EU Terminology in Interpreter Training: Selected Problem Areas Connected With EU-Related Texts

Selected aspects of the aforementioned issues shall be verified in a case study conducted on trainee interpreters

The effect of informational load on disfluencies in interpreting: a corpus-based regression analysis

This article attempts to measure the cognitive or informational load in interpreting by modelling the occurrence rate of the speech disfluency uh(m). In a corpus of 107 interpreted and 240 non-interpreted texts, informational load is operationalized in terms of four measures: delivery rate, lexical density, percentage of numerals, and average sentence length. The occurrence rate of the indicated speech disfluency was modelled using a rate model. Interpreted texts are analyzed based on the interpreter's output and compared with the input of non-interpreted texts, and measure the effect of source text features. The results demonstrate that interpreters produce significantly more uh(m) s than non-interpreters and that this difference is mainly due to the effect of lexical density on the output side. The main source predictor of uh(m) s in the target text was shown to be the delivery rate of the source text. On a more general level of significance, the second analysis also revealed an increasing effect of the numerals in the source texts and a decreasing effect of the numerals in the target texts

Gaze and body orientation as an apparatus for patient inclusion into/exclusion from a patient-centred framework of communication

Dialogue interpreter training has traditionally focused on the way in which the interpreter manages, and maintains, verbal interaction between the primary participants while it seems to overlook the importance of specific non-verbal aspects that are inherent in mediated interaction. This article presents an alternative method for the training of medical interpreters by drawing on research on non-verbal communication in interpreter-mediated consultations with a view to drawing attention to the interpreter's impact on the patient's inclusion in a patient-centred framework during mediated consultations. More specifically, it provides evidence of non-verbal interaction that might open up new trajectories in the interpreters' training by foregrounding the impact of the interpreter's and others' direction of gaze and body orientation on the accomplishment and maintenance - or lack thereof - of a patient-centred framework of communication. The present article reports on findings that emerged from the analysis of selected excerpts of authentic interpreter-mediated consultations within the framework of a training experiment. Coded instances of interaction are analysed by relying on Goffman's 'ratification process', Goodwin's 'participation and engagement frameworks' and Norris' 'modal density foreground-background continuum'. Hospital ethical approval and participants' written informed consent were obtained prior to the collection of data

Improving psychological skill in trainee interpreters

The general effects of self-efficacy and explanatory style on performance have been thoroughly researched in the field of psychology. This article is based on Atkinson’s (2012) psychological skill model, which attempts to construct these factors to complement traditional conceptions of interpreter and translator skill, and apply them to interpreter and translator training. This article is a discussion of psychological skill, including factors of self-efficacy, explanatory style, and locus of control, and outlines how self-efficacy and explanatory style can become a focus of interpreter training. Resources to help students conduct self-analysis on their occupational self-efficacy and explanatory style are provided in the appendices, in the form of scales educators can use in their classes. A range of ideas are highlighted to assist students in becoming aware of their psychological skill, and pedagogical suggestions are offered for changing and improving aspects of psychological skill in students

The ethics of machine translation

In this paper I first describe the two main branches in machine translation research. I then go to discuss why the second of these, statistical machine translation, can cause some malaise among translation scholars. As some of the issues that arise are ethical in nature, I stop to ponder what an ethics of machine translation might involve, before considering the ethical stance adopted by some of the main protagonists in the development and popularisation of statistical machine translation, and in the teaching of translation

Does interpreter-mediated CBT with traumatized refugee people work? A comparison of patient outcomes in East London

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La palabra a los oyentes: los comentarios del público en un cuestionario sobre la percepción de la calidad de la interpretación consecutiva de estudiantes en prácticas

This article is the English version of “La palabra a los oyentes: Los comentarios del público en un cuestionario sobre la percepción de la calidad de la interpretación consecutiva de estudiantes en prácticas” by Elena Errico & Mara Morelli. It was not published on the print version of MonTI for reasons of space. The online version of MonTI does not suffer from these limitations, and this is our way of promoting plurilingualism.This study is part of a project investigating user-perceived quality of consecutive interpreting assignments carried out as part of an on-the-job training scheme offered to our students. From a theoretical-methodological point of view we have adopted the ethnographic perspective (Angelelli 2004; Valero-Garcés & Martin 2008) and administered users and other participants a questionnaire replicated from Collados Aís’s research (1998). Thus far, we have collected responses from 403 informants in 14 different events. In this paper we focus on the “Additional Comments and Suggestions” section which the informants can fill in at the end of the questionnaire. We examine the types of commentaries added, their frequency and consistency with the rest of responses. We also explore whether the informants who provide negative assessments in the questionnaire add details in this section.Esta contribución se inscribe en un proyecto en el que estamos investigando la percepción de la calidad por parte de los usuarios de un servicio de interpretación consecutiva (IC) español-italiano desarrollado por estudiantes en prácticas. Desde el punto de vista teórico-metodológico, hemos adoptado la perspectiva etnográfica (Angelelli 2004; Valero-Garcés & Martin 2008) y utilizado una combinación de herramientas investigadoras que incluye un cuestionario para cuyo diseño nos hemos guiado por el desarrollado por Collados Aís (1998). Hasta la fecha contamos con 403 cuestionarios recogidos en 14 actos diferentes. En esta ocasión nos centramos en la sección del cuestionario llamada “Más comentarios” que pueden rellenar los oyentes al final. Nos interesa ver con qué frecuencia se agregan comentarios, de qué tipo son y si resultan coherentes con el resto del cuestionario. Además, veremos si los que atribuyen juicios y notas negativas en el cuestionario añaden detalles en la sección “Más comentarios”

Towards a Re-Definition of Government Interpreters' Agency Against a Backdrop of Sociopolitical and Cultural Evolution: A Case of Premier's Press Conferences in China

The sociopolitical and cultural evolution as a result of the Reform and Opening up in 1978, facilitated not least by the inexorable juggernaut of globalization and technological advancement, has revolutionized the way China engages domestically and interacts with the outside world. The need for more proactive diplomacy and open engagement witnessed the institutionalization of the interpreter-mediated premier's press conferences. Such a discursive event provides a vital platform for China to articulate its discourse and rebrand its image in tandem with the profound changes signaled by the Dengist reform. This chapter investigates critically how political press conference interpreting and interpreters' agency in China are impacted in relation to such dramatic transformations. It is revealed that, while interpreters are confronted with seemingly conflicting expectations, in actual practice they are often able to negotiate a way as highly competent interpreting professionals with the additional missions of advancing China's global engagement and safeguarding China's national interests