Interpreting - Volume 23, Issue 1, 2021

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the influence of interpreter training and conference interpreting experience on anticipation, as measured by word-translation latencies in a semantically constrained context. It involved professional conference interpreters, on the one hand, and, on the other, interpreter trainees being tested at the beginning and at the end of their two-year training programme. Both groups were asked to translate words embedded at the end of high-context constraint sentences (thus easily predictable), low-context constraint sentences or those appearing in isolation in both directions (from and to their native language). The data suggest that word-translation latency improves in the course of interpreter training but it is not enhanced further in the course of professional experience, whereas anticipation is not improved by either training or experience. All the participants, being late foreign language learners, manifested an advantage in native language comprehension by anticipating more in an A–B versus a B–A translation direction. The findings also suggest that professional interpreting experience might facilitate inhibition and lead to the selection of the appropriate translation equivalent.

Abstract

This article investigates the correlation between explicitation and increased cognitive load in simultaneous interpreting by trainee interpreters. It has been hypothesised, on the one hand, that certain explicitating shifts in simultaneous interpreting may be caused by increased cognitive load and they may be performed in an attempt to mask processing problems; and, on the other, that performing explicitating shifts may lead to increased cognitive load and trigger processing problems. The study triangulates product analysis (manual comparison of source and target texts) with process analysis (retrospective protocols of the participants). In the product the correlation between the occurrence of explicitating shifts and increased cognitive load is sought by identifying problem indicators in the form of three types of disfluency: hesitation markers, false starts and anomalous pauses exceeding two seconds (performance measure). Retrospective protocols are analysed in search of reports of explicitating shifts and/or increased cognitive load experienced and/or the cognitive effort expended (subjective measure). The product analysis shows the correlation between explicitating shifts and cognitive load at the level of 31%. The Spearman’s rank-order correlation coefficient r = 0.48 indicates that there is a positive association between these two variables. This finding is further confirmed by 122 retrospective comments of the subjects in the study.

Abstract

This article reports on the eye-tracking data collected from 18 professional interpreters while they performed consecutive interpreting with notes. It is a pioneering study in its visualisation of the way in which note-reading occurs. Preliminary evidence suggests that note-reading proceeds in a nonlinear manner. The data collected in this study also report on indicators of cognitive processing in consecutive interpreting, particularly during note-reading, which appears to be a cognitively demanding process. It differs from reading for comprehension in various ways, while staying closer to reading in sight translation. In addition, the data show that the note-taking choices made during Phase I of consecutive interpreting, in which interpreters listen to the source speech and write notes, affect the level of cognitive load in Phase II, in which interpreters read back their notes and produce a target speech.

Abstract

The conceptual vagueness surrounding the role of the public service interpreter can hinder collaboration between interpreters and providers. Inspired by Mason’s work on interpreter positioning, the study aimed to clarify providers’ expectations of the role of the interpreter in order to strengthen interprofessional collaboration. A typological analysis was conducted based on 23 healthcare providers’ perceptions of the public service interpreter. The Typology of Healthcare Interpreter Positionings features eight positionings that reinforce the interprofessional collaboration and nine that compromise it. The result is a concrete portrait that depicts the neutrality of the public service interpreter as a powerful driver of collaboration. Providers also agree that interpreters must be able to take their place in the consultation, even if it means being assertive and modifying the discourse of the interlocutors. Navigating such situations while maintaining the provider’s trust requires interactional knowledge (soft skills), which complements technical knowledge (hard skills). The Typology represents a communication tool that both providers and interpreters can use to foster collaboration. It also represents a professionalization tool as it reiterates the importance of neutrality in the work of public service interpreters and their social positioning as professionals.

Abstract

Young language brokers have a complex emotional relationship with the translation and interpreting tasks that they engage in for their families and communities. Whereas they often report feeling happy, useful and proud of themselves for being able to contribute to their families’ well-being, they also struggle with frustration, pressure from their loved ones, and cognitive and emotional burdens. This study aims to map the evolution of feelings regarding language brokering among young adults and to reveal the effects that formal interpreting education might have in this process. For these purposes, it examines the narratives of 75 self-identified former and/or current language brokers who are registered in an undergraduate interpreting program in the United States. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of these narratives (collected at three different points during their course of study) indicate that the participants feel more positively than negatively about their brokering tasks and that positive emotions increase overall throughout their interpreter education (with a noticeable peak halfway through the program). These analyses also reveal how triggers for positive and negative emotion shift through time: whereas their enhanced skills contribute to positive feelings, poor working conditions and brokering settings beyond their immediate families become new stressors.

This article reviews Healthcare interpreting explained978-1-138-23295-2

This article reviews The role of technology in conference interpreter training978-1-78874-409-6