Access
The provisioning of telephone interpreting generally fits into two main categories:
Automated: an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) application is employed to convert spoken or keyed Dual Tone Multi Frequency (DTMF) data into a request for connecting to an interpreter in a specific language (identified by unique language-codes). Companies such as CyraCom developed this voice recognition technology to save time for customers who may have the need for very fast (and sometimes a fully integrated) connections to an interpreting service. Previously, customers had to look up the three digit code for a language in order to access an interpreter.
Operator-led: utilise customer-care staff to answer the call, gather the required information from the caller, and facilitate the connection to the interpreter. A service of this nature can be preferred by organisations such as emergency services, where the client's knowledge of language codes is absent.
Additionally, some of the companies that have the required capability will offer a hybrid of the two principles, where for example a customer can:
Call in to the service
Input their "account code" into a single-layer Interactive Voice Response (IVR) using the phone keypad
Be connected to a call-centre agent who will already know who the caller is, and will facilitate other data capture relevant to the call (including the required language)
Uses
Telephone interpreting is widely used in a number of settings, including health care,[18] government, financial, emergency telephone call centres (e.g. '9-1-1' or '1-1-2'), and others. Telephone interpreting is especially helpful for settings in which the two parties would communicate via telephone anyway, such as interactions between call centers and consumers, calls between members of the public and emergency telephone call centres, etc... Telephone interpreting can be used to take applications over the phone and help individuals with account issues.
Telephone interpretation via Video Remote Interpreting (VRI) or a Video Relay Service (VRS) are also useful where one of the parties is deaf, hard-of-hearing or speech-impaired. In such cases the interpretation flow is normally within the same principal language, such as French Sign Language (FSL) to spoken French, Spanish Sign Language (SSL) to spoken Spanish, British Sign Language (BSL) to spoken English, and American Sign Language (ASL) also to spoken English (since BSL and ASL are completely distinct), etc.... Multilingual sign language interpreters, who can also translate as well across principal languages (such as to and from SSL, to and from spoken English), are also available, albeit less frequently. Such activities involve considerable effort on the part of the translator, since sign languages are distinct natural languages with their own construction and syntax, which are different from the aural version of the same principal language.