Abstract
There is a general consensus that novice interpreters should begin their training with consecutive interpreting (CI) and only move on to simultaneous interpreting (SI) after they have mastered CI. However, working memory (WM) capacity plays a central role in developing professional SI skills, and may even be more important than extended practice. As there is great variability in the innate cognitive abilities of individual people, some novice interpreters may have the potential to perform SI reasonably well. The present study has tested this hypothesis by offering SI training to novice interpreters in a university course, without administering prior CI training during the semester. Midterm and final examinations were conducted to analyze the learners’ SI performances. The findings suggest that student interpreters can perform SI quite well, subject to certain conditions such as preparation time, input rates, and source-text intelligibility. This study explores the pedagogical implications of introducing student interpreters directly to SI training, as well as the curricular arrangements involved.
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