English ⇄ isiXhosa
Conference / community / public-service
Two-way teams available for plenaries, facilitated sessions and public participation.
Channel open · fictional cooperative · design 092
Meaning must arrive at the same time.
Relay designs interpreting teams, language channels and preparation workflows for conferences, public meetings and high-stakes conversations where access cannot be added at the last minute.
SIMULTANEOUS
Booth / remote / hybrid
CONSECUTIVE
Meetings / interviews
LANGUAGE ACCESS
Briefing / terminology / QA
Live transcript cue
SPEAKER 02 → pause after figure → confirm unit → render complete idea, not fragments.
About / access as infrastructure
Good interpreting starts days before anyone puts on a headset.
Relay builds teams around subject matter, directionality, duration and audience rather than treating “speaks the language” as the full qualification. Preparation materials are part of the assignment.
We plan terminology, turn-taking, booth rotation, remote-platform checks and escalation paths before the event. On the day, the interpreters should be solving language, not avoidable logistics.
Offerings / language channels
Choose the mode before the microphone.
English ⇄ French
Policy / technical / diplomatic
Terminology preparation prioritised for policy, medicine, finance and regulated settings.
English ⇄ Portuguese
Trade / energy / infrastructure
Technical glossaries built from supplied decks, agendas, drawings and project terminology.
English ⇄ Afrikaans
Legal / education / civic
Consecutive and simultaneous coverage available with speaker briefings and document review.
Simultaneous interpreting
For continuous spoken programmes where participants need near-real-time access through booths, receivers or remote channels.
Consecutive interpreting
For smaller meetings, interviews, site visits and negotiations where speakers can pause for complete interpreted segments.
Language-access planning
For organisers who need language demand mapping, terminology prep, interpreter scheduling, platform testing and participant instructions.
Process / run of show
T-72 HOURS
Preparation is a deliverable.
Final decks, names, acronyms, figures, place names and speaker changes are reconciled into a working glossary. Missing context is escalated while there is still time to fix it.
T-30 days
Scope
Confirm languages, directionality, format, audience, subject, venue/remote stack and accessibility requirements.
T-7 days
Team
Assign interpreters by domain and pairings, open terminology review and lock booth/remote rotation.
T-90 min
Technical
Sound check every channel, return feed, microphone handover, platform permissions and emergency contact path.
LIVE
Interpret
Work in planned turns, flag ambiguity discreetly, preserve speaker intent and hand over cleanly between colleagues.
T+1 day
Close
Return protected materials, capture terminology corrections and document technical or scheduling lessons for repeat events.
Work / event record
Regional Energy Forum / four rooms, three channels, one terminology set.
A fictional two-day technical forum combined plenaries, regulator briefings, engineering breakouts and community sessions. Relay used one shared terminology base while assigning separate interpreter pairs by room and domain.
16 h
live programme
8
interpreters
3
simultaneous channels
0
lost sessions
What changed: technical acronyms were consolidated before day one instead of leaving each booth to build private lists.
What held: every room used the same speaker-name and unit conventions, reducing corrections during handover.
24
active interpreters in cooperative pool
11
working language combinations
42 min
maximum simultaneous turn before rotation
100%
projects include pre-event materials request
People / booth roster
Language plus subject plus stamina.
isiXhosa ⇄ English
Zanele Mqadi
Public policy, health, community facilitation
French ⇄ English
Luc Moreau
Energy, trade, finance, institutional meetings
Portuguese ⇄ English
Carla Mendes
Infrastructure, mining, technical procurement
Afrikaans ⇄ English
Pieter Smit
Legal, education, labour and public hearings
Insights / booth notes
Send the slides before the event
Interpreters can solve unfamiliar terminology silently during preparation or audibly in front of your audience. Preparation is cheaper.
Numbers need context
A figure without a unit, currency, period or direction can become impossible to interpret accurately at live speed. Speakers should name the whole quantity.
Remote audio is an access issue
A brilliant interpreter cannot recover consonants removed by a poor microphone, unstable connection or participant speaking from across a room.
FAQ / before channel open
How many interpreters do we need?+
Simultaneous assignments usually require teams because sustained live interpreting is cognitively intensive. Duration, language direction and programme structure determine roster size.
Can one interpreter cover several languages?+
Sometimes in consecutive settings, but conference plans should not assume multilingual coverage without verifying active working directions and subject competence.
Do you provide equipment?+
Relay can scope booth, receiver and remote-platform requirements and coordinate specialist suppliers where the venue does not already provide compliant systems.
What materials should speakers send?+
Agenda, speaker names, decks, scripts where available, technical glossaries, acronyms, previous reports and any documents likely to be quoted or discussed.
Contact / language plan
Send the agenda before you send the headset count.
Share dates, venue/platform, languages, audience, session formats, subject matter, daily hours and what participants need to understand or contribute.
brief@relayinterpreting.example