Enhancing public speaking skills in conference interpreting. Fourteen years of experience in the booth
Enhancing public speaking skills in conference interpreting. Fourteen years of experience in the booth

Summary/Abstract: The following is a presentation of the means and resources used by professional conference interpreters and conference interpreting trainees in order to enhance their public speaking skills. The enquiry is based on the crucial part audiovisual material plays in shaping the profile of a conference interpreter. As part of their job description, conference interpreters are called upon to probe the highest confidence in, indeed the highest level of public speaking competence. Oral communicators par excellence, conference interpreters work in a multimodal environment that requires extensive audio-visual literacy. Audiovisual awareness forms an integral part of the process, having a direct impact on the interpreter’s receptive and productive behaviour, involving as it does most of their senses and skills. In the paper we argue that, as well as video recordings, transcripts, speech pools, and other conventional resources on which they depend to build and maintain their skills, interpreters can benefit from a variety of alternative audiovisual resources, particularly as regards the enhancement of public speaking abilities. What we propose, in our capacity of conference interpreter on the Romanian market for fourteen years and trainer at the same time, is rethinking the process of conference interpreting training with a view to including film, conferences live feeds, video games, and the new media.

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