English Retour Interpreting Summer School

Course Details

  • Date: Friday 14 July - Sunday 16 July 2023
  • Location: Online

Course Coordinator 

Dr Eloisa Monteoliva 

Course description

This course is designed for conference interpreters or recent interpreting graduates with English as a B language who wish to concentrate on their output in English and to interpreters who wish to add English as an active language. Course participants are expected to have mastered consecutive and simultaneous interpreting techniques before joining the course. 

The weekend programme (Friday to Sunday) is intensive and consists of 15 hours of live online sessions on Zoom, including English language enhancement workshops for interpreters and live interpreting practice workshops and mock conferences. Participants will have the opportunity to practise interpreting into English with live speeches in their A languages in mock multilingual conferences and will receive feedback from experienced interpreter trainers.  

In addition, students will have access to an online interpreting practice platform where they will complete language enhancement and interpreting exercises. Students will be required to devote around 3 hours to offline activities over the course of the summer school and will receive feedback and guidance from trainers.  

Over the course of the week, participants will: 

  • Improve their summarising and reformulation skills in English 
  • Enhance their ability to express themselves clearly and confidently in English 
  • Improve their ability to discuss both general and specialist topics in English 
  • Practice simultaneous and consecutive interpreting with different foci under the guidance of experience trainers 
  • Develop an awareness of self-assessment and peer-assessment and practise with hands-on activities 
  • Improve their speech making skills and apply them to both assignment preparation and practice 
  • Practice simultaneous interpreting in live mock multilingual conferences 
  • Familiarise themselves with different Remote Simultaneous Interpreting platforms and discuss best practices 
  • Receive live feedback from trainers on class activities and written/audio feedback on offline activities
  • Have access to practice materials and a dedicated platform for interpreting practice, self-assessment, and collaboration; and learn about resources available for further practice

Speeches will be provided in Arabic, French, German, Greek, Italian, Mandarin Chinese, or Spanish in interpreting practice sessions and for further practice. Feedback during language enhancement and practice sessions will focus primarily on output: precision, clarity, pronunciation, delivery, and confidence. Participants will have opportunities to collaborate and discuss their practice in a constructive and safe environment. 

Course languages and participant profiles

This course is aimed at interpreters and recent interpreting graduates with Arabic, French, German, Greek, Italian, Mandarin Chinese, or Spanish as their A language who have English B or are planning on upgrading their English C to B and wish to improve their English output. 

Proof of advanced proficiency in English and one other language from Arabic, French, German, Greek, Italian, Mandarin Chinese or Spanish is required. As part of the application process, candidates will have to demonstrate advanced knowledge by uploading a short video recording in which they tell us a little bit about themselves and their motivation to take the course in English, and about their interpreting experience and background in one of the other languages listed above.  

*This course is not suitable for beginners to interpreting. Those without interpreting training or experience should consider joining our Introduction to Interpreting Summer School.  

If you have any questions about entry requirements, course content or delivery, or you are unsure whether this course is for you, please contact the academic coordinator at lincs.cpd@hw.ac.uk 

Registration

Visit Eventbrite for more information and to register. 

Cancellation policy:  

  • The course fee will be fully refunded if you cannot travel due to Covid or Covid related restrictions
  • The course fee will be fully refunded if you apply for visa, and your application is not successful
Course Programme

Day 1 

  • 9.00 – 10.30: Welcome and Introduction to the course 
    • How to use the teaching and learning platforms - (Zoom, GoReact and Canvas) 
    • Language Enhancement Exercises 1: focus on summarising and reformulation 
  • 10.30 – 11.00: Break 
  • 11.00 – 12.30: Language Enhancement Exercises 1: focus on summarising, reformulation and expansion 
  • 12.30 - 15.00 :Lunch break and asynchronous activity: Create brief and outline of a speech in your A language 
  • 15:00 - 16:30  :Consecutive Interpreting Practice: focus on structure and cohesion 
  • Offline activities: language enhancement exercises and assignment prep 

Day 2

  • 9.00 – 10.30: Language Enhancement Exercises 2: Focus on Speech-making and public speaking skills for interpreters 
  • 10.30 – 11.00: Break 
  • 11.00 – 12.30: Simultaneous interpreting: quality criteria and deliberate practice 
  • 12.30 – 14.00: Lunch Break 
  • 14:00 – 16:00 (15 min break included): Mock Multilingual Conference 1 and simultaneous interpreting practice on Zoom 
  • 16:30 – 16:45: Break 
  • 16.45 - 17.15: Self-assessment and peer-assessment activity 
  • Offline activities: finish and record speech in your A language 

Day 3

  • 9:00 – 10:30: Language Enhancement Exercises 3: focus on confidence and clarity 
  • 10:30 – 11:00: Break
  • 11:00 – 13:00 (15 min break included): Mock Multilingual Conference 2: student-led conference  and simultaneous interpreting practice on Zoom 
  • 12.30 – 14.00: Lunch Break 
  • 14:00 – 15:30: Consecutive interpreting practice, course wrap-up, resources for practice, and group feedback and conclusions
  • Offline activities: simultaneous interpreting practice