History of the profession

Interpreters have been around since time immemorial. The history of the profession is chronicled in the following articles.

The History of Interpreting

Experienced conference interpreter and interpreter trainer Christine Adams is writing a series of articles on the history of interpreting. Entitled “Looking for Interpreter Zero”, it outlines the history of the profession by tracing individual interpreters who found their way onto the pages of history. Read more here

(We would like to thank Christine Adams for allowing us to publish her articles.)

AIIC tribute to the pioneers of simultaneous interpretation

The pioneers of simultaneous interpretation.

(Thanks go to Barbara Grut and Deborah Muylle for permission to use their articles.)

One Trial – Four Languages

In 2013, the German Region of AIIC worked with Memoriam – the city museum in Nuremberg dedicated to the trials of Nazi war criminals – to organise a series of events about the origins of simultaneous interpreting, the development of conference interpreting as we know it today, interpreting in crisis zones and interpreting for international crime tribunals. It described the lives of those who achieved an amazing breakthrough at the first Military Tribunal by using the virtually unknown technique of simultaneous interpreting.

That first attempt to trace the destinies of these people, most of whom had themselves been victims of the Nazi regime in one form or another, demonstrated how little is actually known about them. It aroused tremendous interest, and so the research continued, and the exhibition has been expanded and updated. Read more here