a remote interpreter.

3. Decide when and how to manage the flow of communication.

4. Evaluate how to manage hold times and when and how to use shadow communication.

What you will get:

• Your video instructor: John Arroyave

• 22 interactive exercises, including 2 role-plays

• Activities for practicing and developing skills and protocols in remote settings.

• Access to The Remote Interpreter: An International Textbook

• Course completion certificate

• Critical guidance for developing the skills and protocols required in remote interpreting.

How this course will improve your practice:

This course will help you take many of the skills and protocols used in face-to-face interpreting and apply them professionally and effectively in a remote setting (OPI or VRI).  It will help you identify the important criteria when thinking about how interpreters should apply the seven protocols discussed in this lesson in remote settings. It will help you gain a deeper understanding of why remote requires a different set of skills for applying protocols.  And, as well all know, protocols help you stay within your role and focus primarily on interpreting. They make your job easier. And they also make it easier for other people to understand your work and respect it.

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