2003: A GREAT YEAR FOR AIIC!

Our international association, representing conference interpreters on five continents, is celebrating its 50th Anniversary. Read on to find out how it all started, and where we want to go in the next fifty years...

Looking back....Fifty years of headphones: simultaneous then and now

Now we have digital sound, LCDs and all manner of technical gizmos, but back in 1953 things were quite different. After the experimental use of simultaneous interpreting at the Nuremberg Trials, there was no going back. The newly formed international organisations clamoured for interpreters who could do simultaneous, but few people knew how it operated or what conditions were acceptable. The heavy, Bakelite headphones familiar from TV Newsreels of Nuremberg were only part of the story: sometimes interpreters had to stand for the whole meeting, or work in a separate room with no view of the meeting itself! Finding well-trained interpreters was a big headache, too. Those pioneering freelancers were right to get together and form an association, to provide professional guidance, to promote solidarity and keep interpreters in touch.

Those core tasks remain the same today, but in fifty years AIIC has grown and matured. It has become an internationally respected body of 2600 members worldwide: in addition to setting standards, AUG negotiates for its members and defends and explains a little-known profession. Our headphones are a lot lighter too!

New President, New Languages, New Ideas

The UK Region is proud to announce that UK-based interpreter Jennifer Mackintosh has been elected President of AIIC worldwide for a term of five years. A prestigious and demanding appointment, as AIIC moves into the 21st century with the challenges of new technology and the rise of multilingual conferences. “AIIC’s ongoing resolve (is) to maintain and consolidate standards,” Jenny said in a recent article on our website. But she is also determined to make progress in other areas of importance to conference interpreters: PR is to be one of her priorities. “Now that we are 50 years old, I think we may...make employers large and small aware of the benefits of working with a profession that is well-regulated... and has a clear code of ethics, professional standards.., and transparent business practices.”

Membership is on the increase, and she believes that AI1C’s role in protecting and negotiating for its members will become even more important in markets like the EU.

AIIC will continue to publish recommendations and to research workload issues, providing answers for interpreters in the 21st century conference market. We wish Jenny every success in the future.