Parliament ´Live´with simultaneous interpretation

Parliament website and mobile app began providing  the facility to listen to simultaneous interpretation of parliamentary speeches while watching or listening “Parliament Live” from this week. 

Users are able to switch between the original language and the selected language (Sinhala/Tamil/English) of the website, Parliament officials  said.

Simultaneous interpretation was first introduced to the Sri Lankan Legislature in 1957 and Sri Lanka was the first country in the Asian region to introduce this facility to its Legislature.

At the beginning, this facility was available only to interpret Sinhala and Tamil speeches into English. Subsequently this facility was extended and interpretation is now available for English, Sinhala and Tamil. Standing Order No. 13 states that it is the duty of the Hon. Speaker to make arrangements for simultaneous interpretation of speeches and other proceedings in to the other two languages.

(CK)

 The general public will now have this facility that was hitherto available only for Members of Parliament, officers of Parliament secretariat, media personnel, and guests in a few galleries.

The Parliament website started live streaming of House proceedings in January 2016. It also has a recorded archive of proceedings from September 2010