Speaker guide: how to speak so you are well interpreted

Before the event: what to send and agree on

Short answer: the more the interpreting team knows in advance, the more faithful the interpretation. What you send becomes study material and a glossary.

• Slides, even in draft form.
• Every text you will read aloud: speech, tribute, quotation, data.
• Videos you will show, with the script or transcript.
• Proper names, acronyms and technical terms from your field, correctly spelled.
• If you will speak in more than one language, say in which parts.

If the subject is very technical, a quick 10 to 15-minute chat with the interpreters before the session clears up terminology questions. See what the organizer needs to prepare in the organizer's guide.

Pace and pauses

Short answer: you do not need to speak slowly. What hurts is rushing, running sentences together without breathing and cutting your talk short at the end because time ran out.

• Keep a natural conversational pace; the interpreter follows a few seconds behind you.
• Make pauses between ideas: they help the audience and the interpretation.
• If time gets tight, cut content, not speed. Agree on a time signal with the moderator.
• Very long sentences, with many nested clauses, are harder to follow in any language.

Microphone: the interpreter only interprets what they hear

Short answer: the interpreter hears you through the sound system, not the room. If your voice does not go through the microphone, it does not reach the booth.

• Always speak into the microphone, at a steady distance.
• If you will walk around the stage, ask for a lapel microphone or headset.
• Do not tap the microphone or speak with your hand in front of it.
• For audience questions, wait until the person has a microphone. If there is none, repeat the question into the microphone before answering.
• On panels, one person at a time: overlapping voices cannot be interpreted.

Numbers, names and acronyms

Numbers and proper names are where most information gets lost, because they cannot be inferred from context.

• Say numbers calmly and, if they matter, show them on the slide.
• Round when precision is not essential ("about 30%").
• Explain the acronym the first time it appears.
• Spell out or show on the slide names of people, companies and products that are not well known.

If you will read a text

Short answer: read more slowly than you would on your own and hand in the text beforehand. Written language is denser and faster than spoken language.

• Send the text to the interpreting team in advance, even if you will change something.
• If you change the text on the spot, keep a speaking pace, not a reading pace.
• Whenever possible, speak instead of reading: natural speech is easier to interpret and more pleasant to hear.

Humor, puns and cultural references

Humor works well at a multilingual event when it does not depend on words. Puns, rhymes and very local references often have no equivalent in the other language.

• Prefer stories and situations to wordplay.
• If the joke is essential, warn the team beforehand; the interpreter can adapt it.
• Avoid references to shows, slang and figures known only in your country without explaining them.

Slides and videos

• Use little text per slide and a readable font: the audience reads while listening to the interpretation.
• Put the key numbers and names of your talk on the slides.
• For videos, ask the organizer to feed the audio directly to the booths and send the script beforehand.
• Do not read the slide word for word: comment on what it shows.

Questions, debates and interaction

People listening through interpretation receive your words a few seconds late. In debates, that changes the rhythm of the conversation.

• Before answering someone who spoke in another language, wait for the interpretation to finish.
• If you ask the audience a question, give those on headphones a few extra seconds to react.
• On panels, the moderator should hand over the floor clearly, one speaker at a time.

Online and hybrid events

Short answer: in remote interpretation, the quality of your audio is the quality of the interpretation.

• Use a headset with microphone, preferably wired. Avoid the laptop's built-in microphone.
• Prefer a wired internet connection or stable Wi-Fi and close programs that use bandwidth.
• Speak in a quiet room, without echo.
• Join the technical test before the event and keep your camera on, if agreed.

Learn more about online simultaneous interpretation and hybrid events.

One-minute checklist before going on stage

• Material sent to the interpreting team?
• Microphone tested and in position?
• Key numbers and names on the slides?
• Read-aloud text handed in advance?
• Time signal agreed with the moderator?

Want to avoid the most common problems on the organizer's side? Read 10 mistakes when organizing an event with simultaneous interpretation.