As you might know already, almost every meetings are conducted via Zoom nowadays. It really took the world by storm and became one of the most successful company post Covid19 era.

I have been using Zoom since the last 3 years ago, giving my service as interpreter with consecutive interpreting method. And currently Zoom also provide a new simultaneous interpretation function and I have been using that several times with my clients.

I won’t be covering how you enabled this function because zoom has a restriction that only host with some plan or business account can access this feature. And I am sure what kind of account can access this feature might be changed in the future, so if you want to get more information about that, you could go to :
https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/360034919791-Language-interpretation-in-meetings-and-webinars

Here are my thoughts/experiences regarding the current Zoom interpretation function (per early July 2020).

• I have several occasions where the Host forgot to enabled this function so I could not be assigned as interpreter. And when the host finally remember that he/she has to enabled it, it was too late because the webinar has already started.
  (Updated on April 2021 : more people has become aware and familiar with the operation and I didn’t see any of this trouble again lately)
• It was designed to be a one way presentation. So whenever the speaker open a discussion or Q&A session, it was a challenging situation because the speaker couldn’t hear the interpreter unless he/she changed the channel, however if they change the channel, they will lose the access to the audience’s voice.
  (Updated on March 2021 : Zoom provided a feature where you could hear the interpreter’s voice with certain percentage of volume and also the mic from the speaker with certain percentage of volume)
• No force – mute. In the offline Simultaneous interpreting booth, it is a very common to have a force mute button to force mute your partner if he/she forgot to mute when you are interpreting. Or in a recent one, the system is automatically rigged that whenever your mic is on, your partner’s mic will be muted and vice versa. Zoom doesn’t have this functionality yet.
• No Bahasa Indonesia’s label. Zoom only provide about 8 languages channel right now. So imagine if I want to interpret a Japanese speaker to Bahasa audience, there is no label for it. Let’s say we use the Korean channel as Indonesian Channel, so the audience that want to hear Indonesian interpretation has to choose… Korean… that is so confusing for the audience. I’m not so sure why they do not provide us the custom label / channel that we could set.
  (Updated on May 2021 : this issue has been resolved since Zoom already provide us the free text label for the language)

I do believe the function will get better in the future since almost all of the meetings will take place in Zoom world and more of this interpretation function will be needed across the whole world.

I rarely comment about this kind of topic, but I am impressed with the service so it made me want to post about it.

Background Story :

My passport has expired and I didn’t notice it until a month ago. Due to the Covid19 partial lock-down situation, the immigration offices were also closed. They finally opened again in the mid June 2020. And I decided to try to register directly to government and make passport myself without any help from the agent (In Indonesia we call them Biro Jasa).

Procedure that I went through :

• Get an online queue number. This is the most frustrating and hard part. After this part is done, everything went smooth. So the thing is, you must apply an online queue number using android application at the specific time and day. They opened the queue line every Friday at 14.00 PM. But I failed several times, probably due to the server couldn’t handle all the requests at once.
  In my case, I couldn’t even access this function until later at night. And luckily I still see some spot left in my preferred Immigration Office (I chose Soekarno Hatta Airport Immigration Office because of their good rating I heard from a lot of people)
• After you got the online queue number, go to immigration office that you chose with all your supporting documents (original and copy). If you are an Indonesian citizenship just bring your valid ID, KK, Birth certificate, proof of marriage (if available). The good things about Soekarno Hatta Immigration office is that they have a photo copy center just 10 steps away from the registration booth, so it is really easy to copy your document in case you forgot.
• Fill in some registration form.
• Wait for interview and Photo session.
• Finished. At this time you will get 2 piece of papers. The first one is an invoice stating how much you should pay and the second one is the instruction how to pay and a list of what Bank that you could use to make the payment.
• Make a payment in your preferred Bank. You need to keep the printed proof of payment, so it is advisable to use ATM machine.
• Wait for 7 working days to go back to get your Passport. They will send you an SMS text message, however the staff at the immigration office kindly explain to me that sometimes their SMS blast system is having problem, so whether I do get the SMS or not , I need to get back again after 7 working days. Wait too long (such as longer than 30 days) and you might need to restart the whole process all over again.
• In My case I did get the SMS exactly after 7 working days, so I went back with the invoice and proof of payment. Scan the barcode using the invoice to get another queue number, wait for your queue, and retrieve your new passport after you gave the invoice and proof of payment.

The best thing about Soekarno Hatta Immigration office is that they are not crowded, I chose to went there at early morning (They open at 8.00 AM). Both when I went there to register and to retrieve my passport, I only saw less than 10 queues. When I went there to register the first time, it took me around 15-20 minutes, and when I went back to retrieve the new passport it took me less than 10 minutes.

Additionally, all the staff in the immigration office were kind and helpful, such a really good service attitude.

Conclusion :

If you could get pass the online queue number system using your android, it is best to register on your own without any help of agent (using an agent will took you twice the normal fee).

The system is far better right now. I remember back then when I renew my passport in Jakarta Immigration office, I waited for 4 hours (using an agent). I also saw someone else that have been there before me but they are not yet handled even after I’m done. Back then we didn’t have the queue number, so the staff will call out your name if it is your turn. I assume I got the priority because I was using an agent (but still 4 hours waiting though). So I am really glad to see that the system in Indonesia improved a lot.