Overview
This article summarizes what is required to attend a session as a Simultaneous Translator. How to log into a session as a Translator. As well as how to use a telephone in the meeting room if you have audio issues. We will also provide a brief guide on how to use the push-to-talk button to speak with the main room, to help a support representative troubleshoot with a respondent, or discuss something with the moderator before the session starts.
Before you begin
Create an account with Discuss.io if you have not done so already. Interpreters are required to log in to attend their sessions.
Make sure that your computer meets the system requirements, and don't forget to check the interview best practices.
Instructions
1. Open the URL link you have received prior to the session. The link should look like https://app.discuss.io/######/t where ###### is a 6-digit number.
2. Enter your email to enter the discussion and allow app.discuss.io access to your microphone.
3. Select your audio settings. If you choose "Computer" select your microphone from the drop-down list and click Join Meeting.
4. If you choose "Phone" you must select your country code, enter your phone number, and click on CALL ME. On your phone handset, you will enter the 4-digit PIN + the pound sign.
Make sure that you are using headphones with a microphone. Conducting simultaneous translation without headphones and a microphone causes noise cancellation issues and a degraded audio experience for all attendees.
5. Upon joining, you may see a welcome message if the Moderator has not yet joined.
When you enter the meeting room, you will be able to hear the moderator and respondents. When you speak, your audio will publish to the translation line, so the meeting room participants will not hear you. Only observers listening to the translation line will hear you.
Speaking to the Meeting Room
If you need to speak to the meeting room, such as to help a support representative troubleshoot with a respondent, use the Push to Talk button in the bottom left of your window.
Press and hold the button while you speak, and your voice will be heard in both the meeting room and the translation line.
Using Your Phone
Simultaneous translators can conduct their whole job without using a phone on the Discuss.io platform. However, there may be times when you need to switch your audio source.
You cannot use one phone to both hear the meeting room and translate. If you switch your audio to phone, you are switching ONLY the translation audio, where you are speaking. You will continue to hear the main room via computer audio.
To switch audio, click on the Settings cog in the lower right corner of your window. This will open the Device Settings modal. To switch from computer to phone audio, click the Phone tab.
Follow the instructions to either have the system call you, or dial one of our local conference line numbers. When the call connects, enter the unique PIN code at the bottom right of your Device Settings modal to let the system know you are the translator.
When your phone is connected, you will continue to use your computer to listen to the meeting room. Your computer input will be muted, and you will use your phone to interpret. You won't hear anything through your phone.
If you are connected by phone and need to speak in the meeting room, use the Push to Talk button as described above.
Listening to the Main Room via Phone
If you need to listen to the main room by phone, the moderator or technical support will have to dial you in as a phone-only user in the observer role. In this scenario, you will still be speaking your translation via computer audio, and you would need to mute your computer output because you will still be connected to the main room on computer audio as well. Do not mute your microphone on your computer because this will mute your translation and observers will not hear you.
Using Phone for Both the Main Room and Translation Line
The only way to use phones for both the main room and the translation line is to have 2 phones. Using the same method outlined above for "hearing the main room by phone," the moderator or translator can dial you in to hear the main room audio. You could then switch your own audio to your phone via the Settings cog in the meeting room in order to switch your translation audio to also go through your phone.
Please note that there must be a computer session connected to the translation line in order to record the translated audio. If a translator connects via 2 phones rather than web audio, they or someone on their team must still be in the meeting room in the translator role, even if they are muted. If the system does not detect a web session in the translated room, the translation will not be recorded in the final video archive.