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AIIC UK & Ireland News

06/07/2020
Outreach in times of COVID-19
AIIC UK&I Outreach Officer
AIIC UK & Ireland’s 2020 outreach activities began in the traditional format, with a trip to Essex University, but like so much of our lives were soon forced to move online. However, it was not just the format of the events that was transformed by the arrival of COVID-19 but also their content, as we fielded an increasing number of questions about distance interpreting and how the profession might have to adapt to a world living with COVID-19.

The Region’s PR Officer, Deborah Muylle, kicked off the year’s outreach effort in Colchester at the end of January, where she addressed an audience of 42 Chinese students training as conference interpreters at Essex University. A further 30 students of conference interpreting attended a talk given by our Regional Treasurer, Francoise Comte, at the University of Westminster at the beginning of March. In both cases, the students were keen to find out about the association, professional ethics and the benefits of joining AIIC.

By the end of March, universities had been forced to move their teaching online, and outreach was no exception. The Region’s VEGA Representative, Louise Jarvis, spoke to 15 students of conference interpreting at London Metropolitan University on Zoom, and Barbara Bethäusser-Conte gave a virtual address this year’s cohort of conference interpreting students at Leeds University. Both events provided an opportunity to stress that AIIC’s promotion of high professional standards, confidentiality and ethics apply just as much to virtual events as to physical ones. AIIC’s recently published COVID-19 Recommendations were the perfect example of how AIIC has been providing valuable guidance on distance interpreting to its members and the profession as a whole.

For this summer’s graduates of conference interpreting, the pandemic will clearly make for a particularly challenging start to their careers. In spite of, or perhaps because of this, we hope that they will turn to AIIC for support and guidance, as all of us adapt to a world living with COVID-19.