For people whose first language is not English
The 8IATC will be held in English, but we are asking our ‘International ambassadors’ in many countries to send out information in the language of their locality or region. Please contact your region’s Ambassador if you want material in languages other than English.
Simultaneous ‘whisper’ translation
The 8IATC does not have the financial resources to organise simultaneous translations from English into other languages. However, many of us have worked in countries where English is not widely spoken and some of us have worked with a simple but effective system for translation called ‘whisper translation’. This is where one or two people who are not fluent in English sit either side of one person who is fluent in English and who can translate to the language of the participants sitting next to him/her. The translator whispers the translation to those either side of him/her while the presentation is going on. While this can create a small disturbance to others and perhaps to the presenters, we have decided to make the principle of ‘whisper translation’ a policy for this conference. This is our best-known way of being inclusive of people who are not fluent in English. Please get in touch if you know of other ways.
How do you benefit from whisper translation?
The conference organisers do not arrange people for whisper translation. If you need translation, it will be your responsibility to make sure that you arrange to meet people at the conference who are able to take the role of whisper translators. We strongly recommend that you do this before you register for the conference so that you can be sure that you will be able to benefit from translation during the conference. If you don’t know who to ask, start with an International ambassador from your region.
