Shaping the Interpreters of the Future, and of Today: the SHIFT project

As a result of globalization and of the continuous development and improvement of ICT, spoken language travels through new devices and media. Similar trends can be observed in the field of spoken-language interpreting where, alongside traditional onsite interpreting (i.e. where the interpreter and the speakers share the same space), remote interpreting is spreading through the use of telephone and videoconferencing. There is therefore a strong need for updating existing theoretical models of oral discourse and interpreter-mediated communication, and existing approaches to interpreter education. Against this backdrop, the SHIFT project will create a European network - consisting of universities offering interpreting programmes and of interpreting service providers - whose goal is to develop a comprehensive pedagogical solution for training in remote interpreting at HE level and in Lifelong Learning. This will be based on a) an in-depth study of orality in remote monolingual communication (English, Spanish, Italian) and remote, interpreter-mediated communication (for Italian<->Spanish, English<->Spanish, Italian<->English), and b) a market analysis to gain an in-depth understanding of the current and future demand for remote interpreting and the educational implications. Given that the demand for remote interpreting is growing especially in public service and business interpreting, where the main mode of interpreting is dialogue interpreting, the project will focus on the teaching of remote interpreting in dialogue situations.