A speaker’s mic cuts out, the Wi‑Fi stutters, and you’re still expected to deliver clean, confident interpreting. That pressure is real, and it’s exactly why we invited Dr. Bernard Song to the show. He’s a conference interpreter with 25 years in the booth, a PhD in computer engineering, and the founder of GreenTerp Technologies, which means he can talk about interpreting craft and interpreting tech without guessing. 

We dig into the unglamorous problem that ruins performance fastest: audio quality. Dr. Song breaks down how automatic speech recognition (ASR) and computer-assisted interpreting (CAI) can act like a safety belt when the floor is messy, speakers talk at “uninterpretable” speed, or numbers and key terms get lost in distortion. We’re honest about the downside too: live captions can trigger instant cognitive overload and split attention. The takeaway is not “use tools everywhere,” but “train enough to control them,” including knowing when to glance at the transcript and when to ignore it so you keep tone, spirit, and meaning intact. 

We also zoom out to the bigger shift after COVID and the rise of AI translation in the private market. Some “just in case” assignments may move to AI, but high-stakes communication, trust, confidentiality, and human judgment remain non-negotiable. Dr. Song shares concrete, low-risk ways to practice at home, record your work, get feedback, and experiment with tools like TerpMate and GD Booth, including options designed for offline use to reduce privacy concerns. 

If you’re an interpreter trying to stay employable without losing what makes you human, listen through to the end, then subscribe, share this with a colleague, and leave a review with the one tool or skill you want to strengthen next.

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