Translation and Interpreting Studies

1. Translation and Interpreting Studies Interpreting Studies 19 November 2007

2. Interpreting Studies • Aims • To discuss the factors which affect research into interpreting (particularly Simultaneous Interpreting) that distinguish it from translation, the focus of much early research into interpreting • To give a brief overview of the further evolution of Interpreting Studies • To focus on current research and concerns

3. Interpreting Studies • Interpreting • “The oral translation of oral discourse” (Gile 1998:40)

4. Interpreting Studies • Conference Interpreting • Consecutive Interpreting • Simultaneous Interpreting • Liaison Interpreting • Community/Public Service Interpreting (PSI)

5. Interpreting Studies • Consecutive Interpreting • “The interpreter listens to a speech segment for a few minutes or so, takes notes, and then delivers the whole segment in the target language; then the speaker resumes for a few minutes, the interpreter delivers the next segment, and the process continues until the end of the speech” (Gile 2000: 41).

6. Interpreting Studies • Simultaneous Interpreting • “In a sound-proof booth with direct view onto the conference room, the interpreter listens to a speaker through earphones and simultaneously transmits the message in another language through a microphone to listeners in the room” (http://www.aiic.net/ViewPage.cfm/article1097.htm#sim, last accessed 18.09.2007). • “In simultaneous interpreting (SI), the interpreter, using technical equipment, perceives a sender’s source language (SL) message in segments, processes it and renders it immediately and continuously in the target language (TL) for a receiver” (Kirchhoff 1976:111).

7. Interpreting Studies • Distinguishing Factors • Orality • Temporal factors • Cognitive factors

8. Interpreting Studies • “Sense can be defined as a cognitive construction made by the addressee on the basis of the sounds he received from the addresser‘s mouth; he adds to them such cognitive remembrance as fits the sounds, and such additional knowledge, whether from his long or medium term memory, that fits the whole of a clause or sentence” (Seleskovitch 1978: 335).

14. Moser (1978); Moser-Mercer (1995)

15. Phases of Simultaneous Interpreting Modelling the Process (Gile 1997) SI= L+P+M+C SI=Simultaneous Interpreting, L=listening and analysis, P=Production, M=memory, C=Coordination (Gile 1997:165)

16. Setton (1998)

17. Interpreting Studies • “The theoretical sources must be adapted to the model of study: we cannot ignore existing theories of language, but we must embed them in a theory of communication; we cannot ignore current models of cognitive architecture, but we must allow that it may be configured in a task-specific way for SI” (Setton 1999: 65).

18. Interpreting Studies • “In short, the concept of sens is underspecified and unassailable in that it tacitly conflates utterance meaning and hearer-meaning (i.e. Interpreter meaning), implying full determinacy and perfect symmetry between brain states – there is no account of how relevant contexts are chosen” (Setton 1999: 48).

19. Interpreting Studies • Paradigm shifts in TS • Cultural turn (Snell-Hornby 1990, Lefevere 1990), • Power turn (Tymoczko & Gentzler 2002) • Ideological turn (Leung 2006:130)