Dr Caiwen Wang gives talk on interpreting in the context of AI at UN event

The UN’s FoP initiative aims to engage in the discussion on the important changes taking place in the professional landscape. It covers conversations with language professionals and field experts on topics such as continuous learning, emotional intelligence and cultural competence, technological proficiency, interdisciplinary knowledge, ethical considerations and adaptability to automation.  

Approximately 60 people attended this event held by the Conference Management Service on 9 July in Vienna, Austria, where the Chair of the UN's Global Language Roster Board and Chief Interpreter at the UN's Interpreting Section in Vienna Marianna Matakova invited Dr Wang to host a talk.

Dr Wang’s webinar focused on impoliteness interpreting in the context of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Joined by Matakova and the Head of Unit Interpreter Training and Support Unit in the Directorate-General for Logistics and Interpretation for Conferences at the European Parliament (EP), Andrea Seidenstücker, she presented the findings of her latest research on how speaker-input impoliteness was handled by professional conference interpreters. Dr Wang then asked a series of questions about interpreting conflictive speeches against the backdrop of large language models and the concern that human interpreters and translators might be replaced by AI, stimulating many heated debates online.  

Shortly following her talk, Dr Wang was contacted by Andrea who asked for her permission to use her research materials for interpreter training at the EP as she believed that Dr Wang’s research is an aspect that is fundamental to this field.  

Seidenstücker said: “I was particularly struck by your categorisation of impoliteness incidents and the response strategies interpreters into Chinese found for them, as well as the finding that less experienced colleagues tend to attenuate more than more experienced ones.”

About the event, Caiwen said: “The UN’s Future of the Profession project brings together translators, interpreters and other language professionals to learn from academic researchers about the latest trends and transformations in their profession as a result of relevant technological advancements. The project encourages research-informed discussions and debates on challenges faced by language professionals and on how such challenges should better be tackled. It is an honour to be invited to give a talk for them. The questions and comments that I received during my webinar will also help me form new research questions for future studies to benefit language professionals in return.”

The full research related to her talk will be published in the first issue of the journal Across Languages and Cultures in 2025.

This initiative directly contributes to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4: Quality Education. Since 2019, the University of Westminster has used the SDGs holistically to frame strategic decisions to help students and colleagues fulfil their potential and contribute to a more sustainable, equitable and healthier society.  

Read more on Dr Caiwen Wang's work and learn about the Westminster Forum for Language and Linguistics.

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