With approximately 1 in 20 Americans who can’t hear, it’s important to make them feel included in every event they attend. When putting on a presentation, the need for an on-stage interpreter is evident.
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The United States is one of the most linguistically diverse countries in the world. It is estimated that there are more than 350 languages spoken here today.
7 Reasons Why Your Event Needs an Interpreter
With the use of simultaneous interpretation, consecutive interpretation, and whispered interpretation, your event will be able to appeal to different users depending on their needs.
What is the difference between simultaneous interpretation, consecutive interpretation, and whispered interpretation?
- Simultaneous interpretation delivers an interpretation without having to wait.
- Consecutive interpretation is when an interpreter must wait for a pause or break in a speech to deliver an interpretation.
- Whispered interpretation is when an interpreter interprets the message in their head and then whispers it to the client
After years of providing interpreting services, here are 7 reasons why your events should have an interpreter.
1. The Increasing Spanish Speaking Population
The United States is influenced by Latin America, from the music to the food, and the way we dress.
Each year more and more people are moving to the U.S. who come from Spanish-speaking countries such as Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Cuba, and many others. By 2050, the United States will be the largest Spanish-speaking nation on the planet according to a prediction
By having an interpreter available to Spanish speakers, your event will be able to attract and satisfy one of the most important demographics in the U.S. today. It is essential that your company stays ahead of trends, or else your competitors will leave you behind.
2. More Networking Opportunities
Language barriers should no longer hold us back from making friends and connections with people from different backgrounds and languages.
There could be special guests at your events who own thriving businesses in Asia, Latin America, and Europe. The opportunity to connect with these individuals can lead to business opportunities down the road.
By hiring an interpreter that speaks this guest’s language, they will feel more comfortable throughout your event and will leave with new valuable contacts. If your company is feeling ambitious, you could also expand your operations overseas in order to connect with international audiences.
3. Clear Understanding
Although many people speak English as a second language, there can still be difficulties understanding certain terminology, jokes, idioms, and accents.
One of the hardest things for language learners is keeping up with the speed of a speaker as well, and many public speakers tend to talk fast.
By having an interpreter in a booth, listeners can grab onto their headsets and understand clearly what the speaker is saying with the help of a specialized interpreter who is highly skilled in the listener’s native language.
4. Why Your Event Needs An Interpreter – Added Participation
Often during events, there are Q&A sessions, discussions, icebreakers, and workshops meant to actively engage participants.
Asking or answering a question in their non-native language in front of hundreds of people can make people extremely nervous. Having an interpreter present can relieve these negative feelings and help the participant communicate what they want to say.
With the entire audience actively participating, more people will be able to express themselves leading to more connections throughout the group of people.
5. Helping the Hard of Hearing Community
Discrimination in the workplace has made it difficult for 70% of deaf people to find jobs.
In order to evening the playing field, an interpreter can help deaf people experience the same benefits as others. If your event consists of 200 people, 10 are likely deaf, so these individuals should be accounted for.
People will respect your business when they find out that you’ve gone beyond to help those in need feel included.
6. Save Money – Why Your Event Needs An Interpreter
Covid19 made many companies adjust the way they hold events. Virtual events became the norm with participants watching from the comfort of their homes.
With new variants coming out, and people being worried about large gatherings, there is still uncertainty as to when the world will return to the way it was before the pandemic.
Although remote events are different, they are able to save your company a great amount of money.
Instead of having to fly out interpreters to your event, you can just streamline interpretation services through software that listeners can access through their smartphones. You also do not have to spend money on interpretation booths, on-site equipment, or paying for event space.
7. Maintains Accuracy
Although machine translation apps have made improvements over the years, they still are not completely accurate and do not offer the same experience as a human interpreter.
A machine translation app could offer an inaccurate interpretation that even offends some people, leaving each party confused.
It is essential that international participants hear an accurate interpretation in their native language during events. Attendees can then go on to share the content of your event through their social channels, increasing your brand authority and leading to new potential customers.
Conclusion
As you can see, interpretation services are a key factor in running a successful event. By now you must’ve been clear why your event needs an interpreter. Event interpreters can bridge the communication gap between attendees of different languages and cultures.
It is important that your brand only works with high-quality interpreters. The ones who previously vetted to ensure they have the language capabilities to deliver 100% accurate interpretations every time.
You should make sure that each interpreter is certified by the state that they work in. Also, they should at least own a bachelor’s degree, and has at least 5 years of experience working in interpretation.
The Language Doctors is an interpretation services company that vets each interpreter before hiring them, ensuring each of their clients only works with the best of the best interpreters in the business.
If you have any questions about this article, please leave us a comment today so we can answer you right away. Also, if you know anyone who could benefit from the information in this article, feel free to share it on your social media.
