As an experienced translation agency, we at Cultures Connection know that remote interpretation services are a great alternative. Remote interpretation is particularly useful for conducting interviews. Our professional interpreters participated in a series of interviews with Japanese hair designers and stylists. These interviews, organized by one of our clients, were carried out in English from Paris with hair designers located in Japan. This most recent project perfectly illustrates the benefits of remote interpretation.
Cultures Connection’s client, BEAUTYSTREAMS – an agency specialized in the beauty sector – is an online tool. BEAUTYSTREAMS scrutinizes, analyzes, and anticipates trends to better assist beauty and fashion professionals worldwide. Experts of the beauty industry, this agency provides beauty professionals with up-to-date content, trending influencer references, and new on new product launches.
Advantages of Remote Interpretation for Interviews
Remote interpretation services are a more cost-effective and comfortable solution. Hiring an interpreter remotely presents numerous advantages, for both the client and the interpreter, such as the following:
– No travel: Avoiding travel can provide a huge relief in terms of organization and cost. Both clients and interpreters are not dependent on travel hassles and can avoid transportation and accommodation expenses.
– No equipment: Not having to deal with technical equipment – sometimes heavy or bulky – is a real plus. Simultaneous interpretation involves using interpretation booths, possibly an interpretation suitcase in the case of a small group event, as well as audio equipment. A press conference or interview may require, at the very least, microphones and an audio system to ensure good transmission. Remote interpretation consists of a computer, a microphone headset, and an internet connection.
– Open Availability: Whether or not it’s an urgent mission, the panel of available interpreters is wider for remote missions. Interpreters can work from any country, depending of course on time zones. For an urgent project, remote interpretation services work best as they avoid travel time and complex on-site logistical organization.
– Conferencing Platforms: There are now many platforms for remote interpretation, including Zoom, Skype, Teams, Slack, Cisco Webex, or Kudo. Some platforms, such as Interprefy, VoiceBoxer, and Interactio, are entirely dedicated to remote interpretation services.
Preparing for a Remote Interpretation
For remote interpretation services in English-Japanese, our team called upon a professional interpreter who has more than twenty years of experience. Not only is this interpreter a graduate of a prestigious translation school in Paris, but she is also familiar with the beauty and fashion sector. She has done Japanese interpretation missions for the biggest names in beauty, cosmetics, and luxury in both France and Japan.
A few days before an event, professionals recommend that clients provide interpreters with as much information as possible. In fact, the success of an interpreting job depends heavily on the preparation of the professional interpreters. Reference materials, which may include websites, brochures, PowerPoint presentations, biographies, or other materials used during the event, are very valuable preparatory resources.
Moreover, there are several prerequisites in order to conduct an interview and ensure interpretation in another language. It is essential to prepare well before the project. An interpreter should understand the topic of the interview, think about questions, and anticipate possible answers. Open-ended questions allow your interviewee to provide answers whose content is not always easy to anticipate during preparation. Depending on the interviewee’s responses, the interviewer may ask off-the-cuff follow-up questions. This means that the interpreter must have the ability to adapt, as an interview can sometimes go in an unforeseen direction.
In the context of this series of beauty interviews, a prior meeting between our client and the interpreter allowed for a constructive exchange on the content of the interviews. It’s always better to prepare all participants to reassure everyone before the interviews!
Interpreting for the Beauty Industry
At Cultures Connection, we provide translations and respond to requests for interpreters from communication agencies, brands, and major players in the cosmetics, makeup, perfume, leather goods, haute couture, and ready-to-wear sectors. For each new collection, each advertising campaign, and for social media posts, Cultures Connection supports the marketing strategy of major brands while preserving the highest confidentiality.
For this specific Japanese to English interpretation job, it was crucial for our interpreter to have a perfect mastery of the appropriate terminology, specifically the vocabulary of hairstyling. She needed to have up-to-date knowledge on trends, particularly in the area of hair design, which involves very short haircuts that bring out patterns or graphics created with clippers. This style of hair design is also known as hair sculpture. This type of artistic hairstyle has been increasingly noticeable in fashion magazines for some time now.
We conducted the interviews via the famous Zoom platform. Each interview lasted between one and one hour and a half. Nothing leaked out of these exchanges in English and Japanese. However, what did filter through to our team was BEAUTYSTREAMS’ repeated satisfaction and confidence. For the Cultures Connection team, it is always an honor to see well-done work recognized and appreciated!
Find out about our remote interpretation services in the “Interpreting” rubric of our website, or check out our project stories on interpreting services!
