Showing papers in "Interpreting in 2013"

Dialogue interpreting as intercultural mediation: Interpreters’ use of upgrading moves in parent–teacher meetings

Abstract: Research on dialogue interpreting shows that interpreters do not simply convey speech content, but also perform crucial coordinating and mediating functions. This descriptive study, which is based on PhD research conducted at the University of Manchester, explores the activity of qualified dialogue interpreters in three video-recorded parent-teacher meetings involving immigrant mothers. English and Italian are the languages used, the meetings having taken place in the UK (one case) and Italy (two cases). The study focuses on interpreters' handling of evaluative assessment, in many cases introduced by them in the target speech as an "upgrading rendition". Transcribed extracts are examined in a micro-analytical perspective, the dynamics of each actor's (dis)engagement towards interlocutors being studied in relation to gaze patterns annotated by dedicated software. Results show that the interpreter actively promotes alignment between the parties; however, s/he often does so by emphasising positive considerations to the mother. The outcome of this approach is that the mother accepts, but is not encouraged to co-construct a negotiated solution: she is assimilated, not empowered. © John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Keep your distance? Remote interpreting in legal proceedings: A critical assessment of a growing practice

Abstract: Remote interpreting, whereby the interpreter is physically separated from those who need the interpretation, has been investigated in relation to conference and healthcare settings. By contrast, very little is known about remote interpreting in legal proceedings, where this method of interpreting is increasingly used to optimise interpreters’ availability. This paper reports the findings of an experimental study investigating the viability of videoconference-based remote interpreting in legal contexts. The study compared the quality of interpreter performance in traditional and remote interpreting, both using the consecutive mode. Two simulated police interviews of detainees, recreating authentic situations, were interpreted by eight interpreters with accreditation and professional experience in police interpreting. The languages involved were French (in most cases the interpreter’s native language) and English. Each interpreter interpreted one of the interviews in remote interpreting, and the other in a traditional face-to-face setting. Various types of problem in the interpretations were analysed, quantitatively and qualitatively. Among the key findings are a significantly higher number of interpreting problems, and a faster decline of interpreting performance over time, in remote interpreting. The paper gives details of these findings, and discusses the potential legal consequences of the problems identified.

Conference interpreters — the stars of the translation profession?: A study of the occupational status of Danish EU interpreters as compared to Danish EU translators

Abstract: This article reports on a study which is part of an ongoing project, investigating occupational status within the translation profession by focusing on professional translators and interpreters of different kinds and in different contexts. The study is specifically concerned with the job status of the category generally regarded as the stars of the profession, i.e. conference interpreters. It investigates the self-perceived occupational status of a group of Danish staff interpreters at the European Union, comparing it to that of Danish staff translators in the same organization. The research is based on data from an online survey, completed by 86 respondents (23 interpreters and 63 translators). The study hypothesis was that the conference interpreters would position themselves at the very top of the status continuum for the translation profession as a whole, and that the translators would situate themselves at a lower level — though not at the very bottom, considering their profile as staff translators in a prestigious international context. This hypothesis was only partially borne out by the research findings.

Non-native accents and simultaneous interpreting quality perceptions.

Abstract: A controlled experiment measured native Hong Kong Cantonese speakers’ perceptions of the quality of three different simultaneous interpretations (SIs) into Cantonese. The SIs differed only in the interpreters’ accents, native in one case and non-native in the other two. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups, listening to the following versions of the SI: (1) native-accented Cantonese (control group); (2) Mandarin-accented Cantonese; (3) English-accented Cantonese. To motivate participants to listen attentively, they were told beforehand that they would take a comprehension test before assessing the quality of the SI delivery. Ten questionnaire items measuring SI quality perception were analyzed quantitatively, while any additional comments were examined qualitatively. Overall, respondents in the two groups who listened to SI delivered with a non-native accent assigned lower quality ratings on all survey items than did respondents listening to native-accented Cantonese SI. Qualitative data suggest three possible explanations for the low ratings of the two SIs with a non-native accent: (1) extra listening effort was required to understand these SIs; (2) negative stereotypes were triggered by the interpreters’ non-native accents; (3) feelings of insecurity or threat were prompted by the non-native interpreters’ ability to perform SI into Cantonese.

Comparing modes of communication: The effect of English as a lingua franca vs. interpreting

Abstract: This paper addresses the topic of quality assessment in interpreting, from a perspective that defines quality as equivalent effect of source text and target text. The experimental study described uses an innovative methodology based on comprehension testing, to evaluate the widely accepted norm that an interpretation should produce the same effect — in the sense of effect on the listener’s knowledge of a specific subject — as the original. More specifically, the study compares communicative effect between a marketing-related speech of about 15 minutes in non-native English and its simultaneous interpretation into German. The comparison is thus between two directly competing modes of communication, the use of English as a lingua franca being seen by many interpreters as a threat to their profession. Three experimental runs were completed, involving an Italian speaker comfortable with English as a medium for lecturing and a total of 139 listeners attending professionally oriented Austrian university courses. Results showed that in this setting the interpretation led to a better cognitive end-result in the audience than the original speech in non-native English.

The interpreter's glossary in simultaneous interpreting : a survey

Abstract: The glossary is considered an important, if not indispensable, component in the professional practice of interpreting. However, insufficient attention has been given to it in interpreting studies. This research project aims to study the general practice of professional interpreters in relation to the glossary. Two surveys were conducted, in 2010: a pilot study, using a printed questionnaire distributed to interpreters at a UN conference, followed by a large-scale survey which was conducted through an online survey service and completed by nearly 500 interpreters (mostly AIIC members). Results of both surveys are discussed, and a comparison is made between staff and freelance interpreters. These findings should contribute to a better understanding of how professional interpreters prepare, manage and use glossaries. The study could also have useful implications for training, both for interpreting students and for qualified interpreters.

Bilingual working memory capacity of professional Auslan/English interpreters

Abstract: This study investigated bilingual working memory capacity (WMC) of 31 professional Auslan (Australian Sign Language)/English interpreters: 14 native signers and 17 non-native signers. Participants completed an English listening span task and then an Auslan working memory (WM) span task, each task followed by a brief interview. The native signers were similar to the non-native signers not only in English WMC, but also in Auslan WMC. There was no significant difference between WMC in English and Auslan when native and non-native signers were assessed as a single group. The study also found a moderate to strong, positive correlation between the interpreters' English WMC and Auslan WMC, suggesting that both WM span tasks tapped into similar cognitive resources. In the interviews, interpreters said that they used multiple strategies to retain the to-beremembered words/signs. The qualitative data also indicate that WM span tasks like these involve online retention of unrelated words/signs, whereas simultaneous interpreting requires temporary storage of meaningful and coherent concepts.

Interpreting in one’s own and in closely related languages: Negotiation of linguistic varieties amongst interpreters of the Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian languages

Abstract: Interpreters may see affinities between their own or working language(s) and others in the same family as an opening to a broader range of professional opportunities. This paper presents data from an online survey, completed by 23 mainly Australian-based interpreters for the Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian languages. Main points include: number of accreditations (one, two or three languages); willingness to work in languages other than one’s ‘own’; and views on adapting language to the variety spoken by interlocutors (in both everyday usage and interpreted speech). Other questions examine negotiation of mismatches between ethnicity and the language variety expected by the client, as well as personal views regarding the distinctness of the three languages. Informants form three main groups: some work in one language only, with no accommodation to others; some consider the languages as separate but might accommodate to other varieties, extemporaneously or by prior arrangement; others consider that their native-speaker status in two or three languages makes accommodation superfluous. Two smaller groups (totalling four interpreters) consider substantial accommodation unnecessary: in one case they see the languages as separate but mutually understandable, in the other they see them as one single language. Quantitative data are complemented by informants’ comments.