Bio

Jonathan Downie is a consultant interpreter, researcher and award-winning speaker on interpreting. His first book, Being a Successful Interpreter: Adding Value and Delivering Excellence brought together research on interpreting with real-life practice and was published by Routledge in 2016. He also co-hosts the popular Troublesome Terps podcast with Alexander Drechsel and Alexander Gansmeier.

Is there a future for human interpreters?

Presentation in:

The world is now full of gadgets and apps that pretend to have completely and definitively broken the language barrier. Tech giants such as Google and Microsoft, as well as new companies hungry for start-up cash, are crowding the market places with technological ways of replacing human interpreters completely. But is that it? Is the human interpreter on the way out? Should we all be signing up for new careers?

This interactive presentation will not only answer that questions but make it practical and personal for each individual interpreter. While it is always helpful to understand key concepts and go through the latest data, the emphasis on this session will be understanding what human interpreters actually do and what it will take to future-proof our work. Instead of turning to easy answers, this presentation will provide a space to look carefully and seriously at the work we do, how we market it and what it will take to persuade clients that humans are still the gold standard.

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