THE CIRIN BULLETIN
Conference
Interpreting Research
Information Network
An independent network for the
dissemination of information on
conference interpreting
research (CIR)
__________________________________________________________________
BULLETIN n°31
December 2005
Editor: Daniel Gile
Contributors to
this issue:
Magdalena
Bartlomiejczyk (MB), Delia Chiaro (DC), Ivana
Čenková (IC),
Wladimir
Kutz (WK), Peter Mead (PM), Franz Pöchhacker (FP),
Alessandra
Riccardi (AR), Mariachiara Russo (MR), Xiao Xiaoyan (XX)
Editorial address:
D. Gile, 46, rue d'Alembert, 92190 Meudon, France
tel/fax 00 33 1 45 34 83 84
e-mail: daniel.gile@laposte.net
Web site: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/daniel.gile/
This
Bulletin aims at contributing to the dissemination of information on conference
interpreting research (CIR) and at providing useful information to members of
the CIR community worldwide. It is intended to achieve maximum coverage of
research into this sub-field of interpreting, and only occasionally refers to
research and publications in other sub-fields. The Bulletin is published
twice a year, in December and June. For further information and electronic or
paper copies of early issues (the last issue is available on the Web site at
any time), please contact D. Gile.
Note:
the mini-abstracts are followed by the initials of the contributors who sent in
the information, but the text is either written or adapted from the original
text by D.Gile, who takes responsibility for the comments and for potential
errors introduced by him.
* *
*
In established empirical disciplines, young
researchers go through rigorous training, and prominent personalities have
generally encountered strict methodological screening procedures during their
climb to the top levels of their scientific community. Such screening is
missing in Interpreting Studies (IS), where to my knowledge, almost all
scholars have little or no formal training in empirical research, including
statistics, and prominent personalities have not undergone a strict
methodological screening process. In a way, in spite of the doctoral degree
which most of them have, they are PhGs, Gurus in philosophy, with a
status bestowed upon them by the community for their creative ideas, good
writing, high productivity or powerful personality, but methodologically, they
may well have clay feet. If they are responsible and honest, they behave accordingly,
with awareness of their limitations and referral to more knowledgeable
authorities when they reach their maximum level of competence. When they forget
or disregard the fact, they fall prey to the PhG syndrome. The PhG syndrome is
dangerous, because PhGs are influential and may misguide younger researchers
who trust them and don't know better. PhGs are also more visible to colleagues
from cognate disciplines than less known researchers and bear special
responsibility in that respect. It seems reasonable to assume that the
discipline will be made attractive and benefit from better input from cognate
disciplines if they show such colleagues that they are respected and that their
potential contribution will be appreciated - though some theories and methods
are not germane to the needs and circumstances of interpreting research and
need to be negotiated. These thoughts came to my mind when reading Pöchacker’s
and Chiaro and Nocella’s papers in the Interpreters’ Newsletter n°13, an
interesting issue which is to a large extent devoted to methodological
reflection, in particular on speech transcription in research into
interpreting.
Sign(ed)-language interpreting (interpreting for the
deaf) is interesting for spoken-language interpreters, including conference
interpreters. Most SL interpreting is done in simultaneous, with cognitive
problems similar to those of conference interpreters. At the same time, SL interpreters
encounter all the problems that community and court interpreters face. Serving
the deaf community as interpreters also seems to pose specific cultural
problems linked to the history and culture of the Deaf in a world mostly ruled
by hearing people. The collective volume Topics in Signed Language
Interpreting edited by Terry Janzen of the University of Manitoba and
published this year in the Benjamins Translation Library is an interesting book
to read. It addresses theoretical and practical issues, including cognitive
aspects of interpreting, linguistic aspects, ethics, working conditions,
sociological topics, training, with much food for thought for spoken language
interpreters. It shows in particular that community interpreters, and
especially SL interpreters, require much more sensitivity and interactional
skills than conference interpreters to do their work properly (more information
is available in the “Recent Publications” section of the EST site (http://www.est-translationstudies.org)
D.G.
ANNOUNCEMENT:
THE FUTURE OF CONFERENCE INTERPRETING: TRAINING,
TECHNOLOGY AND RESEARCH: UNIVERSITY OF WESTMINSTER, LONDON JUNE 29th
- JULY 1st, 2006
The University of Westminster is to hold a two-day
international conference on the future of interpreting, bringing together
interpreters, trainers, employers, recruiters and researchers.
Recent political events as well and economic and
technological developments present new challenges for many professions,
including interpreting, as all forms of inter-cultural communication become
crucial. The conference will consider
conference interpreting at this critical time, taking stock of recent changes
and charting a course for the future.
The Organising Committee: Ingeborg Smallwood,
Christine Adams, Zoë Hewetson and Rob Davidson (UoW); Clare Donovan (ESIT,
Paris), Zsuzsa Lang (ELTE, Budapest), Barbara Moser-Mercer (ETI, Geneva) and
Patrick Twidle (European Parliament)
For more information please consult our website: <http://wmin.ac.uk/interpreting_conference>
Ahrens, Barbara. 2005. Analysing prosody in simultaneous
interpreting : difficulties and possible solutions. The Interpreters’
Newsletter 13. 1-14.
* A description of how the author measured
prosody in her research
Ahrens, Barbara. 2005. Rozan and Matyssek : Are they really that
different ? A comparative synopsis of two classic note-takins schools. Forum
3:2. 1-15
Blasco Mayor, María J. 2005. El reto de formar
intérpretes en el siglo XXI. Translation Journal 9:1 (<http://accurapid.com/journal/31interprete2.htm>)
* A general article on interpreter
training, focusing on the use of new technology in the classroom.
Chiaro, Delia and Giuseppe Nocella. 2005. Looking quality research in the eye: are we beholding the splinter
and ignoring the beam ? The Interpreters’ Newsletter 13. 167-199.
* This
paper is a response to Pöchhacker's criticism (see the review further down).
The authors begin by challenging Pöchhacker's suggestion that survey based
research offers “a working method that can readily be adopted also by less
experienced investigators”. They explain in particular that much preparatory
work is required before launching a survey, something that many IS
investigators have neglected. They also point out that statisticians should be
consulted at the design stage, not after the data has been collected. These two
points are recurring themes in research methodology (Gile's comment). Before
moving on to the next topic, they say that from the IS literature, which often
underscores the difficulty of investigating quality due to high variability in
relevant parameters, the impression is that this is an unsurmountable obstacle,
and make the comment: “And yet, is not apparent insuperability typical of
scientific inquiry?” This may well be a misunderstanding; perhaps those authors
to whom Chiaro and Nocella refer without citing them mean that variability in
the relevant parameters makes it difficult to define quality in a single,
monolithic way.
Chiaro
and Nocella then reply to specific criticism in Pöchhacker's paper. They are
convincing on some points, and less so on others. In particular, they do not
understand Pöchhacker's point about their sampling frame and method: what he
may have meant is that without more information about the respondents, it is
difficult to know in what way they qualify as conference interpreters by
Western standards, and in particular by AIIC standards, which would have been
important information for the conference interpreting community. Chiaro and
Nocella also show that Pöchhacker's manipulation of Bühler's and Kurz's data is
inconsistent. Unfortunately, they also chose to criticize other authors in the
literature, admittedly in a reaction of self-defense. Perhaps they could have
spared readers the embarrassment and focused on the one author who attacked
them. They could also have done without the general accusation that the field
is self-referential (p.196). There is sufficient evidence in the literature
that contrary to the situation in the 1970s and 1980s, interpreting researchers
now draw extensively on the literature of cognate disciplines. In view of both
of these authors' helpful and unassuming track record of help and cooperation
with TS, one is inclined to ascribe these excesses to strong feelings after
having been attacked as they were. DG
Dam, Helle, Jan Engberg and Anne
Schjoldager. 2005. Modelling semantic networks on source and target tests in consecutive
interpreting : A contribution to the study of interpreters’ notes. In Dam et
al. (eds). 227-254
* A pilot-phase report on a research
project on interpreters’ notes in consecutive. A model developed by Klaus
Mudersbach and Heidrun Gerzymisch-Arbogast showing arguments in texts and the
existence of relators between them was adapted to interpreting. The authors
also assessed the relative accuracy of the rendition of two paragraphs and
compared the notes taken to interpret each. It was found that in the paragraph
interpreted more accurately there were more notes, more abbreviations and a
higher ratio of SL notes to TL notes than in the less accurately interpreted
paragraph. Note the commendably honest and cautious conclusion.
Durieux, Christine & Jean Vivier. 2005. Pour une
modélisation du processus de la traduction. Revue des Lettres et de traduction 11. 43-62.
* In spite of its title, this paper is
about conference interpreting. Claims, metaphors, references to some cognitive
scientists. No new theoretical element, no new analysis, no reference to
empirical work on interpreting, or to interpreting researchers' theories,
except for a single reference to Seleskovitch's 1968 handbook.
Ersozlu, Elif. 2005. Some suggestions on Sight Translation Teaching. Translation
Journal 9:4 (<http://accurapid.com/journal/34sighttrans.htm>)
* A general article on
sight-translation. Very practical, graded exercises.
Falbo, Caterina. 2005. La transcription : une tâche paradoxale. The Interpreters’ Newsletter 13. 25-38.
* Falbo points out that transcripts are
incorrectly taken for granted as faithful reflections of the repevant speeches,
because transcribers (partly) hear what they want/expect to hear. She does not
say to what extent such inaccuracies jeopardize the results of empirical
research which uses transcripts. Referring to Martin's WinPitch software, she
talks about its potential uses, and points out in particular that it allows
slowing down speech rate without distorting the voice, and thus to recover
information missed by transcribers.
Garwood, C.J.. 2004.
“L’interferenza nell’interpretazione simultanea: il caso della lingua inglese”,
in Garzone G. & A. Cardinaletti (eds.) (2004), Lingua.
Mediazione Linguistica e Interferenza, Milano, FrancoAngeli: 303-323. (English
title: “Interference in simultaneous interpreting: the case of English”.)
* This study examines interference in an experimental
corpus of 13 simultaneous interpretations from Italian into English, by
professional interpreters with English A or English B and students with English
B. The paper discusses how environmental factors such as stress conditions and
time restrictions impact on interpreters' performance, and how the use of
English as a vehicular language may also be a relevant factor. (PM)
Gile, Daniel. 2005. Empirical research into the role of knowledge in interpreting :
Methodological aspects. In Dam et al. (eds). 149-171.
* This paper is mostly about the general
issue of variability in empirical studies and its impact.
Gile, Daniel. 2005. Citation Patterns in the T&I Didactics Literature. Forum
3:2. 85-103.
* A study of citation patterns from close
to 1000 citations from 47 papers on translator and interpreter training from 7
recent collective volumes and one special issue of Meta. Among the non-trivial
findings, books were found to be cited more often than papers, papers from
collective volumes were cited much more often than papers in journals, the
proportion of empirical studies cited was very low, and there were numerous
citations from other fields.
Kim, Chul-soo. 2005. Reconsideration of the Lecture Methods of Korean-Japanese
Interpretation and Translation – Focusing on Field Experience). Forum 3:2.105-130.
Kutz, Wladimir. 2002. Interkulturelle Aspekte des Dolmetschens. In Buhl, S. &
Gerzymisch-Arbogast, H.(Hrg.): Kultur und Übersetzung. Methodologische
Probleme des Kulturtransfers. Narr: Tübingen. 131- 168.
Kutz, Wladimir. 2005. Zur Bewertung der Dolmetschqualität in der Ausbildung von
Konferenzdolmetschern. Lebende Sprachen 1/2005.14- 34.
Lee, Migyong. 2005. Benefits of Creating “Actual Conference Setting” in Interpreting
Pedagogy. Conference
Interpretation and Translation 7:1. 99-124.
* The author lists the advantages of simulated
conference settings in the interpreting classroom, pointing out in particular
that some aspects of conference communication are too subtle to explain in a
traditional classroom situation and are perceived more readily when students
find themselves in a simile-conference. A survey on the perception of such
simulated conference settings by 30 students and 10 instructors at the author’s
university showed that such an approach was found very useful, mostly in terms
of skills acquisition in the instructors’ eyes, and more as a preparation for
the market in the students’ eyes.
Łyda, Andrzej. 2004. On causal connectives in English-Polish simultaneous and
consecutive interpreting. Linguistica Silesiana 25.103-116.
* An empirical study on connectives in
the simultaneous and consecutive rendering of English speeches into Polish by
10 philology students who had received training in interpreting.(MB)
Martin, Philippe. 2005. Linguistique de l’oralité : description de la prosodie et
analyse instrumentale. The Interpreters’ Newsletter 13. 15-24.
* An interesting introductory description
of the role of prosody in speech compreension and an introduction to the
potential use of the WinPitch software, which was apparently developed by the
author, in the analysis of SI prosody
Marzocchi, Carlo. 2005. On norms and ethics in the discourse on interpreting. The
Interpreters’ Newsletter 13. 87-107.
* A critical review of the literature on
norms in interpreting and a discussions of norms and their relation to ethics.
Mead, Peter. 2004.
“Selezione lessicale ed interferenza linguistica nell’interpretazione
consecutiva”, in Garzone G. & A. Cardinaletti (eds.) (2004), Lingua.
Mediazione Linguistica e Interferenza, Milano, FrancoAngeli: 287-302. (English
title: “Lexical selection and interference in consecutive interpreting”.)
* The study examines retrospective comments of 45
interpreters (30 students, 15 professionals) on
the reasons for their pauses in an experiment on consecutive
interpretation CI. The specific focus of the paper is on problems of target
language formulation, with examples of the different kinds of difficulty
identified and a comparison of their relative frequency according to the
interpreter’s level of experience. (PM)
Mead, Peter. 2005. Methodological issues in the study of interpreters’ fluency. The
Interpreters’ Newsletter 13. 39-63.
* A discussion of various fluency
indicators and their measurement.
Moser-Mercer, Barbara. 2005. The Teaching of Simultaneous Interpretation: The first 60 years
(1929-1989). Forum 3:1. 205-225.
* An interesting historical overview of
the early years of training of simultaneous interpreters.
Pöchhacker, Franz. 2005. Quality research revisited. The Interpreters’ Newsletter
13. 143-166.
* According
to its author, this paper offers methodological criticism which “serves to
consolidate and refine research practices and results” (p143). More
specifically, it re-analyzes data collected by Bühler and Kurz on quality
expectations and attacks Chiaro and Nocella's 2004 paper (see CIRIN Bulletin n°
28 (2004)).
The
re-analysis of data is a procedure found in studies which seek to integrate
previously collected findings in a new project with a particular research
question or hypothesis. This is not the case here. On page 150, Pöchhacker
explains that his “main goal is to illustrate a few basic methodological
options in processing ordinal data”, and that “the analysis will also serve to
test some of the longest-standing findings in QE [quality expectations]
research for their statistical significance”. Performing new analyses on data
collected initially without this analysis being in the mind of the original
investigator and without a particular new project goes against good practice in
research methodology. Moreover, as explained in Chiaro and Nocella's response
(see the review in this Bulletin), Pöchhacker’s statistics are inconsistent, making
the whole exercise counter-productive.
As to
the second part of the paper, the most striking feature of Pöchhacker's
critique of Chiaro and Nocella is its violence. It is difficult to understand what
prompted such a public attack (the dialogue could have taken place in private),
with explicit mentions of typos along with comments on substance, in a paper
which, according to its author, is about methodology. Moreover, much of
Pöchhacker's criticism of Chiaro and Nocella shows lack of understanding of the
position where they stand when formulating their statements, perhaps because he
has not had enough training in empirical research methods. For instance, when
they say that Kurz's samples (in the plural) were small and uneven, he answers
by comparing the size of “her sample” (in the singular) to the size of samples
in other studies. For surveys, samples of 47, 29 and 49 respondents (Kurz’s
samples) are indeed small and uneven. Moreover, the fact that samples in other
studies were not large either does not make the samples under consideration any
larger. Neither does Pöchhacker seem to understand that for researchers with a
traditional experimental research background, comparing data collected in
different contexts and one to two years apart is problematic because of the
rigorous comparability criteria required for experimental testing. This point
can be debated on the basis of mutual explanations of existing standards and
reasonable assumptions, but judging by Chiaro and Nocella's response (see the
review higher up), Pöchhacker's attitude was not very successful in promoting
progress through interaction. More fundamentally, perhaps, looking both at the
evidence in his paper and at his own publications, one is left wondering what
made him feel he was qualified to give lessons in survey methodology, and in
particular in statistics, to a couple of authors with considerable experience
in survey research, one of whom is a statistician. DG
Ruiz Rosendo, Luís. 2005. La interpretación de congresos de medicina :
formación y profesión.
Translation Journal 9:3 (<http://accurapid.com/journal/33medint.htm>)
* A paper on general features of work
at medical conferences.
Russo Mariachiara. 2003. L’interpretazione simultanea dei film: dalla preparazione
all’improvvisazione. In Scelfo, Maria Grazia (ed). Le questioni del
tradurre: comunicazione,
comprensione, adeguatezza traduttiva e ruolo del genere testuale. Roma :
Edizioni Associate Editrice Internazionale. 57-68.
Schweda Nicholson, Nancy. 2005. Personality characteristics of interpreter trainees : the
Myers-Briggs type indicator (MBTI). The Interpreters’ Newsletter 13.
109-142.
* The Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
was used to test personality traits of several groups of interpreter trainees
totalling 124 people. Interesting findings, in particular those potentially
contradicting the idea that interpreters are extroverts. However, since the
testing was done on trainees and not professionals (save for one group of
trainees), the question remains whether they apply to professional
interpreters.
Seleskovitch, Danica. 2004. The
practice and theory of consecutive and simultaneous interpretation. In
Kittel, Harald, Armin Paul Frank, Norbert Greiner, Theo Hermans, Werner Koller,
José Lambert, Fritz Paul (eds). Übersetzung. Translation.Traduction. Ein
internationales Handbuch zur Übersetzungsforschung. An international
Encyclopedia of Translation Studies. Encyclopédie
internationale de la recherche sur la traduction.
779-789.
* It was interesting to read what may have been
Seleskovitch’s last publication to find out how this pioneer of interpreting
studies viewed recent developments. It turns out her article only reiterates
her ideas from the 1970s and does not take on board the major developments that
are obvious to any observer familiar with the literature. She still claims that
“proficient interpreters have no problem with divergent language structures”
(p.781) and complains that “many practicing interpreters today can only boast
of a good command of foreign languages. Their approach is linguistic, their
methodology an effort at word substitution.” (p.780). A pessimistic, and in my
view totally unjustified opinion. In her bibliographical references, the only
interpreting studies author she acknowledges other than herself and Marianne
Lederer is Robin Setton - but Setton is not mentioned in the body of her text.
DG
Setton, Robin. 2005.
Pointing to contexts: A relevant-theoretic approach to assessing quality and
difficulty in interpreting. In Dam et al. (eds). 275-312.
* An ambitious discussion of avenues for more precise
assessment of quality and difficulty of interpreting using multiple linguistic
indicators centred around relevance theory. Setton includes in his discussion results of pilot
studies with multiple evaluations and correlation studies. Conceptually, an
interesting analysis. Operationally, it remains to be seen whether high
variability on one hand, and the lack of human and financial resources in the
field on the other make the whole project feasible.
Timarová, Šárka. 2005. Corpus linguistics methods in interpreting research : a case
study. The Interpreters’ Newsletter 13. 65-70.
* The author describes a few analyses
using corpus management software tools. Note that in this paper, where she
refers to transcripts being fed into corpus managers, she does not refer to
transcription as problematic because of prosody.
Turrini, C. 2004. L'interpretazione
del linguaggio non letterale in IS al Parlamento europeo. In Bersani Berselli
G., G. Mack e D. Zorzi (eds). Linguistica e interpretazione. Bologna: CLUEB. 301-311.
THESES
Acquino, R. 2001. La percezione dei
fenomeni linguistici e traduttivi in una organizzazione multilingue attraverso
i dibattiti al Parlamento europeo. Unpublished graduation thesis, SSLMIT Trieste.
Baldaccini, Jessica. 2005. Studio sperimentale del décalage nell’interpretazione
simultanea dal francese e dal tedesco in italiano. Graduation
thesis, SSLMIT, Università degli Studi di Bologna, Sede di Forlì.
(English title: “Experimental study of décalage in
simultaneous interpreting from French and German into Italian”) Mead/Meneghel, December 2005)
Abstract
The aim of this experimental study is to examine
décalage in simultaneous interpreting (SI) from French and German into Italian.
Twenty-four students at the University of Bologna (SSLMIT, Forlì) were divided
into two groups of twelve according to language combination - one group
interpreting from French, the other from German. The source text was an
original German speech from a speaker at the European Commission, a translation
of which was used for the SI from French. The French version was judged natural
by the interpreting lecturer who read it for the recording to be used in the
experiment. The duration of the speech for both groups was almost 20 minutes.
In the booth, interpreters were told to keep the console speaker on at a low
volume, so that the source text would be audible on the recording of the SI.
All recordings were digitalised by a software called Goldwave, making it
possible to measure décalage at the beginning and end of each source text
paragraph. Décalage was also measured in various intermediate segments in the
German speech, to focus specifically on possible effects of German word order
on the interpreter’s timing. Results show that mean décalage for initial and
final segments was longer in SIs from German - particularly in final segments,
where the difference was statistically significant according to the
Mann-Whitney test. Though source speech speed and rhythm may have affected
décalage to a certain extent, this difference supports the initial expectation
that German word order would demand longer décalage. (PM)
Baldan, Annamaria. 2005. Calques et faux amis en interprétation simultanée
entre le français et l'italien: une contribution expérimentale. Graduation
thesis, SSLMIT, Università degli Studi di Bologna, Sede di Forlì.
(English title: “Calques and false friends in
simultaneous interpreting between French and Italian: an experimental
contribution.”)
(Mead/Meneghel, March 2005)
Abstract
This experimental study focuses on the
production of calques and false cognates in simultaneous interpretation (SI).
The initial expectation is that translating source language (SL) words or
expressions that are likely to trigger calques or false cognates in the target
language (TL) requires greater effort by the interpreter. French and Italian
were chosen as SL and TL respectively, because calques and false cognates are
fairly likely when interpreting or translating between two languages from the
same family. The experiment was carried out with 12 students of interpreting at
the University of Bologna, who had attended interpretation courses for two to
three years. All students had Italian as their A language and French as B or C
language. The interpretations, as well as retrospective comments by
interpreters when listening to the text immediately after their interpretation,
were transcribed and analysed. The aims of the study are: 1) to observe whether
calques and false cognates occur in SI from French into Italian; 2) analyse
which types of calques and false cognates occur most often; 3) investigate
whether interpreters adopt specific strategies to avoid linguistic
interference; 4) observe interpreters' perception of their performances and see
if they differ from their actual production. Error analysis was performed on
interpretations on the basis of the following parameters: correct translation,
wrong translation, omission, and reformulation. Any hesitations were also
identified. All interpretations contained calques and false cognates, sometimes
avoided at the cost of hesitations. The analysis suggests that interpreters use
a variety of strategies in such cases (omission, reformulation, inference from
the context). (PM)
Borchiellini, Sara. 2005.
Managing verbally expressed humour in simultaneous interpreting. Graduation thesis, SSLMIT,
Università degli Studi di Bologna, Sede di Forlì.
(Chiaro/Antonini, July 2005)
Abstract
This study examines how verbal humour, one
of the many situational and source text features which can affect the
interpreting process, is managed in simultaneous interpreting from English into
Italian. The study analyses a corpus of six speeches recorded at two different
conferences - one on information technology and one on health management. Four
of the speeches are by native speakers, two by non-native speakers. A total of
four interpreters were involved (two at each conference). Their handling of the
speakers’ humorous remarks was classified according to their use of six different
strategies. The analysis also examined the occurrence of laughter (by the
audience, speakers and interpreters), content of the source speeches and
interpretations, and prosody. Results show that verbal humour proved
problematic for the interpreters, who gave an effective, equivalent rendering
only in a few cases. (PM)
CHEN, Qiaoling. 2005. Simultaneous
Interpretation from the Perspective of Information Theory. MA thesis, College of Foreign Languages and Cultures,
Xiamen University.
CONG, Yuan. 2005. Exploring
Disfluency in Consecutive Interpretation Reformulation. MA thesis, College of Foreign Languages and Cultures,
Xiamen University.
Dibattista, Samantha. 2005.
Interpretazione simultanea tedesco - italiano e tedesco -
ceco: uno studio sulla rilevanza dell’ordine delle parole. (Simultaneous
Interpreting from German into Italian and from German into Czech: a study on
the relevance of word order). Graduation thesis, SSLMIT,
Università degli Studi di Trieste.
* The aim of this study is to assess whether German
verb-final structure or SOV-clause (subject - object - verb), which is
generally labelled as a difficulty in SI
from German into SVO-languages such as Czech and Italian, is really an obstacle
to interpreting performances and, if so, which are the strategies used by
interpreters to overcome it. The TLs
share some syntactical features, namely a flexible structure and the
possibility to violate the basic word order, but the rich morphological system
of the Czech language generally allows for changes of the basic word order
which would not be acceptable in Italian.
The
study is divided into two parts: a
description of word order in the languages in question and an empirical
analysis of a corpus of SI performances from the plenary sessions of the
European Parliament on the basis of five macro-categories (reformulation,
compression, omission, expansion and substitution) and the degree of adherence
to the SL word structure.
Reformulation
turned out to be the most used macro-category in both language pairs. This
result highlights the need to reformulate the original message of the SL into
structures more suitable to the syntactic features of the TLs. However, the
analysis of the SI performances also shows language-specific patterns and
confirms that changes of the SVO-order are more frequent in the German-Czech
pair thanks to the greater flexibility of the TL. (AR)
DU, Wenping. 2005. Cognitive Overload Prevention in SI. MA thesis, College
of Foreign Languages and Cultures, Xiamen University.
Geise, N. 2001. Content Mapping als Grundlage für individuelle Notation. Unpublished
diploma thesis, University of Heidelberg.
Innocenti, Laura. 2005. Uno
studio sperimentale dell’interpretazone simultanea (inglese/italiano) in
funzione dei segnali discorsivi. Graduation thesis, SSLMIT, Università
degli Studi di Bologna, Sede di Forlì.
(Mead/Prandi, July 2005)
(English title: “An experimental study of
simultaneous interpreting (English/Italian) and how it is affected by discourse
markers.”)
Abstract
The aim of the present experimental study
is to ascertain whether discourse markers in the source speech help the
interpreter in simultaneous interpretation (SI) from English into Italian. Ten
advanced students at the SSLiMIT in Forlì were asked to do a SI from English
into Italian and to complete a brief questionnaire about their perception of
source text discourse markers immediately afterwards. The source text was a
slightly modified extract from the transcript of a lecture, read so as to
reproduce the extemporaneous delivery of the original speech and lasting less
than eight minutes. The first part of the extract contained more discourse
markers than the second part. Among these discourse markers were both types
identified in the classification of Chaudron and Richards (1986) - i.e.
macro-markers (phrases or clauses like “You
probably know that …”) and micro-markers (i.e. short
linkers of various types like “because” or “actually”). The analysis of the
interpretations showed three main findings. The first finding was that
macro-markers were translated in most cases, whereas most micro-markers were
omitted. This was probably because of the different nature and function of the
two types of markers - whereas macro-markers are phrases or clauses which
function mainly as signals of the textual macrostructure, micro-markers are in
many cases single words and often accompany interaction between the speaker and
the audience. The interpreter might thus tend to omit micro-markers more
readily, since s/he has little time to process them and should in any case
realise before starting to translate them that they are not essential to the factual
content of the message. The second finding was that more information was
generally omitted in the second part of the text (i.e the part with fewer
discourse markers) than in the first, suggesting that discourse markers help
the interpreter. An interesting third finding was that explicit links not
present in the original were sometimes added by the interpreters. A possible
explanation for this finding may be a tendency for the interpreter - like the
listener - to make inferences explicit while trying to understand discourse, in
order to construct a coherent text. The finding may also be related to the
nature of the Italian language, more inclined than English to use hypotactic
structures. The main trend identified by the questionnaires was that the interpreters
found discourse markers helpful because they 'dilute' the text, make it more
coherent and enhance the relationship between the speaker and the audience. (PM)
Ippoliti, Matteo. 2005. An
empirical study of fluency and user perception of quality in TV interpreting.
Graduation thesis, SSLMIT, Università degli Studi di
Bologna, Sede di Forlì.
(Mead/Russo, July 2005)
Abstract
This study, based on both observational
and experimental research, examines various indices of fluency in three
simultaneous interpretations recorded on videocassettes from Italian TV in 2003
and 2004 - the first two from English, the third from French. The total
duration of the interpretations was almost 40 minutes, and four interpreters
were involved (X and Y in the first interpretation, X in the second, Y in the
third). The analysis, focusing mainly on the proportion of the interpreters’
overall production taken up by speech production and pauses, was based on time
measurements obtained from a software producing digitalised oscillogram images
of the recordings. A videocassette was then prepared with two short excerpts
from the recorded interpretations (about 2 minutes each), both by the same
interpreter, referred to as A and B. Excerpt A was more fluent, though it
contained slightly more pauses. Both excerpts were shown to a sample of 32
potential TV viewers, who completed a questionnaire about their expectations
regarding TV interpreting in general, the quality of the two excerpts they had
just watched and their assessment of the interpreters’ fluency. Respondents
perceived far fewer pauses and hesitations than were actually present, and also
identified more in excerpt B. Possible explanations for these findings are
discussed. The tendency for respondents to underestimate the frequency of the
interpreters’ pauses is probably explained by the choice of 200 ms. as the
minimum duration for identification of pauses on the oscillograms. This
threshold, which reflects the degree of precision commonly found in the
pausology literature, includes very short pauses probably not perceived by
listeners. The difference in perception of pauses in the two excerpts is
probably explained in part by their different distribution, since excerpt B
contains more pauses which do not coincide with “natural” syntactic breaks
between the various speech segments. (PM)
Kreuzpaintner, S. 2001. Der Einsatz von prosodischen Elementen als Strategie beim
Simultandolmetschen. Eine Fallstudie im Sprachenpaar Spanisch-Deutsch.
Unpublished graduation thesis, University of Heidelberg.
Leibbrand, Miriam. 2002. Bilinguale
Dolmetscher - Versuch einer Zusammenführung von Bilingualismusforschung und
Dolmetschwissenschaft (2 Bände). Unpublished graduation thesis,
Universität Heidelberg, Institut für Übersetzen und
Dolmetschen.
* A study of code-switching difficulties in 8
beginning and advanced interpreting students, both early bilinguals and late
bilinguals. (FP)
LIU, Jianzhu. 2005. On Fuzzy Interpretation of High Density Information in SI
between Chinese and English. MA thesis, College of Foreign Languages and
Cultures, Xiamen University.
Noraini, Ibrahim. 2005. Professionalization
of conference interpreting. A case study of parliamentary interpreting in
Malyasia. Pre-doctoral thesis, University of Granada.
* This thesis is a preliminary study in view of a
wider exploration of conference interpreting in Malaysia. It is composed of a
review of the literature on interpreting typologies, a discussion of the
concept of professionalization in interpreting, a discussion of methodology and
a questionnaire and interview-based case study of parliamentary interpreting in
Malaysia.
Rörig,
Nina. 2004. Théorie
du sens, Danica Seleskovitch & Modèles d’Efforts, Daniel Gile. Die
französische Dolmetschwissenschaft im Vergleich. Diplomarbeit,
Institut für Übersetzer und Dolmetscher, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg.
* A comparative study of these two theoretical
frameworks.
Stimoli, L. 2001. Interpretazione
simultanea di un evento mediale. I funerali di Lady Diana in Italia, Austria,
Germania e Spagna. Unpublished graduation thesis, SSLMIT Trieste.
Vořechkovská, Jana. 2005. Comparison
of the perception of simultaneously interpreted texts and non-interpreted texts.
M.A. thesis, Charles University, Prague.
* Three interpreted and three
non-interpreted speeches were distributed as recordings to 25 informants and
asked to assess them. Inter alia, findings indicate that listeners may feel
more comfortable when listening to the interpreter than when listening to
original speeches (presumably even when the listeners know the source language.
(IC).
XIE, Ping. 2005. Comprehension Difficulties and Strategies in Interpreting.
MA thesis, College of Foreign Languages and Cultures, Xiamen University.
ZHENG, Xinghuang. 2005. Interpreter in the Court Proceedings. MA thesis, College
of Foreign Languages and Cultures, Xiamen University.
ZHONG, Ling. 2005. Relevance Theory and Interpreting: Discourse Markers. MA
thesis, College of Foreign Languages and Cultures, Xiamen University.
ZOU, Shanshan. 2005. Relevance Theory and Interpreting Strategy. MA thesis,
College of Foreign Languages and Cultures, Xiamen University.
DOCTORAL
DISSERTATIONS
Abuín González, Marta. 2005.
El binomio problema/estrategia en el proceso de interpretación consecutiva:
un estudio descriptivo y experimental. Tesis doctoral. Universidad de
Granada. Facultad de traducción e interpretación.
Monacelli, Claudia. 2005. Surviving
the role: A corpus-based study of self-regulation in simultaneous interpreting
as perceived through participation framework and interactional politeness.
Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Heriot-Watt University, School of Management
and Languages.
* Simultaneous interpreting is characterized by
systemic and interpersonal constraints that affect the interpreter’s role, thus
warranting self-regulatory move to ensure professional survival. A corpus was analyzed, with briefing and
debriefing before and after textual analysis of personal reference, agency,
modality and interactional linguistic politeness. Quantitative assessment was
based on the number of occurrences and the nature of non-obligatory
translational shifts. The analysis finds a uniform trend which is manifest
throughout the corpus for self-regulatory behavior in the corpus in the
direction of distancing, de-personalization and mitigation of illocutionary
force. (Based on Monacelli’s abstract, kindly provided with her permission by
Franz Pöchhacker)
Nafá Waasaf, Ma Lourdes.
2005. Análisis acústico-discursivo de la entonación en interpretación
simultánea inglés británico-español peninsular. Aplicaciones a la didáctica y
la investigación en la interpretación de lenguas. (Acoustic-discursive
analysis of intonation in English-Spanish SI. Application to interpreter
training and interpreting research.) Unpublished doctoral dissertation,
University of Granada.
* This 700-page doctoral thesis, defended
at the University of Granada, is based on a comprehensive corpus-based analysis
of intonation in 15 (2 to 3-minute) English original speeches and their Spanish
interpretations in the European Parliament. With a strong background in English
phonology, the author sets out to verify that intonation fulfils three main
functions - discourse organization, information structure and speaker-audience
relations - not only in English original speeches by professional politicians
but also in their simultaneous interpretations into Spanish. Unlike previous
studies that emphasized intonational deviations in simultaneous interpreters’
output, this study essentially demonstrates that conference interpreters,
despite adverse processing conditions and some loss of rhetorical effect, are
intonationally competent and use strategies and prosodic functions that
contribute to communication. The author bases this conclusion on pitch
measurements (with “Speechanalyzer”) to verify, among other things: initial
high and final low pitch levels within “phonological paragraphs”; high internal
pitch to signal contrast; the accentuation of content words; the use of falling
tones for new content; and the use of intonation to indicate dominance or
distance/proximity of the speaker in relation to the audience. Aside from a
wealth of quantitative data the author also presents numerous excerpts from her
corpus to illustrate the intonational functions described according to the
models of Brazil for English and Hidalgo Navarro (and others) for Spanish. The
rather technical analysis is complemented by a chapter on the teaching of
intonational skills to interpreting students and an explanation of the larger
corpus (60 audio files and 30 transcriptions) compiled for this study and made
available for further analysis on CD-ROM. (FP)
BOOKS AND
UNPUBLISHED PROCEEDINGS
Ahrens, Barbara. 2004. Prosodie beim Simultandolmetschen. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.
Dam, Helle, Jan Engberg and Heidrun Gerymisch-Arbogast (eds). 2005. Knowledge Systems and Translation. Berlin, New York : Mouton de
Gruyter.
* The proceedings of the March 2003
conference held at the Aarhus School of Business, the second in the series Text
and Translation. Three parts: Theory and concepts, Methodology and Empirical
Studies. Most of the papers are on translation, and have been listed on the EST
website www.est-translationstudies.org. The three papers by Dam, Engberg and Schjoldager, Gile and Setton are
listed in this issue of the CIRIN Bulletin.
Falbo, Caterina. 2004. La ricerca in
interpretazione. Dagli esordi alla fine degli anni Settanta. Milano : Franco Angeli.
* This highly informative book, which
addresses interpreting research from its beginnings in the 1950s to the end of
the 1970s, is a critical review of the publications that characterized the
first twenty years of interpreting research. With a view to highlight the
emergence of the fields which would be further expanded with time, the author
carried out an extensive bibliographical research and summarized the
chronological and thematic development of the studies written in those years by
scholars and brilliant professional interpreters covering a wide geographical
spectrum. Thanks to her effort, less quoted works or those written in languages
not accessible to the wider community, such as Russian, are now better known.
Amongst the variety of themes, methodological approaches and schools of thought
prevailing in those years and thoroughly documented by Falbo, two main areas
are highlighted: training with publications describing technical and
professional features of conference interpreting and, later on, experimental
research in an increasingly multidisciplinary perspective.(MR)
Hara, Fujiko. 2004. Tsuuyaku buusu kara miru sekai. (The world seen from
the interpreter’s booth). Tokyo: Japan Times.
Riccardi, Alessandra. 2003. Dalla traduzione all¹interpretazione. Studi
sull¹interpretazione simultanea, Milano: LED. 302 pages, ISBN 88-7916-223-377.
* This book, a
revised version of the 2001 book reported in Bulletin n°23 (December 2001)
traces the scientific development of interpreting as a discipline from the
first studies of the 50s and dwells on inter-linguistic interpretation
highlighting differences and similarities with translation. In order to
describe interpretation, both as a process and as a product, the whole range of
interpreting modalities are tackled (simultaneous, consecutive, liaison etc.),
together with crucial issues such as interpreting strategies, cognitive
processes and quality evaluation. Given the wealth of information contained and
critically presented, the volume proves an updated and extremely useful
reference book for interpreting students, teachers, scholars and professionals. (MR)
Russo, Mariachiara. 2005. L’interpretazione
consecutiva dallo spagnolo in italiano. Conoscere altri sistemi per sviluppare
il proprio. Bologna: Gedit Edizioni.
* In spite of its title, this handbook
addresses note-taking in consecutive interpreting in general rather than under
a language-specific angle. The author takes the view that notes are a distinct
language which should be structured systematically. The book includes an
interesting literature review and a long list of bibliographical references,
which, strangely enough, does not include her University of Bologna colleague
Peter Mead’s empirical study of pauses in consecutive. Neither does the author
integrate cognitive pressure into her rationale for the note-taking principles
she suggest. Many examples of symbols are given.
REVIEWS
Falbo, Caterina. 2005. Review Baigorri Jalón, Jesús. 2004. De Paris à
Nuremberg : naissance de l’interprétation de conférence, traduit de
l’espagnol sous la direction de Clara Foz, les Presses de l’université
d’Ottawa. The Interpreters’ Newsletter 13. 201-202.
Grbić, Nadja. 2005.
Review of Diriker, Ebru. 2004. De-/Re-Contextualizing Conference
Interpreting. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. The Translator
11:2. 285-289.
Widlund-Fantini, Anne-Marie.
2005. Review of Seleskovitch, Danica
and Marianne Lederer. 2002.
Pédagogie raisonnée de l’interprétation. Deuxième édition corrigée et
augmentée. Paris: Didier Erudition. Forum
3:1. 263-265.
Present Nodes
Nodes are local institutional or individual members who represent CIRIN in
their respective geographical area. Members volunteer to become Nodes;
they cease to operate as such at any time after notifying headquarters in Paris
of their intention.
For
Argentina: Silvia Veronica Lang, Coletta 373 2804, Campana, Provincia de Buenos Aires
For Australia: JC Lloyd-Southwell, Department of Language and
International Studies, Faculty of Language, Education and Community Services,
RMIT University, Melbourne - Telephone (03) 9527- 4160 or mobile 0414-614-022,
e-mail: hewittandlloyd@bigpond.com
For Austria: Franz Pöchhacker, Center for Translation Studies,
University of Vienna, Gymnasiumstr. 50,
A-1190 Wien - e-mail: Franz.Poechhacker@univie.ac.at
For Belgium: Erik Hertog,
Lessius Hogeschool, St.-Andriesstraat 2, 2000 Antwerp Tel: 32 3 206 04
91 (ext. 264) Fax: 32 3 206 04 99 -
e-mail: erik.hertog@lessius-ho.be
For Canada: Stephen Capaldo, Interpretation and Translation
Service, Legislative Offices, Room 3657, Whitney Block, Queen's Park, Toronto,
Canada M7A 1A2 - e-mail: Capaldo@gowebway.com
For China (Beijing): Wang Lidi, School of Translation and
Interpreting, Beijing Foreign Studies University, N°2, North Xisanhuan Avenue,
Beijing 100081 - e-mail: sti@bfsu.edu.cn
For China (Shanghai): Ailing (Irene) Zhang, Graduate School of
Interpretation and Translation, Shanghai International Studies University, 550
Dalian Road (W), Shanghai 200083, P.R.China - e-mail: azhang@shisu.edu.cn
For the Republic of China (Taipei): Graduate Institute of
Translation and Interpretation, National Taiwan University, N°162, Hoping E.
Rd. Sec.1, Taipei (Prof. Emily Her) - e-mail: t22038@cc.ntnu.edu.tw
For
Costa Rica: Priscila Siu, Apartado 846-2350, San Francisco de Dos Rios
San Jose, Costa Rica - e-mail: prissiu@sol.racsa.co.cr
For
Cuba: Lourdes Arencibia, 17 No.357 (altos) esquina a G. Vedado. La Habana 4 -
e-mail: lourdes@cubarte.cult.cu
For the Czech Republic: Ivana Cenkova, Charles University,
Institute of Translation Studies, UTRL FF UK, Hybernska 3, 110 00 Praha 1
tel
42 02 216 195 13 fax
42 02 216 195 28 - e-mail: IVANA.CENKOVA@ff.cuni.cz
For
Denmark: Helle Dam, Handelshojskolen i Aarhus, Fuglesangs Allé 4,
DK-8210 Arhus V - e-mail: HD@asb.dk
For
Egypt: Sania Sharawi-Lanfranchi
4, El-Saleh Ayoub, Zamalek 11 2 11, Cairo shara11@hotmail.com
For
Estonia: Margus Puusepp, Parna 21A-41, 50604 Tartu, Estonia. mpuusepp@hot.ee
For
Finland: Yves Gambier, University of Turku - Centre for Translation and
Interpreting, Koskenniemenkatu 4 - 20500 TURKU, Finland - yves.gambier@utu.fi
For France: Daniel
Gile, 46, rue d'Alembert, 92190 Meudon - e-mail: daniel.gile@laposte.net
For
Germany: Sylvia Kalina,
Fachhochschule Köln, Fachbereich Sprachen, Mainzerstr. 5, 50678 Köln
- e-mail: Sylvia.Kalina@fh-koeln.de
For
Greece: Anastasia Parianou, Ionian University, Megaro Kapodistria, 49100
Corfu - e-mail: papik1@otenet.gr
For China (Hong Kong): Andrew Cheung, Department of
Chinese and Bilingual Studies, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong
Kong - e-mail: ctandrew@polyu.edu.hk
For Hungary: Krisztina Bohak Szabari, Eötvös Lorand University
Budapest, Zsalya u. 3, H-1141 Budapest, bohak@mail.inext.hu
For India: Ujjal Singh Bahri, Editor, International Journal of
Translation. e-mail: bahrius@del6.vsnl.net.in
<mailto:bahrius@del6.vsnl.net.in>
For Ireland: Michael Cronin, School of Applied Languages, Dublin,
City University, Dublin 9, Ireland -
e-mail: croninm@dcu.ie
For Israel: Miriam Shlesinger, Bar Ilan University, 12 Recanati
Street, 69494 Ramat-Aviv, Shlesm@mail.biu.ac.il
For Italy: Scuola Superiore di Lingue Moderne per Interpreti e
Traduttori, Universita degli Studi di Trieste, Via Filzi 14, 34132 Trieste -
e-mail: laurag@sslmit.univ.trieste.it
For Japan: Masaomi Kondo, Daito Bunka University, Dept. of Economics, 1-9-1 Takashimadaira, Itabashi-ku,
Tokyo, Phone: 935 1111 - e-mail: mkondo@ic.daito.ac.jp
For
Mexico: CESLAA (Dra Georganne Weller), Tlaxcala 78-501, Col. Roma Sur,
México, D.F. 06760 - e-mail:
georgann@avantel.net
For Peru: ASPTI -
Asociación de Profesionales en Traducción e Interpretación de la Universidad
Femenina del Sagrado Corazón, Calle Raymundo Carcamo 912, Urb. Santa Caline, Lima -
13
For the Philippines:
Ms. Ross Alonzo, University of the Philippines. 52 Apacible St. Area 1, U.P.
Diliman Campus, Quezon City 1101
For Poland: Bartlomiejczyk,
Magdalena Univ of Silesia, Institute of
English, ul. Zytnia 10, 41-205 Sosnowiec,
Poland: magdalenabartlomiejczyk@hotmail.com
For
Portugal: Manuel Santiago Ribeiro, Rua da Arriaga, 8-C, PT - 1200-609
Lisboa, tel/fax 351 21 397 8832 - e-mail: msr@aiic.net
For Rumania: Doina Motas, 3, Nicolaie Iorga Str., Bucarest
1, 71117
For Russia: Elena Alikin, Perm State Technical University elena_alikina@ecology.perm.ru
For South Africa: Martyn Swain, 1 Crown Street, Observatory 7925
Cape Town - e-mail: sally@link.nis.za <mailto:sally@link.nis.za>
For
Spain: John MATTHEWS, Facultad de Traduccion e Interpretacion,
Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona, Edifici M, 08193 Bellaterra, Cerdanyala,
Barcelona, tel/fax +34 3 580 65 45 - e-mail: jmatthews@grn.es
For Sweden: Cecilia Wadensjö, Dept. of Communication Studies,
Linköping University, S-581 83 Linköping - e-mail: cecwa@tema.liu.se
For Turkey: Hande Ersöz-Demirdað, Yildiz Teknik Üniversitesi Fen-
Edebiyat Fakültesi Bati Dilleri Ofis:
B1018, Davutpasa
Cad no: 127, 34210 Esenler/Ýstanbul Turkey, tel: +90 212 449 15 58 handeersoz@hotmail.com
<mailto:handeersoz@hotmail.com>
For the United Kingdom: Udo Jörg, 132b Bravington Road, West
Kilburn, London W9 3AL - e-mail: UdoJorg@aol.com
For
Uruguay: Maria Julia Sainz, Facultad de Derecho/Traductorado,
Universidad de la Republica, Carlos Anaya 2662 A, 11.600 Montevideo tel/fax (5982) 480 55 76 - e-mail: mjsainz@adinet.com.uy
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