Olalla García Becerra | Universidad de Granada (original) (raw)

Papers by Olalla García Becerra

Social Networking Sites (SNSs) adoption is a global trend. Since they provide a simple, inexpensi... more Social Networking Sites (SNSs) adoption is a global trend. Since they provide a simple, inexpensive way to spread information and gauge opinion, they seem to be a suitable tool for surveying interpreting users’ expectations. Chiaro and Nocella (2004) were pioneers at implementing online surveys to interpreting quality investigation, which allowed them to administer more than 1,000 questionnaires and to obtain the response of 286 interpreters. Using this same instrument, Zwischenberger and Pöchhacker (2010) distributed 2,523 questionnaires among AIIC members, from whom 704 decided to take part in their study. The implementation of new IT seems to increase the number of respondents, so we decided to test if SNSs could be also implemented as a research tool in order to scrutiny users’ expectations. In a previous study (García Becerra forthcoming); I have compared the response rate of online and traditional hard-copy surveys, as well as the results obtained by the questionnaire, which was a new version of that used in other works (i.e. Bühler 1986, Kurz 1989, 1993). In the present work, I aimed (a) to analyse if the response is higher when surveying people using SNSs, and (b) to know if the results are similar to those obtained by previous works in the field. Methodology. A link to the online expectations questionnaire was posted at the researcher’s wall in Facebook. The survey was active during five weeks. Results. 48 people participated in the survey, more than the total number of subjects participating in the previous work (44, 18 of whom took part in the online version). The SNSs’ subjects seem to be more demanding in their expectations. Fidelity-related aspects were ranked as the most important factors regarding to interpreting quality. This poster presents and discusses the results of this survey and will comment advantages and disadvantages of implementing new technologies in the research on interpreting quality.

One of the most challenging aspects to define interpreting quality is its multidimensional and dy... more One of the most challenging aspects to define interpreting quality is its multidimensional and dynamic nature, which eludes measurement, and it can be approached only in terms of the stakeholders’ accounts. This contribution is embedded in a larger research project aimed at advancing survey-based research on interpreting quality. In her attempt to establish the criteria to approach interpreting quality in operational terms, Bühler (1986) proposed a set of items to survey users’ expectations and needs. Some of those criteria refer to the content of interpreted speech (logical cohesion of utterance, sense consistency with original message, completeness of interpretation), others to form-related aspects (native accent, pleasant voice, fluency of delivery, correct grammatical usage, use of correct terminology, use of appropriate style, poise and pleasant appearance), and others to the interpreter’s soft skills (thorough preparation of conference documents, endurance, reliability, ability to work in a team and positive feedback of delegates). Based on this seminal work, subsequent studies have surveyed subjects’ expectations relying on a fairly stable set of of content- and of form-related criteria. However, subjects have been asked to rate the importance of criteria that sometimes are far too complicated and incomprehensible to them. Since the construct is also related to subjetcs' attitude towards a service, perceptual factors must be considered. Hence, surveying recipients' expectations is a good base for exploring the concept inasmuch as they play an important role on their perception and assessment. Nevertheless, the experience collected in survey-based research over the years suggests that a fresh attempt at questionnaire design is required. First, those quality criteria were set a priori, which begs the question of how relevant they actually are for users. Second, the wording used for those criteria can be misleading to users. The questionnaire presented in this contribution is intended to collect authentic data about the users’ expectations towards quality. To this end, the questions address quality from a broader perspective than earlier studies. Subjects are not simply asked to rate the importance of individual criteria. Instead, the questionnaire tries to capture a richer view of their preconceptions, describing each quality criterion more explicitly and in layman’s terms. Furthermore, it does not merely address content and form of the interpreted speech, but also various aspects of interpersonal perception that might affect their judgment. This questionnaire will later be tested in terms of validity and reliability, to place this strand of research on a former footing (cf. Moser-Mercer 2009).

Interpreting Brian Harris

Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies, 2019

Across Languages and Cultures, 2016

The aim of this study is to gauge the opinion of potential users of simultaneous interpretation (... more The aim of this study is to gauge the opinion of potential users of simultaneous interpretation (SI) services as to the impact of first impressions (FI) on their assessment of the quality of SI, and the grounds on which these impressions are based. The investigation had two parts. The first part aims at testing if the opinions formed by users about an interpreter during the first listen affect their final assessment of his/her work and if there are a number of specific criteria which to a greater or lesser extent help to form these opinions. The second part focuses on making a vertical analysis of FI by assessing the relative importance that the users give a priori to the different aspects that help to form these impressions within the field of interpreting. A high proportion of the sample population acknowledged that they had formed a first impression of the interpreters they had listened to and accepted that it had influenced their assessment. They also stated that nonverbal aspects were responsible for these impressions. The vertical analysis has shown that in different situations users adopt different approaches when assessing the relative importance of a range of criteria in impression formation processes.

Meta: Journal des traducteurs, 2015

The use of new technologies within research into interpreting quality has produced new tools that... more The use of new technologies within research into interpreting quality has produced new tools that are expected to increase the number of subjects taking part in survey studies. The growth of Internet users has led to a rise of online questionnaires mainly as a result of their time saving advantages. This paper compares the response rate obtained using three different ways of presenting a questionnaire about quality expectations in interpreting to subjects: in person, via an invitation to take part in an online questionnaire and by including the questionnaire within the text of an email to the subjects. The results of this study show that the subjects tend to participate more when the questionnaire is administered in person. In general male participation was higher than female, but no significant difference was observed with respect to the method of administration. Regarding the particular field of knowledge, the group of subjects working in a scientific and technological area was th...

Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Corpus Linguistics (CILC-10), A Coruna, 13–... more Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Corpus Linguistics (CILC-10), A Coruna, 13–15 May, 2010.

The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics, 2012

User-friendly Web 2.0 tools allow Internet users to participate on a much larger scale than ever ... more User-friendly Web 2.0 tools allow Internet users to participate on a much larger scale than ever before, without having the same requirement for expertise in computer literacy (O&#x27;Reilly, 2005). These tools also give rise to Web sites that depended on users to generate content, like YouTube (video sharing) and Flickr (image sharing). The ease of creating and sharing content means that many of these Web sites are globalized platforms for user interactions. How does this emergence of new technological tools affect our concept of the Internet ...

The aim of this study is to gauge the opinion of potential users of simultaneous interpretation (... more The aim of this study is to gauge the opinion of potential users of simultaneous interpretation (SI) services as to the impact of first impressions (FI) on their assessment of the quality of SI, and the grounds on which these impressions are based. The investigation had two parts. The first part aims at testing if the opinions formed by users about an interpreter during the first listen affect their final assessment of his/her work and if there are a number of specific criteria which to a greater or lesser extent help to form these opinions. The second part focuses on making a vertical analysis of FI by assessing the relative importance that the users give a priori to the different aspects that help to form these impressions within the field of interpreting.
A high proportion of the sample population acknowledged that they had formed a first impression of the interpreters they had listened to and accepted that it had influenced their assessment. They also stated that nonverbal aspects were responsible for these impressions. The vertical analysis has shown that in different situations users adopt different approaches when assessing the relative importance of a range of criteria in impression formation processes

The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics, 2012

Books by Olalla García Becerra

Coordinadores de la colección: EMILIO ORTEGA ARJONILLA PEDRO SAN GINÉS AGUILAS. La investigación ... more Coordinadores de la colección: EMILIO ORTEGA ARJONILLA PEDRO SAN GINÉS AGUILAS. La investigación que sustenta csic hbio ha sido posible gracias a la financiación que el Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología español y ta Unión Europea (fondos PEDER) ha otorgado al Proyecto de Investigación &¡'tiluació>i de In calidad r" inltrprcluaón sianllánea: parámetros di inadatáa (BFF2002-00579) © Los autores Editorial COMARES POLÍGONO JUNCARES., PARCELA 2o8 • l822Q ALBO LOTE (C.RANADrt) ThNO. 958 46 53 82 • FAX 953 a6 53 83

by Olalla García Becerra, Mara Morelli, Małgorzata Tryuk, Lara Domínguez Araújo, bo gao, Rayco H. Gonzalez-Montesino, María Brander de la Iglesia, María Bao, Bachir Mahyub Rayaa, Ahmed Mbarki, and Macarena Pradas

Interpreting quality is conditioned by a myriad of factors, and going back to basics every now an... more Interpreting quality is conditioned by a myriad of factors, and going back to basics every now and then may help in asking the right questions. Moreover, the advancement of an applied science such as interpreting studies makes it indispensable to stop and check periodically whether the communication between research, training and professional practice is flowing properly.

With this in mind, in the context of the Second International Conference on Interpreting Quality, held in 2011 in Almunecar, Spain, it was decided to open a forum to allow participants to share their ideas with a broader audience. The result is a collection of interesting contributions developed from a variety of methodological perspectives, dealing with topics ranging from interpreter training to professional practice and including both spoken and signed languages.

From the perspective of interpreter training, the papers address topics such as the implementation of interpreting theory, ethics, mindfulness and the importance of visual input for simultaneous interpreting. The contributions related to professional practice focus on aspects like anticipation in simultaneous interpreting, the transfer of specialized knowledge and the constraints imposed by the market, while the assessment of interpreting skills received special attention as a cross-sectional topic. It is the editors� hope that this volume will encourage further investigation in these areas.

This publication was funded by the Government of Andalusia (project ref. P07-HUM-02730). We would like to thank all authors for their contributions and warmly express our gratitude to Angela Collados Ais for her unrelenting endeavour in advancing the research on interpreting quality.

by Olalla García Becerra, E. Macarena Pradas Macías, Daniel Gile, María Brander de la Iglesia, Martina Behr, Reithofer Karin, Clara Pignataro, silvia velardi, Jan-hendrik Opdenhoff, Tuija T Kinnunen, Encarnación Postigo, María-José Varela Salinas, Parrilla Laura, Miguel Tolosa-Igualada, Bachir Mahyub Rayaa, and Sylvi Rennert

From the early days of interpreting studies, the notion of quality has attracted the interest of ... more From the early days of interpreting studies, the notion of quality has attracted the interest of professionals, trainers and scholars alike. Its elusive nature gave rise to various approaches aimed at figuring out its constituent parts. These efforts have made it possible to understand quality from a multidimensional perspective.

Quality was already a well-established research topic in 2001, when the first international conference devoted entirely to it was held in Almunecar, Spain. Ever since, the field has greatly evolved as research instruments and methods have been refined, not least because globalization has facilitated closer cooperation among scholars. Recent years have witnessed a considerable increase in the number of publications on quality, and the continued activity of both individual scholars and research groups testify to the liveliness of this area of research. In the course of this process, this area has become more interdisciplinary and technically sophisticated, widening its scope to cover new interpreting settings and language combinations.

This volume attempts to provide an overview of the state of the art in interpreting quality. It contains 16 papers selected through a double-blind peer-review process. All contributors took part in the Second International Conference on Interpreting Quality held in Almuñécar in 2011, and the reviews were conducted by a panel of international experts in interpreting studies.

This publication was funded by the Government of Andalusia (project ref. P07-HUM-02730). We would like to thank all authors who submitted papers for review. Special thanks go to the reviewers for their hard work. Finally, we would like to warmly express our gratitude to Angela Collados Ais for her unrelenting endeavour in advancing the research on interpreting quality.

Chapters by Olalla García Becerra

Interpreting Quality: A Look Around and Ahead, 2015

[Full text on the link to GoogleBooks] This study was conducted to investigate the effect of the ... more [Full text on the link to GoogleBooks]
This study was conducted to investigate the effect of the order of presentation of four simultaneous interpretations on the quality evaluation and impression formation processes performed by 24 interpreter students at the University of Granada, Spain. They were divided into groups and exposed to four different serial orders of the sequence of simultaneous interpretations to test and compare their effects on the subjects' perception. After each interpretation, subjects were required to rate, on a seven-point scale, five aspects of the performances and to attribute traits to the interpreters. Different presentation orders of the interpretations resulted in different recipients' perception of the interpreting quality and of the interpreter, suggesting the appearance of some order effects which impacted both the evaluation and the impression formation processes.

The Routledge Handbook of Interpreting, 2015

[Full text on the link to GoogleBooks] Interpreting quality is a multifaceted, complex and dynami... more [Full text on the link to GoogleBooks]
Interpreting quality is a multifaceted, complex and dynamic concept. Although its importance has been acknowledged for many years by practitioners, researchers and trainers, and research on interpretation quality is considered to be one of the most fruitful and cohesive areas of inquiry, there is still no universal agreement on its definition.
Interpreting quality research has taken place from two quite different perspectives: interpretation as product and interpretation as process. Most of the research carried out since the mid 1980s has focused on the product of simultaneous interpretation, resorting to parameters of verbal and non-verbal nature addressing function, form and content of the interpreted speech. In this framework, attention has been paid to the expectations and the assessment of the interpreter’s performance by the audience, interpreters and other stakeholders of the interpreting event. Regarding the subjects’ priori expectations, research has consistently shown that content-related parameters (e.g. sense consistency, logical cohesion, terminology) are usually regarded as more important than form-related ones (e.g. accent, fluency, intonation, pleasant voice). Findings also revealed differences in expectations depending on the professional background, gender, age, type of event, and experience with interpretation. However, when it comes to judge a given interpretation, it has been found that formal parameters become more important and actually interfere with the assessment of content-related ones and of quality as a whole. Moreover, a number of interactions among certain evaluation criteria has been observed, apparently as a result of the overlapping of some parameters in the subjects’ perceptions. This points to the indivisibility of form and substance in the majority of criteria, far from the rigid distinction between the verbal and the non-verbal.
Finally, recent studies have explored other interpreting settings and modes, as well as other aspects that could affect quality. These new approaches offer a wider perspective of the concept, beyond those traditionally considered to be quality parameters.

Interpreting Brian Harris. Recent Developments in Translatology., 2012

Qualitätsparameter beim Simultandolmetschen, 2011

Interpreting Brian Harris

Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies, 2019

Across Languages and Cultures, 2016

Meta: Journal des traducteurs, 2015

The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics, 2012

The aim of this study is to gauge the opinion of potential users of simultaneous interpretation (... more The aim of this study is to gauge the opinion of potential users of simultaneous interpretation (SI) services as to the impact of first impressions (FI) on their assessment of the quality of SI, and the grounds on which these impressions are based. The investigation had two parts. The first part aims at testing if the opinions formed by users about an interpreter during the first listen affect their final assessment of his/her work and if there are a number of specific criteria which to a greater or lesser extent help to form these opinions. The second part focuses on making a vertical analysis of FI by assessing the relative importance that the users give a priori to the different aspects that help to form these impressions within the field of interpreting.
A high proportion of the sample population acknowledged that they had formed a first impression of the interpreters they had listened to and accepted that it had influenced their assessment. They also stated that nonverbal aspects were responsible for these impressions. The vertical analysis has shown that in different situations users adopt different approaches when assessing the relative importance of a range of criteria in impression formation processes

The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics, 2012

Interpreting Quality: A Look Around and Ahead, 2015

The Routledge Handbook of Interpreting, 2015

Interpreting Brian Harris. Recent Developments in Translatology., 2012

Qualitätsparameter beim Simultandolmetschen, 2011

Aproximaciones cognitivas al estudio de la traducción y la interpretación, 2008

Interpreting is something evanescent, which vanishes as soon as it is performed. What remains are... more Interpreting is something evanescent, which vanishes as soon as it is performed. What remains are the impressions received by the audience. (Riccardi 2002:116)

La evaluación de la calidad en interpretación simultánea: parámetros de incidencia, 2007

La evaluación de la calidad en interpretación simultánea: parámetros de incidenca, 2007

La evaluación de la calidad en interpretación simultánea: parámetros de incidencia, 2007

The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics, 2012

Call is now open for the 8th EST CONGRESS 2016 Introduction Quality is generally acknowledged as... more Call is now open for the 8th EST CONGRESS 2016

Introduction
Quality is generally acknowledged as the cornerstone of interpreting practice, but it is also an elusive concept.

This has given rise to various research approaches that examine this phenomenon from a multidimensional perspective. Since Bühler’s (1986) pioneering work on recipients' expectations towards interpreting quality, research methods have been refined to target its various components. In spite of the difficulties associated with the multifaceted nature of quality, this area of inquiry has evolved into one of the most cohesive subfields of interpreting studies, and it has even been praised as a model of scientific construction (Gile 2000:305).

The turn of the century has witnessed a considerable increase in the number of publications on interpreting quality, and the continued activity of both individual scholars and research groups testify to the liveliness of this area of inquiry. In recent years, the scope of interpreting-quality studies has widened from conference settings to public services and to other contexts, covering a greater number of languages, both oral and signed.

Objective
Some of the most promising avenues of research on interpreting quality are a direct consequence of the current trend towards interdisciplinarity. To account for the complex and dynamic nature of quality, scholars are tapping research methods and results from other disciplines such as linguistics, psychology and acoustics.

The aim of this panel is to provide an update on some of the latest developments both in oral and signed language interpreting-quality studies in different settings (e.g., community, court, conference), with a particular emphasis on interdisciplinary approaches. The topics to be addressed include the context-specific weighting of different components of quality, the influence of social perception on the evaluation of interpreting performance, and the relation between live evaluation and deferred analysis. These approaches will hopefully contribute to paving the way for a componential and contextual definition of quality that accounts for the views of all stakeholders of the interpreting process, with immediate implications for practice and training.

In her attempt to establish the criteria to approach interpreting quality in operational terms, Bühler (1986) proposed a set of items to survey users’ expectations and needs. Some of those criteria refer to the content of interpreted speech (logical cohesion of utterance, sense consistency with original message, completeness of interpretation), others to form-related aspects (native accent, pleasant voice, fluency of delivery, correct grammatical usage, use of correct terminology, use of appropriate style, poise and pleasant appearance), and others to the interpreter’s soft skills (thorough preparation of conference documents, endurance, reliability, ability to work in a team and positive feedback of delegates). Based on this seminal work, subsequent studies have surveyed subjects’ expectations relying on a fairly stable set of of content- and of form-related criteria. However, subjects have been asked to rate the importance of criteria that sometimes are far too complicated and incomprehensible to them.

Since the construct is also related to subjetcs' attitude towards a service, perceptual factors must be considered. Hence, surveying recipients' expectations is a good base for exploring the concept inasmuch as they play an important role on their perception and assessment. Nevertheless, the experience collected in survey-based research over the years suggests that a fresh attempt at questionnaire design is required. First, those quality criteria were set a priori, which begs the question of how relevant they actually are for users. Second, the wording used for those criteria can be misleading to users.

The questionnaire presented in this contribution is intended to collect authentic data about the users’ expectations towards quality. To this end, the questions address quality from a broader perspective than earlier studies. Subjects are not simply asked to rate the importance of individual criteria. Instead, the questionnaire tries to capture a richer view of their preconceptions, describing each quality criterion more explicitly and in layman’s terms. Furthermore, it does not merely address content and form of the interpreted speech, but also various aspects of interpersonal perception that might affect their judgment. This questionnaire will later be tested in terms of validity and reliability, to place this strand of research on a former footing (cf. Moser-Mercer 2009).

In a previous study (García Becerra forthcoming); I have compared the response rate of online and traditional hard-copy surveys, as well as the results obtained by the questionnaire, which was a new version of that used in other works (i.e. Bühler 1986, Kurz 1989, 1993). In the present work, I aimed (a) to analyse if the response is higher when surveying people using SNSs, and (b) to know if the results are similar to those obtained by previous works in the field.

Methodology. A link to the online expectations questionnaire was posted at the researcher’s wall in Facebook. The survey was active during five weeks.
Results. 48 people participated in the survey, more than the total number of subjects participating in the previous work (44, 18 of whom took part in the online version). The SNSs’ subjects seem to be more demanding in their expectations. Fidelity-related aspects were ranked as the most important factors regarding to interpreting quality.

This poster presents and discusses the results of this survey and will comment advantages and disadvantages of implementing new technologies in the research on interpreting quality.

Resumen La investigación en el campo de la evaluación de la calidad en interpretación simultánea ... more Resumen La investigación en el campo de la evaluación de la calidad en interpretación simultánea puede enriquecerse significativamente con las ventajas que aporta el uso de un corpus estructurado. En esta contribución presentamos las razones que subyacen a la creación del corpus oral ECIS, sus características y técnicas de aplicación que bien pudieran resultar útiles para otros campos. Palabras clave: corpus oral, interpretación simultánea, evaluación de la calidad Abstract Research in simultaneous interpreting quality assessment could draw significant benefits from a structured corpus-assisted approach. In this paper we discuss the reasons behind the creation of ECIS-an oral corpus-, its characteristics and some implementation techniques that might well prove useful in other fields.

This is the Spanish version of the chapter Eindrucksbildung (published in 2011). La formación de... more This is the Spanish version of the chapter Eindrucksbildung (published in 2011).

La formación de primeras impresiones es un tema de especial importancia en interpretación simultánea (IS), puesto que la impresión que haya causado la interpretación, tanto en los usuarios como en las personas de las que depende la contratación del servicio, puede ser relevante para futuros trabajos. El único contacto que se establece entre éste y el usuario se produce a través de los auriculares que le llevan el sonido de su voz y lo que ésta les transmite. Los usuarios desconocen las circunstancias del intérprete, su estado de ánimo y el nivel habitual de rendimiento de este profesional. Además, ésa puede ser la única vez en la que ambos coincidan. Por tanto, el efecto de la primera interpretación puede tener más repercusión de lo que pudiera parecer en un principio. Como se ha señalado en algún trabajo, debemos concienciarnos de que incluso los factores que, en principio, pueden parecer irrelevantes para la evaluación de la calidad que realiza el usuario se deben tener en cuenta en la interpretación (Collados Aís et al. 2003: 39). Del mismo modo que, en la vida diaria, la apariencia y las primeras palabras que se intercambian con una persona conforman una primera impresión de la misma, que suele mantenerse si no se dispone de otra oportunidad para conocerla más a fondo; los elementos formales desempeñan un papel importante en la red de opiniones que se conforman sobre el intérprete en la IS. En el análisis de estas primeras impresiones dejamos a un lado la controversia acerca de si los usuarios son jueces adecuados o no

Abstracts submitted and accepted to be presented at ICIQ3

ICIQ3, the Third International Conference on Interpreting Quality, will be held in the city of Gr... more ICIQ3, the Third International Conference on Interpreting Quality, will be held in the city of Granada, Spain, on 5, 6 and 7 October 2017. It is intended as a platform for fruitful dialogue on interpreting quality.

Updated information is available on the conference website: <http://qinv.ugr.es/iciq3-en.htm>

NB The deadline for early-bird registrations is Friday, June 30th.

ICIQ3 welcomes contributions on interpreting quality from a broad research spectrum. Participants... more ICIQ3 welcomes contributions on interpreting quality from a broad research spectrum. Participants are invited to share their knowledge from a research, training or professional perspective. The conference will address a number of topics, including, but not limited to the following: quality criteria in different interpreting settings, user expectations and needs, quality perception and quality measurement, quality assurance in the interpreting process, nonprofessional interpreting, method transfer across disciplines.

We are pleased to announce ICIQ3, the Third International Conference on Interpreting Quality, whi... more We are pleased to announce ICIQ3, the Third International Conference on Interpreting Quality, which will be held in the city of Granada, Spain, on 5, 6 and 7 October 2017.

ICIQ3 is intended as a platform for fruitful dialogue on interpreting quality. It will bring together a variety of perspectives and promote exchange at different levels and will address a number of topics, including, but not limited to the following: quality criteria in different interpreting settings, user expectations and needs, quality perception and quality measurement, quality assurance in the interpreting process, nonprofessional interpreting, method transfer across disciplines.