A short return into the history of conference interpreting in the former Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic today and some considerations about the paradoxes on the interpreting market and in the training of next professional interpreters
Abstract
This article examines some paradoxes in interpreter training and interpreting on the local, European and international markets over the last forty years, inter alia on the basis of the author's personal experience. With some humorous touches and a pinch of irony, taking the example of the former Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic today - a member state of the European Union (EU) - the author looks back and analyses the development of conference interpreter training methods and materials (recordings, live speeches).
Forty years ago retour interpreting and non-native speakers, often using the lingua franca of the day (i.e. Russian) were the daily bread of students in training and professionals on the market, just as were booths outside of conference rooms - the notorious remote interpreting so controversial today - and texts read at top speed by most speakers.
Such elements had to be included in training. In preparation for EU accession everything had to change in order to conform to existing international standards and to obviate criticism from international institutions and other universities.
And today? Now we all practice retour, which is taught in all recognised universities, more and more often texts are read, non-native speakers massacre the more widely-spoken languages and a new lingua franca has established itself in conference rooms everywhere. And remote interpreting has become part of the job.
Interpreter training has adjusted too: through virtual classes, digital platforms and speech repositories of audio-visual recordings of both speeches made for training purposes and authentic speeches.