This volume brings together papers from the areas of psychology, general linguistics, psycholinguistics, as well as from simultaneous interpreting. Their common focus is how theories and methodologies from various disciplines can be applied to the study of simultaneous interpreting, and also to suggest ways in which the study of simultaneous interpreting in its turn might contribute to knowledge in other areas. General topics dealt with include memory, language processing, bilingual processing, and second language acquisition. The articles more specifically focused on simultaneous interpreting discuss implications of the general topics and report on empirical studies on expertise in interpreting and on phonological interference in spoken language interpreting. Requirements for further interdisciplinary research in the context of simultaneous interpreting are considered. There is also a discussion of transcription conventions for simultaneous interpreting.

This text aims to update the state-of-the-art in research on simultaneous interpretation with contributions from modern linguistic and cognitive theory, and to demonstrate the value of T&I data to the study of language and the mind.

This book addresses eye movements and gestures as markers of language comprehension and production in interpreting as the "visible embodiment" of cognitive processing in simultaneous and consecutive interpreting. It discusses conference interpreting as a complex, multimodal activity where language processing is not restricted to auditory perception and oral production, highlighting the complexity of interpreting and exploring possible strategies that can be used by professional interpreters and students to make their work easier and more accurate.

This book examines conference-level simultaneous interpreting from a signed language into a spoken language, drawing on Auslan (Australian Sign Language)-to-English simultaneous interpretation data to explore the skills, knowledge, strategies, and cognitive abilities needed for effective interpretations in this language direction. As simultaneous interpreting from a spoken language into a signed language is the widely accepted norm within the field of signed language interpreting, to date little has been written on simultaneous interpreting in the other language direction. In an attempt to bridge this gap, Wang conducts microanalysis of an experimental corpus of Auslan-to-English simultaneous interpretations in a mock conference setting to investigate different dimensions of quality assessment, interpreting strategies, cognitive load, and the interpreting process itself. The focus on conference-level simultaneous interpreting not only allows for insights into the impact of signed language variation on the signed-to-spoken language simultaneous interpreting process but also sheds light on the unique demands of conference settings such as the requirement of using a formal register. Acting as a bridge between spoken language interpreting studies and signed language interpreting studies and highlighting implications for future research on simultaneous interpreting of other language combinations (spoken and signed), this book will be of interest to scholars in translation and interpreting studies as well as active practitioners in these fields.

Exploring the Cognitive Processes of Simultaneous Interpreting: English — Arabic — English Dynamics approaches English-Arabic-English simultaneous interpreting from a cognitive-cum-linguistic vantage point. Amr M. El-Zawawy focuses on how media interpreters, especially on TV, cognitively address the source texts in the process of translating them in real time. The corpora used — simultaneous interpretations of televised political speeches — and the rigorous methodology applied attest to the variety and depth of the analyses carried out, and the examples given attest to the linguistic and cognitive processes that interpreters perform in order to communicate meaning. This book will be an invaluable asset to any student and researcher of translation, particularly of simultaneous interpreting. The book also provides significant insights into the underexplored questions of the difficulties of simultaneously translating Arabic, a language spoken by around 420 million people today.

Unlike other professions, the impact of information and communication technology on interpreting has been moderate so far. However, recent advances in the areas of remote, computer-assisted, and, most recently, machine interpreting, are gaining the interest of both researchers and practitioners. This volume aims at exploring key issues, approaches and challenges to the interplay of interpreting and technology, an area that is still underrepresented in the field of Interpreting Studies. The contributions to this volume cover topics in the area of computer-assisted and remote interpreting, both in the conference as well as in the court setting, and report on experimental studies.

The present work explores computer-assisted simultaneous interpreting (CASI) from a primarily cognitive perspective. Despite concerns over the potentially negative impact of computer-assisted interpreting (CAI) tools on interpreters’ cognitive load (CL), this hypothesis has thus far remained untested. Furthermore, previous research has been restricted to the evaluation of the CASI product. Hence, a methodology for the process-oriented evaluation of CASI and the empirical evidence for its cognitive modelling were missing. Overcoming these limitations appears essential to advance CAI research, particularly to foster a deeper understanding of the cognitive aspects of CAI through a validated research methodology and to determine the feasibility of the integration of CAI tools into the interpreting process. Therefore, this dissertation tested and empirically validated a methodology for the combined exploration of the product and process of CASI. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected during an eyetracking experiment at the Translation & Cognition Center of the University of Mainz. The study followed a convergent mixed-method and multi-method approach and involved nine MA advanced interpreting students. Prior to the experimental task, the informants were trained in the use of the three terminology support tools compared during the experiment, i. e. a digital glossary in PDF format, a CAI tool with manual look-up and a mock-up CAI tool with integrated automatic speech recognition (ASR) for terminology. After several pre-tests, the participants interpreted three speeches from English into their native German using a different tool each time. To increase comparability between the three conditions and control for potentially confounding variables, the speeches prepared ad-hoc for data collection were validated during a pilot study. The students’ gaze data and deliveries were recorded and analysed. Qualitative data on the informants’ perception of the tools were collected post-hoc. In the study, several performance, behavioural, and subjective measures were analysed: terminological accuracy and errors and omissions; glossary queries, ear-voice span, inter-cluster pause duration, time to first fixation, average fixation duration, and fixation time; qualitative questionnaire responses. The findings of this research provide first insights into the CASI process, in particular as it pertains to the effects of CAI tools on CL and attention allocation in interpreter-CAI tool interaction during simultaneous interpreting. As this is the first study on in-process CAI tool use with a markedly cognitive orientation, it entails significant implications for the methodological development of CAI research and the design of future studies on cognitive aspects of CASI, while raising additional questions in need of further investigation.

This book is a part of the Blue Book series “Research on the Development of Electronic Information Engineering Technology in China”, which explores the cutting edge of natural language processing (NLP) studies. The research objects of natural language processing are evolved from words, phrases, and sentences to text, and research directions are from language analysis, language understanding, language generation, knowledge graphs, machine translation, to deep semantic understanding, and beyond. This is in line with the development trend of applications. And for another typical NLP application machine translation, from text translation, to voice and image translation, now simultaneous interpretation, progress of technology makes the application of machine translation deeper and wider into diverse industries. This book is intended for researchers and industrial staffs who have been following the current situation and future trends of the natural language processing. Meanwhile, it also bears high value of reference for experts, scholars, and technical and engineering managers of different levels and different fields.

The present work explores computer-assisted simultaneous interpreting (CASI) from a primarily cognitive perspective. Despite concerns over the potentially negative impact of computer-assisted interpreting (CAI) tools on interpreters’ cognitive load (CL), this hypothesis remains untested. Previous research is restricted to the evaluation of the CASI product and a methodology for the process-oriented evaluation of CASI and the empirical evidence for its cognitive modelling are missing. Overcoming these limitations appears essential to advance CAI research, particularly to foster a deeper understanding of the cognitive aspects of CAI through a validated research methodology and to determine the feasibility of the integration of CAI tools into the interpreting process. This book tests and validates a methodology for the combined exploration of the product and process of CASI. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected during an eyetracking experiment at the Translation & Cognition Centre of the University of Mainz. The study followed a convergent mixed-method and multi-method approach and involved nine interpreting students. Prior to the experimental task, the informants were trained in the use of three terminology support tools: a digital glossary in PDF format, a CAI tool with manual look-up, and a mock-up CAI tool with integrated automatic speech recognition (ASR) for terminology. After several pre-tests, the participants interpreted three speeches from English into their native German using a different tool each time. To increase comparability between the three conditions and control for potentially confounding variables, the speeches were validated during a pilot study. The students’ gaze data and deliveries were recorded and analysed. Qualitative data on the informants’ perception of the tools were collected post-hoc. In the study, several performance, behavioural, and subjective measures were analysed: terminological accuracy and errors and omissions; glossary queries, ear-voice span, inter-cluster pause duration, time to first fixation, average fixation duration, and fixation time; qualitative questionnaire responses. The findings provide insights into the effects of CAI tools on CL and attention allocation in interpreter-CAI tool interaction during simultaneous interpreting. As this is the first study on in-process CAI tool use with a markedly cognitive orientation, it entails significant implications for the methodological development of CAI research and the design of future studies on cognitive aspects of CASI, while raising additional questions in need of further investigation.

Interpreting has been a neglected area since the late 1970s. Sylvie Lambert and Barbara Moser-Mercer have attempted to give a new impulse to academic research in print with this collection of 30 articles discussing various aspects of interpreting grouped in 3 sections: I. Pedagogical issues, II. Simultaneous interpretation, III. Neuropsychological research.Being a professional interpreter may not be sufficient to explain what interpretation is all about and how it should be practised and taught. The purpose of this collection of reports on non-arbitrary, empirical research of simultaneous and sign-language interpretation, designed to bridge the gap between vocational and scientific aspects of an interpreter s skills, is to show that the study of conference interpretation, by way of scientific experimental methods, as tedious and speculative as they may often appear, is bound to contribute significantly to general knowledge in this field and have tangible and practical repercussions. The contributors are specialists from all over the world. Introduction by Barbara Moser-Mercer.