This study investigates ad hoc knowledge in interpreting – knowledge specifically relevant to an interpreting task, usually acquired by interpreters at pre-service and in-service stages. A quasi-experiment asked eight English–Chinese professional interpreters to prepare for and interpret two speeches with different degrees of specialisation. Five datasets were collected: (1) screen and video recordings of their preparation processes; (2) their responses to a follow-up questionnaire; (3) their scores and answers on a domain knowledge test; (4) their interpreting performance, rated by both professional interpreters and domain experts; (5) the speaker's answers to a few open questions on domain knowledge. Parts of the first and second datasets were used to examine what ad hoc knowledge the interpreters needed; the remaining three datasets, together with recording data from the first, were used to investigate the extent of their need for this knowledge. The findings show that ad hoc knowledge is domain-relevant, yet its scope is highly interpreting-specific, being neither deep nor wide; and it is by nature different from domain knowledge, mainly including speech-relevant expressive knowledge about certain domain(s) and the contextual knowledge interpreters use in their preparation. The implications of these findings for interpreting practice and training are also discussed.
{"title":"Understanding interpreters' ad hoc knowledge: An empirical study based on English–Chinese simultaneous interpreting","authors":"Lan Li, Mingjiong Chai","doi":"10.1556/084.2023.00350","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/084.2023.00350","url":null,"abstract":"This study investigates ad hoc knowledge in interpreting – knowledge specifically relevant to an interpreting task, usually acquired by interpreters at pre-service and in-service stages. A quasi-experiment asked eight English–Chinese professional interpreters to prepare for and interpret two speeches with different degrees of specialisation. Five datasets were collected: (1) screen and video recordings of their preparation processes; (2) their responses to a follow-up questionnaire; (3) their scores and answers on a domain knowledge test; (4) their interpreting performance, rated by both professional interpreters and domain experts; (5) the speaker's answers to a few open questions on domain knowledge. Parts of the first and second datasets were used to examine what ad hoc knowledge the interpreters needed; the remaining three datasets, together with recording data from the first, were used to investigate the extent of their need for this knowledge. The findings show that ad hoc knowledge is domain-relevant, yet its scope is highly interpreting-specific, being neither deep nor wide; and it is by nature different from domain knowledge, mainly including speech-relevant expressive knowledge about certain domain(s) and the contextual knowledge interpreters use in their preparation. The implications of these findings for interpreting practice and training are also discussed.","PeriodicalId":44202,"journal":{"name":"Across Languages and Cultures","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2024-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141363460","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Distance interpreting (DI) refers to interpreting services provided by interpreters at a remote location, facilitated through information and communication technologies. DI has been widely employed in a multitude of contexts, ranging from multilingual diplomacy conferences and public service sectors to global business negotiations and live-broadcasting programs, among others. Although empirical studies have provided extensive insights into DI, the findings show a certain degree of dispersion and complexity, indicating a need for further investigation. This study set out to conduct a systematic review of the empirical DI research with the aim of providing an evidence-backed synthesis of the current DI research and predicting potential future research directions. Applying the PRISMA guidelines, we identified 39 journal articles on DI through an electronic search and a snowballing procedure. We then coded and synthesized these articles based on a framework comprising three main elements: demographics, methodology, and research themes. Four prominent research themes were identified: (1) interpreters' adaptation, (2) technical considerations in DI, (3) client satisfaction, and (4) DI quality assessment. Based on these, we discuss four possible directions for future DI research: replication studies of onsite interpreting research, research in diverse settings, incorporation of modern technology, and experiments on diverse language combinations.
远程口译(DI)是指口译员通过信息和通信技术,在远程地点提供口译服务。从多语种外交会议和公共服务部门到全球商务谈判和直播节目等,DI 已被广泛应用于多种场合。虽然实证研究为 DI 提供了广泛的见解,但研究结果显示出一定程度的分散性和复杂性,表明需要进一步调查。本研究对 DI 的实证研究进行了系统回顾,目的是对当前的 DI 研究进行有据可依的综述,并预测未来潜在的研究方向。根据 PRISMA 准则,我们通过电子搜索和 "滚雪球 "程序确定了 39 篇有关 DI 的期刊论文。然后,我们根据由人口统计学、方法学和研究主题三大要素组成的框架对这些文章进行了编码和综合。我们确定了四个突出的研究主题:(1) 口译员的适应性;(2) 直接口译中的技术考虑因素;(3) 客户满意度;(4) 直接口译质量评估。在此基础上,我们讨论了未来直接口译研究的四个可能方向:现场口译研究的复制研究、不同环境下的研究、现代技术的融入以及不同语言组合的实验。
{"title":"A systematic review of empirical distance interpreting research (2005–2021)","authors":"Xuelian Zhu, Vahid Aryadoust","doi":"10.1556/084.2023.00349","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/084.2023.00349","url":null,"abstract":"Distance interpreting (DI) refers to interpreting services provided by interpreters at a remote location, facilitated through information and communication technologies. DI has been widely employed in a multitude of contexts, ranging from multilingual diplomacy conferences and public service sectors to global business negotiations and live-broadcasting programs, among others. Although empirical studies have provided extensive insights into DI, the findings show a certain degree of dispersion and complexity, indicating a need for further investigation. This study set out to conduct a systematic review of the empirical DI research with the aim of providing an evidence-backed synthesis of the current DI research and predicting potential future research directions. Applying the PRISMA guidelines, we identified 39 journal articles on DI through an electronic search and a snowballing procedure. We then coded and synthesized these articles based on a framework comprising three main elements: demographics, methodology, and research themes. Four prominent research themes were identified: (1) interpreters' adaptation, (2) technical considerations in DI, (3) client satisfaction, and (4) DI quality assessment. Based on these, we discuss four possible directions for future DI research: replication studies of onsite interpreting research, research in diverse settings, incorporation of modern technology, and experiments on diverse language combinations.","PeriodicalId":44202,"journal":{"name":"Across Languages and Cultures","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2024-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141363777","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Explicitation might be the most discussed phenomenon in Translation Studies history, and yet the most elusive of them all. This study aims to contribute to the literature on the cognitive relevance-theoretic approach to explicitation and implicitation, adopting the view that translation is a type of pragmatically communicative and interpretive act. First, the study presents a brief critical overview of selected existing accounts of explicitation and implicitation to show how the definitions are riddled with circularity and the classifications with lack of conformity. Second, it addresses the existing relevance-theoretic models in an attempt to reconcile their classifications in a unified, applicable relevance-theoretic model of analysis. It puts to good use the fuller account of the range of pragmatic processes widely discussed in Relevance Theory; namely, disambiguation, reference assignment, free enrichment, higher-level explicature and ad hoc concept. The corpus of the study is selected articles from Nature, as representative of scientific and technical discourse, in English and their translations into Arabic as published in the Arabic edition of Nature. The study leans upon Gutt's Optimal Relevance theory and Pym's Risk Management hypothesis to explain the outcomes of the analysis.
{"title":"Explicitation & implicitation revisited: Towards a more defined cognitive relevance-theoretic model","authors":"Radwa Kotait","doi":"10.1556/084.2023.00620","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/084.2023.00620","url":null,"abstract":"Explicitation might be the most discussed phenomenon in Translation Studies history, and yet the most elusive of them all. This study aims to contribute to the literature on the cognitive relevance-theoretic approach to explicitation and implicitation, adopting the view that translation is a type of pragmatically communicative and interpretive act. First, the study presents a brief critical overview of selected existing accounts of explicitation and implicitation to show how the definitions are riddled with circularity and the classifications with lack of conformity. Second, it addresses the existing relevance-theoretic models in an attempt to reconcile their classifications in a unified, applicable relevance-theoretic model of analysis. It puts to good use the fuller account of the range of pragmatic processes widely discussed in Relevance Theory; namely, disambiguation, reference assignment, free enrichment, higher-level explicature and ad hoc concept. The corpus of the study is selected articles from Nature, as representative of scientific and technical discourse, in English and their translations into Arabic as published in the Arabic edition of Nature. The study leans upon Gutt's Optimal Relevance theory and Pym's Risk Management hypothesis to explain the outcomes of the analysis.","PeriodicalId":44202,"journal":{"name":"Across Languages and Cultures","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2024-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141363623","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Scholars have conflicting views as to strategy choice between foreignization and domestication, and each view is supported by descriptive case analyses. So far, translation practitioners' voices on strategy use have not been heard. This study aims to explore translators' views on strategy choice, shaping factors, and justifications. The participants surveyed were translators of academic texts in Humanities and Social Sciences, a genre requiring substantial and creative interventions from translators in rhetorical norms and epistemological conventions. The results indicate that: domestication is used more often than foreignization; strategy use is translator-specific in that the translators are divided concerning the manipulation of the macro-level source-text features and content, though most of them agree to domesticate the micro-level features; eight factors (target readers' needs, authors, etc.) exert different degrees of impact on strategy use; and the current practices of justifying strategy use is invisible, harming the recognition of translators' contributions and their professional status.
{"title":"Strategy choice, shaping factors and justifications: Perceptions of academic translators of Humanities and Social Sciences texts","authors":"Xiangdong Li","doi":"10.1556/084.2023.00533","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/084.2023.00533","url":null,"abstract":"Scholars have conflicting views as to strategy choice between foreignization and domestication, and each view is supported by descriptive case analyses. So far, translation practitioners' voices on strategy use have not been heard. This study aims to explore translators' views on strategy choice, shaping factors, and justifications. The participants surveyed were translators of academic texts in Humanities and Social Sciences, a genre requiring substantial and creative interventions from translators in rhetorical norms and epistemological conventions. The results indicate that: domestication is used more often than foreignization; strategy use is translator-specific in that the translators are divided concerning the manipulation of the macro-level source-text features and content, though most of them agree to domesticate the micro-level features; eight factors (target readers' needs, authors, etc.) exert different degrees of impact on strategy use; and the current practices of justifying strategy use is invisible, harming the recognition of translators' contributions and their professional status.","PeriodicalId":44202,"journal":{"name":"Across Languages and Cultures","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2024-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141364390","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In recent decades, there has been a growing interest in multimodal translation studies. However, there is currently no suitable framework available for analyzing how the original meaning is reconstructed through the interaction of various semiotic resources in the multimodal target text. Under this context, this article proposes a systemic functional framework that integrates the systems of the meaning potential of semiotic resources, including language, sound (human voice), objects, space, and semiotic ensembles of the human body, and a tripartite classification of the relationships between semiotic resources. To exemplify the analytical potential of the framework, this article presents an example of analysis, taking an excerpt from Fences as the object of analysis.
{"title":"Toward a systemic functional framework for the multimodal analysis of meaning reconstruction","authors":"Kun Zhu","doi":"10.1556/084.2023.00289","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/084.2023.00289","url":null,"abstract":"In recent decades, there has been a growing interest in multimodal translation studies. However, there is currently no suitable framework available for analyzing how the original meaning is reconstructed through the interaction of various semiotic resources in the multimodal target text. Under this context, this article proposes a systemic functional framework that integrates the systems of the meaning potential of semiotic resources, including language, sound (human voice), objects, space, and semiotic ensembles of the human body, and a tripartite classification of the relationships between semiotic resources. To exemplify the analytical potential of the framework, this article presents an example of analysis, taking an excerpt from Fences as the object of analysis.","PeriodicalId":44202,"journal":{"name":"Across Languages and Cultures","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2024-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141363650","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Translation competence. Theory, research and practice","authors":"Márta Lesznyák","doi":"10.1556/084.2024.00790","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/084.2024.00790","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44202,"journal":{"name":"Across Languages and Cultures","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2024-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141364971","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Since the early 2000s when the possibility of a network approach in translation studies (TS) was noted, social network analysis (SNA) has been applied to explore the relational complexity of various translational agents in practical, industrial, academic, and educational settings. Through a systematic review, this paper shows that SNA's major contributions to TS have been mainly in areas of translation history, translation economy, translation scientometrics, translation education, and online collaborative translation. It also identifies how SNA has adapted to and complemented other methodological and theoretical approaches in TS under two paradigms, i.e., explanatory structuralist and exploratory complex paradigms. In light of the review, strengths and weakness of these paradigms are discussed, and suggestions are provided for further research on their confluence, which is characterized by a less reductionist analytic model with appropriate explanatory power in a closer symbiosis between complexity theory and SNA.
自 21 世纪初人们注意到翻译研究(TS)中采用网络方法的可能性以来,社会网络分析(SNA)已被用于探索实践、工业、学术和教育环境中各种翻译代理的关系复杂性。通过系统回顾,本文表明 SNA 对翻译研究的主要贡献集中在翻译史、翻译经济、翻译科学计量学、翻译教育和在线协作翻译等领域。本文还指出了国民账户体系如何在两种范式(即解释性结构主义范式和探索性复合范式)下适应并补充了其他方法论和理论方法。在回顾的基础上,讨论了这些范式的优缺点,并为进一步研究它们之间的融合提供了建议,其特点是在复杂性理论和国民账户体系之间更紧密的共生关系中,采用具有适当解释力的较少还原论分析模型。
{"title":"How social network analysis informs translation studies: A systematic review","authors":"Yizhu Li, Wenlu Li, Pei Ma","doi":"10.1556/084.2023.00399","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/084.2023.00399","url":null,"abstract":"Since the early 2000s when the possibility of a network approach in translation studies (TS) was noted, social network analysis (SNA) has been applied to explore the relational complexity of various translational agents in practical, industrial, academic, and educational settings. Through a systematic review, this paper shows that SNA's major contributions to TS have been mainly in areas of translation history, translation economy, translation scientometrics, translation education, and online collaborative translation. It also identifies how SNA has adapted to and complemented other methodological and theoretical approaches in TS under two paradigms, i.e., explanatory structuralist and exploratory complex paradigms. In light of the review, strengths and weakness of these paradigms are discussed, and suggestions are provided for further research on their confluence, which is characterized by a less reductionist analytic model with appropriate explanatory power in a closer symbiosis between complexity theory and SNA.","PeriodicalId":44202,"journal":{"name":"Across Languages and Cultures","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2024-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141363743","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In corpus-based interpreting studies, typical challenges exist in the time-consuming and labour-intensive nature of transcribing spoken data and in identifying prosodic properties. This paper addresses these challenges by exploring methods for the automatic compilation of multimodal interpreting corpora, with a focus on English/Chinese Consecutive Interpreting. The results show that: 1) automatic transcription can achieve an accuracy rate of 95.3% in transcribing consecutive interpretations; 2) prosodic properties related to filled pauses, unfilled pauses, articulation rate, and mispronounced words can be automatically extracted using our rule-based programming; 3) mispronounced words can be effectively identified by employing Confidence Measure, with any word having a Confidence Measure lower than 0.321 considered as mispronounced; 4) automatic alignment can be achieved through the utilisation of automatic segmentation, sentence embedding, and alignment techniques. This study contributes to interpreting studies by broadening the empirical understanding of orality, enabling multimodal analyses of interpreting products, and providing a new methodological solution for the construction and utilisation of multimodal interpreting corpora. It also has implications in exploring applicability of new technologies in interpreting studies.
{"title":"Exploring automatic methods for the construction of multimodal interpreting corpora. How to transcribe linguistic information and identify paralinguistic properties?","authors":"Xiaoman Wang, Binhua Wang","doi":"10.1556/084.2023.00407","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/084.2023.00407","url":null,"abstract":"In corpus-based interpreting studies, typical challenges exist in the time-consuming and labour-intensive nature of transcribing spoken data and in identifying prosodic properties. This paper addresses these challenges by exploring methods for the automatic compilation of multimodal interpreting corpora, with a focus on English/Chinese Consecutive Interpreting. The results show that: 1) automatic transcription can achieve an accuracy rate of 95.3% in transcribing consecutive interpretations; 2) prosodic properties related to filled pauses, unfilled pauses, articulation rate, and mispronounced words can be automatically extracted using our rule-based programming; 3) mispronounced words can be effectively identified by employing Confidence Measure, with any word having a Confidence Measure lower than 0.321 considered as mispronounced; 4) automatic alignment can be achieved through the utilisation of automatic segmentation, sentence embedding, and alignment techniques. This study contributes to interpreting studies by broadening the empirical understanding of orality, enabling multimodal analyses of interpreting products, and providing a new methodological solution for the construction and utilisation of multimodal interpreting corpora. It also has implications in exploring applicability of new technologies in interpreting studies.","PeriodicalId":44202,"journal":{"name":"Across Languages and Cultures","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2024-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141365115","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Impact of sociocultural factors on health communication","authors":"Dániel Mány","doi":"10.1556/084.2024.00789","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/084.2024.00789","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44202,"journal":{"name":"Across Languages and Cultures","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2024-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141363895","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Relevance theory in translation and interpreting: A cognitive-pragmatic approach. Routledge advances in translation and interpreting studies","authors":"Pál Heltai","doi":"10.1556/084.2024.00793","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/084.2024.00793","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44202,"journal":{"name":"Across Languages and Cultures","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2024-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141364451","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}