Grande Ecole program Grande Ecole program

Conference Interpreting

ApplicationDocumentation
In short Grande Ecole program
Academic field (or area) Conference interpreting
Type of degree Master degree
Study level Bac+5
Entry level Bac+4
Working languages All language combinations possible
Accessibility Formation accessible

About the Master’s program in Conference Interpreting

Our Master’s programs offer students the opportunity to put the multilingual and intercultural expertise they have acquired during the pre-Master’s program into practice in various professional environments.

ISIT produces graduates with a strong general knowledge and a solid understanding of intercultural issues who are able to show agility in an international environment and to grasp the complexity of globalized organizations and businesses.

The Master’s degree in Conference Interpreting responds tomeets the need for multilingual communication brought about by the globalization of politics and economies.

 

In 2014, the Conference Interpreting program at ISIT joined the European Masters in Conference Interpreting (EMCI) consortium, an elite group of universities offering accredited masters degrees in conference interpreting. In 2022, ISIT was elected president of the EMCI consortium of conference interpreting schools.

EMCI logo nove-actual_October 2013 (1)

This program receives funding from the European Union.

Union européenne

Visit the European Commission’s conference interpreting website

Faculty

  • Practicing conference interpreters accredited by international organizations or French ministries
  • University lecturers and researchers

Learning objectives

  • To train professionals capable of working for government departments, the media and international organizations upon graduation.
  • To train students to interpret in the context of high-level international conferences or meetings (bilingual or multilingual).

Practical skills acquired

  • Simultaneous interpretation, consecutive interpretation and sight translation techniques
  • Economic and legal knowledge
  • Ability to listen, analyze, summarize, and concentrate quickly
  • Ability to express oneself clearly and precisely in public

Courses

Year 4

UNDERSTANDING THE PROFESSIONAL ENVIRONMENT & RELATED PRACTICES

  • Methodology of Consecutive
  • Interpreting
  • Methodology of Sight Translation
  • Cognitive Keys to Interpreting
  • International Economics

COMMUNICATING WITHIN AN INTERCULTURAL AND MULTILINGUAL CONTEXT: THE FUNDAMENTALS OF INTERPRETATION

  • Public Speaking Skills
  • Consecutive Interpreting & Sight Translation B to A language
  • Consecutive Interpreting & Sight Translation A to B language
  • Consecutive Interpreting & Sight Translation C to A language
  • Self-study (individual and group)

CONTEMPORARY INTERNATIONAL ISSUES: SPECIALIZED INTERPRETING

  • Political Economics
  • Economic and Financial Interpreting

DEVELOPING INNOVATIVE INTERCULTURAL & INTERNATIONAL EXPERTISE

  • Research methodology
  • Research workshops

CAREER SUPPORT

  • Multilingual Mock Conferences
  • Stress Management Workshops
  • Professional Integration
  • Workshops & Seminars
  • Internship (2 months min.)

Year 5

FINETUNING YOUR PROFESSIONAL SKILLS

  • Advanced Consecutive Interpreting & Sight Translation for Professional Contexts
  • Simultaneous Interpreting with and without text (language combinations: B to A, A to B, C to A)

SPECIALIZED INTERPRETING

  • Geopolitics by Region
  • Legal Interpreting

CAREER SUPPORT

  • Multilingual Mock Conferences
  • Stress Management Workshops
  • Seminar on Professional Interpreters’
  • Code of Ethics
  • Volunteer Interpreting
  • Internships within the Interpreting
  • Departments of International organizations
  • Participation of key recruiters at the final exams

Resources

Careers guidance

We work with teachers, alumni, practicing conference interpreters and potential recruiters to:

  • Inform students about potential paths into the world of work
  • Provide an insight into the conference interpreting market (talks and meetings with working interpreters)
  • Help students find internships (in companies and international organizations)
  • Help students with their personal development, particularly stress management and exam preparation (sophrology workshops)
  • Equip students with the information and tools they need to set up as freelance interpreters
  • Encourage a considered and objective approach to work-related issues
  • Provide graduates with individual guidance after they have completed their degree

First-year internships

A work placement is a requirement for all first-year Conference Interpreting students.

Main objectives:

  • Understand the business world and its requirements
  • Identify the stakeholders interpreters work with
  • Deepen your understanding of economic issues and increase your vocabulary

all of this through hands-on experience in a professional role other than interpreter.

Internship details

    • Length: 2 to 3 months
    • Period: between the end of May and the end of September
    • Placement: global companies and NGOs
    • Main roles: marketing, communications (including press relations and corporate communications), human resources, purchasing, finance, lobbying
    • Location: in France for students with French as a B or C language, or abroad for French A students

Second-year internship

Second-year Conference Interpreting students complete internships:

  • dummy-boothing in a variety of international organizations such as the Council of Europe, the OECD, the EU and UNESCO). A dummy booth is a real interpreting booth in a meeting room in which student interpreters may sit and listen to the meeting, or practice their interpreting in a realistic environment.
  • as volunteer conference interpreters for charitable or humanitarian organizations (CCFD, Ensemble Contre la Peine de Mort), or during large student events such as GIMUN (Geneva International Model United Nations) conferences.

Getting ready to apply

Prerequisites

  • Admission in Year 4: 3rd year of higher education (L3) successfully completed
  • Admission in Year 5: Master 1 or equivalent (4 years of higher education in France or abroad, officially recognised as being worth 240 ECTS) successfully completed

IMPORTANT: for the Conference Interpreting specialization, the student’s Master 1 or equivalent qualification must be in Conference Interpreting

  • You must have an excellent command of all the languages you are applying with.

Each conference interpreter works with a unique language combination. This combination of working languages is composed of:

  • Native language or A language: The language into which the interpreter works from all his or her other languages, in both simultaneous and consecutive modes.
  • Active language or B language: A language other than the interpreter’s native language, of which he or she has a perfect command and into which he or she works from his or her A language.
  • Passive language or C language: A language of which the interpreter has a complete understanding and from which he or she works into his or her A language.

 

Accepted language combinations

At ISIT, English and French are required in any language combination. ISIT also caters for all languages for which a demand exists and qualified instructors can be found:

  • AA for English and French exclusively,
  • AB for English and French exclusively, provided that the candidate’s level in his/her B language is nearly equivalent to that of his or her A language,
  • ABC, ABB, ABCC, ACCC or ACCCC, in which case English and French are still required but can be A, B or C languages.

ACC combinations, except in rare cases, are not accepted.

Mobility

You must have a minimum of 12 consecutive months of in-country experience using your B language. 6 consecutive months of in-country experience using each of your C languages is also recommended.

Past papers

  • Stay up to date with current events by reading newspapers and magazines in your working languages. Radio, television and the internet are other valuable sources of information.
    See our selection of recommended news sources
  • Practice conveying messages originally expressed in your B and C languages in your A language, and if your language combination so permits, from your A language into your B language. Listen carefully to the speaker’s message, be sure you fully understand it, then deliver it in the first person, making sure to communicate the main ideas.
  • See the ORCIT website (Online Resources for Conference Interpreter Training), a European Commission-funded project in which ISIT is involved, which produces interactive teaching and learning tools for conference interpreting students and trainers.
  • Watch our videos about language preparation on ISIT’s YouTube channel.

Testimonies from our alumni

Translation
ISIT 2014

Rhys Tyler

Do your prep work, research thoroughly just as you would for an internship or job.
See the portrait
Translation
ISIT 2012

Claire Liron

The CIT Master at ISIT combines high-level language skills with practical knowledge in digital and intercultural communication.
See the portrait
Communication and marketing
ISIT 2012

Elisabeth Wu

ISIT offers a very diverse program that gives students the opportunity to experience a little bit of everything and to work in different fields.
See the portrait
Communication and marketing
ISIT 2013

Alexandre Vacante

ISIT helped me determine a guiding principle: to understand, emphasize and apply my skills.
See the portrait
Communication and marketing
ISIT 2013

Lucille Träger

The key is to really take advantage of your time at ISIT to build a coherent path that makes sense to you.
See the portrait
Conference Interpreting
ISIT 2012
Belgium

Joanna Szymanska

ISIT is the only school that allows students to customize their education by taking any possible language combination.
See the portrait
Conference Interpreting
ISIT 2013

Ornella Olenga Disashi

This job quenches my thirst for knowledge.
See the portrait
Consulting
ISIT 2012

Thibault Motté

The additional skill set in modern languages I developed at ISIT differentiates me from other law students.
See the portrait
Consulting
ISIT 2004

Stéphanie Fresson

ISIT taught me to be demanding, and gave me broad general knowledge that is important in the working world.
See the portrait
Conference Interpreting
ISIT 2012

Sarah Lanzi

I like the immediacy and the multi-faceted nature of this profession.
See the portrait
Communication and marketing
ISIT 2013

Astrid Boitel

ISIT gives us access to the world.
See the portrait
Conference Interpreting
ISIT 2014

Jennifer Zelphati

I like the “no safety net” aspect of the job, the challenge of being ready all the time.
See the portrait
Conference Interpreting
ISIT 2013

Juliette Bonnet

When an interpreter gets into a booth, there’s no way to cheat, no way to “rewind.”
See the portrait
Conference Interpreting
ISIT 2014

Benoît Malmontet

ISIT programs are very adapted to employers’ needs: teachers are all working interpreters.
See the portrait
Consulting
ISIT 2009

Delphine Siwiec

My versatility and ability to adapt in a multicultural, multilingual environment have been very appreciated by my managers.
See the portrait
Translation
ISIT 2013
China

Adrien Maynard

Develop your general knowledge and deepen your language skills, but to keep posted on the world you live in.
See the portrait
Communication and marketing
ISIT 2012

Yasmine Khalouch

The Master in Intercultural Management is very thorough. In my current role, I’ve used something from every class I took.
See the portrait
Communication and marketing
ISIT 2011
United Kingdom

Mathieu Isidro

At ISIT, we are taught cultural sensitivity, without which we couldn’t translate effectively.
See the portrait
Translation
ISIT 2003

Carole Couque

I wanted to start my own business so I could work with a variety of clients and languages.
See the portrait
Communication and marketing
ISIT 2012
Canada

Claire

Cross-cultural knowledge is giving you endless opportunities, and knowing which fields you can use it for will help you make a difference.
See the portrait
Student
ISIT 2014
Scotland

Nicola Crawford

I chose ISIT because of its reputation and the excellent standard of education that it offers & the possibility to study with English.
See the portrait
Conference Interpreting
ISIT 2015

Ina Kang

Being an ISIT graduate is an asset on your CV.
See the portrait
Communication and marketing
ISIT 2015

Sophie Dibdin

The combination of languages, business and marketing at ISIT was one I hadn’t seen at any other school.
See the portrait
Communication and marketing
ISIT 1994
France

Stéphane Trycionka

I had a general interest in foreign language & culture, in those who speak a language different from my own, who see the world and think differently.
See the portrait
Conference Interpreting
ISIT 2014
Spain

David Cabrera Sanchez

ISIT’s many partnerships with major international organizations meant I had the opportunity to complete a number of internships working in a dummy booth, which taught me a lot.
See the portrait

Interested in this course?