efsli Conference Prague, 2006
For the first time in EFSLI history, the EFSLI conference was hosted in Eastern Europe. A total of 123 people from 23 different countries participated in the conference, whose theme was Team Interpreting. The Czech Chamber of Sign Language interpreters (CKTZJ) had prepared for months to make the conference a great success.
The presentations during the conference focused on the different aspects of team interpreting. Interpreter teams can include hearing sign language interpreters as well as deaf interpreters. Multiple teams of interpreters can work at the same time, for example when interpreting for deafblind people.
Another variation of team interpreting concerns interpreting in the theatre. The interpreters and the actors forms separate teams, but are at the same time a single large team. Next to a historic overview of team interpreting in various countries, the existing theories, definitions, and developments of team interpreting were discussed.
All the participating countries are aware of the necessity of having interpreting teams. Scientific research in the area of spoken and sign language interpreting has shown that the quality of the interpretation rises when people interpret in teams.
The outcome of this inspiring EFSLI conference has given us a broad overview of the results and the possibilities of team interpreting. The national organisations of sign language interpreters now have to start using these results in their daily practice and convince their governments to implement these findings in official policies.