Formerly, simultaneous interpreting was limited to guest interviews, breaking news situations, and live coverage of events in the Japanese media. However, due to the increase in demand for bilingual services and real time coverage, JCTV (Japan Cable Television, which is a distribution partner of CNN) decided to focus on simultaneous interpreting for the localization of CNN news. Before settling on simultaneous interpreting, CNN translating/interpreting experienced several transitions. At the very beginning, the requirement was to translate word for word. Then came the prepared interpreting stage. The current stage calls for simultaneous interpretation of all the materials including tightly edited packaged reports. Some of the main skills required for simultaneous interpreting for broadcast news are background knowledge, anticipation, and editing. The number of interpreting and translating courses offered at Japanese universities is on the rise, but traditional interpreting schools catering to the special needs for broadcast interpreting still plays an important role. These institutions offer the appropriate training for students aspiring to break into broadcast news simultaneous interpreting. Broadcast news interpreting in Japan is still evolving and faces the challenges of quality control.
