Interpretation
Simultaneous & Consecutive Interpretation
You see one person, speaking. What you don’t see is everything.
Scroll — take the booth apart ↓
The headset
Hears every word — the first link in the chain.
The microphone
Delivers it sworn, on the record.
The booth glass
The wall the room never sees through.
The console
Routes meaning to every listener's receiver.
The signal
Your message, crossing intact — two seconds behind.
Every part is a place it can go wrong. We staff all of them.
Already an ELAN translation client? The same court-certified team that handles your documents also staffs your depositions, negotiations, and conferences — booth, equipment, and a subtitled recording delivered after. Tell us about your event.
One room, one message, no second take
No price list, and you're wondering if interpretation is really worth staffing properly. Fair. The honest answer: when a deposition is on the record or a deal turns on one clause, there is no retake — cheap interpretation isn't a saving, it's the risk.
The booth keeps the room’s noise out, so your message reaches every listener clean.
Every interpretation modality
Who Books Interpretation?
Law firms & litigators — depositions, arbitrations, sworn statements, on the record.
Conference organizers — multilingual summits and congresses, booth simultaneous.
Multinationals — board meetings, town halls, and M&A where precision drives the decision.
Government & delegations — trade missions, diplomatic and regulatory meetings.
Healthcare — IRB meetings, clinical site visits, medical conferences.
What sets your quote
Interpretation is quoted per event, never from a rate card — a one-day English–Spanish negotiation and a three-day multilingual congress are not the same job. Five things set the price:
Language pair
Spanish–English is our core pair and moves fastest. Portuguese, French, Mandarin, and rarer pairs draw on specialist interpreters and are quoted accordingly.
Format
On-site simultaneous (booth), consecutive and accompaniment, remote simultaneous (RSI), or a hybrid of in-room and remote — each carries different staffing and equipment.
Team size
Simultaneous running over about an hour needs two interpreters per language pair (ISO 23155); consecutive is usually one. We size the team to the event, not the invoice.
Subject matter
Legal, medical, financial, energy, technical — specialized terminology and advance preparation change the work involved.
Duration & equipment
Half-day, full-day, or multi-day, plus booth, mixer, receivers, and technician when the room calls for them.
Send your event details and we confirm interpreter availability within hours, with a full quote the same business day. No rate-card guessing, and no overpaying for a simple job.
Why Simultaneous Interpretation Takes Two Interpreters
Accuracy degrades after about 30 minutes of solo output — which is why ISO 23155 calls for two interpreters per booth, rotating every 20–30 minutes. A one-interpreter full-day quote is quoting a quality failure.
2 per booth
Interpreters per language pair — the ISO 23155 standard for simultaneous events over one hour.
20–30 min
Rotation interval that keeps accuracy high through a full conference day.
1 vendor
Interpreters, booth, headsets, transmitters, and technician — one quote, one point of contact.
Event Types We Cover
A sample of what our teams staff. Client names stay confidential — always.
Commercial arbitrations & depositions
Record-bearing interpretation for US and international counsel — witness testimony, expert examinations, sworn statements.
Executive roadshows & investor visits
Leadership tours, investor meetings, and site walkthroughs across Mexico City and beyond — one interpreter team for the whole itinerary.
Industry forums & congresses
Booth-based simultaneous interpretation for multilingual audiences at trade and professional events.
Board meetings & town halls
Boardroom-discreet simultaneous or consecutive interpretation for governance sessions and all-hands communication.
Clinical & regulatory site visits
Audits, inspections, IRB meetings, and clinical trial visits with interpreters fluent in the protocol vocabulary.
Trade missions & government delegations
Bilateral meetings, diplomatic visits, and ministerial engagements with protocol-aware interpreters.
Why Choose ELAN
Court-credentialed
Peritos Traductores authorized by the TSJ and CJF — admissible on the record.
Subject-matter teams
Matched to your domain and prepped with your terminology in advance.
Equipment + RSI handled
Booths, headsets, and on-site technician; Zoom / Interprefy / KUDO for virtual.
Confidentiality by default
NDA on request, ISO 27001-aligned handling. M&A and sealed proceedings routine.
How It Works
- 1.Tell us about the event: Date, location (in-person or virtual), language pairs, modality (simultaneous / consecutive), expected duration, subject matter, and audience size.
- 2.Get a quote and team proposal: We confirm interpreter availability, propose the team (1-2 interpreters per booth as standard), and quote the engagement plus equipment if needed.
- 3.Pre-event briefing: Send glossaries, agendas, slide decks, or background documents. Interpreters prep terminology and align with your team.
- 4.Delivery: On-site or remote interpretation execution. Post-event recap and any follow-up clarifications included.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between simultaneous and consecutive interpretation?
Simultaneous interpretation happens in real time — the interpreter speaks while the source speaker is still talking, with a 2-3 second delay. It requires booth equipment for in-person events or RSI platforms for virtual ones. Consecutive interpretation pauses every 1-3 sentences for the interpreter to render the message; no equipment required.
How much lead time do you need to book interpretation?
For depositions and small business meetings, 48 hours is typically enough. Conferences with multiple language pairs or specialized subject matter (medical, technical, legal) require 1-2 weeks to allow for terminology preparation and team coordination.
Do you provide interpretation equipment?
We coordinate equipment for in-person events: simultaneous booths, headsets, transmitters, microphones. For virtual events, we use Zoom Interpretation, Interprefy, KUDO, and other RSI (Remote Simultaneous Interpretation) platforms.
What languages do you cover?
Spanish ↔ English is our primary pair. We also handle Portuguese, French, Italian, German, Mandarin, Japanese, Russian, and Hebrew through our partner network. Tell us the pair and event date — we confirm availability within hours.
Are your interpreters court-certified?
Yes. Our interpreters include court-authorized Peritos Traductores credentialed by the TSJ (Mexico City) and the CJF (federal courts). We handle depositions, arbitrations, sworn statements, and any proceeding where the interpreter must be on the official record.
What details do you need to quote an interpretation job?
Five things: the event dates, the language pairs, the format (on-site, remote, or hybrid), the expected headcount, and the subject matter. If you can share the agenda, send it — with those details we confirm interpreter availability within hours and send a full quote the same business day.
How many interpreters does my event need?
For consecutive interpretation — meetings, site visits, depositions — one interpreter typically covers a full day. For simultaneous interpretation running longer than about an hour, the international standard (ISO 23155) is two interpreters per booth per language pair, rotating every 20-30 minutes to sustain accuracy. We build the correct team size into the quote so there are no staffing surprises on event day.
Can you cover hybrid events with both in-room and remote attendees?
Yes. We run the booth or portable equipment for in-room attendees and feed the interpretation into Zoom, Interprefy, or KUDO for remote participants. Tell us the expected split when you request the quote and we design the audio routing and interpreter placement around it.
Do interpreters need the agenda or slides in advance?
It is the single biggest quality lever. Agendas, slide decks, speaker bios, and glossaries let interpreters prepare your terminology before the event — a pre-event briefing is included in every engagement. Anything you share is covered by NDA on request.
Do you run a technical rehearsal before the event?
For virtual and hybrid events, yes — a tech check with your production team or platform host is part of the engagement, covering audio feeds, interpretation channels, and speaker handoffs. For in-person conferences, our equipment technician sets up and tests the booth, headsets, and transmitters before the room opens.
Can interpreters handle specialized technical or legal subject matter?
Yes. Interpreters are matched to your domain — legal, medical, financial, energy, automotive, technical — and prep with your terminology in advance. For depositions and arbitrations we assign court-certified interpreters (Peritos Traductores) so the record stands.
Need an interpreter?
Tell us your event date, languages, and format. We confirm interpreter availability within hours and quote within the same business day.