How COVID-19 changed telephone interpreting in Spain

Abstract

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, telephone interpreters in Spain were used to communicating administrative issues, medical instructions, and even humanitarian social assistance rendered by social workers and psychologists. However, since March 2020 these interactions have been heavily replaced by conversations mediated by telephone interpreters related to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus infection. This contribution describes the provision of telephone interpreting during the COVID-19 pandemic using the information reported by the interpreters of the company Dualia Teletraducciones as a case study. It focuses on healthcare-related services and clients, offering data related to the frequency of use of telephone interpreting, the most common languages used, and the evolution of clients and services (Emergency Rooms, tracers, pandemic hotels, etc.). This article also describes the hiring, training and quality monitoring processes, including the main tools developed to facilitate remote interpreting during the pandemic.