Changing the text through explicitation. How trainee interpreters perceive the role of explicitating shifts

ABSTRACT

The paper reports on process- and product-oriented analysis of trainee interpreters’ motivations in explicitating the translated message and their own perception of the role of such shifts. The research method is self-retrospection triangulated with product analysis (manual comparison of source and target texts). The study aims to find out to what extent the effects produced by explicitations in target texts coincide with the reported motivations of trainee interpreters to perform explicitating shifts. The results show a low level of correspondence between trainee interpreters’ motivations in performing explicitations and the actual effect such shifts exert on target texts. Trainees’ awareness of the consequences of explicitation appears to be related to the metafunction of such shifts. While the subjects in this study show some degree of awareness how their textual and interpersonal shifts affect the message, very few of them appear to be conscious of the consequences of ideational shifts.

KEYWORDS:

• Simultaneous interpreting
• trainee interpreters
• explicitation
• metafunctions of language
• process research
• retrospective protocols

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. This idea, assuming that the product of translation is somehow different from non-translated texts in terms of surface structure, has been discussed by, e.g. Gellerstam (1986), Øverås (1998), Tirkkonen-Condit (2002).

2. Prior instructions were given at two stages: 1) before the interpreting task (a briefing concerning the source speech, i.e. general information on its content and circumstances of delivery), and 2) after the interpreting task (instructions to verbalise all consciously taken decisions with the aid of the recording of the target text).

3. The asterisk marks the segment of the target text to which the retrospective comment following it refers.

4. Opting for verbal constructions in order to ease the processing load might be expected to occur more often in the retour, as the cognitive effort involved in production tends to be higher, especially for trainees. However, the research conducted so far (Gumul 2017) does not provide decisive evidence to confirm this assumption. In the product analysis, the rates of substituting nominal constructions with verbal ones have been found to be comparable in both interpreting directions, and such shifts are very rarely reported in retrospective protocols (3.37%). Thus, although the process data suggests higher prevalence in the retour, the numbers are too low to be considered a reliable indicator of such tendency (4 reports in the retour and 2 in the native).

Additional information

Funding

Publication co-financed by the funds granted under the Research Excellence Initiative of the University of Silesia in Katowice. ZFIN10091022.

Notes on contributors

Ewa Gumul

Ewa Gumul holds a PhD (2004) and a post-doctoral degree (2018) in Linguistics. She is an associate professor at the Institute of Linguistics of the University of Silesia in Katowice, where she teaches conference interpreting, theory of translation, as well as M.A. and Ph.D. seminars in Translation Studies. Her research interests focus around Translation & Interpreting Studies. She is also an experienced interpreter trainer.