Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yl0vHQPHXA8

Though the industry has been working to have AI better replicate emotion, the current AI is still very monotonous and one-note in terms of its ability to express emotion. As our Chinese colleague Yingjie, who has been involved in natural language AI, commented: It is too early to talk about AI mimicking human emotions.

Exactly because diversity and richness have been the areas where humans outperform AI, this behind the scenes post will be unavoidable lengthier than our usual blogs. In other words, we would like to take the time to discuss diversity and richness and focus on the human side of stories rather than music genres or instruments.

When Mei-Ling casually recorded herself during a relaxing weekend, her intention was for this to serve as a demo for interpreters to participate in and show that the contributions can be just as light and candid as hers. She didn’t expect the video to be so diversified at the global level.

An ASL interpreter Kendra gave us the initial idea to include interpreters whose native language is ASL and interpreters of color. Originally, she was thinking to represent our local bay area communities. But then it was only natural that it evolved to include greater representation of the world communities. Besides interpreters from all over the United States including Hawaii, we have participation from China, Congo-Brazzaville, Egypt, and Israel.

We are so honored to have received contributions from all types: freshly recorded contributions from Davy, Fadhma, Oscar, and Mei-Ling just for this project; good times contributions from Qianxi, Sameh, Flower, and Nia; nostalgic contributions from Christy and Soheir; formal and elegant performances from Laura and Ayumi. Last but certainly not least, Jody contributed an easy-to-understand ASL presentation, and Sharon for giving us such a powerful contribution that we, as members of the global community, can all relate to. What a wonderful group of interpreters!

As you may have noticed, we have kept the audience very busy all the way: They have to watch clips, hear music, read storylines, listen to words from interpreters as well as from voices in the background, think about messages delivered, and all of these are meant to be done simultaneously. This is because we want to create an opportunity for the audience to experience what an interpreter has to go through when interpreting. After all, interpretation does require a bit of talent!

It’s natural to think that interpreters and music are all about performances. However, our perception changed after we received Fadhma’s contribution. We realized that it helped balance what we have been doing, which is listening. It cannot be understated the diversity that Fadhma brought to the project and how she expanded our horizons.

We are also so proud that we have the younger generation’s participation. Oscar’s son, Santiago, sings, plays the piano and the ukelele. Interestingly, he has occasionally interpreted spontaneously for family and relatives, and he is good according to Oscar. In Santiago, we see the hope of our profession and believe the interpretation profession will continue to prevail over AI for many years to come. In addition to Oscar and his son’s duet, we were blown away to watch the contribution from Davy with 3 sons during their family time. Davy’s 3 sons are so adorable, moving along with the music rhythm so naturally that I see the future of our beautiful world in the children of music lovers like Davy. What a beautiful family from Congo-Brazzaville!

Sharon has a huge heart to write such lyrics in her original song Safe Harbor: “No matter what your faith might be, the color of your skin, who you love or who you flee, I will take you in.”  These words cover the full span for world peace and harmony. We are glad to have Sharon whose lyrics have added breadth and depth to this video project!

Flower was celebrating her major birthday and decided the theme to be “Around the World.” We are so appreciative of the richness that has flown out of her clips. The presentation of Mexican, Spanish, American, and Chinese elements in the song, dance, and outfits is both culturally and visually global. What a music and cultural feast to share with us!

Sameh is an Egyptian residing in Egypt and was giving training in Kenya at the African Translators Association. In his singing, we hear “mighty place to be”, so we inserted a scenery background of Kenya, which adds the exotic feel that interpreters experience when they travel to places for assignments. Sameh did professional singing during his last 2 years at college, and he does a lot of styles, ranging from country music to jazz, that explain why he sang so freely and we really enjoy it and admire him!

We cannot thank Nia enough for selecting such a great song for the world community. It perfectly concluded the video project that we have explained in our Part 1 Behind the Scenes blog post. We’d like to thank Qianxi for thinking of us while having a good time during a karaoke party on a small island in south-eastern China. We thank Jody for providing such a wonderful piece for everyone to understand, a clip of her ASL interpretation performance of the star spangled banner. We also want to express our heartfelt thanks to the nostalgia and wonderful past that Christy and Soheir’s contributions did, bringing us back in time and allowing us to relive the past. We would also be remiss if we didn’t give a fond shoutout to Laura and Ayumi’s performances, which represented some of the finest and most expressive types of music, played at the highest level. All of these interpreters have brought the video to a broader, and higher level, ultimately adding much more enjoyment to the audience. Thank you so much!

Every individual contribution represents how the human brain works. We didn’t dictate what each individual would do in their contribution. It was completely up to them and their free choice. And yet, all of the individual contributions have aggregated as a whole to give us a very good sense of our mission and what we are capable of as professional interpreters. As Oscar put it, how uplifting and positive for us all as interpreters!

And then, we wondered what would happen if this topic was taken by an AI without any intervention—what would an AI party resemble without human intervention? Would it be as diversified and rich, or as enjoyable and heartfelt, or as uplifting and positive for us all as interpreters, as if it’d been done solely by humans and their individuality?

To celebrate interpreters’ success stories, Monterey Language Services has put together a video showcasing the friendliness, professional, expertise, and different roles of our interpreters in shaping the harmonious community of our nation.  You can view the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYxpYyoC7z0

Interpreters can spend years honing their skills to become subject matter experts in their fields, such as healthcare, education, or the legal sphere. Some have even worked in these fields as doctors, nurses, teachers, paralegals, and more before becoming language experts.

Interpreters believe in the fidelity and fairness of their work. Interpreters ensure that information is relayed accurately between the parties involved, making sure that nothing is omitted or erroneously said and everyone is on the same page. This is incredibly important in medical and legal settings.

Interpreters describe their work as rewarding and fulfilling. Many times, the act of interpreting contains an emphasis on helping those limited or non-English speakers or hearing disabled persons who are in need, such as to help with healthcare or education. This gives many interpreters great satisfaction in giving back to the community and keeps them looking forward to their work.

Monterey Language Services has the pleasure working with so many talented, devoted, professional interpreters, providing excellent service for your needs, whether your event is large, small, private, or a personal matter.

Thank you so much to our interpreters for working with us for all these years, and for the years to come.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFTzivdlkXk

We hope that this video gives you some insights into our approach to simultaneous interpretation at events. Non-English speakers blend in very well with other audience because they can receive information simultaneously. The interpretation equipment used in these events is portable. The equipment can be taken anywhere in California to suit your needs.

If opportunities arise, we look forward to working with you in Monterey, Silicon Valley, and other parts of California as well. We hope you enjoy the video!

Here at Monterey Language Services, we provide interpreters and interpretation equipment for your multilingual events. Below you will find our YouTube videos showcasing our equipment.

With these videos, we hope that everyone can gain a new understanding of the steps we take to ensure your event’s success, so you can just sit back and relax!

1. If you’re looking for a general overview of what we do to prepare for events, watch this video:

Conference Interpretation and Equipment
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp0NF7lvttk

In this video, our office manager describes a typical event that we provide interpretation and equipment for. With thorough preparation, we are confident everything will work out smoothly.

2. If you’d like to see a tutorial on our rental equipment, please look at this:

Interpretation Equipment Tutorial: Rent Our Equipment to Gear for Your Next Event
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KrR3Q9yrlo

Equipment explained in this tutorial includes a transmitter, a receiver, a headset microphone, and an audience headset.

3. Curious about how an interpreter sets up equipment for an event? Check out this video:

Interpretation Equipment Tutorial: Interpreter Perspective
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrjKO7sk0Hk

In this video, you’ll learn how interpreters use the equipment. Equipment used in this tutorial includes a transmitter and a headset microphone.

4. Worried about if your guests will be able to hear? We have a video detailing an attendee’s experience listening to the interpreter:

Interpretation Equipment Tutorial: Event Attendee Perspective
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEXZ8fY0EaY

Our colleague, Shenny, describes how our equipment can assist your guests to receive the relayed information simultaneously from an interpreter. Equipment used in this tutorial includes a receiver and a headset.

 5. What else has Monterey Language Services Done? Check out our event showcase video:

Simultaneous Interpretation Event Showcase 

Simultaneous Interpretation Event Showcase

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFTzivdlkXk

Located in beautiful Monterey, Monterey Language Services has been supporting the multilingual events of companies and visitors everywhere in California, from Monterey to the Silicon Valley, and beyond.

At Monterey Language Services, we do not only provide interpretation services, but also interpretation AV equipment to facilitate understanding. We regularly provide transmitters, receivers, headset microphones, and headsets for simultaneous interpretation events. Transmitters and headset microphones are for the interpreters, and the receivers and headsets are for your visitors. Within seconds, the equipment can be set up and adjusted to your visitor’s comfort.

By using our equipment, the speakers do not need to pause for the interpreters to catch up— instead, they can keep speaking. Simultaneously, the interpreters relay the information to your visitors in their native language. This way, your visitors wearing the receivers and headsets can receive information via the interpreter. At the same time, the audience of the main language does not hear the interpretation and can better focus without any distractions. As a result, the communication at your event will be more effective, and the speech and/or conversations will proceed smoothly and seamlessly.

When we receive a request for interpretation at an event, we gather all relevant information for the event: date, location, language, number of attendees, anticipated length, subject matter that are required for the work.

For smaller events, we provide receivers and headsets for the audience, where the interpreters are able to follow the audience and keep mobility from one location to another. For larger events, we use Interpreter Consoles, where the interpreter stays in a booth to relay information to a larger number of event-goers who speak different languages. We also use a hybrid mix of portable equipment with fixed stations. Please feel welcome to email us to find out more at info@montereylanguages.com

Just as we provide the most suitable interpretation equipment to fit different situations, we ensure to assign interpreters who are experts in the field of your event. For effective interpretation, especially simultaneous interpretation events, multiple interpreters are often needed and we send only those who are knowledgeable in the subject matter. For example, conference interpreters usually specialize in a particular subject, whether it is IT, Business, International Tech Reseller meetings, Product Training, Marketing, or Finance, etc.

We’ve provided services for top tech companies with our portable equipment including for visitors from Latin America and Asia. We’ve provided for large marketing and conference events with interpretation console equipment. Our methodology works. Our easy-to-use and effective equipment, knowledgeable interpreters, and detailed planning rise high to each and every occasion. We owe it to our clients to provide the very best, after all.

Our interpreters are professionally qualified. They have studied translation and interpretation at the graduate or undergraduate level, or are professionally certified, or have received training in medical, legal and technical subject areas. They are experienced medical interpreters, legal interpreters and technical interpreters. Furthermore, they pursue continuing on-the-job training and education.

Our interpreters are not only local, able to come to our headquarters or to our client sites to perform services, but also distant, working remotely through a range of technology options such as video remote.

Our interpreters work consecutively, but also at conference, offering simultaneous interpretation.

Monterey Language Services has been providing language support to hospitals for years. A short list includes Spanish, ASL, Vietnamese, Arabic, Mandarin and Cantonese, Korean, Tagalog, Russian, French, Portuguese, German, Japanese, Punjabi, Gujarati, and indigenous languages such as Triqui, Mixteco, Zapotec. Even when a rare language is needed, we can vet and bring interpreters to our customers in a matter of hours.

We stand by ready 24-7, either work with a regular schedule of interpreting appointments, or provide last minute on-demand interpretation, for example for a hospital’s emergency needs.

It is our goal at Monterey Language Services to provide a full line of interpretation services. And it is to that end that we maintain our huge pool of professional interpreters to serve you whenever or wherever you need them.

Monterey Language Services strives to provide the highest quality of translation and interpretation services. Please feel free to contact us for more information.

It may involve a dozen sound engineers to make preparations ahead of time.  First, several booths must be set up for the interpreters. Each will represent one language and contain interpreters all working at the same time. The location of the booths should allow all interpreters to see the speaker and the activities on stage while the booths should blend in with the conference setting.

Before the conference starts, the interpretation system has to be connected and tested to ensure each booth’s interpretation can be clearly heard from the headsets that will be provided to the audience.

When the audience gets there, each member is provided a headset connected to a radio-like device that receives the channels of interpretation in different languages (English, Chinese, French, Spanish, Japanese, German, etc.). Using all of this high-tech equipment makes you feel like you’re in the U.N.

The interpreters should arrive early and get as much information beforehand as possible.  Simultaneous interpretation is a very difficult and energy-consuming task. Therefore, there are usually two to three interpreters in each booth. They are like a relay race team, taking turns to interpret, 20 minutes each turn. While one interpreter is interpreting, the others must also listen to the speaker so that the next interpreter knows when it is his or her turn to interpret. The three interpreters also depend on each other for help. For example, they may need their partners to write down big numbers or look up the terms in the glossary. Teamwork is crucial to the success of the interpretation.

At the end of the communication relay race, every audience member has understood the conference. The team feels mission accomplished. Monterey Language Services is getting ready for one such conference as we speak. We look forward to helping the panel communicate to the audience.