In message , at 21:01:32 on Thu, 26
Jun 2008, Tim Ward remarked:
One of the most difficult problems is providing translation into six(ish)
languages on a teleconference. If you have any bright ideas, I know some
people who are going out to tender with big bucks to try to solve this.

Erm ... the people who do simultaneous interpretation at the UN in New York
will know exactly how to do this, for example - there can't be a vast
difference between a punter choosing one of six channels on his headphones
or a punter choosing one of six channels on the teleconference. Kate has
watched them in action and says they're very impressive. But, that sort of
operation is not exactly what you might call "cheap".

I've sat in many UN meetings with that level of translation. A lot of
the time they "cheat" because the set speeches are delivered on paper to
the translators in advance. But even without that, they do a good job of
translating a moderated meeting where there's a chairman in charge.

Now transfer that to a teleconference where people in six languages are
all trying to talk over one another to get the floor. And at times of
day when translators are tucked up in bed (UN translators work 10-1 and
3-6, and not a millisecond outside).

Yes, I'm sure that someone could design an audio teleconferencing
application with six sets of audio, but no-one has, yet.
--
Roland Perry