Virtual Remote Interpreting 2013 Court Affiliates Conference April 19, 2013 New Orleans, LA.
From Black Box to the Virtual Interpreting Environment ...
Transcript of From Black Box to the Virtual Interpreting Environment ...
The Future of Conference Interpreting: Training, Technology and Research
University of Westminster, 30 June- 1 July 2006
From Black Box to the Virtual Interpreting Environment
(VIE): another step in the development of Computer Assisted
Interpreter Training
Annalisa Sandrelli University of Bologna at Forlì (Italy)
& Jim Hawkins
Melissi Multimedia Ltd. (UK)
• intensive nature of interpreting courses
• need to recreate the communicative dimension of the conference in class
• heavy reliance on autonomous practice - finding suitable training materials - availability of interpreting labs - little feedback on autonomous work - possible students’ frustration
CAIT (Computer Assisted Interpreter Training) : why?
CAIT: when? how?
• mid-1990s: using multimedia computer technology to enhance the teaching and learning of interpreting = CAIT
• Main approaches: - speech databases/repositories Marius;IRIS; Babels DVDs - dedicated CAIT tools Interpr-It; Interpretations;Black Box - web-based training Moodle; ETI’s interpreting portal - conference system simulator VIE Virtual Interpreting Environment
Black Box 3.0 Melissi Multimedia
spring 2005 (previously available as
part of the Melissi language lab) • downloadable demo:
http://www.melissi.co.uk/blackbox/download/BBXSetup.exe
• currently in use in the UK, Italy,
Belgium, Hong Kong • several institutions have purchased
a small number of licences and are currently evaluating the software
Black Box 3.0 Authoring • word processor:
- exercise templates (comprehension questions, text analysis, glossaries …) - bitmap texts for (scrolling) sight translation exercises - SmartText = text annotations (6 categories)
• easy editing of video/audio clips • adding background noise effects (echo and/or
distortion) • Exercise Wizard to create exercises
(simultaneous, consecutive, liaison, sight translation exercises)
• all files bound up in 1 “.bbx” file • sets of exercises publishable as Modules
Black Box 3.0
User features • icon-based • easy access to modules, exercises,
recordings, etc. • on-screen keyboard and character
map for foreign characters • word processor for written work • integrated Explorer browser
(Internet searches)
Black Box (3.0)
• simultaneous play & recording • fast compression of recordings (Ogg Vorbis,
mp3) for storage on pen-drives • easy “portable stereo” controls • bookmarks in audio/ video clips for later
revision of difficult passages • slowing down speed of SL recordings • Wave viewer to monitor prosody (top:
SL speech; bottom: TL recording) • easy access to annotations (“hot” words)
A step further: VIE (Virtual Interpreting Environment)
• Basic idea: developing a fully-immersive virtual conference centre, along the lines of simulators available in the computer games industry
• simulators (for both business and entertainment purposes) attempt to provide a virtual experience of a real-world activity e.g. Microsoft Flight Simulator
• simulator games very expensive to develop (£ 250,000 – 500,000)
CAVE Virtual reality lab Engineering, University of Bologna
A conference interpreting system simulator: VIE
• First step: developing a simulator of a digital conference interpreting system based on networked computers.
• To be used on-line (live sessions) and off-line (recorded teaching materials)
Advantages • effective means to familiarise with
conventional real-world systems BUT - more durable than analogue systems - cheaper than digital systems
• more flexible and portable: VIE can run successfully on wireless networks, and can be set up in minutes
• distributable: booths and source may be in different rooms for remote interpreting practice
A conference interpreting system simulator: VIE
• can function as a massively reduced-cost interpreting system for real events
• Main components: speaker console, interpreter console and control panel
• Speaker console: - broadcast channel select - listen channel select - request to speak - microphone “live” indicator - mute or cough button - on/off switch
• possible to have live video streaming from cameras
Minimal speaker console
VIE Interpreter console • same functions as the speaker console • possible to shrink it to display, for example, a
PowerPoint presentation alongside it • channel “handover” to simulate 2 interpreters
taking it in turns to work, each with one computer • relay interpreting practice sessions by selecting
appropriate channels • “mock conference” sessions working with students
in other rooms (via LAN) or off campus via an Internet link: - with a broadband (cable or ADSL) system - on faster wireless networks (IEEE 802.11g or 802.11n)
• additional support materials: dictionaries, glossaries, background materials, databases…
• plug-in electronic notepad and pen for consecutive interpreting
Minimal interpreter console
Note-taking tablet
VIE Control Panel • control panel: remote set up & monitoring of
the system - taking channels on or off line - recording some or all channels - controlling speaker consoles - initiating recorded sessions - providing feedback via a separate channel
• all the functions of Black Box to assemble and edit teaching materials (audio, video and text)
• highly-efficient file system (VIF) for distribution of package learning resources to student machines
• grouping teaching materials into packages for individual or group off-line practice : virtual sessions on CD or DVD
Melissi Multimedia Ltd www.melissi.co.uk
Black Box demo http://www.melissi.co.uk/blackbox/
download/BBXSetup.exe
E-mail [email protected] [email protected]
Contacts
• Carabelli, Angela (1999), ‘Multimedia Technologies for the Use of Interpreters and Translators’, The Interpreters’ Newsletter, 9: 149- 155.
• Cervato, Emanuela & de Ferra, Donatella (1995), ‘InterprIt: A Computerised Self-Access Course for Beginners in Interpreting’, Perspectives: Studies in translatology 2. 191-204.
• De Manuel Jerez, J. (2003) (coord), Nuevas tecnologías y formación de intérpretes, Granada, Editorial Atrio.
• Gran Tarabocchia, Laura, Carabelli, Angela & Merlini, Raffaela (2002), ‘Computer-Assisted Interpreter Training’, in G. Garzone & M. Viezzi (eds.) Interpreting in the 21st Century. Challenges and Opportunities. Selected papers from the 1st Forlí Conference on Interpreting Studies, 9-11 November 2000, Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins: 277- 294.
• Merlini, Raffaela (1996), ‘Interprit - Consecutive Interpretation Module’, The Interpreters' Newsletter 7: 31- 41.
• Sandrelli, Annalisa & Jim Hawkins (2006), “Computer Assisted Interpreter Training (CAIT): what is the way forward?”, in Proceedings of the Translating and Interpreting Conference: Accessible Technologies, Vic, 30-31 March 2006. [http://jornades.irc-catalunya.org/?sectionid=12]
• Sandrelli, Annalisa (2001), ‘Teaching Liaison Interpreting: Combining Tradition and Innovation’, in I. Mason (ed.), Triadic exchanges, Manchester, St Jerome Publishing, 2001: 173- 196.
• Sandrelli, Annalisa (2002), ‘Computers in the training of interpreters: curriculum design issues’, in G. Garzone, M. Viezzi & P. Mead (eds): Perspectives on interpreting. Bologna: CLUEB: 189-204.
References
• Sandrelli, Annalisa (2003a), ‘Herramientas informáticas para la formación de intérpretes: Interpretations y The Black Box’, in J. de Manuel Jerez (Coord.), Nuevas tecnologías y formación de intérpretes, Granada, Editorial Atrio: 67- 112.
• Sandrelli, Annalisa (2003b), ‘New technologies in interpreter training: CAIT’, in Heidrun Gerzymisch-Arbogast, Eva Hajičová & Petr Sgall, Zuzana Jettmarová, Annely Rothkegel and Dorothee Rothfuß-Bastian (Hrsg.), Textologie und Translation, Jahrbuch Übersetzen und Dolmetschen 4/II, Tübingen, Gunter Narr Verlag: 261-293.
• Sandrelli, Annalisa (2003c), ‘El papel de las nuevas tecnologías en la enseñanza de la interpretación simultánea: Interpretations’, in A. Collados Aís, M.M. Fernández Sánchez, E. M. Pradas Macías, C. Sánchez Adam & E. Stévaux (eds.), La evaluación de la calidad en interpretación: docencia y profesión, Actas del I Congreso Internacional sobre Evaluación de la Calidad en Interpretación de Conferencias, Almuñécar, 2001, Granada, Editorial Comares: 211-223.
• Sandrelli, Annalisa (2003d), “New technologies in interpreter training: the state-of-the-art”. In Greensmith Catherine (ed.) Proceedings of the ITI/IALB Annual Conference held at the University of Hull, 23- 24 November 2001 (CD-Rom).
• Sandrelli, Annalisa (forthcoming) ‘Designing CAIT (Computer-Assisted Interpreter Training) tools: Black Box’, in L., Jiang, S., Buhl, S., Bazzanella, and K., Mysak (Eds.), Challenges of Multidimensional Translation. Manchester: St Jerome Publishing.
References