Re-conceptualising interpreting strategies for teaching interpretation into a B language

ABSTRACT

Despite a cognitive disadvantage when interpreting into one’s B language, strategy use and awareness of norms allow interpreters to be resourceful and efficient in achieving communicative goals. There is a need to incorporate strategy training in interpreter education, especially when teaching into-B interpreting. However, strategy taxonomies proposed by different scholars are incompatible, causing confusion in teaching. Furthermore, strategies are not meaningfully represented in a model that justifies their use. This paper aims to re-conceptualise production-related interpreting strategies for pedagogical purposes, accommodating trainers’ suggestions about into-B interpreting. Taking cognitive and temporal constraints as well as interpreting norms into account, we create a trainee-friendly strategy model and a taxonomy that help students understand how strategies fit into a larger picture. Interpreting strategies are re-categorised into three main types: problem-solving, problem-preventing, and message-enhancing. Strategies are streamlined, adjusted, renamed, and grouped under four catchy principles: BE FLEXIBLE, ONE CHUNK AT A TIME, BE CLEAR, and BE CONCISE. For pedagogical application of this strategy taxonomy, we adopt an instructional framework that activates cognitive, metacognitive, and social-affective aspects of learning.

KEYWORDS:

• Retour interpreting
• directionality in interpreting
• interpreting strategies
• strategy training
• interpreter training
• the CALLA model

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplemental material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Notes

1. ‘公共電視, 國際大師人文講座02 邁克桑德爾, 錢買不到的東西,’ YouTube video, 1:47:00, Michael Sandel’s talk in Taiwan on 11 December 2012, posted by ‘PTS 台灣公共電視,’ 17 January 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxJQr_xSrAw.

2. ‘2012/12/11 錢買不到的東西 Michael Sandel/邁可・桑德爾,’ YouTube video, 2:08:03, the simultaneous interpreting of Michael Sandel’s talk in Taiwan on 11 December 2012, posted by ‘台灣公共電視 網路直播頻道,’ 11 December 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SZCa4LEYfE.

3. ‘NUS-UBS Philanthropy Breakfast with Jet Li (Part 1) with Mandarin Chinese Interpretation,’ YouTube video, 9:07, Jet Li’s talk in Singapore with English CI on 30 July 2009, posted by ‘Bernard Song,’ 23 November 2009, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EL2z6MrBlUE.