Conference interpreting
Simultaneous and consecutive, in the booth or on site. Corporate events, delegation visits, institutional meetings and European Works Councils, frequently multilingual with relay.
Conference Interpreter
Varsha Iyer
Simultaneous and consecutive interpreting across five languages — and the European and Indian institutions that speak them.
- MA Conference Interpreting, Heidelberg
- MA European Interdisciplinary Studies, College of Europe
- European Commission, DG SCIC
- State-examined interpreter, Hindi–German
The same meaning, five times over
- EnglishConference Interpreter
- DeutschKonferenzdolmetscherin
- FrançaisInterprète de conférence
- हिन्दीसम्मेलन दुभाषिया
- தமிழ்மாநாட்டு மொழிபெயர்ப்பாளர்
This page exists in every language I work into. The sentence above is the same one each time — which is, more or less, the job.
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About
I am a freelance conference interpreter based in Wuppertal, working between English, German, French, Hindi and Tamil. My training is from the University of Heidelberg, where I took the MA in Conference Interpreting with English as my A language, German as B and French as C.
In 2026 I completed an MA in European Interdisciplinary Studies at the College of Europe in Natolin, specialising in “EU and the World”, with a thesis on cooperation between the European Union and India in the digital sphere. Before that I was a Blue Book trainee at the European Commission's Directorate-General for Interpretation, working on documentation and terminology.
That combination is deliberate. Interpreting at institutional level is rarely only a language problem: it needs someone who understands how the room is organised, what the procedure requires, and what is actually at stake for each side. India and the European Union are both multilingual, multi-level systems in which regions run their own economic and cultural external relations — and in which understanding one another is never purely a matter of translation.
I hold the German state examination as an interpreter for Hindi and German. Tamil and English are my first languages. Work in Tamil and Hindi tends to be dense and consequential — administrative procedure, medical settings, legal questions — and takes place in situations where everything depends on trust.
02
Practice
What I am usually booked for.
Institutional and community settings
Regular ad-hoc assignments in Hindi and Tamil for administrative, medical and legal contexts — the work where accuracy and trust matter most and are least visible.
Terminology and preparation
Glossary and briefing preparation for technical assignments, informed by terminology work at DG SCIC on IATE and by an internship in interpreting management in Berlin.
EU and India affairs
Advisory and language support at the intersection of European and Indian institutions, grounded in a College of Europe master's on EU–India digital cooperation.
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Experience
Sep 2024 – present
Conference Interpreter
Freelance practice
- Simultaneous interpreting Hindi–German for Minister-President Winfried Kretschmann, rendering addresses by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
- Private-sector delegation visits; European Works Councils, multilingual.
- Regular ad-hoc assignments in institutional and community settings.
Mar 2025 – Jul 2025
Blue Book Trainee
European Commission — DG Interpretation (SCIC), Brussels
- Documentation management and terminology.
- Contributed to the restructuring of the directorate's intranet presence in SharePoint.
- Maintenance of the IATE terminology database.
Oct 2024 – Feb 2025
Research Associate
University of Mainz, Germersheim — Faculty of Translation, Linguistics and Cultural Studies
- Taught German-to-English interpreting courses at levels 1 and 3.
Nov 2022 – Sep 2024
Student Assistant, Erasmus
Heidelberg University — Faculty of Physics and Astronomy
- Processed Erasmus applications and maintained faculty records.
- Handled enquiries on application procedures and correspondence with partner universities.
Jan 2024 – Mar 2024
Terminology Intern
Norbert Zänker und Kollegen, Berlin
- Interpreting assignment management.
- Produced terminological and subject-matter preparation materials for assignments.
May 2023 – Aug 2023
Lecturer
Heidelberg University — Central Language Laboratory
- Taught a C1.1 English course to a mixed group of international students.
Mar 2021 – Sep 2022
Teaching Assistant
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf — Institute of Linguistics
- Ran tutorials for the introductory phonology and pragmatics courses, groups of around thirty.
- Prepared and marked exercises and examinations.
Nov 2021 – Apr 2022
Working Student
berns language consulting, Düsseldorf
- Handled support tickets on language and terminology management for a leading German automotive manufacturer.
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Education
Sep 2025 – Jun 2026
MA European Interdisciplinary Studies
College of Europe, Natolin
- Specialisation: “EU and the World”. Overall result: very good / très bien.
- Thesis on European Union–India cooperation in the digital sphere.
- Studied on a North Rhine-Westphalia scholarship.
Oct 2022 – Sep 2024
MA Conference Interpreting
Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg
- Language combination: English (A), German (B), French (C). Final grade 1.4.
- Chef de cabine, English booth, Monday Conference, summer term 2023.
- Chef d'équipe, ShowCase conference, summer term 2024.
Oct 2019 – Sep 2022
BA Linguistics
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf
- Final grade 1.3. Focus on psycho-, neuro- and computational linguistics.
- Languages studied: French, Russian, Alsatian. Erasmus exchange in France, winter term 2021–22.
May 2015 – Apr 2018
BA Psychology, Economics and Sociology
Jyoti Nivas College, Bangalore University, India
- Awarded in the First Class. Additional subject: English literature.
Qualifications
- State examination as an interpreter for Hindi and German, Regierungspräsidium Karlsruhe, October 2024.
- Diplôme approfondi de langue française (DALF) C2, Alliance Française, April 2022.
- Deutschlandstipendium scholarship holder, 2021.
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Languages
Five languages, and the difference between speaking one and working into it.
| Tamil | First language | |
| English | First language | A language |
| German | Fluent | B language · state-examined for Hindi |
| French | Fluent | C language · DALF C2 |
| Hindi | Fluent | State-examined interpreter, Hindi–German |
Interpreting combination
English A, German B, French C, per the Heidelberg MA. Hindi and German additionally under the German state examination. A, B and C describe what an interpreter can work into, not merely what they speak.
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Get in touch
Available for conference and community assignments across Europe, and remotely. Enquiries about availability, language combination and rates are welcome in any of the five languages on this site.
Email
Telephone
Based in
Wuppertal, Germany — available across Europe and remotely