Interpreting at the United Nations: the impact of external variables. The Interpreters’ View

Based on previous specific research on the topic, on responses to questionnaires sent to three different United Nations (UN) duty stations (New York, Geneva, Vienna) at the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011, and on UN unofficial and institutional sources, the authors reflect on how external variables have altered UN interpreters’ working conditions in recent years and how they have had an impact on the quality of their performance. Some of the points mentioned in the replies to questionnaires are related, inter alia, to the speed of delivery of speeches, the influence of information technologies or the use of remote interpreting. Apart from the statistical data obtained from the questionnaires, we have used brief excerpts from interpreters’ personal narratives to illustrate the analysis of the present-day situation and the interpreters’ prospects for the future.