Translations at 33C3

Listen to the simultaneous interpretations of all German-language talks with a DECT phone. Read more details below or short information in the Wiki.

It always happens: there’s that one brilliant talk by a team of hackers who built a wooden self-driving car with COBOL-based firmware on a Raspberry Pi. You’re about to head all the way out to Hall G, you only re-check the schedule to make sure that it really is there – damn, what’s that? It turns out the talk is in German and now you won’t be able to understand a word of it. “If only I had a babelfish,” you think to yourself as you redirect your steps to the bar where you’ll be drowning your sorrows in Mate.

Although we’re still unable to offer you your personal babelfish, we have a solution that’s almost as good: just like in previous years, our team of translation angels will be on hand to whisper simultaneous interpretations of all German-language talks at 33C3 into your ear, starting right on day one. To listen to the translations, all you need is a DECT phone, so remember to bring your own or borrow one from a friend. The phone numbers are specific to each room and will be announced before each talk.

Translations will also be available as an audio track on the finished recordings of the talks as well as (usually) the live stream. (The stream lags too far behind real time to make it practical for listening to the interpretation whilst you’re seated in the audience, so do take a DECT phone or some German classes.)

But there’s one more thing: This year, we will have the infrastructure to translate several of the talks in Halls 1 and 2 into a third language – French. This is something of an experiment, so details will be announced spontaneously. Be sure to follow @c3lingo on Twitter to be the first to hear about them.

Like all angels, the translation angel team is entirely volunteer-based. If you’re good at English and another language and think you might enjoy interpreting some of the talks, don’t be afraid to join them!