Simultaneous Interpreting Research Articles

Semantically related gestures facilitate language comprehension during simultaneous interpreting

AbstractManual co-speech gestures can facilitate language comprehension, but do they influence language comprehension in simultaneous interpreters, and if so, is this influence modulated by simultaneous interpreting (SI) and/or by interpreting experience? In a picture-matching task, 24 professional interpreters and 24 professional translators were exposed to utterances accompanied by semantically matching representational gestures, semantically unrelated pragmatic gestures, or no gestures while viewing passively (interpreters and translators) or during SI (interpreters only). During passive viewing, both groups were faster with semantically related than with semantically unrelated gestures. During SI, interpreters showed the same result. The results suggest that language comprehension is sensitive to the semantic relationship between speech and gesture, and facilitated when speech and gestures are semantically linked. This sensitivity is not modulated by SI or interpreting experience. Thus, despite simultaneous interpreters’ extreme language use, multimodal language processing facilitates comprehension in SI the same way as in all other language processing.

Subjectivity and Ethos in Simultaneous Conference Interpreting – Interpreting Women’s Risks for the International Community at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women

ABSTRACT War, violence, sexual and sexist abuse are just some of the risks that women face daily worldwide. In this frame, the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) rises as a large international forum for discussing women’s risks and advancing policies for the promotion of gender equality. Here interpreting plays a key role. Therefore, it is paramount to examine the discursive, institutional and geopolitical aspects involved in interpreting women’s risks for the international community. This paper proposes an indepth study of interpreted discourse from the perspective of the construction of subjectivity and its related ethos, on matters concerning risk-exposed women. The study aims to identify what risks are communicated and how by analysing the discursive and enunciative practices that materialise subjectivity in English<>Spanish interpreting. The paper uses quantitative and qualitative methodologies to study a corpus of simultaneously interpreted speeches delivered at the opening statements and general debate of the CSW between 2015 (59th session) and 2016 (60th session). The results underscore that, when communicating risks, interpretation relies on enunciative operations that are linked to an institutionalised ethos likely to impact on risk reception.

Simultaneous interpreting experience enhances the use of case markers for prediction in Turkish

Abstract This study investigated individual differences in prediction during language comprehension in professional and student Turkish (A)–English (B) simultaneous interpreters as a function of simultaneous interpreting (SI) experience and working memory capacity (WMC). A Turkish visual-world eye-tracking prediction task examined whether the accusative versus the nominative case markers on the initial nouns of sentences could be used as cues to predicting an upcoming argument. The participants’ WMC was measured using an automated operation span task. We found a prediction effect (a significantly higher increase in fixations to the plausible agent with time in the accusative than in the nominative condition) for the professionals, but not for the students. WMC contributed positively to the prediction effect in the professionals. Our findings indicate an SI-related advantage for prediction in professional versus student interpreters. Importantly, the present findings revealed an SI-related advantage in a prediction task that did not require interpreting.

Is Direct Speech the Norm in English-Thai Simultaneous Interpreting? The Effect of Gender-Specific Terms on the Use of Direct Speech in Interpreting

This study investigates using the concept of norms whether English-Thai interpreters regard direct speech as an appropriate interpreting style in simultaneous interpreting. It also explores whether gender-specific linguistic terms in Thai, which consist of first-person pronouns and formality-marking particles (FMPs), affect the interpreter to deviate from direct speech. Questionnaires and interviews were used to collect data. As a result, 12 interpreters answered the questionnaires, and four interpreters participated in the interviews. The results show that direct speech is the norm among the interpreters in this data set: 90.9% of respondents believed that English-Thai simultaneous interpreting should be done in the direct style, and 58.3% regularly used first-person pronouns and FMPs based on the speaker’s gender. However, some respondents did not use first-person pronouns or FMPs along these lines. Some of their reason might be to avoid gender-specific terms. The interviews’ results also showed that although the negative feelings toward using different-gender first-person pronouns and FMPs were different among individuals, all four interview participants admitted that they had misused FMPs when interpreting for the different-gender speakers. The results, therefore, suggest that gender-specific terms induce the interpreters to shift from direct to indirect speech.

Tracking lexical access and code switching in multilingual participants with different degrees of simultaneous interpretation expertise.

With the worldwide increase in people speaking more than one language, a better understanding of the behavioural and neural mechanisms governing lexical selection, lexical access in multiple languages and code switching has attracted widespread interest from several disciplines. Previous studies documented higher costs when processing a non‐native (L2) than a native (L1) language or when switching from L2 to L1. However, studies on auditory language reception are still scarce and did not take into account the degree of switching experience. Accordingly, in the present study, we combined behavioural and electrophysiological measurements to assess lexical access in L1 and L2 as well as code switching in professional simultaneous interpreters, trainee interpreters, foreign language teachers and Anglistics students, while the participants performed a bilingual auditory lexical decision task. The purpose of this study was to expand the knowledge on code switching in auditory language processing and examine whether the degree of simultaneous interpretation experience might reduce switching costs. As a main result, we revealed that L2 compared to L1 trials, as well as switch compared to non‐switch trials, generally resulted in lower accuracies, longer reaction times and increased N400 amplitudes in all groups of participants. Otherwise, we did not reveal any influence of switching direction and interpretation expertise on N400 parameters. Taken together, these results suggest that a late age of L2 acquisition leads to switching costs, irrespective of proficiency level. Furthermore, we provided first evidence that simultaneous interpretation training does not diminish switching costs, at least when focusing on lexical access.

Inferencing and Functional Approach to Text: Based on Simultaneous Interpreting

A prompt exchange of information requires a thrift in expressive means and makes relevant the processes of verbalizing and reverbalizing sense in bilingual communication. The analysis of various communicative situations in simultaneous interpreting both from English into Russian and Russian into English show specific parameters of generating a text in the target language, which differ from the traditional author’s text generation. The study’s objective is to introduce the notion of inferencing (in the Russian linguistic studies the term inference is used) as a special linguistic tool of eliciting and interpreting sense in the process of translation/interpreting. General linguistic understanding of inference and implication refers to the direct communication between a sender (speaker) and recipient (listener) that produces interrelated notions via independent inferences. The method of sampling and comparing the inferences accumulated empirically and of simulation modelling of simultaneous interpreting can demonstrate that a distinctive feature of indirect communication via interpreter is multi-component system of additional cognitive procedures at the stage of interpreting. The simultaneous interpreting outcomes as the material of research indicate that conveying the sense in interpreting is based on a dynamic process of inferencing, which is a creative search of implicatures and their reverbalization, with an interpreter resorting to his/ her own thesaurus-based resources (mental lexicon) related to the knowledge of domain, which is a subject of communication. The distinctive parameter of inferencing in interpreting is both the generation of inferences and implicatures and a cognitive analytical process of selecting facts from presuppositional knowledge. The study outcomes show that the cognitive analytical process of inferencing is closely related to probabilistic forecasting, which presupposes an accumulation by an interpreter of a sufficient individual base of verified intuitive solutions and referential languagebased interpretations and presuppositions. The study makes a conclusion that of crucial importance for interpreting is inferencing, rather than inference as such.

The Importance of Utilizing Euphemism in Translation and Simultaneous Interpreting

Euphemism is an important linguistic phenomenon that tends to soften written or oral expressions. Thus, when translators or interpreters face expressions including euphemism, they need to know how to deal with them. The problem of the current paper lies in the effect of rendering euphemistic expressions inaccurately, as such expressions represent the cultural and terminological sense of the original language. Thus, rendering them improperly will affect the sense of the interpreted speech. For this, it is essential for translators in general and simultaneous interpreters in particular to know the importance of utilizing euphemism in the simultaneous interpreting field, which is the main aim of this paper. To this end, a systematic review has been adopted by shedding light on euphemism types suggested by Williams’ (1975), and euphemism functions suggested by Wijana and Rohmadi (2008), and Nordquist (2018). Some examples were drawn from the common euphemistic topics in which euphemistic expressions and their translation were discussed. This study has concluded that to convey the sense and cultural meaning of the original euphemistic expression, simultaneous interpreters must be aware of the types and functions of such euphemism. This is because the previous knowledge of them plays a positive role in the performance of simultaneous interpreters.

Theory and practice of simultaneous Russian-Chinese translation teaching for Chinese students

The purpose of the study is to make special exercises for Chinese students who study simultaneous translation from Russian to Chinese, based on the classical Soviet theory of translation and comparative linguistics. At the moment of simultaneous translation a transformation of a different language system is necessary. Russian language at the level of phonetics, syntax, vocabulary, etc. is very different from the Chinese language — Chinese students inevitably encounter a number of language barriers. The relevance of the research is due to the rapid growth of the need for highly qualified Russian-Chinese simultaneous interpreters against the background of the development of the "One Belt, One Road" program. To overcome such problems, special exercises are required to cultivate the skills and abilities of searching and making translation in conditions of a tight time limit. In order to achieve this research goal, it is necessary to solve the following tasks: firstly, to formulate the purpose of teaching simultaneous Russian-Chinese translation from the point of view of A. F. Shiryaev; secondly, to compile a series of simultaneous translation exercises based on comparative linguistics.

Effects of presentation delivery rate on errors in simultaneous interpreting: A pilot study

Although the success of information rendition in simultaneous interpreting (SI) is susceptible to many factors, the speed of the source speech (SS) is perceived as one of the most challenging problem triggers. However, previous studies that examine the effects of SS in SI have reported different results. Therefore, this study aims to examine the effects of normal and fast source speech rates on simultaneous interpreting performance through error analysis. In this pilot study, seven error categories are employed, i.e., segment omission, word-and-phrase level omission, addition, unfinished sentence, filled pause, and long pause, which are derived from error classifications by Barik (1971). The first four categories are part of linguistic errors, whereas the last three categories are part of paralinguistic errors. Two videos with a speed of 124-wpm (words per minute) and 184-wpm were used as the source speeches and three professional interpreters with more than seven years of experience were recruited as research participants. It is revealed that the fast speech rate has increased the frequency of errors. Additionally, segment omission appears to be the category mostly impacted by SS speed. Therefore, the result of this study suggests interpreters’ training institutions pay more attention to coping tactics learning and acquisition in their courses. Nevertheless, more replication studies are still required to verify this finding.

Linguistic and Extralinguistic Features of Linguistic Persona of the Interpreter

In the article the author considers the problems of simultaneous interpreting, focusing on the influence of linguocultural and extralinguistic features of linguistic identity in the interpreting of the TV interview genre. The research is conducted on the material of mass media discourse. The research methods include linguistic analysis of linguistic persona in the interview, cognitive and discursive analysis of the representation of linguistic persona in the interview, the interpretive analysis of simultaneous interpretations. The research results in the description of linguistic and extralinguistic features of the linguistic persona in the interview genre, directly affecting the interpreting process; features of simultaneous interpreting of an interview, analysis of problem situations in the process of interpretation of the television interview.

Prediction in challenging situations: Most bilinguals can predict upcoming semantically-related words in their L1 source language when interpreting

AbstractPrediction is an important part of language processing. An open question is to what extent people predict language in challenging circumstances. Here we tested the limits of prediction by asking bilingual Dutch native speakers to interpret Dutch sentences into their English counterparts. In two visual world experiments, we recorded participants’ eye movements to co-present visual objects while they engaged in interpreting tasks (consecutive and simultaneous interpreting). Most participants showed anticipatory eye movements to semantically-related upcoming target words in their L1 source language during both consecutive and simultaneous interpretation. A quarter of participants during simultaneous interpretation however did not move their eyes, an extremely unusual participant behaviour in visual world studies. Overall, the findings suggest that most people predict in the source language under challenging interpreting situations. Further work is required to understand the causes of the absence of (anticipatory) eye movements during simultaneous interpretation in a substantial subset of individuals.

An empirical analysis on the efficiency of five interlingual live subtitling workflows

Interlingual Live Subtitling (ILS) is an innovative translation and accessibility method where a written text in one language is produced live from an oral source in another language. ILS can be provided through different methods, some of which involve the participation of one or more humans, whereas others are fully automatic. Speech-to-text interpreting (STTI) is a form of human-mediated ILS that is situated at the crossroads of audiovisual translation, media accessibility and simultaneous interpreting, as well as between human-mediated translation and automatic language processing systems. One of the most promising forms of STTI is interlingual respeaking. It builds upon intralingual respeaking (the most common form of speech-to-text captioning, which does not include language transfer) and involves the participation of a human interpreter plus speech recognition software. Although interlingual respeaking is in great demand, there are other approaches to STTI -with different degrees of human intervention- which are currently being used by broadcasters and conference organizers. The purpose of this research is to test the efficiency of five of those methods, namely, (1) interlingual respeaking, (2) simultaneous interpreting plus intralingual respeaking, (3) simultaneous interpreting plus automatic speech recognition, (4) intralingual respeaking plus machine translation and (5) automatic speech recognition plus machine translation. The results provide a useful insight into the current efficiency of five different ILS methods and strengthen the idea that efficiency is not restricted to accuracy, but includes factors such as delay and the type of resources (either human or machine) required. It is hoped that this research may help provide the industry with tools to make informed choices between different forms of ILS (at least for the language combination English-Spanish) while offering employment opportunities for simultaneous interpreters and respeakers in the digital era.

Перцептивные стратегии в ситуации синхронного перевода английской речи носителей языков Восточной Азии

The paper aims to provide an insight into the features of application of perception strategies by simultaneous interpreters in the situation of conference translation of English speech of speakers from East Asia. The article provides a description of perception strategies developed within the theory of speech perception. The study emphasizes the importance of improving the interpreter’s competence when working with the speech which has the features of East Asian accent by means of expanding the perceptual base of interpreters. The scientific originality of the research lies in the fact that it considers the actualization mechanism of perception strategies when working with the speech which has the features of East Asian accent. As a result, it has been proved that the improvement of the interpreter’s competence is achieved through the knowledge of systemic features of the pronunciation usus of the varieties of English in East Asia.

‘They Wouldn’t Mind Pushing People Off the Bus’: Exploring Power in Practice Theory through the Work of Simultaneous Interpreters

Based on a qualitative interview dataset, this article highlights the power relations in the work experiences of UK-based professional simultaneous interpreters, who provide valuable communication services to users but are constrained by the ‘invisible labour’ arrangements of their job. Adopting a practice theory approach, this study extends available theorisations of power as an effect manifested in performance, by articulating a view of power suffusing from the wider organisation of practices – meanings, competencies, and materialities – which governs social order. By making professional rewards conditional on collaborative engagement with other interpreters, the hiding of failure, and unobtrusive behaviours, the practice of interpreting translates power as the struggle to assert individual visibility. The study contributes to the sociological debate by offering an understanding of power shaped by the situated, practical order of everyday action.

Examining Associations Among Emotional Intelligence, Creativity, Self-efficacy, and Simultaneous Interpreting Practice Through the Mediating Effect of Field Dependence/Independence: A Path Analysis Approach.

Simultaneous interpreting (SI) is a cognitively complex activity due to the concurrent nature of receiving and producing messages. Previous research confirms that SI is profoundly influenced by cognitive, attitudinal, and psychological mechanisms. Following this line of enquiry, the present investigation proposes a unique model by integrating cognitive and psychological factors related to the professional performance in SI. Specifically, this study examined a model to test the predictive and mediational effects of emotional intelligence, creativity, self-efficacy, and field dependence/independence (FD/FI) on simultaneous interpreting. A total of 248 university students majoring in Translation Studies completed measures of General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES), Emotional-Quotient Inventory (EQ-I), Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT), General Embedded Figures Test (GMFT), and two SI tasks, namely the oral cloze test (OCT) and the listening and memory recall exercise (LMRE). The path analysis supported the direct effect of creativity and its indirect effects mediated by FD/FI on SI. Emotional intelligence made only a significant indirect effect on SI through FD/FI. Self-efficacy, on the other hand, made only a significant direct effect on SI. Emotional intelligence and creativity also contributed significantly to the prediction of FD/FI. The analyses also revealed a significant correlation between emotional intelligence and self-efficacy and also between creativity and emotional intelligence. Finally, FD/FI directly predicted simultaneous interpreting. Other hypothesized associations were not found to be statistically significant. The findings suggest that psychological attributes can have a great impact on students' performance in simultaneous interpreting training exercises. Implications of the study and the research avenues are discussed.

Menzerath-Altmann Law in Consecutive and Simultaneous Interpreting: Insights into Varied Cognitive Processes and Load

ABSTRACT Notwithstanding theoretical simulations of distinctive cognitive processes and load of consecutive (CI) and simultaneous interpreting (SI), quantitative linguistic inquiry into their outputs is needed for solid empirical evidence. As a fundamental law of quantitative linguistics, Menzerath–Altmann Law (MAL) mirrors the economic processing of linguistic information and complex dynamic language system. Given its extensive validation at various linguistic levels and predictive power of its parameters in register, language and authorship differentiation, MAL is worthy of being applied to interpreting studies. We endeavour to investigate whether interpreted languages follow the MAL and reveal varied cognitive load of CI versus SI, as manifested by different MAL fitting models. Results show that (1) both CI and SI outputs follow the MAL; (2) SI processing involves more diversified structural information and shows a greater tendency of shortening the clauses of a sentence with increased sentence length, than CI processing, expressed by significantly higher a and lower b in SI models than that in CI models. Our findings suggest the disparate language representations are shaped by cognitive capacity limitations and interpreting modalities, and reveal how language system dynamically re-regulates and reorganizes the linguistic information to accommodate environmental settings from the perspective of synergetic linguistics.

Синтаксические особенности исходных речевых произведений как дестабилизирующий фактор в устном синхронном переводе (на материале речей американских политиков)

Simultaneous interpreting is one of the most complex types of cognitive and communicative activity. Since the middle of the 20th century, simultaneous interpreters have been serving the needs of intercultural mediation at conferences, congresses and other international meetings. This justifies the need to educate highly qualified interpreters. In this regard, the study of the simultaneous interpreting mechanisms and peculiarities in the context of political communication plays an important role in improving interpreting theory, didactics, practice and methodology. The quality and accuracy of simultaneous interpreting depend on both the interpreter and the orator. Prosodic, syntactical, lexical and stylistic features inherent in the speeches determine their translatability. These features, as well as a number of other variables, can either represent some destabilizing factors for simultaneous interpreters, or contribute to a more accurate and highquality interpreting. The article describes a number of factors that influence the simultaneous interpreting process and result. We pay a particular attention to the analysis of the syntactic features inherent in the speeches delivered by two US presidents: George W. Bush (2001–2009) and B. Obama (2009–2017). The paper determines the impact that these syntactic features can have on simultaneous interpreting. The analysis of the features inherent in the speeches can help in the selection of material for the simultaneous interpreting didactics in the language combination “English–Russian”. The results of the research can be used in the study of texts produced by other speakers and/or in other languages.

Computer-assisted interpreting systems in the education of simultaneous interpreters

The article deals with the analysis of the potential of existing terminology support systems for simultaneous interpreting and the experience of their use in universities. Based on the study the possibilities of their use in the educational process of domestic institutions of higher education in the training of interpreters were identified. It is proposed to choose the software products InterpretBank, Interplex, Interpreter’s Help for training simultaneous interpreters. It has been found that the proposed programmes contribute to the students’ ability to create their own glossaries on specific subjects, fill them in in different ways and use them directly when interpreting. The feasibility of practising CAI tools in a specialised simultaneous interpreting laboratory has been proved.

Training techniques in the education of simultaneous interpreters using specialised equipment

The article deals with the search for ways to improve the training of simultaneous interpreters in accordance with modern requirements for their professional activities. It has been suggested that special training should be incorporated into the training of these professionals to develop and improve a range of specific abilities, skills and attitudes. They are classified into five groups (linguistic, cognitive, psychological, physical, technical). Particular attention is paid to the technological support for the work of the simultaneous interpreters. A training programme for simultaneous interpreters has been developed and its effectiveness has been tested. It is proposed to conduct training sessions under the modelling of real working conditions of simultaneous interpreters.

Tropes and Rhetorical Figures in Simultaneous Interpreting of Presidential Speeches

Since one of the distinctive features of presidential speeches is the use of tropes and rhetorical figures, which are employed to achieve a persuasive effect, this study aimed to find out if tropes and rhetorical figures are retained in simultaneous interpretation from English into Lithuanian and whether the omission of them in the interpretation diminishes the rhetorical effect of the speech. The research found that out of 500 tropes and rhetorical figures observed in original speeches more than a half are absent in interpretation. Based on a closer analysis of examples, it was concluded that tropes and rhetorical figures tend to cause problems for interpreters and that the omission of tropes and rhetorical figures results in a diminished rhetorical effect in the target language.