Welcome to the Judicial Council of California's Video Remote Interpreting Online Training. This module is intended to help California court interpreters understand how to use Cisco WebEx for Video Remote Interpreting, or VRI. This training is divided into four main parts. First, it will help you get started with WebEx, and will cover the basics on how to access and use its standard features. Next, it will cover how to use the WebEx Simultaneous Interpretation feature, including how to use this feature to support team and relay interpretation. It will also discuss other options for interpreting in WebEx, such as if a court uses WebEx but does not use the Simultaneous feature. Finally, it will cover how to troubleshoot common issues that may occur when using WebEx for VRI. Let's start with the basics. Before using WebEx, you must have the necessary equipment. This includes a computer, either a laptop or a desktop, a stable, ideally hardwired Internet connection, a headset or headphones, a dedicated microphone, and a camera. Note that tablets and smartphones are not ideal for providing VRI over WebEx or any other platform. These devices depend on Wi-Fi rather than hardwired Internet connections, and can lose signal. For more information on equipment needed for VRI, be sure to watch the module, VRI Overview and Preparation. Next, make sure you have WebEx downloaded and installed on your computer. While you can access WebEx via a web browser, downloading and installing it will give you greater access to all its features. To download WebEx, go to https://www.webex.com/.html. Be sure to select the Download option for your device type and operating system. Note that WebEx is free to use. There is no charge for installing the application. You can create a free WebEx account if you'd like, but this is not essential for interpretation. Once you've downloaded and installed WebEx, you want to test it out, particularly if this is your first time using it. To do this, you can join a test meeting. This is just a test, and no one else will be in the meeting. To launch a test meeting, go to https://www.webex.com/.html. Enter your name and email address. Then select the Join button. WebEx may ask for your permission to access your microphone and camera. Be sure to allow this access by selecting Allow. You will then see a preview screen of the WebEx test meeting. Here, you can manage your audio and video settings. Then when you're ready, you can join the test meeting. This will allow you to see the WebEx dashboard as if you are in a live meeting and explore some of its features. Let's walk through this together. In this video, we're going to look at a WebEx test meeting and then do a quick walkthrough of the WebEx interface. You'll see that I've gone to the WebEx test site, and now that I've entered my name and email address, I will select the Join button. You may also get a prompt from your computer asking for permission to open WebEx, and if you get this message, just select Allow. It may take a moment to connect to the WebEx test meeting. Once it connects, you will see a preview screen like this. This is the virtual lobby space where you can adjust your sound and video before entering the meeting. Note that you may not see yourself until you select the Start Video, Stop Video button. Depending on whether you are currently displaying the video from your webcam, toggling this button will turn your video on or off using the webcam that you have enabled. Next to this button is also a small caret icon. You can select this to open up a menu of video options. For instance, you can change your background to one of WebEx's preset backgrounds. If you have other cameras connected to your device, this is also where you would go to select the camera you want to use. Next to the Start Video, Stop Video button is the Mute, Unmute button. Selecting this button will activate your microphone. You can see that when it is muted, the microphone icon is red and there is a red slash through it. When it is unmuted, it turns gray and green, signaling that it is on. As a general rule of thumb, be sure you are unmuted if you are speaking and muted when you are not speaking to avoid audio feedback or bringing background noise into the meeting. Next to the Mute, Unmute button, there is also a small caret icon that when selected opens a menu of audio options. This is where you can choose how to connect to audio, which we have set to computer audio. This is also where you can select which microphone or speakers to use if you have other audio devices connected. To test your audio devices, you can select the Test link next to Speakers and Microphone in the menu. This opens another window where you can test your output and input level volume using the Test buttons and adjust your speaker and microphone volume using the slider bars. In this menu, you can also select from among other audio options, such as removing background noise and optimizing your sound. Back on the main preview screen, you can see that Webex reminds you that you are not in a meeting just yet with a notification over the Join Meeting button. Once you have confirmed that all of your devices are working and that your video and audio are set to your preferences, you can select the Join Meeting button to enter the test meeting. Upon entering the test meeting, you will see the Webex interface. This may also prompt you with a message that you have automatically been assigned as the current presenter because you are the first person to enter the meeting. Since this is a test meeting, there is no host, so just select OK. Let's draw our attention to the toolbar along the bottom of the screen. Here you will see the Mute, Unmute, and Start Video, Stop Video buttons that you saw earlier as well as some additional tools that you may find helpful. On the far left of this toolbar is a Closed Captions button. Selecting this would show captions of different speakers' speech. Note that these are automatically generated by Webex and may not always be accurate. On the other side of the Mute, Unmute, and Start, Stop Video buttons is the Share button. Selecting this button would allow you to share your screen. The host and any participants granted screen sharing abilities can use this to show documents, images, or videos as exhibits. Generally, you will not be sharing your screen as an interpreter, but there may be cases in which you would want to screen share something, like instructions to help the Limited English Proficient Court User get connected. Beside the Share button is the Raise Hand and Reactions button. Selecting the Raised Hand button will place a raised hand emoji in the corner of your video screen, alerting the other participants that you have a question and would like to speak. Selecting the Reactions button gives you a range of other emoji from which you can select. The reaction most helpful to interpreters from this menu is the Slow Down icon, which can help signal the court that a speaker needs to slow down or that you need to interject regarding a particular issue or impediment. Next on the toolbar is a Three Dots or More button. Selecting this button allows you to switch your audio, connect to a video system, copy the meeting link, or, in the case of a meeting's host, move the meeting to mobile. Beside the More button is the Leave Meeting button. Selecting this button opens a prompt confirming that you would like to leave the meeting. To confirm, you would select Leave Meeting, but we're going to select Cancel so that we can keep exploring the interface. Be sure to only leave the meeting once the hearing has ended and you have been relieved of your interpreting duties by the judge. To the right of the Leave Meeting button is the Participants button. Selecting this button will open and close the Participants list, which displays who is in the meeting. For larger meetings, the search bar at the top can help you locate a participant by typing their name in the field. You can also use the Participants list to see how each participant is connected. You can also raise your hand or mute or unmute yourself from this list. Next to the Participants button is the Chat button. Selecting this button will open up a panel where you can send messages to other participants in the meeting. When entering a message, you can choose whether you want to send it to everyone or to an individual participant using the drop-down menu. Keep in mind that the chat box should be reserved for things like communicating with your teammate if you are team interpreting. However, it should otherwise not be used between you and another party unless you or your teammate are translating privileged communication between the attorney and the client in the chat. Last on the WebEx toolbar is another three dots or more button, which includes some additional options like Q&A for meetings that are using questions and answers, and Notes for taking notes while in the meeting. Now that you're familiar with the basics of WebEx, let's look at how to use the WebEx Simultaneous Interpretation feature in a remote court hearing. The WebEx Simultaneous feature is a function that divides a hearing into two separate language channels. Though not always the case, this is usually English and a non-English channel. When courts enable this feature, they can assign interpreters to the virtual hearing so that limited English-proficient or LEP court users can participate in the hearing in their preferred language. Interpreters can provide simultaneous interpretation directly to the LEP court user in real time through the non-English channel while the other participants in the hearing, like the judge or attorneys, are speaking into the English channel. If configured correctly, the English speakers will never hear the interpreter when the interpreter is speaking into the non-English channel. The channel is similar to interpreting equipment that you might use in person to interpret simultaneously in a courtroom. You will receive WebEx login instructions from the court. This will either be a link that you can select at the time of the hearing, or a meeting number and possibly a password. Selecting the link will take you directly to the hearing. If given a meeting number, open the WebEx application on your computer. Select Join a Meeting. Enter the meeting number, your email, and your name. When entering your name, be sure to enter something like John Doe, Interpreter, or Jane Doe, Vietnamese Interpreter. This way, others can immediately recognize you and your role. You will not be able to rename yourself once you enter the meeting. You will then enter a virtual lobby. Note that you are not yet in the court hearing itself. You have to click on Enter Meeting for the host to be notified you are there and let you in. If you have been pre-assigned as the interpreter, or if the court assigns you as the interpreter once you join the hearing, you will see the interpreter interface. This interface includes several features. First, there is a toggle button to choose what channel you are speaking into, such as English or the non-English language. When you select English, your audio will only be heard by participants who have selected the English channel, such as the judge and attorneys. Likewise, when you select the other non-English language channel, such as Russian, your audio will be heard by the LEP court user and any others who require interpretation into that language or who choose to listen to the hearing in that channel. Note that when the Simultaneous Interpretation feature is enabled in WebEx, everyone must select their language channel when joining the court hearing, not just the LEP court user. Additionally, if interpretation has been enabled for a hearing, all participants should select their channel before entering the hearing. They can do so by selecting the globe icon at the bottom right of the screen in the virtual lobby. Otherwise, the globe icon will be visible on the toolbar once users enter the hearing. All participants who select the English channel will be able to hear all participants speaking English. They will also hear the interpreter's interpretation into English when the interpreter enters the English channel. Those who select the non-English language should be able to hear the interpreter's Simultaneous Interpretation into the non-English language. Keep in mind that each participant who selects an interpretation channel has the option to control the balance between the volume at which they are hearing the interpreter compared to the other speakers in a court hearing. The default position for this function is an 80 to 20 ratio between the interpreter and other speakers. Moving the slider bar toward the left end of the continuum, labeled Original Audio, will allow listeners to hear the English speakers at a louder volume than the interpretation. Conversely, moving the slider right means participants will hear the interpretation at a louder volume than the English speakers. Participants should be advised to never move the bar all the way right to Interpreter. This will prevent them from hearing the English speakers in the court hearing other than the interpreter. Likewise, moving the bar all the way left to Original Audio will prevent them from hearing anything from the interpreter or interpreters. On the Simultaneous Interpreting feature, Webex also has functions to help interpreters work together as a team. Team interpreting may include interpreting with another interpreter in your language pair for a longer hearing and trading off as the active interpreter after certain intervals of time. To support team interpreting, WebEx lets you hear audio from your interpretation channel and the English hearing audio. For example, this can be audio from your interpreting partner in the non-English language for the purposes of monitoring. By clicking Other Controls, a box labeled Select Source Language appears. From here, you can select which audio to listen to. Note however, that if you have your interpretation language set to Spanish, for example, and you want to listen to your partner working in the Spanish channel, WebEx will change your output language to English when you select Spanish as your source language. You should immediately override this change and set your interpretation language back into Spanish so that you are not speaking into the wrong channel when you take the microphone back from your partner at the end of their turn. Once you've selected a channel other than Original Audio, a slide bar will appear. This lets you control the ratio of volume between the English speakers in the hearing and whichever interpreter you are listening to. This will function as described previously. WebEx also has features to help interpreters communicate about trading off on the microphone. Interpreters are assigned in order, and whoever is set as Interpreter 1 will see a button labeled Hand Off to Next. When this is selected, Interpreter 2 will receive a window indicating their partner wants them to take over. Once Interpreter 2 accepts, WebEx will automatically activate their microphone if it has been muted. Interpreter 1 will then receive a notice indicating their partner has accepted the request. WebEx does not mute Interpreter 1's microphone with a transfer. Interpreter 1 will have to mute their audio to ensure a smooth handover with their partner. To ensure a smooth transition, we recommend that Interpreter 1 finish their current sentence, then mute their microphone to signal to their partner that they should start. Interpreter 2 would see Interpreter 1's microphone turn red in the Participants list. Another option would be to type a message to them like Go via chat, within or outside of WebEx when you are ready for your partner to begin interpreting. In short, WebEx's Hand Off to Next feature helps facilitate some of the communication required to begin to trade off on the microphone. But coordination and communication between interpreters is still required to execute a seamless transition from one interpreter to another. Experienced teams with established systems for trading off on the microphone may choose to avoid using WebEx's Hand Over feature altogether. One final note on team interpreting. If conducting team interpretation on WebEx, you and the other interpreter should also establish a back channel for communication outside of WebEx to discuss terminology, turn-taking, or technical issues that may arise, among other topics. Interpreters commonly communicate by chat or messaging applications such as WhatsApp. The application you choose can be downloaded to your desktop so that it appears next to your WebEx window. You can also privately chat with the other interpreter within the platform, although not all courts allow for chat during hearings. Just be sure to select the other interpreter only when sending messages so they are not sent to other participants. Alternatively, a separate video call can be helpful for interpreters who prefer to communicate by gestures instead of reading or writing chat messages while working. Some interpreters also use this method as a means of listening to their interpreting partner. Just be sure to connect separate headphones if you do a video call on another device to avoid leaking audio from the video call into the hearing on WebEx. Let's now discuss relay interpreting. Relay interpreting is when the interpreter and the LEP court user do not speak a mutually intelligible language or dialect and another interpreter, called a relay interpreter, is needed. For example, let's say the LEP court user speaks Acateco, an indigenous language of Mexico. In this case, the court may need a relay interpreter from Acateco to Spanish, as well as an interpreter from Spanish to English. Because relay interpretation can add complexity to the event, courts may prefer to conduct relay interpreting consecutively. However, WebEx's simultaneous interpretation feature can be used to support this form of interpretation. In WebEx, you can set your audio to hear another interpreter. For relay interpretation, the Acateco interpreter would be assigned to and work into a Spanish-Acateco channel, and the Spanish interpreter would be assigned to a Spanish-English channel. Spanish is the pivot or common language between them, so the two interpreters can set this as the language in which they can hear each other. In this way, the English-Spanish interpreter would speak into this channel, where the Spanish-Acateco interpreter would hear the Spanish and interpret the message into Acateco at the same time. The LEP court user would listen to the channel designated for their language, hearing only the Acateco interpretation. This solution would be used primarily to simultaneously interpret the English source message, so that the message is going from English to Spanish to Acateco at the same time. This configuration takes some practice. Be sure to review the complementary materials before attempting team and relay interpreting with VRI. Now let's discuss some other ways of providing interpretation in WebEx. As mentioned earlier, some courts use WebEx but may not use the simultaneous interpretation feature for certain hearings. This may be because the LEP court user does not have a computer, internet, or smartphone and needs to dial into the court hearing, meaning they won't be able to use the simultaneous feature. In such cases, you may be able to use the consecutive mode, if the court allows it. Here, all participants would join the hearing in WebEx, and they would be connected to the same audio. Then, each speaker would simply pause after speaking so that you can interpret consecutively to the LEP court user. There is also a way to interpret simultaneously, even if the simultaneous feature is not enabled in WebEx. This approach is called a dual-channel configuration. To do this, you would join the WebEx hearing with all other participants. This allows you to see and hear, and be seen and heard by, the English-speaking parties. You would then mute your microphone on WebEx and call the LEP court user on a separate phone or conference line. Dial star six seven before the number if you don't want your number to appear in the LEP court user's caller ID. Using this connection, you would interpret what is being said in English in the hearing on WebEx into the LEP court user's language over the phone. If the LEP court user needs to speak, you would mute your phone and unmute your microphone on WebEx and interpret what is being said by the LEP court user into English for the other participants to hear. As you can see, this is called dual-channel because you are using two separate lines of communication, one for the connection to the main hearing on WebEx and a second communication line, the phone, to provide simultaneous interpretation to the LEP court user. For more information on dual-channel configurations and tips, be sure to watch the module Using Dual-Channel Configurations for Simultaneous Court Interpretation. It is also recommended you check with the court before the remote hearing to see what mode of interpretation they prefer. You can also find out how the LEP court user will be joining the hearing. For example, you can find out if they will be calling in using a phone or will be able to join WebEx with a computer or smartphone. This will help you plan for any alternative methods of providing interpretation. It's a good idea to have a phone on hand to pivot to dual-channel for hearing set for WebEx simultaneous, in case the court or LEP court user runs into a technical problem. More on these topics is covered in the module VRI Overview and Preparation. While WebEx can greatly support VRI, there are some tips to keep in mind that will help you with the platform. Let's discuss a few of the common issues that come up when interpreting in WebEx. We'll also go over some possible workarounds. First, the simultaneous feature of WebEx is meant to help interpreters provide simultaneous interpretation directly to the LEP court user. However, once the simultaneous feature is enabled and the language channels become part of the hearing, the interpreter can only be heard in one language channel at a time. If you need to say something that should be heard by both language channels, the English channel and the non-English channel, you will need to say it twice, once in each channel. Also, as mentioned, once the simultaneous feature is enabled, only participants in a language channel will be able to hear the interpreter or interpreters. This can be challenging if the LEP court user is having trouble connecting to audio or getting into the language channel for simultaneous interpretation. If the LEP court user is having difficulty and can't select the language channel, they cannot receive verbal instruction in their language from the interpreter who is already waiting in that language channel. A workaround is for the court to screen-share a document with instructions on how to connect. Alternatively, the court may ask you to connect the LEP court user another way, such as by phone, to assist them in their language. Keep in mind any ethical considerations if providing this type of assistance. You may want to watch the module Professional Standards and Ethical Considerations for VRI for tips on handling this situation. Another possibility if the LEP court user is having difficulty joining the language channel for simultaneous interpretation is for the host to unassign the interpreter so they could leave the simultaneous interpretation channel. This way, they can give instructions to the LEP court user where original audio is being heard and get them into the correct channel. Once the LEP court user has selected and tested the language channel for simultaneous interpretation, the interpreter could be reassigned. Another possible solution would be to connect a second device to the court hearing on WebEx. This way, you can speak and be heard by all participants in the meeting through this second device. Note that you would have to join the hearing with a different email address in order to participate in a second way. Also, you will need to be extremely careful leaving that device in the hearing because any audio from it will be heard by everyone in the hearing. The microphone on that device must remain muted. It is important to note that WebEx does not allow the creation of breakout sessions in hearings with interpretation enabled. If confidential communications between parties in a hearing are required, the court or the attorneys may have to create a separate conference call line that the parties can speak on and that you can interpret on. Just make sure that if connecting to another line that you have your microphone and camera off in WebEx to avoid leaking information into the main hearing. More on this topic is covered in the module Professional Standards and Ethical Considerations for VRI. Another common issue that can occur is when a party connects to WebEx from a device that will not allow for the simultaneous feature. LEP court users have to connect from a computer or smartphone to join the simultaneous feature. If an LEP court user dials into a court hearing using a phone connection only, they will not be able to choose a language channel to hear the simultaneous interpretation. They will be listed in the participant list as call-in user. In this case, you may have to provide consecutive interpretation or provide simultaneous interpretation to the LEP court user via a dual-channel setup, as discussed earlier in this module. WebEx also comes equipped with various features that can support interpretation and help you troubleshoot issues. For example, the chat feature can help you communicate with participants, especially if they need technical assistance. Just make sure that you chat to everyone by selecting Everyone in the chat feature. This way you can avoid having any private conversations with the LEP court user. The participant list on WebEx has valuable information. For example, it shows who has been assigned as the interpreter, and it shows you the language channel you are speaking into at a given time. The participant list can also show you what language channel other participants are connected to. This can help you troubleshoot issues if they are in the wrong language channel. For example, if a participant wants to listen to English but they hear the non-English language, you can check the participant list to verify whether they have the correct channel selected. The participant list can show you how participants have connected to the hearing and whether they have their microphone or camera activated. This way you can identify an LEP court user who has dialed in and is unable to access language channels. In team interpreting, you can monitor what channel your partner is working in and if they have their microphone muted. You can find help on a number of topics on WebEx's Help Center. To access it, go to help.webex.com. This concludes this module. We hope that it has helped you become familiar with using WebEx for interpretation in remote hearings. To learn more about interpreting in remote hearings, be sure to watch the additional modules in this series. These include VRI Overview and Preparation, Professional Standards and Ethical Considerations for VRI, ASL Interpretation on VRI, Using Zoom for Court Interpretation, and Using Dual Channel Configurations for Simultaneous Court Interpretation. Be sure to also refer to the resource sheet for more information. Thank you.

Video Remote Interpreting

Cisco WebEx

court interpreters

Simultaneous Interpretation

alternative methods

troubleshooting

ethical considerations