New technologies have made easier, but not risk-free, the use of digitised audiovisual material taken from recordings of real multilingual events right from the early stages of specialised interpreter training. In order to control the risks involved, the author of this study suggests a two-fold approach: on the one hand, evaluation by the trainer of the level of difficulty, applying both objective or quantifiable and subjective or approximate criteria; on the other hand, students’ perception of parameters which are vital for their motivation, such as the difficulty, usefulness and personal interest raised by a variety of individual exercises and types of exercises. Implementation of this proposal is based on action research methodology, integrating both quantitative and qualitative analysis.