Interpreting - Volume 22, Issue 2, 2020

Abstract

The aim of this systematic literature review was to answer the question of which executive function is most affected by interpreter training and experience. We used the ‘unity and diversity’ framework of executive functions to distinguish between three executive components: Response and Distractor Inhibition, Shifting, and Updating. Among the seventeen studies included in the review, we only found evidence for an interpreter advantage on Shifting and Updating, but with a different pattern for each of these. With regard to Updating, groups of interpreters scored better than comparison groups, but general trend in longitudinal studies did not show an improvement for interpreter trainees. In contrast, for Shifting, scores improved as a result of interpreting training. Our systematic review stresses the importance of understanding the diversity of executive processes when investigating the relationship between interpreting and cognitive performance.

Abstract

In the current study we set out to investigate source language interference in the visual modality (in sight translation – ST) and in the auditory modality (in simultaneous interpreting – SI). We probed interpretations of cognates, interlingual homographs and passive structures in single sentence contexts as performed from English to Polish by 47 advanced interpreting trainees. We also analysed temporal measures: ear-voice span (in SI) or eye-voice span (in ST) as well as total translation time. The results showed a higher level of interference in ST in the case of homographs and a mixed pattern of results for the remaining measures. We also obtained interesting task-independent results, namely an 80% rate of global passive retention testifying to a high level of syntactic priming in both modes of interpreting. We discuss these results in the context of different types of interference occurring in interpreting and conclude that there might be a similar global level of interference in the two tasks, however with differing underlying patterns. This is the first study to date to directly compare interference levels between ST and SI in such controlled conditions. Our results contribute to the understanding of complex linguistic processes occurring across modalities in interpreting tasks.

Abstract

Fluency is an important, yet insufficiently understood, construct in interpreting studies. This article reports on an empirical study which explored the relationship between utterance fluency measures and raters’ perceived fluency ratings of English/Chinese consecutive interpreting. It also examined whether such relationship was consistent across interpreting directions and rater types. The results partially supported the categorization of utterance fluency into breakdown, speed and repair fluency. It was also found that mean length of unfilled pauses, phonation time ratio, mean length of run and speech rate had fairly strong correlations with perceived fluency ratings in both interpreting directions and across rater types. Among a number of competing regression models that were built to predict raters’ fluency ratings, a parsimonious model, using mean length of unfilled pauses and mean length of run as predictors, accounted for about 60% of the variance of fluency ratings in both directions and across rater types. These results are expected to help create, rewrite and modify rubrics and scalar descriptors of fluency scales in rater-mediated interpretation assessment and to inform automated scoring of fluency in interpreting.

Abstract

The paper employs critical discourse analysis for a pragmatically-oriented exploration of several racist statements by a Polish Eurosceptic Member of the European Parliament (MEP), Janusz Korwin-Mikke. The original fragments in English or in Polish were extracted from a larger corpus containing all the plenary contributions of the MEP (2014–2018). They are com­pared with their interpretations into German and, respectively, either Polish or English. The qualitative analysis reveals that the approach to racist statements by interpreters is inconsistent, both across all the three language units and when the output of each is considered separately. In the analysed interpretations, there is evidence of preservation of the pragmatic effect, slight/radical mitigation, and strengthening. Slight mitigation seems to be the most popular option. The interpreters tended to tone down anthroponyms functioning as racial slurs and to omit implicit racism.

Abstract

This study explores interaction in two authentic interpreter-mediated police interviews with suspects. The analysis focuses on the interpreting regime used: stand-by interpreting. The interactional regime in the analysed interviews featured exolingual communication in English between a Spanish-speaking suspect with emerging competencies in English and English-speaking interviewers, with intermittent interpreter participation. Drawing on Conversation Analysis and interactional sociolinguistics, this study analyses how the interpreting regime was negotiated, how it was constructed over the course of the interviews, and the observable function of interpreting episodes. The analysis revealed a markedly collaborative nature of stand-by interpreting, differences in the distribution of interactional power over interpreting episodes among the three participants depending on their activity role and the interview phase, and the multimodal nature of turn-management. Interpreting was used selectively as a resource to either repair or prevent miscommunication, aligning with the way the interpreting regime was set up. Rather than advocating for or against the stand-by mode of interpreting, this paper describes its features in the police interview and highlights both its potential and its risks for communication in interpreter-mediated police interviews as a discourse genre.

Abstract

Interpreter training has evolved from traditional face-to-face classroom settings to alternative modes of delivery such as online and blended learning because of the rise in information and communication technology. The limited body of literature shows that the most documented pedagogical application of interpreter training delivery is via virtual learning environments such as Moodle and Blackboard. To enrich the literature on technology use in interpreter training, a pilot project was conducted in which participant students and trainers accessed a three-dimensional virtual environment using wearable technology (i.e., three-dimensional virtual reality glasses) and students practiced interpreting using a prerecorded animated dialogue. A virtual reality platform was built using Unity 3D and run on Android to host the piloted dialogue, with a view to adding dialogues in the future to develop it into a healthcare interpreting training platform. Qualitative data collected through observations and semi-structured interviews were analyzed. The results show that using wearable devices in interpreter training has the potential to create immersive simulated environments for auto­nomous learning and to improve interpreter training when used with instructional support. However, challenges including physiological effects, level of authenticity, and the need for equipment support warrant further exploration and refinement of its pedagogical application in the future.

This article reviews The academic foundations of interpreting studies: An introduction to its theories978-1-944838-37-9

This article reviews Chinese–English interpreting and intercultural communication9781138669628