When it is spoken
On-site interpreting
One interpreter in the room, taking turns with the speaker.
By the hour, two-hour minimum.
When it is spoken
Remote interpreting
Video or telephone, in half-hour blocks, often the same day.
The same consecutive work down a line, and the right answer for anything short or anything urgent — a telephone call to an office abroad, a follow-up appointment, a conversation with a landlord. The honest limit is the number of people: past about four in a room the turn-taking collapses, everybody talks across the interpreter, and half of what is said goes unrendered without anybody noticing.
What a working day is. Working days, starting the working day after we have a legible copy of everything. Public holidays are not working days and neither is the Saturday morning the counter is open.
The two lists
What you are buying, and what you are not
The second column is the more useful of the two. Most of what goes wrong in this trade is somebody paying for a thing they believed they were getting and were never told they were not.
What this includes
- Video or telephone, on your platform or ours
- Often available the same day, which on-site is not
- The same briefing in advance, which matters more rather than less when nobody can see the room
- A test call before anything that has a deadline attached to it
What this is not
- A room with more than about four speakers, where consecutive interpreting stops working
- Anything where the interpreter needs to see a document being pointed at, unless a camera is on it
- Court proceedings, as above
What it costs
By the half hour, one block minimum.
Remote interpreting is quoted by the half-hour, with a minimum of one half-hour. All three modes are on the one table below rather than only this one, because for anything short or anything urgent the cheaper mode is frequently the right one, and you should be able to see that without ringing to ask.
| Mode | What it is | Rate | Minimum |
|---|---|---|---|
| On site, consecutive One interpreter, in the room, taking turns with the speaker. |
A meeting, a clinic appointment, a closing, a deposition where the parties are instructing us rather than the court. Two hours is the minimum because a booking shorter than that costs an interpreter the same half-day. | $115 the hour | two hours, $230 |
| Remote, video or telephone The same work down a line, in half-hour blocks. |
Often available the same day, and the right answer for anything short. What it is not good for is a room with more than about four people in it, because the turn-taking stops working and everybody talks over the interpreter. | $65 the half-hour | one half-hour, $65 |
| Simultaneous, with equipment Two interpreters in a booth, working in twenty-minute turns. |
Two, always, and this is not a way of charging twice: simultaneous interpreting cannot be sustained alone beyond about twenty minutes without the quality falling away, and a supplier who offers you one interpreter for a three-hour conference is selling you the third hour of a tired person. | $190 the hour | three hours, $570 |
Simultaneous work is always two interpreters, so the smallest real booking is $1,140 rather than $570. A supplier quoting the smaller figure is quoting one tired person.
Straight talk
Where this is bounded
This straight answer bears directly on the work above: Court interpreting is not ours to offer. The rest of the ten are below — they are one argument in ten parts and each links to the others.
When it is spoken
The rest of this half of the office
Sorted by who is going to read the result, which is the only question that changes what the work has to be.
When it is spoken
Simultaneous and conference interpreting
Two interpreters in a booth, working in twenty-minute turns.
By the hour, per interpreter, three-hour minimum.
Tell us about the room
The preparation is most of the job: the names, the documents, the subject and the purpose, sent in advance. Ring to talk it through, or work the figure out first.