Liaison Interpreting

Conveying confidential information neutrally: liaison interpreting

Confidential talks, the first meeting of new business partners or a political exchange to take place away from public scrutiny: Liaison interpreters are called for whenever important matters need to be discussed among a small circle of people. As an interpreter, the translator ideally has perfect linguistic knowledge of both negotiating languages.

In addition to proven language skills, the liaison interpreter must also be able to conduct themselves appropriately in the respective situation. Their character traits are therefore just as important as their appearance and their general education and/or specialisation.

As only one person is usually booked for liaison interpreting, accuracy, awareness of the need for a correct and neutral translation, and a feel for situations and occasions also play an important role when selecting the right liaison interpreter.

Liaison interpreter, simultaneous interpreter or sworn interpreter?

Which type of interpreter you book through Lingua-World depends on the occasion and the format of the planned event. For conferences and events involving a lot of people and which therefore require the use of microphones or transmission apparatus, it’s best to book one or more simultaneous interpreters. We also provide the necessary equipment for a fee.

Choose a sworn interpreter for official purposes or when the language professional is required for a police or court procedure. A liaison interpreter is always the right choice if you want to hold confidential talks with a small number of people in a maximum of two languages.

Whichever type of interpreter you decide on, all of our experienced liaison interpreters, simultaneous interpreters and sworn interpreters are also available to you at short notice. We also deploy our freelance employees anywhere in Germany and worldwide and can cater for almost all global languages and dialects.

Advice for liaison interpreting and your meeting

To ensure that liaison interpreting succeeds with the required discretion, you should ideally seat the interpreter where they can be easily seen and heard by everyone present. It has proven useful here to organize meetings at a round table.

As dialogue interpreters do not take any notes, the sections of speech to be translated should be kept short. This also helps to maintain the dialogue character of the meeting, despite the brief interruption during translation. However, you should be aware when planning that the time spent talking will be longer overall, so be sure to schedule enough time for your meeting. It’s also helpful if you provide your liaison interpreter with some basic information on the character and content of the meeting ahead of time.