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Knowledge Centre on Translation and Interpretation

What do interpreter-trainers want from a pedagogy-led smart online training tool?

Consultation of potential users on what a trainer-focused interface for virtual classes could look like.

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What are our technical needs to reproduce in-person good practice? What added value might innovative machine-assisted online sessions bring? Open to all languages, areas of the profession and forms of training- we want to hear from you to make SmarTerp Educational as user-focused as possible. 

Language
English

Dear participants,

Thank you so much for joining our community. We want to hear from potential users of a pedagogy-led online training tool, to ensure it does what you need it to do in a user-friendly...

Dear participants,

Thank you so much for joining our community. We want to hear from potential users of a pedagogy-led online training tool, to ensure it does what you need it to do in a user-friendly way. We hope to design next-generation tailor-made online training resources to meet our pedagogical objectives creatively and with intellectual rigour. HELP US TO HELP YOU! We'd like to start by establishing an inventory of activities and interactions (to help us move towards "use cases"). Let's imagine that you're connecting to an online tool for a specific "session" with a pedagogical purpose in mind. (You can contribute as many different sessions as you wish, and add variations to those already listed).

  • TITLE: AIM OF TRAINING SESSION

Please give your contribution a title which reflects the objective of the session. Should skills be imparted, improved or evaluated by the end of the interaction? (These can be general e.g. "develop students' consecutive techniques" or specific e.g. "evaluate candidates' advanced simultaneous retour coping strategies from a dense source").

  • ACTIVITY

Please describe the practicalities of the training activity- it may consist of several stages (e.g. consecutive source speech, 6 parallel renditions using breakout rooms, peer feedback in breakouts+main, summary of peer feedback, trainer feedback, demo by trainer, brainstorming conclusions, definition of aims for next class)

  • "CLASS" PARTICIPANTS

Please list the participants in this interaction, their functions/ roles, and if relevant, how they will interact with others (or not). Are they in-person, online or recorded (speeches)? (e.g. "student 2 online: speech A: pure customer for student 1 giving peer feedback speech B: interprets")

  • ADDED VALUE/ POTENTIAL OF THE TRAINING TOOL

Be creative- in an ideal world, how would the training tool help you as a trainer? What is important to you? What limitations have you noted in your previous experience online (e.g. dual tracking) and in person (e.g. limited infrastructure)? How could a new resource help meet these challenges?

  • (OPTIONAL) RELEVANT CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND

Feel free to add any useful information for us to understand the context in which you operate e.g. MA course, continuous professional development, pedagogical assistance etc. and any background (such as the challenges of transition from in-person to online)

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Language
English

ACTIVITY

- Synchronous sim: recorded source speeches in FR and ES, virtual double-booths interpret into EN (turn-taking) and are recorded

- Asynchronous follow-up: trainer evaluates all recordings

- Live workshop

PARTICIPANTS

- 1 trainer/ checker (EN...

ACTIVITY

- Synchronous sim: recorded source speeches in FR and ES, virtual double-booths interpret into EN (turn-taking) and are recorded

- Asynchronous follow-up: trainer evaluates all recordings

- Live workshop

PARTICIPANTS

- 1 trainer/ checker (EN "A") - Numerous FR and ES source speakers (video recordings)

- 4 interpreters (ES "A"/ EN "B") / pure customers for booth-mates (turn-taking)

- 2 interpreters (FR "A"/ EN "B")/ pure customers for booth-mates (turn-taking)

- Rotating team of 6 coordinators and troubleshooters dealing with all logistics

ADDED VALUE/ POTENTIAL

If a training tool could allow greater flexibility in assignation of roles, the class could be more efficient and pedagogically useful (e.g. FR "A"s are pure customers for interpretation from ES, trainer can channel-hop to compare strategies, replay extracts of original speeches and performances in the workshop). Conferencing tools allow for speaker/ listener, and RSI tools for "interpreter", but training requires a more sophisticated range of options for who-listens-to-what-when, and replaying extracts of output from one channel for the benefit of the group.

BACKGROUND

In-person classes can include rapid changes of role and physical flexibility (e.g. being in the booth vs. in the "room", listening to booth-mate as pure customer i.e. without headphones) according to pedagogical needs. Existing online tools can feel a bit clunky and "pre-defined" by comparison. Much of the labour-intensive troubleshooting by coordinators was necessary due to technical difficulties or the shortcomings of the platform used.

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Language
English

"replaying extracts of output from one channel for the benefit of the group."

This sound good... logically a system that made this possible might also first allow the trainer to timestamp extracts as they listen and...

"replaying extracts of output from one channel for the benefit of the group."

This sound good... logically a system that made this possible might also first allow the trainer to timestamp extracts as they listen and at the touch of a button... bookmarking a place, say 5 seconds before you hit the button.

By default the bookmarks could be numbered. A more sophisticated version might allow the trainer to create their own drop down menu to give each bookmark a title like "decalage" or "calque" or "well-rephrased" etc. (More complex because the options would have to be limited to a few to keep it practical but probably also different for different classes)

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Language
English

Hi Andrew! Thank you for your contribution, that I find very interesting.

Just a few clarifications for the development of the functionality to bookmark a point in the interpreted audio stream of one of the students...

Hi Andrew! Thank you for your contribution, that I find very interesting.

Just a few clarifications for the development of the functionality to bookmark a point in the interpreted audio stream of one of the students the trainer is listening to: Can you clarify what you mean by "bookmarking a place, say 5 seconds before you hit the button"? I guess you are referring to the "button to bookmark" the audio extract (?). When you say "5 seconds before you hit the button", is there a reason why you would like to bookmark it before hitting the button and not after it?

Could you also please elaborate on the fixed titles "décalage" "calque" etc. in a possible drop-down menu? Could you provide a more or less comprehensive list of other possible titles of comments on the performance of the student you would like to give a title to? You say you imagine different options depending on the type of class. Could you also please propose something to that purpose?

Sorry for asking so many questions ;-)

Thank you in advance.

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Language
English

I think I can help with the first question! (Andy, correct me if I'm wrong!)

I understood the bookmark suggestion as in the following example:

I the trainer am listening to a student performance FR into...

I think I can help with the first question! (Andy, correct me if I'm wrong!)

I understood the bookmark suggestion as in the following example:

I the trainer am listening to a student performance FR into EN:

"My dames, my sires- mercy!" I hit the button after "Mercy!" and tag it as "Calque". The time-mark would be 5 seconds EARLIER i.e. before "My dames" rather than after "Mercy"

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Language
English

The trainer is listening to the student's interpreted audio stream and ONLY AFTER listening to a calque for example s/he is able to hit the button, of course, how silly of me ;-) Thank you Matthew...

The trainer is listening to the student's interpreted audio stream and ONLY AFTER listening to a calque for example s/he is able to hit the button, of course, how silly of me ;-) Thank you Matthew. But for the development of the functionality, how to set the actual time (number of seconds) to be bookmarked before hitting the button? Because for a calque I guess 5 seconds is more than enough, but for "well rephrased" maybe 5 seconds is too little and the rephrasing is only partially captured in the bookmarked excerpt (?) Maybe to set a different time (2 different times?) for the bookmark depending on the type of rendering the trainer wishes to bookmark? Bookmark 1 = Long (10 seconds?) and Bookmark 2 = Short (5 seconds?). Do you think it would be useful, Matthew and Andrew? Do you have other proposals?

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Language
English

Lecturer based in Europe, all others in China

ACTIVITY

Lecture in EN (sim interpretation into ZH)

Questions from floor (bilingual interpretation)

PARTICIPANTS

- 1 lecturer (speaks EN)

- 2 interpreters (bi-active simultaneous EN-ZH)

- 120 students...

Lecturer based in Europe, all others in China

ACTIVITY

Lecture in EN (sim interpretation into ZH)

Questions from floor (bilingual interpretation)

PARTICIPANTS

- 1 lecturer (speaks EN)

- 2 interpreters (bi-active simultaneous EN-ZH)

- 120 students (mainly ZH "A", with 9 different "B" languages)- listen in ZH/ EN, ask questions in ZH/ EN

- 20 teaching staff, academics and officials (ZH "A")- listen in ZH/ EN, ask questions in ZH/ EN

ADDED VALUE/ POTENTIAL OF TRAINING TOOL

The lecturer connecting online from a different continent can overcome some logistical difficulties (travel, visa etc.) Students with an individual connection to the tool (and mic) would not have to wait for a roving mic (in-person), or all share 1 connection (Zoom for hybrid with all students in person). The "back-channel" communication for coordination between organisers and interpreters, and "hand-raise" procedure/ submission of written questions in chat, could all be streamlined through one tool (currently use numerous channels and apps which is a source of distraction and delay)

BACKGROUND

Completely different technical set-ups have been used each year recently- a tool permitting all permutations of in-person, hybrid, online would help organisers adapt smoothly to rapidly changing circumstances.

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