Conference Interpreters Research Articles

Conference interpreters’ technology readiness and perception of digital technologies

Abstract The author reports on the findings of a survey among conference interpreters regarding their readiness for and perceptions of digital technologies and artificial intelligence. The Technology Readiness Index (TRI 2.0) was administered to a sample of 496 conference interpreters, most of them members of AIIC. In addition, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 25 of them to gain deeper insights into their attitudes towards AI-enabled tools and the potential impact on their professional practice. The results indicate a cautious openness towards technology balanced by concerns about cognitive load, ethical issues and the impact on traditional skills. The findings suggest the need for comprehensive training to enhance technological skills while maintaining ethical standards and also for research on the cognitive effects of AI-generated content and the evolving role of interpreters in a technology-driven landscape.

Reconstructing solidarity discourse through conference interpreting at the general debates of the United Nations (2008–2021)

ABSTRACT While reconstructing political discourses in interpreter-mediated international conferences has attracted research attention, reconstructing solidarity discourse as a major theme for UN discourse in conference interpreting has not been studied. This study investigates the reconstruction of the solidarity discourse produced by Chinese heads of state and high-level government officials in Chinese-English conference interpreting at the UN’s General Debates (2008–2021). The corpus-based critical discourse analysis reveals three patterns in the discursive reconstruction done by interpreters: (1) the (re)grouping discourse for the common-collective-Self and common-threat-Others is emphasised; (2) the commissive (promising) discourse for China’s delivery of common goals is accentuated; and (3) the discourse of an inclusive ‘global-we’ with ‘our obligations’ is strengthened. The overall amplification of the solidarity discourse reproduces global consolidation as an upgraded form of international cohesion. Focusing on the prominent theme of solidarity discourse in the UN, this study highlights conference interpreters’ ‘editing’ of linguistic realisations that de facto constitute ideological intervention at interpreter-mediated discursive events.

STUDY OF NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION OF CONFERENCE INTERPRETERS’ LINGUISTIC PERSONALITY

The article is devoted to the relevance and significance of nonverbal communication in a comprehensive approach to the study of the linguistic personality of a conference interpreter. The author explains the use of the communicative-functional approach to the analysis of verbal and nonverbal behaviour of the interpreter’s linguistic personality. The hypothesis of the study brings out that the nonverbal behaviour of the interpreter’s linguistic personality is determined by the content of the translated utterance, the interpreter’s internal motivation and intention (the pragmatic level of the linguistic personality), and it is consistently proved that nonverbal means shall be considered as part of the structural model of the linguistic personality, influencing the verbal representation of the linguistic personality. The author analyses a nonverbal sign (at its beginning, middle and end of its expression) and a translation syntagm as minimal units of study. The units of the study were collected by solid sampling from 14 video recordings of interpretation series, total study includes 105 minutes with records of nonverbal signs used by linguistic personality the interpreters participated in the study. As a result, the author classified nonverbal signs into vegetatives and somatives, and she structurally described the content of the groups of kinesic somatives, oculesic somatives and prosodic somatives, presenting the semantic content of nonverbal signs; within kinesic somatives, the author described a subgroup of comfort-gestures. The paper concludes about the prospect of further study of nonverbal communication and its importance for the study of linguistic personality in general.

Evaluation of Remote Interpreting in terms of Stress and Burnout

Stress and burnout experienced by interpreters during remote interpreting, which is more adopted after the Covid-19 pandemic in Türkiye, are examined in this study. In the first part of the study, whether the stress and burnout experienced during remote interpreting by the professional conference interpreters in Türkiye differ according to professional qualifications such as years of professional experience, having received training in remote interpreting, specialized language pairs in remote interpreting, specialized fields of interpreters in remote interpreting, and being a member of any professional association are examined. Secondly, the impact of some factors which may affect the level of stress and burnout experienced by interpreters in remote interpreting such as interpreting from a separate environment, the impact of receiving positive feedback, the quality of interpreting, and the income coming from remote interpreting compared to onsite interpreting on interpreters’ preferences for remote interpreting and/or onsite interpreting are examined by taking into consideration the professional conference interpreters in Türkiye. As a result of the analysis, first, it has been found that there is no significant relationship between the stress and burnout experienced by the interpreters in the context of remote interpreting, and their aforementioned professional qualifications. Secondly, it has been found that except the impact of receiving positive feedback factor, there is no significant relationship between the preferences of the interpreters for remote interpreting and/or onsite interpreting and the factors such as interpreting elsewhere, the quality of interpreting, and the income coming from remote interpreting compared to onsite interpreting. Interpreters prefer remote interpreting as much as they are satisfied with the positive feedback received in remote interpreting. Most of the interpreters, willing to adapt to technological developments and considering the many benefits of remote interpreting, think that remote interpreting should be as widespread as onsite interpreting. This study reveals that some improvements should be made in the context of remote interpreting in order to support interpreters’ flexibility and resilience.

“Who are you standing with?”: cultural (self-re)translation of a Russian-speaking conference immigrant-interpreter in Israel during the war in Ukraine

Abstract The war in Ukraine, which began on February 24, 2022, has led to a significant civilian involvement in Israel, particularly among immigrants from the former Soviet Union, who began to provide humanitarian assistance, including interpreting. Highlighting the interrelation between translation and migration, I argue that the war strongly affects multiple hybrid identities of immigrant-interpreters who along with interlingual translation engage also in processes of cultural (self-re)translation. Scholarly attention for such experiences has been relatively limited, since most research on interpreting in war and conflict has prioritized interpreter experiences within war struck regions. Little attention has also been devoted to the work of (conference) interpreters who are themselves immigrants. In this autoethnographic study therefore, I present my own experience during the war as both an immigrant from Russia and a conference interpreter who works with Russian and Hebrew. I discuss several aspects pertinent to the immigrant-interpreter experience within and beyond the interpreting practice: being part of a collective of immigrants, involved in humanitarian assistance; negotiating the devaluation of Russian(ness); facing challenges to the (in)visibility, implied in the interpreter’s role; and moving in-between the origin and the host countries.

The pandemic booth: How spatial reconfigurations during the pandemic influence cooperation and communication among conference interpreters

This article sheds light on how conference interpreting practice has changed since the beginning of the pandemic in Austria by drawing on the sociological concepts “body” and “space” as analytical and conceptual categories, among others shaped by Lindemann and Lindemann and Schünemann. The results of this study yield insights into the different modes of spatial organisation for conference interpreting during the pandemic; the ways these different organisational settings impacted cooperation among interpreters; and the interpreters’ perceptions of these reconfigurations in space and bodily presence. The data, obtained through an online survey and interviews with in total nine conference interpreters in Austria, show that a range of organisational settings is possible when working (completely or partly) remote, all entailing their individual particularities. Among the observed settings were conferences held on-site with strict anti-COVID measures; “hybrid” settings where interpreters worked on-site with speakers joining online or vice versa; and remote interpreting assignments. In remote assignments, more communication was necessary before the conference, for example, to discuss handovers. Additional communication tools were resorted to, and interpreters preferred working together in one physical place, for example, to facilitate cooperation. However, they also saw advantages in remote assignments.

On-line Interpreter Accreditation Tests for the Bodies and Institutions of the European Union

Multilingualism being one of the core values of the European Union, EU bodies and institutions rely heavily on the work of interpreters. To select the best candidates, the three biggest institutions organize a common accreditation test for the auxiliary conference interpreters they intend to work with. This paper aims to examine why such an accreditation test is needed by giving an overview of the necessary skills and competences of a professional conference interpreter and by explaining the sub-tasks to be completed during the examinations. Then it presents how new technologies were gradually integrated in the testing methods in an attempt to cut travel costs and to simplify the organization of the accreditation tests. Finally, the most recent, fully online testing procedure will be presented, with an analysis of the possible advantages and drawbacks of a remote exam setting, especially in the context of the lessons learnt about remote interpreting during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The impressionist tale as a way to negotiate the challenges of ethnography in field missions for international organisations

ABSTRACT The main purpose of this article is to explore the challenges that a researcher in Interpreting Studies may encounter in writing an ethnographic account of a field mission, being herself an internal observer and working as a conference interpreter for an organisation to which she has pledged allegiance. The article reports reflexively on dilemmas and challenges in conducting the research from an insider position. It demonstrates the ways in which the reflections on these dilemmas and challenges were used to reach a decision on the type of ethnographic account to write. After exploring some forms of ethnographic accounts, the article argues that an impressionist tale is a suitable approach when the researcher is part of the researched subjects and when she and her colleagues are the main characters in a delicate and emotionally charged environment characterised by the need to safeguard confidentiality and anonymity.

Inter-organizational conflict in the participatory web

Abstract Social, professional and political imaginaries are increasingly produced, contested and negotiated in and across online platforms. Adopting a socio-narrative perspective, this paper explores the ways in which collectivities of interpreters use communication technologies in the construction of, and competition over, their organizational identity, practice and space. It focuses on Babels, which organized activist interpreting in social forums, and AIIC, the international association of conference interpreters, and their use of babels.org and aiic.net. It analyzes the narrative ‘position’ of these collectivities through the prism of their Web 2.0 homepage design, and individual members’ enactment of, or departure from, these positions (narrative ‘locations’) in the context of an inter-website and interorganizational conflict. The study shows that the participatory web mediates and shapes how collectivities publicly project, enact and contest competing imaginaries of the profession, of the interpreting community, and of society at large.

Quality assurance in international sign conference interpreting at international organisations

Quality assurance (QA) in conference interpreting is considered essential among international organisations1 and interpreting practitioners (Pöchhacker, 1994). The need for QA resulted in the establishment of the International Association of Conference Interpreters (AIIC) and the development of university degree programmes in conference interpreting in spoken languages worldwide (Seeber, 2021). International organisations such as the United Nations and the European Union (EU) work closely with universities worldwide to ensure that interpreters are trained and assessed in line with their requirements. Sign language conference interpreters working with International Sign (IS) do not have equivalent opportunities to be trained and assessed as their spoken language colleagues, with whom they work for international organisations. Therefore, to assure that those who deliver IS conference interpretation services are up to quality standards, the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) and the World Association of Sign Language Interpreters (WASLI) established an accreditation system for IS interpreters in 2015. As of June 2021, thirty IS interpreters had obtained the corresponding accreditation. In this article we examine the 2021 QA system for IS conference interpreters and present findings from our 2019 global survey of the perspectives of IS conference interpreters (de Wit et al., 2021) in combination with a follow-up study on practitioners’ training and accreditation needs. The results indicate that there is a demand for formal professional training programmes that focus on interpreting IS in conference settings and a need to enhance the current accreditation system.

Http://www.trans-int.org/index.php/transint

Note-taking for interpreting is a specialist skill originally developed to assist conference interpreters to remember the contents of long speeches when interpreting consecutively in a unidirectional mode. The bulk of the research into note-taking has been in relation to the classic consecutive interpreting mode in international settings, with little research into the use of note-taking in legal interpreting settings. This paper presents the results of a study on note-taking by 13 court interpreters in a simulated criminal trial in Sydney, Australia. It reports the results of interpreters’ note-taking practices, taking into account their language combination, their own perceptions of mental effort and the usefulness of notes as well as their overall interpreting performance.

On Obstacles and Strategies of International Medical Conference Interpreting - Take the 2nd China SMA Conference as an Example

There is a growing need of quality medical conference interpreters worldwide, yet conference interpreting in medical setting is bristled with difficulties for even experienced interpreters. To address these issues, this study cites the video of the 2nd China SMA (Spinal Muscular Atrophy) Conference as a corpus and makes an in-depth analysis of it under the guidance of the Interpretive Theory. Through a series of data mining on issues related to speech such as pre-post conferences situation, interpretation procedures and skills employed, the study summarizes the triple difficulties during interpretation and conveys solutions by adopting a qualitative approach. It further highlights some new strategies to train more professional interpreters based on the discussions above. The result of this study contributes to the improvement in the quality of medical interpreting, the increasing research to medical conference interpretation and eventually help meet the surging need of medical interpreters in the health care industry.

Using some strategies in simultaneous interpreting process

This article analyzes the strategies that serve to facilitate the work of the translator in the process of simultaneous translation. Most of the simultaneous translation researchers understand the strategy as a necessary skill or certain skills of the conference interpreter in processing the message when translating from the source language to the target language. In simultaneous translation, the interpreter uses several strategies at the same time. The decision is usually made on a case-by-case basis. It was also suggested that linguistic and extralinguistic factors influence this situation.

Professional Doctorate in Translation and Interpreting: Next Thing on the Horizon in Chinese Mainland

Abstract In Chinese mainland higher education institutions, translator and interpreter education comprises research-oriented Master’s and Doctoral programs in translation and interpreting studies, and Bachelor’s and Master’s-level programs that focus on developing students’ practical translation and interpreting skills and knowledge. A limited few also offer conference interpreter training that leads to a professional diploma. While this structure has been established for the past two decades or so, many Chinese scholars have argued in favor of adding a professional doctorate in translation and interpreting (DTI) to the mix and expect it to have positive implications for academia and the industry. This paper provides the context in which DTI should be interpreted and takes stock of the proposals for its design. It also makes a brief comparison of DTI and the traditional academic doctorate in terms of admission, research goals, focus of study, assessment approaches, as well as internship and dissertation requirements, and it argues for the need for finer differentiation.

Zooming in: Interpreters’ perspective towards remote simultaneous interpreting (RSI) ergonomics

This paper examines the usability of the Zoom platform from the perspective of professional conference interpreters. In the aftermath of lockdowns and travel restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic, Remote Simultaneous Interpreting (RSI) rushed into the lives of conference interpreters. This gave rise to the development of several Simultaneous Interpreting Delivery Platforms (SIDPs). They have in time become the new offices of practicing interpreters, each requiring a new set of skills and quick adaptation in a short period of time. Zoom, although not an SIDP but rather an online meeting platform, also offers interpretation features and is at the moment the most common platform used also for remote simultaneous interpreting worldwide. In order to assess the usability of the platform by the conference interpreters, the study applied the USE questionnaire developed in 2001 by Lund based on three pillars - Usefulness, Satisfaction, and Ease of Use – on professional conference interpreters in Turkey. The findings suggest that the Zoom platform has high usability scores. Coupled with this there is also significant appetite among the interpreters towards the improvement of the platform, which could be an indicator of interpreters’ desire to better the existing RSI ergonomics. In conclusion, the paper also points to future areas of required research in relation to ergonomics of remote interpreting.

TRANSLATIONAL SELF-REPAIRS IN TRAINEE CONFERENCE INTERPRETERS: PRELIMINARY FINDINGS FROM A PILOT STUDY

This article investigates the phenomenon of self-repairs in simultaneous interpreting trainees, which has so far received only limited attention in interpreting research. Conference interpreters were long denied the ability to correct their performance (cf. Kade, 1968; Seleskovitch, 1968; Reiß & Vermeer, 1984). However, it was not until 1975 that Gerver described the importance of self-repairs as sufficient evidence of interpreters’ monitoring for both the source text perception and target text production. In this study, a qualitative method is used in the analysis of a corpus that comprises the interpreting performance of second-year MA students of English Studies at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin. The pilot study entailed recording the students’ output of two distinct speeches (interpreted from English into Polish) and analysing the transcript thereof. The results prove that trainee interpreters repair not only defects sensu stricto, but also attend to their outputs for a number of reasons (cf. Petite, 2005). The article will demonstrate both a preliminary taxonomy of translational self-repairs identified in novice interpreters and put forward significant didactic implications for interpreter training. Keywords: simultaneous interpreting, monitoring, self-correction, self-repairs, interpreter training

The Conference Interpreter Trainee: A Successful Start-up?

In 2010, Chris Durban and Eugene Seidel published the volume The Prosperous Translator: Advice from Fire Ant and Worker Bee. Doubtless, since translation is at least partly akin to conference interpreting, one might think that the interpreter should also be able to lead a prosperous life. But the reality around us shows that not everyone succeeds in their professional life. Starting from the idea that a company’s recipe for success could be applied to the training process of a successful interpreter, in this article we aim to examine to what extent the skills of the conference interpreting master could be strengthened, sharpened and expanded if the personal as well as the teaching approach followed the entrepreneurial model of success and how much effectiveness and efficiency matters in the training process. To this effect, we consider here in parallel conference interpreting pedagogy and proven marketing techniques.

Corpus-Assisted Exercises in Conference Interpreter Training

The article discusses the role of exercises for beginners in conference interpreting classes, introduces possible ways to create such exercises by means of speech corpora available online, and advocates for a combination of research-informed and technology-assisted approach to interpreter training. First, the state of research in interpreting pedagogy, and in particular the concept of part-task training are briefly described. The goal of decreasing cognitive effort during interpreting, and during the learning process, underlines the usefulness of part-task exercises for automatization of interpreting sub-skills. Based on this theoretic rationale, available handbooks for interpreter trainers are critically assessed. It is argued that interpreting programs could benefit from collections of exercises, or from methods to create them. In interpreter training, especially corpora of political speeches allow the creation of multiple exercises for automatization of certain sub- skills, which is illustrated by several examples.

Exploring booth-mates’ teamwork in the time of a pandemic: A case study

AbstractCo-location is a crucial precondition for simultaneous interpreters' teamwork. However, it is becoming increasingly difficult to secure amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as conference interpreters across the world are forced to embrace distance interpreting due to anti-covid public health measures. This article aims to examine how the disruption to co-location during the pandemic has changed interpreters' teamwork. Drawing on the analytic framework of Pre-process, Peri-process, In-process, and Post-process proposed by Sylvia Kalina (2002), the study explores changing reality in China by combining micro- and macro analysis in a case study involving 136 conference interpreters in the country. Results show that the pandemic has unleashed unprecedented disruption to interpreters' teamwork in spite of their proactive efforts to maintain it. More specifically, a new teamwork pattern featuring major shifts in collaboration themes, division of roles, and fewer benefits is emerging. Findings from the research may shed light on changing realities not only in China, but possibly in the wider world. Practical suggestions and future research needs are also identified.

Reading patterns, reformulation and eye-voice span (IVS) in sight translation

Abstract The study examined how a required reformulation of a source text affects reading patterns in sight translation. We also tested how interpreters regulated their eye-voice span (IVS, understood as the delay between viewing the source language word and speaking it in the target language) in the task. Twenty-four professional conference interpreters sight translated (from Polish into English) a text with syntactically symmetrical sentences (that could be copied in the target language) or asymmetrical ones (that required reformulation). The participants’ output and eye movements were recorded. Mean IVS turned out to exceed 8s. Text viewing durations and IVS did not differ between symmetrical and asymmetrical sentences. In contrast, reformulated output structures generated larger IVS than the retained ones. Also, words appearing later in the text on the screen were associated with longer IVS. This shows that IVS is a complex construct and that reformulation affects reading patterns in sight translation.