Suddenly, things don’t seem as stable as they used to be for interpreting. In the United Kingdom, rates for court interpreting have tumbled to the point where more than 80 per cent of professional interpreters refused to work under a new contract when it was brought into place in 2011'. The largely unregulated nature of freelance interpreting means that interpreters all over the world need to carefully select the clients with whom they work to avoid poor conditions and late payment or even no payment at all. Add to that the rise of machine interpreting in the guise of Skype Translator? and moves by Google to integrate Google Translate into an automatic interpreting platform’, and it seems like there is pressure on all sides of the profession. Against this background, it may be surprising that interpreting is by no means on its last legs. Social media has proven a boon, with the ‘#Int’ hashtag becoming a common sight on Twitter and Facebook groups on various aspects of interpret- ing, from training and note-taking to research and networking. It is becoming increasingly easier to find books, training materials, and even courses on inter- preting. Interpreters are fast moving from being a rare and rarefied elite to becom- ing a mutually supportive group of professionals with contacts all over the world. Today, professional interpreters stand at a crossroads. Behind them, the well- worn paths to professionalism and even regular work seem to be showing signs of wear and tear. Does it really make sense to talk about neutrality and the simple passing on of information when successful medical treatment might depend on doctors being helped to grasp the cultural chasm that separates them from their patients who speak other languages? As technology shrinks the world, is it still valid to argue that interpreters will only perform at their best if present in the room with their clients and surrounded by expensive and cumbersome booths and transmitters?
