How an interpreter can turn their workflow into an on-site support tool

What changed before interpreting technology did

JM Connected is an interpreting and translation specialist led by Ji-min Lim, who graduated from a graduate school of translation and interpretation. SayLO, which the company has made public, lets a presenter choose the spoken and target languages and create a session. Audience members join through a QR code and view live translations.

The core of the service is not building a new translation technology from scratch. According to the company, it uses Google's speech recognition and translation technology, then adds the on-site sequence of creating an event, selecting languages, and admitting audience members.

Interpreting specialists check terminology and context, while operators manage sessions and participants. It needs to be verified whether Lim personally wrote programme code, but this is clearly a case in which someone who understands the interpreting workplace guided the product direction.

A study of 200 Korean interpreters and translators found limited use of terminology-management software. It also found that, in consecutive interpreting, many still preferred paper and pen even when tablets and recording functions were available. The researchers said the features interpreters especially wanted were real-time lookup of numbers and proper names.

A 2025 study of 109 professional interpreters found that artificial intelligence was used mainly for interpreting preparation. It also found concerns about automatic recording: 91 respondents were concerned about unauthorised recording, 80 about distorted speech, and 77 about voice-data leaks.

Put an interpreter's sequence of judgement on screen

Consider a freelance Korean-English interpreter who handles export consultations and technical briefings. When a request arrives, they need to check more than the date and venue: the interpreting mode, attendees, company and product, security scope, presentation materials, travel, and equipment.

The Incheon Chamber of Commerce's foreign-language interpretation and translation support programme also requires applicants to submit the venue, time, interpreting content, attendee list, and company and product materials at least one week before the requested interpreting date. The interpreter gathers the materials and organises terminology.

The trouble begins when materials arrive late or are managed across several channels. If attendees change or presentation materials are replaced, the glossary and schedule may be affected. If the client also asks for protocol support or meeting minutes, the scope of work can become unclear.

The first product that helps with this work does not need live machine interpretation. An interpreter can lay out their ten most recent assignments and note what they received, what they had to ask for again, and when mistakes occurred. They can then give this to an artificial intelligence tool that understands text and drafts screens, along with a screen-building tool.

The first screen is a materials-request link for the client. The next screen shows people’s names, company names, technical terms, and numbers extracted from the materials alongside the original text, so the interpreter can approve or correct them. The on-site screen gives prominence only to the latest schedule and changed items. Once the work ends, confirmed terminology and the change record are saved together.

Some work still belongs in human hands. The interpreter supplements speaker intent, context, and nuance. A single number or negative expression can change the terms of a contract. Because of concerns about unauthorised recording and voice-data leaks, automatic recording should not be turned on by default.

The first ten customers are not all interpreters. Narrow the group to operators of small interpretation and translation agencies that repeatedly assign interpreters to export consultations. Providers listing interpreting services in the Export Voucher programme, a Korean export-support scheme, and providers in regional interpretation and translation support programmes are candidates. They are already dealing with materials and changes spread across request forms, email, calls, and individual files. The first product is complete when, for one event, materials intake, terminology approval, change alerts, and a deletion record after the assignment all run without a break.

Elsewhere, the first step was a path to a human

The South Ostrobothnia Wellbeing Services County (서우시우시마 복지서비스구역) in Finland began testing real-time AI interpreting with Túlka in maternal and child health clinics and migrant-support settings in February 2025. It translated Russian, Ukrainian, and Arabic conversations into text and speech, while allowing complex situations to be handed to a human interpreter.

About 150 cases took place during the first three months, and 82% ended without switching to a human interpreter. This was an institution-led deployment rather than a service paid for directly by residents, and no public usage fee was disclosed. It was especially useful in short, structured service and guidance situations. Keeping the option to switch to a human interpreter was the key point.

Goshen Health in the United States used Boostlingo to bring together multiple telephone and video interpreting providers and manual scheduling. It was deployed across more than 100 devices so staff could call an interpreter and handle scheduling and billing in the same system.

According to the supplier's own announcement, interpreter scheduling time fell from five days to two days, and the organisation saved about KRW 300 million annually. The amount needs separate verification because it comes from the supplier's case study. But what the hospital bought was not one translation feature; it was an operating flow that connected calling, assignment, and billing.

Four small things to build from here

1. An arrival checker for export-consultation materials

• What it does: Receives the schedule, attendee details, company and product materials, and security consent needed for an interpreting request through one link.
• Who uses it: A staff member at a regional manufacturing company arranging a Korean-English interpreter for meetings with overseas buyers.
• Why now: Advance collection affects quality enough that public support programmes require materials at least one week ahead.
• First screen: A materials checklist divided into “received,” “missing,” and “requested again.”

2. A glossary approved by the interpreter

• What it does: Finds technical terms, people’s names, company names, numbers, and units in presentation materials and shows them with the original text.
• Who uses it: A Korean-English interpreter taking on a medical-device or industrial-equipment briefing for the first time and needing to organise unfamiliar product names.
• Why now: Korean survey respondents wanted automatic extraction of numbers and proper names, but use of dedicated tools was limited.
• First screen: Put the original sentence on the left, and term candidates with “approve,” “edit,” and “ask the client” buttons on the right.

3. An on-site number and name capture board

• What it does: Temporarily turns consented on-site speech into text, displays only numbers, units, and people’s names in large type, and deletes it when the assignment ends.
• Who uses it: An export-consultation interpreter who frequently hears product prices, delivery dates, and certification numbers.
• Why now: Numbers and proper names are in demand, but recognition errors can also be costly. A narrow support function is better suited than automatic translation.
• First screen: Show only recently mentioned numbers and names, a short excerpt of the original text, and large “mark as wrong” and “delete now” buttons.

4. A record for approving changes and extra work

• What it does: Records schedule changes, replaced presentation materials, rehearsals, recording, protocol support, and requests for meeting minutes, then obtains approval for additional fees.
• Who uses it: An operator at a small interpretation and translation agency who assigns several interpreters to each event and passes client requests between them.
• Why now: Same-day cancellations and expanded work scopes turn preparation time already spent and opportunities to take other work into costs.
• First screen: Show the original and changed conditions side by side, then offer “proceed as is,” “approve additional fee,” and “decline.”

What to check today

Call one provider that lists interpreting services in the Export Voucher programme and ask to see the material flow for one recent assignment for 30 minutes. If the same schedule or terminology has been copied into three or more places—such as a request form, email, messenger, and personal notes—and the person responsible says they want to remove one of them, it is worth building the first product around materials intake and change management.

Why this matters where you are

Check whether interpreters and agencies in your market receive assignment materials and changes through several disconnected channels. Public support programmes, institutional buyers, and privacy expectations may differ from the Korean examples here. You can start by mapping one recent assignment and finding the point where the same information is copied or changed most often.