Behind Closed Doors: Preparation, Positioning, and Consecutive Interpreting In closed‑door bilateral meetings, terms and agendas are negotiated in advance, decisions on recording and attendance are set, and interpreters position themselves at the sidelines to stay out of press photos. Consecutive interpreting is the norm: the interpreter waits for pauses, conveys ideas rather than words, and when speeches run long, captures meaning with personalized note‑taking systems of symbols prepared for the topic. Cheat‑sheet shorthand like "DFL" for a dolphin‑friendly label and a tuna‑in‑a‑box mark help reconstruct the message in the other language.
Simultaneous Interpreting: Whispering, Ear‑Voice Span, and the Limits of Fatigue and Humor Without booths, simultaneous interpreting becomes whispering beside the listener, which strains voices and is easily masked by room noise. Maintaining an optimal ear‑voice span is key: at roughly 100–110 words per minute the interpreter balances lag and memory load, too far back overwhelms short‑term memory and too close degrades grammar, syntax, and style. Fatigue sets in around 30 minutes, so teams switch frequently; pushing beyond limits can be dangerous, as shown by a 2009 UN collapse after more than 75 minutes nonstop. Interpreters are not mediators—insults, threats, and raw emotion are rendered faithfully, while gestures and theatrics are not mimicked. Jokes and puns often die in transit—when a "porpoise/purpose" punch line won’t carry, the practical move may be to state that an untranslatable joke was told—and yet this arduous work remains vital, enabling communication between countries and peoples across contexts from financial speeches to casual text messages.