An opening statement enables to establish the interpreter’s professional authority and sets the expectations or rules for the interpreting session.
The opening statement is said by the interpreter in BOTH languages at the start of the session. As you can see in the video above, Mai (one of our Arabic interpreters) explains the opening statement in both English & Arabic.
Here is an example:
-Please speak to each other directly, not to the interpreter.
-Please pause frequently to allow the interpreter to interpret accurately and completely.
-Everything said will be interpreted and kept completely confidential.
You may not always have the time to do all of this before the session starts but this is the basis of an opening statement.