Today, AICE is a well-established association. True to our founding principles, we always keep our customers’ needs at the forefront. On TV, our voices have now moved on from “La clave” to broadcasts on armed conflicts, State funerals, presidential debates and even the well-known chat show on TV Cuatro “El Hormiguero”.

During the 1960s, Spain moved out of its isolation into a process of modernisation and internationalisation.  This change brought with it a multitude of international meetings. This was when a pioneer group of interpreters joined forces and founded what was originally called the Agrupación de Intérpretes de Conferencia de España, with the aim of collaborating through their profession as the Spanish economy recovered. AICE grew in parallel with Spain’s economic expansion. More meetings requiring interpreting services led to an increase in the number of members and in the languages offered. At the same time, AICE interpreters were able to specialise in different subjects such as medicine, physics, engineering or molecular biology. Today this specialisation has become one of the main distinguishing features of our Association.   But it was the legendary current affairs programme on Televisión Española, La clave, broadcast from 1976 to 1985, that was the real springboard for Conference Interpreting, a profession that until then was little heard of in Spain. On Friday nights, viewers were able to share debates with guests from all over the world thanks to the miracle of simultaneous interpreting.  La clave hired AICE interpreters, and many of our colleagues came to be known as the ‘voices of La clave’. With Spain’s membership of the European Union (1986) and with constant international scientific and technological development,  the demand for quality interpreters increased. Today, conference interpreting is still an essential factor for economic growth to help overcome communication barriers, facilitating contact between countries. AICE members have witnessed  this process. A lot has changed since 1968, but some of the past still remains.  With over 100 professional members, AICE now has a good position in the market and is still loyal to its founding principles, while meeting the new demands of its customers.  From the start, AICE sought to offer quality services in simultaneous and consecutive interpreting. This is still the key to its success, together with specialisation and consultancy services.