A discussion of chuchotage and boothless simultaneous as marginal and unorthodox interpreting modes

Abstract

This article presents and discusses two types of interpreting procedures described as marginal and unorthodox. Whispered interpreting ([WI] chuchotage) is considered marginal to the extent that, while it is well-established in professional and institutional interpreting settings, scant attention is paid to it in the literature. In contrast, no attention has been paid to boothless simultaneous interpreting (BSI) as a wholly unorthodox procedure, currently restricted to use in activist settings with interpreting provided by volunteers. Such events are useful for novice interpreters to gain hands-on experience and to work together with experienced professionals. Both procedures are discussed in length, presenting the advantages and the disadvantages they represent for the client, the audience and the interpreter, concluding that they constitute interpreting modes in their own right and, as such, require specific attention as an integral part of basic training in order to provide quality interpreting to the satisfaction of all of the parties involved.

Keywords:

• whispering (chuchotage)
• boothless simultaneous
• volunteer/professional
• novice interpreters
• interpreter training

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. An extensive bibliography is also available on the site of the AVIDICUS projects homepage ‘Videoconference Interpreting’ (http://www.videoconference-interpreting.net/?page_id=29).

2. A horizontal, non-hierarchical network of volunteer interpreters and translators with no permanent structures born out of the process of the Social Forums, beginning with the first European Social Forum held in Florence in 2002. (From the official Babels website: http://www.babels.org/spip.php?article272).

3. These include Traductores sen fronteiras (Alonso Bacigalupe, Cruces Colado, and Mascuñán Tolón 2004) and ECOS (Sánchez Balsalobre et al. 2010) in Spain. For a full list see Gambier (2007).

4. ‘Babels is not a provider of linguistic services, it is a political actor.’ (From the official Babels website: http://www.babels.org/spip.php?article272).

5. For example, Filologi (http://www.filologi.lv/en/services/chuchotage-whispered-interpreting/).

6. See the COATI website (https://coati.pimienta.org/electronics/spider/index.en.html).

7. For example, Filologi (http://www.filologi.lv/en/services/chuchotage-whispered-interpreting/).

8. See the explanatory leaflet on the COATI website (https://coati.pimienta.org/documents/tripticoEN.pdf).

9. For full details, see the Babels site (http://www.babels.org/spip.php?rubrique27) and the BabelsWiki (http://www.babels.org/wiki/ESF04SitPrepReport).

10. Full details of both ISO norms as well as Spanish norms are available on the ESPAIIC website (http://espaiic.es/tec/6c1_normas.html).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Robert Neal Baxter

Robert Neal Baxter holds a PhD in translation and interpreting from the University of Vigo (Galicia) where he has taught consecutive and simultaneous interpreting (English–Galician) since 1995. He has also worked extensively as a professional freelance translator and interpreter, including volunteer work. His research interests include interpreting training and the sociolinguistic impact of interpreting and translating on subordinated (‘minority’) languages, with special emphasis on Galician and Breton as well as translation and gender.