Abstract:

As the latest development in visual immersion technology, the metaverse is becoming a practical field for the innovation of digital intelligence technology in interpreting services: It breaks down the barrier of space-time separation and reshapes the form of remote interpreting. This study mainly introduces the basic concept of metaverse technology, its applications, technical advantages, and the challenges of remote interpreting technology in the “Meta Era”. As a novel technology, this technology may encounter challenges such as the constraints of new translation ethics, the disclosure of personal privacy, and the change in translators’ roles. However, compared to the earlier forms of remote interpreting, metaverse remote interpreting will create a new form of interpreting with resource utilization, immersive in-depth experiences, and cooperation across time and space, thus reshaping the field of interpreting services via virtual reality and augmented reality. These advantages are reflected in the working space, the language, the cost, and the payment risks, and provide a new direction for innovations in remote interpreting, which may promote developments in the interpreting industry, create more investment opportunities for language service providers, and enhance the interdisciplinary development of interpreting and artificial intelligence (AI) science. However, the service process in remote interpreting will become more complex due to the combination of interpreting and AI science, and will require more talented interpreters who have the correct translation ethics, an excellent understanding of technology, and who are able to provide high-quality translations. All these opportunities and challenges are worthy of being studied in the future.

Keywords: metaverse; remote interpreting technology; technical advantages; application scenarios; language service

摘要：

作为视觉沉浸技术发展的新形态，元宇宙正在成为口译服务数智技术创新发展的实践场域。它能够打破时空分离的阻隔，重塑远程口译活动“相隔山海、与你同在”的形态。本文主要介绍元宇宙技术支持下远程口译的基本概念、技术优势、应用场景以及现有挑战和不足。目前元宇宙技术仍处于发展初期，译员或将面临翻译伦理重建、个人隐私泄露、身份角色变化等挑战，但与现有远程口译相比，元宇宙将会构建资源泛在化、沉浸式深度体验、跨时空协作的远程口译形式，形成全新的虚实共生的口译服务生态。这种技术优势体现在空间、语言、成本和支付风险等方面，为远程口译的发展提供了新方向，具有广阔的应用前景，将对口译执业、口译行业和口译人才培养融合发展产生深远影响。技术赋能口译或将使口译服务过程更为复杂化，行业亦将会需要更多具备翻译伦理和技术素养的优质翻译人才。这些发展方向都值得进一步思考与探究。

关键词: 元宇宙, 远程口译, 技术优势, 应用场景, 语言服务