Comparison of Interpreting Teachers’ Use and Perceptions of Distance Interpreter Training (DIT) Before and After the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Interview-Based Study

Abstract

The study indicates that before the COVID-19 pandemic, despite its importance, distance interpreter training (DIT) was not positively perceived or widely used in higher education institutions that offer Bachelor of Translation and Interpreting (BTI) and/or Master of Translation and Interpreting (MTI) programs in China. However, the pandemic has changed almost everything in the world, with no exception of DIT, prompting the authors to have a follow-up study in August 2020 of the same 14 full-time interpreting teachers from different BTI and MTI institutions in different parts of China who had been interviewed right before the pandemic. This interview-based comparative study shows that all the interviewees used DIT during the pandemic shutdown and their perceptions of DIT have altered greatly, becoming more objective than subjective and more positive than negative. The pandemic has, to some extent, boosted the further development and acceptance of both the online and blended approaches to interpreter training.