Telephone interpreting

This paper focuses on the use of telephony and video-link technology in interpreting and firstly presents data from relevant contemporary research studies, and secondly from two surveys conducted with practising interpreters and/or examiners, on their own experiences using these technologies and on their suitability as components of training and testing for certification. Technological advances in the means of audio and audio+visual communication are now being trialled in interpreted interactions, but most research findings reveal that an increased use of technology accompanies rather than forms a part of inter-lingual transfer. Responses from two groups of interpreters – practitioners and examiners – show that there is widespread support for telephone and video-link interpreting to form components of training and certification testing, as these two communication channels become more popular with mediators (interpreting agencies) and end-users of interpreting services. These responses are collated and recommendatory guidelines for training and testing are provided in this paper.

Over the last decade, telephone interpreting (TI) has consolidated its presence in the public services of many countries around the world, including Spain. That is why increased attention is being paid to the need for training TI professionals who are able to face the challenges that this type of remote interpreting entails. Despite TI's specificities (the use of the telephone as the channel of communication, the interpreter's physical absence from the place of interaction, the lack of visual information and the immediacy with which the interpreter is accessed), it shares many features with face-to-face dialogue interpreting, one of them being the role of the interpreter as interaction coordinator to ensure communication flow between the primary parties. Nonetheless, the way coordination is performed when interpreting over the phone necessarily differs from on-site interpreting. This article aims to identify and describe the specific skills needed by telephone interpreters to manage interaction between participants in conversation. Some of them are not exclusive to TI, but must be readapted for use with the telephone. These skills could potentially be used as the starting point to design a specific comprehensive training in TI.

The translation of written language, the translation of spoken language and interpreting have traditionally been separate fields of education and expertise, and the technologies that emulate and/or support those human activities have been developed and researched using different methodologies and by different groups of researchers. Although recent increase in synergy between these well-established fields has begun to blur the boundaries, this section will adhere to the threefold distinction and begin by giving an overview of key concepts in relation to written-language translation and technology, including computer-assisted translation (CAT) and fully automatic machine translation (MT). This will be followed by an overview of spoken-language translation and technology, which will make a distinction between written translation products (speech-to-text translation, STT) and spoken translation products (speech-to-speech translation, SST). The key concepts of information and communications technology (ICT) supported interpreting, which is currently separate from the technological developments in written-and spoken-language translation, will be outlined in a third section and a fourth will provide an overview of current usages of translation and interpreting technologies.

Cet article se propose d’analyser le sens donné à la technologisation du pouvoir dans le contexte d’un régime totalitaire, telle que l’illustrent deux grands romans russes du XXe siècle, Le Premier Cercle d’A. Soljenitsyne et Vie et Destin de V. Grossman. Ces deux romans réservent une place singulière à un banal outil de communication, le téléphone, qui, entre les mains des dirigeants soviétiques et quoiqu’il soit peu répandu, manifeste l’ambition de toute-puissance du régime, mais aussi ses limites (paranoïa, incompétence,…). Le topos du coup de téléphone passé par Staline à l’un de ses sujets se retrouve même dans nombre d’histoires drôles tournant en dérision l’infaillible régime soviétique. Avec un instinct très sûr, Soljenitsyne et Grossman font de cette obsession téléphonique du pouvoir un des lieux où se manifestent ses contradictions.

Resumen La interpretación telefónica (IT) es una variedad de interpretación remota cuya pre-sencia no hace sino aumentar en los servicios públicos de numerosos países, entre ellos España. Si bien se lleva a cabo normalmente en modalidad bilateral o consecutiva dialógica, el ejercicio de la IT requiere la adquisición por parte del estudiante de una serie de destrezas específicas derivadas de sus características distintivas (Rosenberg 2007). El role-play o ejercicio de simulación, una de las herramientas metodológicas más utilizadas en la formación en interpretación de enlace, constituye un instrumento clave en la didáctica de la IT. El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo identificar los diferentes elementos que debe incorporar el ejercicio de simulacro en sus diferentes variedades (guionizado o improvisado) para contribuir al desarrollo de las destrezas del intérprete telefónico. Abstract " Designing role-play models for Telephone Interpreting training " Telephone Interpreting (TI) is a variety of remote interpreting which is increasingly present in public services of many countries such as Spain. Although it is usually carried out in liaison or bilateral interpreting, TI requires trainees to develop a number of specific skills due to its specificities (Rosenberg 2007). As one of the most used methodological tools in bilateral interpreting, role-plays have also become a key instrument in TI training. This paper aims at identifying the main elements that a role-play (either scripted or improvised) should include to help developing TI specific skills.

Telephone Interpreting (TI) is a variety of remote interpreting which is increasingly present in public services of many countries such as Spain. Although it is usually carried out in liaison or bilateral interpreting, TI requires trainees to develop a number of specific skills due to its specificities (Rosenberg 2007). As one of the most used methodological tools in bilateral interpreting, role-plays have also become a key instrument in TI training. This paper aims at identifying the main elements that a role-play (either scripted or improvised) should include to help developing TI specific skills. Resumen La interpretación telefónica (IT) es una variedad de interpretación remota cuya pre-sencia no hace sino aumentar en los servicios públicos de numerosos países, entre ellos España. Si bien se lleva a cabo normalmente en modalidad bilateral o consecutiva dialógica, el ejercicio de la IT requiere la adquisición por parte del estudiante de una serie de destrezas específicas derivadas de sus características distintivas (Rosenberg 2007). El role-play o ejercicio de simulación, una de las herramientas metodológicas más utilizadas en la formación en interpretación de enlace, constituye un instrumento clave en la didáctica de la IT. El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo identificar los diferentes elementos que debe incorporar el ejercicio de simulacro en sus diferentes 1. This article is the English version of " Propuestas de ejercicios de simulación para la didáctica de la interpretación telefónica " by María Magdalena Fernández Pérez. It was not published on the print version of MonTI for reasons of space. The online version of MonTI does not suffer from these limitations, and this is our way of promoting plurilingualism.

En el presente estudio, se analizará la relación conflictual entre oralidad y escritura en la interpretación en los servicios públicos a través de dos interrogatorios interpretados por teléfono en Finlandia. El análisis se funda en un estudio detallado de los rasgos lingüísticos e interaccionales más destacados de los extractos. La meta es la de reflexionar sobre la agencia del intérprete (Angelelli, 2004: 346), es decir su capacidad y voluntad de actuar (Koskinen y Kinnunen, 2010: 6) en las situaciones analizadas, por un lado, y las consecuencias de las estrategias adoptadas por el intérprete en cuanto a la trasmisión del punto de vista de los participantes principales, es decir, el interrogador y el interrogado, por otro lado. En conclusión, se examinará la relación entre la calidad de la interpretación y los derechos lingüísticos en este contexto de interpretación intermodal e interdiscursivo.

Telephone Interpreting (TI) is a variety of remote interpreting which is increasingly present in public services of many countries such as Spain. Although it is usually carried out in liaison or bilateral interpreting, TI requires trainees to develop a number of specific skills due to its specificities (Rosenberg 2007). As one of the most used methodological tools in bilateral interpreting, role-plays have also become a key instrument in TI training. This paper aims at identifying the main elements that a role-play (either scripted or improvised) should include to help developing TI specific skills. Resumen La interpretación telefónica (IT) es una variedad de interpretación remota cuya pre-sencia no hace sino aumentar en los servicios públicos de numerosos países, entre ellos España. Si bien se lleva a cabo normalmente en modalidad bilateral o consecutiva dialógica, el ejercicio de la IT requiere la adquisición por parte del estudiante de una serie de destrezas específicas derivadas de sus características distintivas (Rosenberg 2007). El role-play o ejercicio de simulación, una de las herramientas metodológicas más utilizadas en la formación en interpretación de enlace, constituye un instrumento clave en la didáctica de la IT. El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo identificar los diferentes elementos que debe incorporar el ejercicio de simulacro en sus diferentes 1. This article is the English version of " Propuestas de ejercicios de simulación para la didáctica de la interpretación telefónica " by María Magdalena Fernández Pérez. It was not published on the print version of MonTI for reasons of space. The online version of MonTI does not suffer from these limitations, and this is our way of promoting plurilingualism.

Resumen La interpretación telefónica (IT) es una variedad de interpretación remota cuya pre-sencia no hace sino aumentar en los servicios públicos de numerosos países, entre ellos España. Si bien se lleva a cabo normalmente en modalidad bilateral o consecutiva dialógica, el ejercicio de la IT requiere la adquisición por parte del estudiante de una serie de destrezas específicas derivadas de sus características distintivas (Rosenberg 2007). El role-play o ejercicio de simulación, una de las herramientas metodológicas más utilizadas en la formación en interpretación de enlace, constituye un instrumento clave en la didáctica de la IT. El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo identificar los diferentes elementos que debe incorporar el ejercicio de simulacro en sus diferentes variedades (guionizado o improvisado) para contribuir al desarrollo de las destrezas del intérprete telefónico. Abstract " Designing role-play models for Telephone Interpreting training " Telephone Interpreting (TI) is a variety of remote interpreting which is increasingly present in public services of many countries such as Spain. Although it is usually carried out in liaison or bilateral interpreting, TI requires trainees to develop a number of specific skills due to its specificities (Rosenberg 2007). As one of the most used methodological tools in bilateral interpreting, role-plays have also become a key instrument in TI training. This paper aims at identifying the main elements that a role-play (either scripted or improvised) should include to help developing TI specific skills.

This paper analyzes accuracy in authentic telephone-interpreting data in which the migrant and the interpreter communicate in French as a lingua franca, namely a language that is not their first language. The data consists of an interview conducted by a law-enforcement officer in Finland. The analysis is based on the ideational, interpersonal, and textual metafunctions of language theorized within systemic-functional grammar. The analysis shows that the particularities of both telephone-mediated interpreting and lingua-franca interpreting engender significant communication problems. As a result, accuracy is not achieved, and the interpreter has to use strategies that are questionable in terms of the codes of conduct of community and legal interpreters. The interpreter is an active agent in the co-construction, maintenance, and erasure of indexical meanings such as speaker identities. In addition, due to linguistic and contextual constraints, the interpreter takes a prominent role as a coordinator of turns. The paper suggests that inter-preters' deontological codes are based on monolithic language ideologies and unrealistic expectations that should be reconsidered to correspond to the specific features of lingua franca and telephone interpreting.

Cet article porte sur les initiateurs de réparation non spécifiées (open class repair initiators) dans un entretien d’asile (durée 2 : 22 : 15) interprété par téléphone en Finlande entre le finnois, la langue de l’enquêteur, et le français, la langue du demandeur d’asile. Une initiation de réparation non spécifiée indique que l’ensemble d’un tour de parole est conçu comme problématique et/ou que la nature du problème ou l’élément problématique restent peu clairs. Ce genre d’initiation indique que le destinataire n’a pas entendu le tour, ne l’a pas compris ou veut donner l’impression qu’il ne l’a pas entendu ou compris. L’étude de ce type de réparations permet d’émettre des hypothèses concernant les causes des incompréhensions et malentendus apparaissant dans une conversation institutionnelle interprétée par téléphone et de décrire les stratégies de résolution de ces situations problématiques. Sur le plan méthodologique, cette étude relève de l’analyse conversationnelle, enrichie de perspectives fournies par les études portant sur l’interprétation et la sociolinguistique critique.

ENGLISH ABSTRACT:
This article focuses on open class repair initiators in an asylum screening interview (duration 2: 22: 15) in Finland, telephone-interpreted between Finnish, language spoken by the officer, and French, language used by the asylum seeker. An open class repair initiator indicates that the entire turn is regarded as problematic and/or that the nature of the problem or the problematic element are not clear. This type of repair initiator indicates that the listener has not heard the turn, has not understood it, or wants to give the impression of not having heard or understood it. Studying this type of repair initiators allows emitting hypotheses concerning the causes of problems of understanding and misunderstandings occurring in telephone-interpreted institutional interaction and to describe the strategies of resolution of these problematic situations. Methodologically, this study falls within the framework of Conversation Analysis, combined with insights form Interpreting Studies and Critical Sociolinguistics.

Telephone Interpreting (TI) is a variety of remote interpreting which is increasingly present in public services of many countries such as Spain. Although it is usually carried out in liaison or bilateral interpreting, TI requires trainees to develop a number of specific skills due to its specificities (Rosenberg 2007). As one of the most used methodological tools in bilateral interpreting, role-plays have also become a key instrument in TI training. This paper aims at identifying the main elements that a role-play (either scripted or improvised) should include to help developing TI specific skills.

This paper examines two modalities of interpreting that are undergoing expansion: telephone and video-link (or remote) interpreting. The paper firstly presents a number of studies that report on telephone interpreters’ levels of satisfaction and experiences. Pre-requisite logistics are discussed and proposed introductory protocols outlined that are specific to the nature of telephone interpreting. Further, an example of a telephone interpreting test is discussed and compared with NAATI professional interpreter ‘generalist’ testing to demonstrate which elements of telephone interpreter testing appear to be specific to this modality of communication. Studies on video-link interpreting are discussed and protocols suggested in relation to pre-interaction logistics and management strategies. The appropriateness of telephone and video-link interpreting in generalist testing programs is discussed with reference to the emergence of new communication technologies.