Business Meeting Interpretation

Do you have multilingual audience members attending your next business or board of directors meeting? Are you attending a high-level business meeting conducted in a foreign language? If so, at Lighthouse Translations we offer accurate, professional, and culturally appropriate simultaneous and consecutive conference interpreting/translation services for all of your business meeting interpretation needs.

In today’s business world, the language barrier can be a serious issue – plenty of companies cooperate with businesses from different countries where English isn’t the primary language. The truth is that not every person speaks or understands English, and it shouldn’t be taken as a given.

What should you do in a situation where your potential business partner doesn’t speak your language? Give up and find another? Of course not! If you have a meeting planned with speakers of different languages, you should hire an interpreter.

There are plenty of reasons why it’s a good idea, but the most important one is probably also the most obvious one – it helps you facilitate communication. Just think about a situation where you went to another country and didn’t know the language spoken there, or you only knew a little bit. You probably felt a little uncomfortable. The same thing can happen to participants of a business meeting that isn’t in their native language.

By hiring interpreting services for your business meetings, you are making people feel more welcomed and at ease. Not to mention that many of them will be more willing to do business with you when they see that you made an effort to make them as comfortable as possible and ensured that they understand everything that is going on.

Now that you know why hiring interpreting services for a meeting with a potential client or business partner can be beneficial for you and your company, it’s time to dive a little deeper into how you can prepare yourself so that both you and the interpreter can ensure that everything goes as smoothly as possible.

The best way to start is by holding a pre-meeting, during which you can explain to the interpreter or someone who represents them what are your expectation when it comes to their service, as well as technical things, such as the agenda of the meeting or what languages you need interpreters for.

It would also be very appreciated if you knew from which regions the participants of your meeting are coming, as many languages have different dialects. Take as an example Italian – aside from the standard Italian which is taught to foreigners, for example, there’s also Neapolitan, Sicilian, Friulian, Catalan, Tuscan, Sardinian, Romanesco Italian and so much more.

Last but not least, if you have a copy of a presentation or a speech that will be presented during your international business meeting, provide the interpreter with a copy of it, as it will help them familiarize themselves with the topic of your conference.

Business interpreting is, without a doubt, not an easy job – just like any of the interpreting services to be honest. There are plenty of key skills that a good interpreter needs to have in order to be good at their job. What’s more, it’s not only about the knowledge of the language – good interpreters or translators also know all the nuances of the languages they are working with, as well as the cultural differences that might affect the meaning of the word.

Business meeting interpreting services don’t have one form. They can involve simultaneous interpretation, consecutive interpreting or whisper interpreting.

The first one, simultaneous interpreting requires a soundproof booth where the interpreter can sit, as well as a set of headphones and a microphone through which they can communicate the interpreted speech or presentation. As the name might suggest, simultaneous interpreting happens almost at the same time as the actual speech – the difference between both is just a few seconds.

In consecutive interpretation, the interpreters take notes during the speech/presentation, and later on (once the speech is completed or simply after a few minutes) they interpret what was said into different languages.

Finally, whisper interpreting is very similar to simultaneous interpreting. The main difference between the two is the number of participants of the events as well as where the interpreters are located. Whisper interpreting is usually used when there are no more than two or three people present.

Our interpreters and translators offer specialized knowledge in many areas including business and financial, legal, engineering, technology, medical, economic development, and numerous others. With various specializations, you are assured accurate results using industry-specific terminology.

And much more!

Ultimately, no matter what you need or when you need it, Lighthouse Translations is your go-to resource for Business Meeting Interpretation. One of the easiest ways to find out for yourself how great our Team and the quality of our services are is to contact us, or let us provide a FREE price quote for your business meeting interpretation. Want to learn more, simply contact us using the form on this page or download our FREE eBook.