Publications
Publication details [#51059]
Matsushita, Kayo. 2022. How Remote Interpreting Changed the Japanese Interpreting Industry: findings from an online survey conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Cheung, Andrew K.F., ed. Teaching and Practice of Distant Interpreting in the Pandemic Era. Special issue of INContext. Studies in Translation and Interculturalism 2 (2): 167–185.
Publication type
Article in Special issue
Publication language
English
Abstract
In order to investigate the immediate impact of the pandemic on remote interpreting, an online survey with a focus on remote simultaneous interpreting (RSI) was conducted in the summer of 2020 in Japan (Matsushita, 2020). The results revealed that while only 18.8% of the 229 respondents had RSI experience before the pandemic, the number jumped to 44.5% by the end of July 2020, with 91.7% of them envisioning that remote interpreting opportunities will continue to increase. This prediction turned out to be true: a smaller survey conducted in Japan 17 months later in January 2022 revealed that all 51 respondents had experienced remote interpreting, with 58.8% saying that almost all of their assignments (at the time of the survey) were taking place remotely. Against this backdrop, the present study conducted a detailed analysis of the survey responses from Matsushita to reinvestigate the transformation the interpreters experienced during the most turbulent months of the pandemic and find insights into remote interpreting in the post-pandemic world. It particularly focuses on differences among the interpreters, language pairs, and interpreting genres represented.
Source : Based on abstract in journal