Interviews with interpreters at the show: process and edit

When you need an interpreter

At international shows, people from many countries come together on one stand (booth): your head of engineering from Shenzhen, a key customer from Istanbul, a distributor from Milan. What they say is valuable, but not everyone can say it fluently in English. An interview in a second language then sounds hesitant, and the actual message gets lost.

So the rule is: everyone speaks in the language they are most confident in. The subtitles do the translating later. More on questions, sound and framing in our guide to on-stand interviews.

Pixer conducts interviews itself in English, German, Arabic and Persian. For every other language, such as Chinese, Turkish, Italian, Spanish or Russian, you bring an interpreter. That person becomes a fixed part of the interview team, from the brief to the sign-off of the subtitles. If you are exhibiting in Germany for the first time, our page for international exhibitors in Germany covers the wider picture.

Who makes a good interpreter

There are three options, each with its own strengths and risks:

• A bilingual colleague knows the products and the terminology and is on the stand anyway. The risk: someone from your own company tends to polish or add to answers. Ask explicitly for a literal rendering.
• Someone from your distributor or partner often speaks the customer's language and knows them personally. That takes the nerves out of the interview.
• A professional interpreter works neutrally and precisely. Book early, and send a glossary of product names and technical terms beforehand.

Whoever it is, the person must be able to interpret consecutively, sentence by sentence after the answer, and must accept that their voice will usually not be heard in the finished video. They also need a valid pass for the hall. The rules are in the organiser's exhibitor manual.

Before the first interview, plan a short briefing with the interpreter: go through the questions, clarify technical terms, show them their spot next to the camera and agree a hand signal for pauses. Those ten minutes save more time on the stand than they cost.

The routine on the stand, step by step

Simultaneous interpreting, where both people speak at the same time, does not work for video: two voices overlap and can hardly be separated in the edit. On the stand, you work consecutively:

1. The questions are prepared in both languages. The interviewer asks, the interpreter translates the question from beside the camera.
2. The interviewee answers in their own language, in full sentences, wearing a clip-on microphone.
3. After each answer, leave two seconds of silence. Only then does the interpreter briefly summarise the answer, so the interviewer can follow up.
4. If a product name is missing or a statement is unclear, ask the question again rather than correcting the answer afterwards.
5. At the end, the interpreter notes the strongest statements with the approximate time. That speeds up the edit considerably.

The interpreter stands right next to the camera, at eye level with the interviewer. Otherwise the interviewee looks to the side, and their eye line looks turned away in the video.

Sound: keeping two voices apart

In the edit, usually only the original answer remains. For that to work, the voices have to be recorded separately: a clip-on microphone for the interviewee, a second microphone or the camera microphone for the questions and the translation. Nobody should speak into the answer, not even with a word of agreement.

Plan more time than for a normal interview. Every question and every answer is spoken twice, plus follow-up questions. Where a quarter of an hour per person is normally enough, allow roughly double, and schedule the interview for a quieter time of day, early in the morning or late in the afternoon.

Edit and subtitles: where mistakes happen

The interpreter's short summary on the stand is not good enough for subtitles. It is freely worded and often shorter than the answer. Clean subtitles need three steps:

• A transcript of the selected answers in the original language.
• A translation into the target language, literal enough not to change the meaning and short enough for subtitles.
• A check by someone who speaks both languages, before the video is published.

For languages other than English, German, Arabic and Persian, the translation of the answers comes from your side, ideally from the interpreter who was at the interview. We then set the subtitles in the edit, and the two revision rounds leave room to adjust wording, names and technical terms. Send names, job titles and product names in writing beforehand, in the original script and in Latin transliteration.

Whether subtitles or a voice-over work better depends on where the video will be used. On social media, subtitles are standard; for presentations, a voice-over can make sense. For several markets at once, see our guide to multilingual subtitles for show videos.

Consent and checklist

The interviewee has to understand the consent to recording and use. Give them the form in their language, or have the interpreter explain it on site. A template and practical notes are in our guide to consent for on-stand interviews.

Before the show, tick off this list:

• Fix interviewee, language and interpreter for each slot.
• Prepare the questions in both languages and send the glossary to the interpreter.
• Apply for a pass for the interpreter.
• Agree fixed times, with double the usual buffer.
• Send names and job titles in writing, in the original script and in transliteration.
• Clarify who provides the translation and who signs off the subtitles.

The short version

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