How remote interpreting changed the Japanese interpreting industry

It is widely known in the interpreting industry that the COVID-19 pandemic served as a catalyst for the global spread of remote interpreting, the technology for which had existed for years prior. As governments and businesses continued to hold their meetings online or in hybrid forms even after lockdowns were lifted, demand kept rising (Nimdzi Insights, 2022). In order to investigate the immediate impact of the pandemic on remote interpreting, an online survey with a focus on remote simultaneous interpreting (RSI) was conducted in the summer of 2020 in Japan (Matsushita, 2020b). The results revealed that while only 18.8% (n = 43) of the 229 respondents had RSI experience before the pandemic, the number jumped to 44.5% (n = 102) by the end of July 2020, with 91.7% (n = 210) of them envisioning that remote interpreting opportunities will continue to increase.

This prediction turned out to be true: a smaller survey conducted in Japan 17 months later in January 2022 revealed that all 51 respondents (100%) had experienced remote interpreting, with 58.8% (n = 30) saying that almost all of their assignments (at the time of the survey) were taking place remotely (Ikaros Publications, 2022). This trend is, of course, not limited to Japan. Numerous industry reports published in 2021 and 2022 showed a shared conviction that remote interpreting is here to stay (e.g., Association of Language Companies, 2021; Nimdzi Insights, 2022; Slator, 2022).

Against this backdrop, this study conducted a detailed analysis of the survey responses from Matsushita (2020b) to reinvestigate the transformation the interpreters experienced during the most turbulent months of the pandemic and find insights into remote interpreting in the post-pandemic world. Compared to Matsushita (2020b), which reported the aggregated survey results, this study will focus more on differences among the interpreters, language pairs, and interpreting genres represented.

コロナ禍において、急速に進んだのが、通信回線を利用した遠隔通訳（remote interpreting）である (Nimdzi Insights, 2022)。欧米においては数年前から導入が進ん でいたが、日本においては新型コロナウイルスの感染拡大を受けて、初めて本格的な 導入が始まった。このような状況に鑑み、松下 (Matsushita, 2020b)は日本語を言語ペ アに含む通訳者に対する質問紙調査を実施し、コロナ禍における通訳者の稼働状況 の変遷と、遠隔通訳、とりわけ RSI の普及の実態を明らかにした。当時は緊急調査的 な意味あいもあり全体的な傾向を示すにとどまったが、コロナ禍の終息如何に関わらず 遠隔通訳は今後も継続的に採用される見通しとなったため (Association of Language Companies, 2021; Nimdzi Insights, 2022; Slator, 2022)、本研究では調査結果を再分 析し、言語や通訳分野ごとの違いも加味しつつ、通訳者の立場から「ポスト・コロナ」の通 訳業界を展望する。