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Best of 2025
It's that time of year again! Here are my TOP 9, featuring interpreting highlights that made this year truly memorable. I always enjoy doing this review, because with everything else happening in my professional and private life, it gives me the chance to reflect on these standout moments of 2025. My interpreting year started with a two-day assignment in the beautifully snow-covered town of Wuppertal , at a conference for painters and decorators. In January still, I had the o

Nadine Hegmanns
Dec 21, 20252 min read


Contextualisation
“Context is key“ was one of the things we were taught at university. The principle is as simple as it is logical: if you don’t understand what you’re translating, you cannot provide a logical rendition. And even if a word is incomprehensible because it is pronounced differently or the speaker is mumbling, you can still understand what is meant due to the context! Let me give you an example: many years ago, I had the opportunity to interpret a lecture on different types of dan

Nadine Hegmanns
Dec 4, 20252 min read


AI or not AI - That is the Question!
AI has changed the events and interpreting industry, and until now I have spent most of my time interpreting from the booth. But now we hear more and more about AI solutions that are supposed to reduce costs and be more efficient. During my last assignment at a global team meeting online, it became clear that machine intelligence is not the go-to tool for simultaneous interpreting! In this particular setting, one participant came from Ireland. For years now, we’ve been famili

Nadine Hegmanns
Nov 19, 20251 min read


AI and interpreting
AI has changed our everyday lives. Artificial intelligence has become indispensable in our professional lives, and especially in our private lives. Most of us take it for granted; we ask our smartphones to set the timer, let fitness trackers count our steps and analyse our sleep, have Netflix recommend movies according to our viewing habits, and turn on the sat-nav to get to our destination. I, too, use AI professionally, e.g. to generate a transcipt of videos that need to b

Nadine Hegmanns
Oct 22, 20251 min read


Interpeting at the German Dance Award
This October, my fellow interpreting colleague Andrea Wilming from Proscenium and I had the great honour and pleasure of offering our...

Nadine Hegmanns
Oct 20, 20243 min read


RSI still in demand
If you thought we would go back to living in a pre-COVID-like world, you were wrong. A few things have changed permanently, and people...

Nadine Hegmanns
Apr 12, 20241 min read


From The Perspective Of The Moon
This September, we had the pleasure of interpreting at an international youth conference on Climate Justice organised by Kindernothilfe...

Nadine Hegmanns
Nov 17, 20231 min read


Slow-down button
The slow-down button is a relic of old times, I find. It is said that, back in the day, when simultaneous interpreting equipment was...

Nadine Hegmanns
May 29, 20231 min read


Know your ropes
Before every assignment interpreters will spend several hours to familiarise themselves with the topic and vocabulary. But what happens...

Nadine Hegmanns
Apr 10, 20232 min read


Voice-over services
You want to make recordings of events or video conferences, radio and TV interviews, promo videos, online content videos or online...

Nadine Hegmanns
Apr 5, 20231 min read


Interpreting in a 3-person booth
I just returned from an interpreting assignment in Baden-Württemberg in the south of Germany, where - according to the locals - they are...

Nadine Hegmanns
Mar 9, 20231 min read


Interpreting townhall meetings
With collective bargaining negotiations for the German public sector in full swing, town hall meetings are now being held with the...

Nadine Hegmanns
Feb 27, 20231 min read


A hub by interpreters for interpreters
Last Saturday, the DolTec interpreting hub celebrated its opening in The Science Park Gelsenkirchen. After a musical prelude, founding...

Nadine Hegmanns
Nov 17, 20221 min read


The return of in-person events
In-person events are back! Clearly, you can tell that organisers, participants and interpreters alike are beyond excited to be back on...

Nadine Hegmanns
Jun 2, 20221 min read


Red is the new black
At one of my last hybrid assignments I had the pleasure of using a simultaneous interpreting console equipped with a so-called gooseneck...

Nadine Hegmanns
Dec 6, 20211 min read


Interpreting via Webex
I had another assignment this week and worked from an interpreting hub via the Cisco WebEx video conferencing platform. Despite a complex...

Nadine Hegmanns
Nov 25, 20211 min read


Back in the hub
The number of Covid-19 cases in Germany is still rising. So as an alternative to in-person assignments for pandemic reasons, using an...

Nadine Hegmanns
Nov 11, 20212 min read


Windows shut, devices charged, headset on!
The number of Covid-19 cases in Germany has reached an unforeseen high, just in time for a usually productive autumn and winter season....

Nadine Hegmanns
Nov 8, 20211 min read


The invisible booth
In video conferences you will rarely get to see us do our job in the virtual sphere, but at physical events interpreting booths are...

Nadine Hegmanns
Oct 10, 20211 min read


Handmade
This year on International Translation Day I want to share some professional advice: When preparing for an interpreting assignment, I...

Nadine Hegmanns
Sep 29, 20211 min read
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