Conference interpreting specialization in a few lines
The Master’s program aims to activate the multilingual and intercultural expertise acquired in the pre-Master’s program in various professional environments.
ISIT graduates have a strong general culture, are agile in an international environment, have a solid understanding of intercultural issues, and are able to grasp the complexity of globalized organizations and activities.
The Master’s degree in Conference Interpreting responds to 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.
This program has received funding from the European Union.
Visit the European Commission’s conference interpreting website
Faculty
- Practicing conference interpreters accredited by international organizations or French ministries
- University lecturer and researcher
Educational 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.
Operational skills acquired at the end of the specialization
- Techniques of simultaneous interpretation, consecutive interpretation and sight translation.
- Economic and legal culture.
- 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:
- understanding business wolrld and its requirements
- identifying the stakeholders and interpret’s future interlocutors
- deepening 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 B or C language, or abroad for French A students
Finding an internship is an integral part of an ISIT education, and one that we expect students to do themselves. However, ISIT supports them through seminars, interview simulations and workshops to help define and highlight professional skills, and keeps them informed of internships offered by corporate partners.
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 en 4è année : L3 validée
- Admission en 5è année : Master 1 universitaire ou équivalent validé (diplôme français ou étranger en 4 ans reconnu officiellement de niveau 240 ECTS)
ATTENTION : Pour la spécialisation Interprète de conférence, le M1 ou équivalent doit être en Interprétation de conférence.
- Posséder une excellente maîtrise de toutes les langues présentées.
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 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
Have a minimum of 12 consecutive months of in-country experience using your B language. A 6 consecutive months in-country experience using each of your C languages is recommended as well.
Past papers
- Stay up to date with current events by reading newspapers and magazines in your working languages. Radio, television and internet are other valuable sources of information.
Consultez notre sélection de journaux et périodiques de référence. - Practice delivering the message from your B and C languages into your A language, and if your language combination permits it, 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 ORCIT website (Online Resources for Conference Interpreter Training), an European Commission-funded project producing interactive pedagogical tools for trainers and students of conference interpreting, in which ISIT is involved.
- Watch our videos about language preparation on ISIT’s YouTube channel.