Relying on Relay: in English and Sign

At European conferences, in exclusively spoken language contexts outside the British Isles, recourse to relay interpreting is uncommon whenever the principal source discourse is in English, because it is relatively easy to find interpreters with English as their B or C language. Market requirements dictate that spoken-language interpreters learn at least two if not more foreign languages, actively (i.e. bidirectional use) or passively (i.e. into their native language; their A language), of which English is frequently one. This paper discusses various aspects of relay interpreting with a signed language and English.