Cambridge Conference Interpretation Course 2026

The CCIC is specifically designed for experienced and practising conference interpreters.
This unique annual refresher course for professional interpreters offers a student-teacher ratio not exceeding 2.5:1.

Instruction is centred on training in simultaneous interpretation from speeches delivered by both guest speakers and members of the teaching faculty. Numerous challenging video sources are also frequently featured. Subsequent general, group, and individual performance feedback is both extensive and detailed, and constitutes the heart of the course. Several in-depth and specialised ‘language-specific’ sessions, concentrating on a particular mode of interpretation and/or language pair, are also included.

Up to 27 students will work in state-of-the-art ISO booths in a hub format. A wide range of technical and general subjects (economy, geopolitics, environment, philosophy, history, defence etc.) will be briefed under authentic conference conditions, including a formal UN-format mock meeting. Most working days are themed by topic.

In addition to this core curriculum, daily specialised modules in a variety of fields (consecutive techniques, B-language strategies, use of texts, meeting terminology and practice, booth and stress management, marketing and negotiation, RSI, whispering, interpreting literature, etc..) and briefings on AIIC and the profession, are provided. Practical training in ‘chuchotage’ is also offered, using a real-life scenario.

The topics we present realistically arise in international conferences, under conditions which are equally realistic. The themes and levels the CCIC covers encompass virtually the entire spectrum of interpreting challenges.

The CCIC will always ensure that there are never more than 2.5 students per teacher.

Working Languages:
English
French
Spanish
Italian

And, according to demand:
German
Portuguese
Russian
Ukrainian

Training is tailored to cover students’ desired language pairs. The language of general instruction is English, and speeches are delivered in all Course languages pro rata the profile of the student body. 

Our training methodology involves a progressive and reasoned gradation in the difficulty and content of spoken interventions. Students will spend in total about 5 hours a day working in simultaneous interpreting exercises.  The CCIC aims primarily not to teach vocabulary or language skills, but rather high-quality, dynamic, reasoned, analytical and thoughtful conference interpretation. You may and should trust us, as decades of experience ensure that there is indeed “method in our madness”!

Our aim over these two weeks is to inspire you to become better, happier and more confident interpreters under whatever (often unforeseen, inevitably) circumstances may arise, by pushing you outside your comfort zone and exposing you to new ways of interpreting.

To that end, our teaching faculty needs to see how you ‘manage your incompetence’ when outside your comfort zone. For this and other reasons, we push you far enough to reveal your intrinsic strengths and weaknesses. Teachers may then tailor their comments and advice so you may improve.

If you are willing to go along with this programme, and throw yourself into the deep end without trying to hang on to the side of the pool, you will definitely make progress!

The CCIC features

• Extensive training, practice, and coaching in professional simultaneous interpretation techniques

• Systematic, immediate individual assessment of participants' performance

• Grouped feedback in plenary mode to refine topical approaches and strategies

• Training in technical interpretation, with preparation and evaluation of relevant vocabulary, approaches and techniques

• Off-line analysis and self-critique using recordings of speaker and student

• Instruction in formal international conference terminology and practice

• High-level 'live' meetings to replicate true conference conditions

• Relay interpretation as both provider and recipient

• Language-specific modules to develop detailed linguistic strategies

• State-of-the-art ISO-standard Brähler interpreting booths and equipment or an online RSI solution that works on the market

• Daily specialised additional training workshops covering, inter alia, on-sight translation, “chuchotage,” "B" language strategies, working from and preparing texts, booth & stress management, marketing & negotiation, AIIC, International Institutions, & interpreting approaches to Shakespeare, the Bible, and Latin

• Language-independent cognitive and analytical skills group training exercises

• Specific training and practice sessions in consecutive interpretation

• Practical exercise involving "chuchotage" interpretation

All Course languages are represented among plenary speeches; approximately 30% of speeches are delivered in English. The remaining speeches are split pro rata the number of enrolled students in each language.

Speeches in plenary and most extra-curricular modules will be recorded digitally so that students may make copies for further practice. Students are advised to record their own performance in the booth.

Testimonials:

At CCIC, we challenge each other to grow. It’s never just a simple transmission of knowledge from teachers to student— rather, it is an honest exchange, where the teachers learn from the students’ experiences and suggestions as much as the students learn from the teachers’ guidance.
Bruno Oliveira, 2025 coach, Course, POR, ENG, FRA

How do you describe that state when you leave your comfort zone and manage to succeed? To me, it’s absolute bliss!
Carola Lehmacher, 2025, Course, ESP, DEU, ENG, FRA

All in all, it was the best course I have ever taken. The quality of professors was outstanding. ….The students were top interpreters and it was very refreshing to work with professionals from other markets. It was very intense and many days my brain was fried, but that’s part of the game. The feedback was one of the best I have ever received, very spot on…I will recommend it to all my colleagues. I really enjoyed listening to the teachers in the booth.
Brenda Bibiloni-Kreisher, 2023, ES, EN, FR

It is very professional, and it does help, albeit painfully
Anja Lang, 2023, DE, EN, FR

I enjoyed the intensity of the course and the way the difficulty level was increasing as the days went by. Personally, getting feedback and trying to follow up on it were the parts I liked most. At the same time, meeting new people, students and teachers alike, sharing our ups and downs, growing together were the true highlights of the course.
Olena Mankovska, 2022, RU, UA, EN

The whole course setting was great, we were challenged, we failed, we were lifted up, and all this in a very human and professional way, by teachers I would never have had the chance to meet otherwise. The feedback I received was always adapted to my level, and therefore very useful in order to get better … I have months’ worth of work before me, I have fallen in love with the profession even more. Now I know what to do…
Livia Bartels, 2022, FR, DE, EN

After fourteen days of an intensive emotional, intellectual and dare I say existential rollercoaster, I can proudly say: I feel like a new conference interpreter! Thank you to my teachers, the whole #CCIC team and organizers and of course my dear fellow students, who shared the ride!
Leonie Kreuzer, 2020, DE, EN

I arrived really not knowing what to expect. It turned out that working with you has been hugely valuable. I already knew what my weak points were, and here I was able to get very specific information on how to improve – and I was able to make tangible progress even during the time I was here. I was also inspired, because I remembered what I love about the profession, and I was able to see professionals from different parts of the world. Overall it’s a great experience!
Ksenia Speranskaya, 2019, RU, EN, FR