The United Nations Interpretation Service is a part of the Meetings and Publishing Division (MPD) of the UN's Department for General Assembly and Conference Management (DGACM). Its core function is to provide interpretation from and into Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish for meetings held at United Nations Headquarters, and those at other locations which the department is responsible for servicing. Interpretation is essential to the inter-governmental bodies for the proper conduct and smooth functioning of their deliberations.
An interpreters' booth (top) at a 2009 UN meeting.
UN interpreters' booths (top right) behind an ongoing UN Security Council session
Language interpretation
Videos
Interpreting is a translational activity in which one produces a first and final target-language output on the basis of a one-time exposure to an expression in a source language.
Stéphane Brizé (second from the right) speaking in French in Buenos Aires in 2019. Seated to his left, the interpreter (on the extreme right) waits to translate into Spanish.
Alan Gordon-Finlay trialling the Hush-A-Phone at the League of Nations, c. 1927 - ILO Historical Archives
Nuremberg defendants at dock listening to simultaneous interpretation