The COVID-19 outbreak has spread quickly to be a global pandemic in early 2020. The university to which the researcher’s translation and interpretation institute belongs had two confirmed cases in April. This ushered in university-wide remote teaching for three weeks as required by government measures to contain the viral spread. The mock conference, as originally scheduled for the same period, was conducted remotely as well. Many teachers and students of interpreting at the institute experienced for the first time both remote teaching of interpretation and a remote mock conference.
The research aims to look into how teachers and students think about the new experience, including whether and how the remote interpreting classes and the mock conference differ from in-classroom experience, what implications there may be for the education and practice of conference interpreting once things go back to normal.
A mixed research method was adopted. First, an online survey was administered to teachers and students of the institute right after the remote mock conference, which coincided with the end of the three-week remote teaching. The results from the survey later fed into in-depth interviews the researcher had with some of the respondents.
By analyzing findings from the survey and interviews, the study is expected to identify possible challenges and benefits of distance interpreting and remote interpreter training.
For years, face-to-face interaction has been highly valued by both conference interpreters and educators. However, the accelerated adoption of digital technology during the pandemic reminds teachers and students of interpreting to evolve and embrace new modes of interpreting and training in the post COVID-19 era.