Unlike other professions, the impact of information and communication technology on interpreting has been moderate so far. However, recent advances in the areas of remote, computer-assisted, and, most recently, machine interpreting, are gaining the interest of both researchers and practitioners. This volume aims at exploring key issues, approaches and challenges to the interplay of interpreting and technology, an area that is still underrepresented in the field of Interpreting Studies. The contributions to this volume cover topics in the area of computer-assisted and remote interpreting, both in the conference as well as in the court setting, and report on experimental studies.

Paul Ricœur has been one of the most influential and intellectually challenging philosophers of the last century, and his work has contributed to a vast array of fields: studies of language, of history, of ethics and politics. However, he has up until recently only had a minor impact on the philosophy of technology. Interpreting Technology aims to put Ricœur’s work at the centre of contemporary philosophical thinking concerning technology. It investigates his project of critical hermeneutics for rethinking established theories of technology, the growing ethical and political impacts of technologies on the modern lifeworld, and ways of analysing global sociotechnical systems such as the Internet. Ricœur’s philosophy allows us to approach questions such as: how could narrative theory enhance our understanding of technological mediation? How can our technical practices be informed by the ethical aim of living the good life, with and for others, in just institutions? And how does the emerging global media landscape shape our sense of self, and our understanding of history? These questions are more timely than ever, considering the enormous impact technologies have on daily life in the 21st century: on how we shape ourselves with health apps, how we engage with one-another through social media, and how we act politically through digital platforms.

While interpreting long remained unaffected by the technological progress that transformed the translation industry, recent years have witnessed a paradigm shift, such that interpreters increasingly interact with technological tools, that the delivery of interpreting services becomes increasingly dependent on technologies, and, finally, that technologies start to emerge that might some day compete with interpreters. This volume brings together a series of contributions on interpreting technologies focusing on each of these aspects. Its goal is to inform and to empower interpreters, as well as to spark new reflections on the future of technology in the interpreting industry. With this volume, we want to encourage interpreters to participate in that reflection and to become partners of technology rather than its victims. The next generation of technologies will need a next generation of interpreters!

In this landmark project, Moratto and Zhang evaluate how conference interpreting developed as a profession in China, and the directions in which it is heading. Bringing together perspectives from leading researchers in the field, Moratto and Zhang present a thematically organized analysis of the trajectory of professional conference interpreting in China. This includes discussion of the pedagogies used both currently and historically, the professionalization of interpreter education, and future prospects for virtual reality, multimodal conferences, and artificial intelligence. Taken as a whole, the contributors present a rich and detailed picture of the development of conference interpreting in China since 1979, its status today, and how it is likely to develop in the coming decades. An essential resource for scholars and students of conference interpreting in China, alongside its sister volume, The Pioneers of Chinese Interpreting: Insiders’ Accounts on the Rise of a Profession.

Technological advancement is reshaping the ways in which language interpreters operate. This poses existential challenges to the profession but also offers new opportunities. This books moves from the design of the computer-assisted interpreting tool SmarTerp as a case study of impact-driven interpreting technology research. It demonstrates how usability testing was used to achieve an interpreter-centred design. By contextualising the case study within the past and current developments of translation and interpreting technology research, this book seeks to inform and inspire a redefinition of the conceptualisation of interpreting technology research—not just as a tool to understand change but to drive it into a sustainable and human direction.

Routledge Encyclopedia of Technology and the Humanities is a pioneer attempt to introduce a wide range of disciplines in the emerging field of techno-humanities to the English-reading world. This book covers topics such as archaeology, cultural heritage, design, fashion, linguistics, music, philosophy, and translation. It has 20 chapters, contributed by 26 local and international scholars. Each chapter has its own theme and addresses issues of significant interest in the respective disciplines. References are provided at the end of each chapter for further exploration into the literature of the relevant areas. To facilitate an easy reading of the information presented in this volume, chapters have been arranged according to the alphabetical order of the topics covered. This Encyclopedia will appeal to researchers and professionals in the field of technology and the humanities, and can be used by undergraduate and graduate students studying the humanities.

The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Technology provides a comprehensive and accessible overview of the dynamically evolving relationship between translation and technology. Divided into five parts, with an editor's introduction, this volume presents the perspectives of users of translation technologies, and of researchers concerned with issues arising from the increasing interdependency between translation and technology. The chapters in this Handbook tackle the advent of technologization at both a technical and a philosophical level, based on industry practice and academic research. Containing over 30 authoritative, cutting-edge chapters, this is an essential reference and resource for those studying and researching translation and technology. The volume will also be valuable for translators, computational linguists and developers of translation tools.