The Liège Chamber of Commerce talks about us. Read this article concerning our interpreters and our new online interpreting solutions.
COLINGUA: MULTILINGUAL VIDEOCONFERENCING
As a conference translation and interpretation agency, Colingua has seen its activities severely impacted by the health crisis. Determined to react, the Liège-based company has adapted its services, in particular by offering an online simultaneous translation solution. We spoke with Project Manager, Joachim Colaris.
What has been the impact of the health crisis in your sector?
J.C.: “The impact has been colossal. The sector came to a complete standstill several days before the borders closed. We lost 95% of our business, which is mainly event-driven.”
During this time, a plethora of video conferencing platforms were introduced.
J.C.: “Indeed, companies have learned to communicate remotely thanks to numerous video conferencing tools such as Cisco WebEx, Microsoft Teams and Zoom. The problem for our customers is that these platforms are not designed for multi-language meetings.”
So, what solution did you come up with?
J.C.: “COLINGUA offers an online remote simultaneous interpretation (RSI) solution, which includes the interpretation system on different channels (English, French, Spanish, Dutch, German, Italian, etc.), video streaming, document sharing, recording, voting system, etc.”
Do your customers have to learn how to use a new platform?
J.C.: “Not necessarily. Our solution is compatible with the most common video conferencing platforms such as Cisco WebEx, GoToMeeting, Microsoft Teams … We also have an application that allows us to listen to our interpreters on a smartphone.”
Is online interpreting the future of your industry?
J.C.: “Remote simultaneous interpretation (RSI) is an alternative to face-to-face simultaneous interpretation. The technology that enables online simultaneous interpretation offers a viable solution during the Covid-19 crisis: as some of our international clients had to meet to pursue their projects from home, our team of conference interpreters was quickly able to offer online simultaneous interpretation solutions, while maintaining a high quality of interpretation. This online service will present new opportunities for our clients who were previously reluctant to fly in for a two-hour meeting and had to hire interpreters on top of it. They can now plan their business meeting in several languages from their office. But we are confident that people need contact and that face-to-face meetings with interpreters in the booth will not disappear.
© niroworld
