Speak into a phone and an app can render your words in another language in seconds. AI-powered speech translation can be fast, convenient and fluent. But fluency does not guarantee that people will understand one another.
In the most recent census, 880,000 people in England and Wales (excluding tourists and other short-term visitors) said they could not speak English well, and 161,000 not at all. That’s more than a million residents who may need language support in their daily lives, including when trying to access essential public services.
The linguistic range is vast. London alone is home to more than 250 languages. Tight budgets and a shortage of interpreters for some languages can make it difficult to secure an interpreter with the right dialect and expertise for a pressing legal, health or social care matter.
Notice we say “interpreter”, not translator. In professional language services, translation typically deals with written texts, while interpreting facilitates spontaneous communication between users of different spoken or sign languages, whether face-to-face, by telephone or via video.
In a conversation, each person responds to what has come before and shapes what will follow. Added meaning emerges as they hesitate, restart or refer back to earlier points. Words are only part of this exchange – tone, pace, pauses and non-verbal cues can all shape how an utterance is understood.
