The Strategic Behavior of Undergraduate Students in Simultaneous Interpreting (original) (raw)

Difficulties of Simultaneous Interpreting from Translation Students' Perspective

Cihan University-Erbil journal of Humanities and Social Sciences (CUEJHSS), 2023

The present study is a survey that explores the difficulties of simultaneous interpreting (SI) for translation students. The survey addressed senior translation students in the Kurdistan Region, asking them about the troubles of SI from English into Kurdish or Arabic in the classrooms. Relying on the available models in interpreting studies, this study aims to assess difficulties in SI from the linguistic, cultural, cognitive, interactional, and translational aspects. For this purpose, a questionnaire has been designed and distributed among translation students, covering the issues relevant to the cited dimensions. Sixty respondents participated in the survey, whose responses were statistically analyzed and discussed. The results reveal that cognitive issues such as comprehending fast speaking, concentration, memorization, controlling stress, encyclopedic knowledge, and strategic thinking make the highest degree of difficulty (22%) for students. In sum, working on all aspects of SI should be emphasized by interpreting teachers in the classroom to pave the way for developing students' skills and abilities in these respects.

Teaching and Learning Simultaneous Interpreting at Kurdistan Region Universities: Challenges and Strategies

Academic Journal of Nawroz University

Simultaneous Interpreting (SI henceforth) is a mode of oral translation which plays an important role in the realm of translation. SI is unlike written translation where the prior is more difficult when it comes to practice in the field. Moreover, SI is an exclusive skill which requires more than an ability to speak many languages. It is a process that leads people to communicate directly across cultural boundaries. The key problem is how to mitigate or overcome SI obstacles. This problematic area is going to be investigated in this study. The main aim of this study is to highlight the key challenges and problems facing the process of teaching and learning SI, then to find out strategies to address all the challenges of teaching and learning SI that instructors and students are currently facing. This study hypothesizes that having neither facilities nor well-trained teachers pose problems for teaching and learning SI at the Departments of Translation; students are troubled by learni...

Using Modern Simultaneous Interpretation Tools in the Training of Interpreters at Universities

2020

The article considers the issues of improving the training of future interpreters in the aspect of the formation of the corresponding simultaneous translation competencies taking into account the possibilities of using modern tools. A comparative analysis of traditional and modern simultaneous translation technologies has been carried out. It focuses on the advantages of Remote Simultaneous Interpreting (RSI) and Computer-assisted interpreting (СAI) tools for simultaneous interpretation, and the feasibility of studying them is substantiated. The factors limiting their application are considered, and the elements of educational technologies aimed at their elimination are proposed. A scheme for the practical training of interpreters in the conditions of a simultaneous translation laboratory is developed, in which the conditions for simultaneous translation are modeled within the framework of various formats of interpersonal foreign language communication. The motivation of students to...

An investigation of two methods for measuring interpreting performance and studying expertise in interpreting - MA thesis

tanken.elingua.co.uk, 2005

The aim of this study is to test two methods and their applicability for investigating the expertise of simultaneous interpretation; Ivanova’s method for investigating processing problems and their corresponding strategies and monitoring, and Carroll’s method for measuring the quality in machine translation as compared with human translation. The methods were adapted to the context of this study, with English-Swedish as source and target language in comparison with Ivanova’s study, and interpreting instead of translating in comparison with Carroll’s study. I recorded three interpreters at three different levels of experience first when they interpreted and then in a retrospection and interview. The analysis took its starting point in the retrospection. I checked the retrospection protocols for evidence of processing problems, instances of monitoring and strategy choice. Furthermore, I checked the transcripts of the interpretations for evidence of unreported strategies. The transcripts of the interpretations were also used in the rating process according to Carroll’s scales. Twelve independent judges rated the quality of the interpretations using Carroll’s scales. This study shows that the methods used by Ivanova and Carroll are appropriate in this context. The methods were easy to use and generated unambiguous results. It is also clear that although the analyzed material was small, it was possible to draw some conclusions on the expert performances of simultaneous interpreters. Supervisors: Birgitta Englund Dimitrova and Kari Fraurud.

Simultaneous Interpreting Competence: A Case Study Simultaneous Interpreting Competence: A Case Study Simultaneous Interpreting Competence: A Case Study Simultaneous Interpreting Competence: A Case Study 1

The concept of competence in Translation Studies came to the fore in the 1990s although the first proposals were put forward in early 1970s.This term became so important that many universities around the world offering Translation/Interpreting programs tried to develop their curricula accordingly, a move forward that is still going on globally. However, what has been rather under-researched is the concept of Simultaneous Interpreting Competence. As a narrow part of a doctoral dissertation, the present study tried to develop an Interpreting Competence Model and apply it to professional simultaneous interpreters in Iran. To this end, the study included a conceptual and an empirical phase. In the conceptual phase, different translation competence models from the 1970s up to the present were compared and a Translation Competence Model was designed. Similarly, different interpreting competence models from 1930 up to the present were analyzed and an Interpreting Competence Model was developed. The conceptual phase concluded with the common and distinct competences required for professional translators and interpreters. In the empirical phase, the Simultaneous Interpreting Competence Model developed in the conceptual phase was applied to professional Interpreters. The case study included simultaneous interpreters from two Iranian news channels, PRESS TV and IRINN. The findings indicated that Iranian interpreters were lagging behind in certain sub-competences.

Training on Simultaneous Interpreting at Undergraduate Level in Türkiye: Analysis of Resources

TranSynergy: Journal of Translation, Literature, and Linguistics, 2022

Simultaneous interpreting is a significant subfield of translation and interpreting activities, and it is generally perceived as the most difficult form of translational practice since it requires a high command of using comprehensive and productive skills at the very same time and it necessitates a special working environment (soundproof booths equipped with necessary technical sound systems). The educational process of this profession, on the other hand, becomes more challenging, especially in Türkiye, due to the limited technical and human resources offered in the departments of translation and interpreting in the country. By taking into account this challenge, the present study aims to analyze the current technical and human resources allocated for the training of interpreters at the undergraduate level in Türkiye. In line with this aim, the present study will offer numerical data on the presence of laboratories for simultaneous interpreting and the profile of interpreter-academicians working in the departments of translation and interpreting in Türkiye. The locations of the universities, the presence of laboratories, the research fields of academicians, the number of interpreteracademicians, and the impacts of all these factors on the training of simultaneous interpreters will be discussed in detail to create an awareness of the limited resources in the field in Türkiye.

The Applicability of Haddads Consecutive Interpreting Model on Novice Interpreting Students Performance: A Case Study

International Journal of Language Academy, 2019

Haddad's (2008) model on consecutive interpreting is one among many other models that focus on the nature of the training programs that novice interpreters should enrolled in. The model is divided into two phases: the first one deals with liaison interpreting while the second one deals with consecutive interpreting. This research paper is an attempt to find the applicability of this model on a sample of twenty undergraduate students at the Dept. of Translation, College of Arts/ Tikrit University. There has been a pre-test for the students before teaching them the principles of consecutive interpreting and a post-test in order to examine the development of their performance. Though interpreting is not an easy task, the posttest results show a remarkable progress on the students' performance as compared to their results of the pre-test. The results also reflect the importance of memory training and the self-training as a key solution to overcome problems of consecutive interpreting. Intensive and practical interpreting courses are recommended for novice interpreters in order to increase their self-confidence to fulfill such task.

Quality Assessment of Simultaneous Interpreting: Teaching and Learning Perspective to English and Arabic Renditions

Manchester Journal of Artificial Intelligence & Applied Sciences, Vol 1(1), pp.55-61, 2020

Despite the unprecedented interest in interpreting teaching and training, there exists a gap in the knowledge of quality assessment of simultaneous interpreting (SI) in the academia. This study aims to investigate the assessment of the quality of SI from a teaching and learning perspective, in a new way especially of looking at holistic and subjective judgements. It raises three questions. How to make assessments? How to design a rubric? How to use assessments and rubrics to help teachers and learners get quality education? This multidisciplinary study derives its theoretical tenets from interpreting studies and interactive pedagogical assessment, employing case study and questionnaire methods. The data was collected from actual assessments of bi-directional English/Arabic renditions, given to final-year university learners of SI unit. Proper assessment and clear rubrics 'with some holistic and subjective' characteristics can help enhance teachers' assessment and learners' creative performance.

Investigating Omission in Simultaneous Interpreting from English into Arabic

paper, 2023

Simultaneous interpreting is the process of oral conversion of a message from the original language into the target language at a real time. Cognitively, it would seem to make considerable demands on the interpreter‖s cognitive processing mechanisms and consequently poses cognitive pressure on interpreters and causes omissions in the target message. In this context, omission seems to better be avoided during the simultaneous interpreting task. However, some omissions are highly recommended to improve the quality of the interpreting and clarify the ambiguous aspects for the audience. In order to study the strategic and nonstrategic omission in simultaneous interpreting, two groups of interpreters conduct a simultaneous interpreting task from English into Arabic. In this study, participants‖ interpretations are qualitatively analysed to identify the omissions made by the interpreters and to determine whether it is strategic or nonstrategic based on the participants‖ post task reports. Moreover, a quantitative analysis is made to count the number of omission type based on Bariks‖ (1971) taxonomy of omission in simultaneous interpreting. The study hypothesized that, due to experience and training, experts strategically make greater omission for unnecessary and redundant structures while students resort to omitting significant information which affect negatively on the interpreter‖s performance and distort the interpreting process.

The Native Language Factor in Simultaneous Interpretation in an Arabic/English Context

Meta: Journal des traducteurs, 2002

The present research sought evidence to either support or refute the claim that simultaneous interpreters are more efficient when decoding/interpreting oral discourse from a foreign language into their mother tongue. The data for the study were collected by means of (1) a questionnaire which elicited the responses of a number of professional interpreters who participated in national, regional, and international conferences, and (2) an analysis of the actual performance of some professional interpreters in actual interpretation tasks conducted in both languages. Their performance was analyzed according to some major criteria of linguistic adequacy, strategic competence, and communication strategies. A theoretical framework based on the variability model (Labov 1969) was employed to validate the data.