Hybridity in Conference Interpreting: A Journey of Adaptation

Abstract

Linguistic mediation is undergoing profound transformations due to rapid developments in artificial intelligence technologies and automated text processing. Innovations in the field, such as Neural Machine Translation (NMT), Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), and Computer-Assisted Translation and Computer-Assisted Interpreting (CAT-CAI), have induced new forms of interaction between translators, interpreters, and technological systems. By reviewing how simultaneous interpreting adapts to developments in the labor market and technological innovation through hybridization, this study aims to demonstrate that the integration of modern technology and artificial intelligence into the field is nothing but the emergence of a new form of hybridity, this time embodied in shared spaces and partnerships. This new development contributes to the flourishing of simultaneous interpreting, which may evolve into augmented interpreting capable of meeting today’s demands for accuracy, speed, depth, and analysis. This is all the more relevant at a time when discussion forums are no longer a playground for improvisation and eloquence but have become spaces for delivering pre-prepared speeches at tremendous speed due to time constraints, further complicating the already challenging task of simultaneous interpreting.