Against an interpreter booth
It is not the same thing and does not claim to be. This is cheaper, sets up in a day and scales to fourteen languages; an interpreter understands intent, and that is not replaced yet.
The honest comparison starts by admitting what the booth was invented for: for somebody with judgement to decide, in real time, what the speaker meant. That still has no substitute. What has changed is that you no longer have to pay for it everywhere.
Where each one stands
Where the booth wins
On nuance, on intent and on responsibility. An interpreter interprets a joke, an irony, a half-finished sentence, and answers for what they said with their name on it. In a negotiation or a press conference, that is not replaceable.
Where this wins
On cost, on number of languages, and on being able to set it up the day before. Two interpreters per language per day is what a booth costs; here the second language costs 0.35 of the first.
Both at once is normal
A booth in the main room and this in the parallel ones, or a booth for the two big languages and this for the other seven. That is what most people who call us end up doing.
What does not change
In both cases what decides the result is the sound in the room. A distant microphone sinks an interpreter and a machine equally.
When to hire the booth
When a word has legal or financial consequences, when the event is hostile or improvised, or when there is an institutional commitment to human interpreting. If the answer to "what happens if this is translated wrong?" is something expensive, the booth is not a cost but insurance.
Questions people ask
- What does each one cost?
- We charge per minute of speech, and the price is published on the pricing page. A booth depends on country, language and day, and comes from whoever supplies it: ask for both figures for your actual event, not for a generic one.
- Can I start with this and hire a booth if it does not work?
- The other way round: try this at a small session before the big event. It costs a few euros and settles it with your room and your microphones, which is the only thing that matters.
- Is the difference noticeable?
- In a prepared technical talk, not much. In a panel with the audience interrupting, a lot. The question is not which is better but what kind of event yours is.