Passive language
In order to describe the languages required at an international conference or, in the case of interpreters, to be able to make a statement about the degree of mastery of the respective languages, one makes use of certain terms which will be explained here in the following.
On the concepts of "active" and "passive" language:
- An active language means that interpreters can both understand and speak that language well. A passive language, on the other hand, interpreters can only understand well, but they will not interpret into that language.
- An active language at a conference states that this language is spoken by the speaker, by panelists or in the room during discussion contributions, a passive language, on the other hand, is not used at all in the conference room (e.g. when guests of a language only appear as listeners, requests to speak in this language are not scheduled/allowed).
On the terms A-language, B-language and C-language:
- The A-language of an interpreter is their mother tongue. If they have grown up multilingual, in exceptional cases they may even have several mother tongues. This is the language into which they interpret best after many years of professional experience. The A language is an "active" language (see above).
- The B language is a language in which interpreters are almost as proficient as in their native language. Accordingly, they can both understand and speak this language very well. This is also an "active" language (see above).
- Finally, the C-language: The interpreters are able to understand this language very well and to reproduce it in other languages, but they do not interpret into this language. This is a "passive" language (see above).
