What are the "must have" tools of the modern interpreter?

Earlier this year, over a thousand interpreters participated in surveys designed to look at trends, challenges, and opportunities in the current landscape of interpreting. If you are interested in some of the results, along with advice and strategies from experts in the field, be sure you are tuning in to the free online event ProZ.com is hosting for remote interpreters, happening this Tuesday, March 28th.

One question interpreters were asked was:

"What hardware or software would you consider as part of your list of 'must haves' for the modern interpreter?"

A lot of recommendations were made, and so I thought it might be fun to share a compiled list of those recommendations, and maybe also build off it, to create a more or  less comprehensive list of tools that anyone can go through to get ideas which might help improve how they work.

Interpreter tools word cloud

 

Note that, in the cases of software that has a freemium model-- which is great for giving something a test drive-- professional interpreters also tend to recommend the paid or "pro" versions if you are interested in really unlocking their potential and applying it to your work.

 

Here they are, in alphabetical order:

Cabled (ethernet, fiber optic where available) internet connection
Chair (ergonomic, gamer)
DAC (Digital-to-Analog Converter)
Double/multiple monitor setup
Electronic notepad/tablet (iPad, iPad Air, Samsung Tablet S series, Rocketbook)
External podcasting mic
External hard drive for backups
Headset: Sennheiser, Logitech
High-quality webcam
Keyboard (ergonomic)
Silent click mouse
Stabilizer, UPS, Nobreak
Stylus (Wacom, Apple Pencil)

What software would you add to this list? Would you recommend any particular brands or models for hardware or other equipment?

You can contribute to improving this list by commenting below!

Interpreter_conference_2023

 

Topics: interpreter, interpreting, language services industry

Jared Tabor

Written by Jared Tabor

Jared oversees Member services at ProZ.com. An ex-language teacher, he has lived and worked in Argentina since 1996. He has been with ProZ.com through the La Plata office since 2007. You can follow him on Twitter, @taboredinc .

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