A Community of Practice for Interpreting: the missing link

For our interpreting students on the MA Conference Interpreting at  London Metropolitan University it is our second week of online teaching. We actually went online even before the University suggested we should. This was a collaborative decision made with students and staff together during a Zoom consultation meeting. Our students come from many countries including Italy, Spain, China and Japan where their families were already in quarantine or isolation. They were worried and did not feel comfortable to travel to University. We then collectively decided that teaching would adapt to integrate the students' concerns. MA Conference Interpreting students and tutors closing a mock conference online. We are proud to say that we have not missed a single class since the Coronavirus crisis.  From our mock conferences, to language specific interpreting tutorials, workshops and interpreting practice, we have delivered all our classes.  We, the tutors and students...

Photo from European Commission Interpreters (Facebook) O n the 26th and 27th of March,  I was privileged to attend the annual DG Interpretation University Conference.The Directorate General Interpretation (European Commission), also known as DG SCIC works closely with universities that provide conference interpreting training to ensure quality. Every year, university representatives are invited to come together and reflect on interpreting studies and the interpreting profession with DG SCIC at the European Commission in Brussels. You can still watch the conference  on line. During the conference, a very relevant question was asked: Photo from European Commission Interpreters (Facebook) "Is one year enough to train conference interpreters at University?" I would like to use this post to expand on the contribution I made on that day. First of all, one year may be enough for some interpreting students but not for others....