On 31 March, the Region’s VEGA representatives, Azucena Bermúdez Pérez (Ireland) and Emmanuelle Rivière (UK) paid a very first visit to Dublin City University, where they gave a talk to aspiring conference interpreting students about the conference interpreting profession and AIIC. The small, but enthusiastic, audience consisted of MA Translation students and undergraduate students of Applied Languages, keen to find out what conference interpreting is, where conference interpreters work, how to become a conference interpreter, and where to do an MA in conference interpreting. In the Republic of Ireland, the National University of Ireland Galway is the only university to offer training in conference interpreting. The presentation continued with an introduction to AIIC, giving the students an overview of AIIC’s activities and the support it can offer to newcomers to the profession.

The students were very engaged and asked numerous questions, ranging from how long it takes to acquire simultaneous interpreting skills to how to manage stress and how we are working during the pandemic.

Azucena and Emmanuelle would like to thank Dublin City University for the warm welcome.