L'interpretazione a distanza tra passato e presente: uno sguardo al contesto russo e un'integrazione delle risorse del progetto SHIFT

In recent years, new technologies and social changes have contributed to the development of remote interpretation services, both over the phone and via videoconferencing. In times of coronavirus pandemic and social distancing measures, interpreting has changed even more dramatically with new digital platforms that allow interpreters to work remotely. As a result, some interpreter education institutions are also striving to adapt their training programmes to current market needs. Although there is an ongoing debate on the use of web-based platforms and their implications for the future of the profession, online interpreting is rapidly gaining ground. This dissertation presents the main features of both over-the-phone and video link interpreting, through a review of the main studies on the subject. In the first part, advantages and disadvantages of remote interpreting are examined, alongside the role of training, the complexity of turn-taking in a remote setting, the interpreters’ point of view and the areas where this mode of interpreting is used, with a focus on the Russian market and the current situation. In the second part, the answers to an ad hoc questionnaire completed by some second year interpreting students of the UNIBO, who are currently attending a Master Degree Course in Interpreting are discussed. The students worked remotely from home as trainee interpreters at the 2020 Ecomondo trade fair, organised in a digital format. Although the questionnaire results are based on the students’ subjective perceptions, it is still possible to make some interesting comments on remote dialogue interpreting in this setting. Finally, some of the SHIFT project (2015-2018) role-plays simulating business interpreting have been selected and translated into Russian. The goal is both to add new teaching resources to the project and to provide a starting point for remote dialogue interpreting training in the IT/RU language pair or for any future research on the subject.