The pandemic booth: How spatial reconfigurations during the pandemic influence cooperation and communication among conference interpreters

Abstract

This article sheds light on how conference interpreting practice has changed since the beginning of the pandemic in Austria by drawing on the sociological concepts “body” and “space” as analytical and conceptual categories, among others shaped by Lindemann and Lindemann and Schünemann. The results of this study yield insights into the different modes of spatial organisation for conference interpreting during the pandemic; the ways these different organisational settings impacted cooperation among interpreters; and the interpreters’ perceptions of these reconfigurations in space and bodily presence. The data, obtained through an online survey and interviews with in total nine conference interpreters in Austria, show that a range of organisational settings is possible when working (completely or partly) remote, all entailing their individual particularities. Among the observed settings were conferences held on-site with strict anti-COVID measures; “hybrid” settings where interpreters worked on-site with speakers joining online or vice versa; and remote interpreting assignments. In remote assignments, more communication was necessary before the conference, for example, to discuss handovers. Additional communication tools were resorted to, and interpreters preferred working together in one physical place, for example, to facilitate cooperation. However, they also saw advantages in remote assignments.