Do I need a booth for simultaneous interpretation?

In simultaneous, the interpreter renders while the speaker is still talking, a few seconds behind. The event runs to the length it was scheduled for. It requires equipment: a booth or a portable system.

In consecutive, the speaker talks for a stretch and pauses for the interpreter. It needs no equipment at all, but it doubles the running time. A two-hour meeting becomes four.

The choice almost always resolves into two questions: can the agenda run to twice its length, and how many people need to hear it. If the answer is “it cannot double” or “more than two people”, it is simultaneous.

One vocabulary note: in Brazil almost everyone says tradução simultânea (literally “simultaneous translation”). The technical term is interpretação — translation is written, interpreting is spoken. Nobody will correct you, but if you meet both terms, they mean the same thing here.

The real question underneath this one is: can the interpreter speak audibly inside the room?

You do not need a booth when:

• up to 30 people are listening to interpretation;
• the room already has noise of its own (plant, site, moving group), or it is a small meeting;
• the group moves between areas.

In those cases the portable system covers it, and covers it for less — no rigging, no technician, no heavy equipment hire.

You do need a booth when:

• the format is an auditorium with a stage and a PA;
• more than 30 people are listening to interpretation;
• the room is quiet and full, and a continuous background voice would intrude;
• the event runs three or more languages at once.

A booth acoustically isolates the interpreter. That is what it does, and it is why it costs more: it brings physical structure, a sound desk, a technician and receivers in quantity.

If your case is the second one, we say so in the quote and hire the equipment — we do not push the portable system into a format it does not serve.

Because it is standard practice in the profession, not a commercial add-on.

Simultaneous interpreting demands sustained attention at a level that cannot be held alone. After twenty to thirty continuous minutes, quality drops measurably — omissions increase, numbers come out wrong, sentence construction gets thinner. This happens to every interpreter, including very good ones.

So the pair rotates in short shifts. And the interpreter who is “off” is not idle: they write down figures, proper nouns and terminology for the one who is live.

The exception: events of up to an hour, with nothing following, can be done by one interpreter. If that is your case, we will suggest it ourselves — it is cheaper for you and it does not compromise the result.

If someone quotes a full day with a single interpreter, the price will be lower. The second half of the day will not be.

One for every person who does not understand the speaker’s language. Not the total number of people at the event.

This is the most common counting error. At an 80-person event where only 12 attendees are foreign, you need 12 receivers, not 80.

Two practical recommendations:

• Ask for two or three more than the exact count. Someone always decides on the day that they would rather follow through the earpiece.
• Count per language separately. If the event has English and Spanish, those are two distinct listener groups and possibly two channels.

We own 30 receivers. Up to that number the equipment is ours and there is no hire line in the quote. Above it, we hire the difference and it appears itemised.

It depends on the format, and the answer varies a lot.

Portable system: nothing required. The interpreter carries their own transmitter. If the room already has a mic and speakers for the presenter, good, but it is not a prerequisite.

Booth: yes, and it is the item that most surprises first-time buyers. The booth needs to receive audio from the room’s sound desk — it is not enough for the interpreter to hear the room through the air. That means the event needs a PA with a dedicated output for interpretation, and a technician who knows how to deliver it.

Remote event: the requirement moves out of the room and onto each speaker’s microphone. It is the most critical of the three, and the cheapest to fix: a basic headset on whoever is speaking solves most of it.

In all three cases, a short test beforehand pays for itself. Twenty minutes of technical rehearsal prevents most of what otherwise surfaces mid-event.

Five things, in order of weight:

1. The date. Availability decides everything. A date confirmed well ahead usually prices better than a last-minute one, and in conference season calendars close early.
2. The duration. Half day, full day, or several days. The interpreter day rate is the market’s standard unit.
3. The room format. This is what decides whether the job uses portable equipment (ours, no hire) or a booth (hire, technician, rigging). It is the largest price difference between two events of the same length.
4. How many people will listen to interpretation. Up to 30, the equipment is ours. Above that, receiver hire enters the quote.
5. How many language pairs. Each additional pair is an additional pair of interpreters.

Beyond that: travel and accommodation, when the event is outside Greater Recife.

We do not publish a price list because the combination of those five variables moves the number easily. The quote form asks exactly these points, and with them answered the first reply comes back with a number.