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Article published In:
Interpreting
Vol. 22:1 (2020) ► pp.35–55

Interpreters’ perceived characteristics and perception of quality in interpreting

| Hong Kong Polytechnic University

This study examined the link between listeners’ perceptions of the quality of interpretation and their beliefs about the interpreter. Two groups of Mandarin-speaking participants were shown a video of a speech by President Obama being interpreted into Mandarin Chinese by a non-native Mandarin-speaking interpreter. The participants in one group were shown a photo of a Chinese-looking man alongside the video and those in the other group were shown a photo of a non-Chinese-looking man. The quantitative results showed that those who believed they were listening to a non-Chinese interpreter judged the interpretation more positively than those who believed they were listening to a Chinese interpreter. The qualitative results showed that the participants in the non-Chinese condition attributed the non-native features of the interpretation to the interpreter’s being a foreigner, and that they naturally used the language competence of non-native speakers as the standard of comparison. In this case, the participants’ perceptions of quality could also be explained by the interpreter’s perceived association with a highly esteemed group in China, and his ability to interpret into Chinese generated a sense of national self-esteem among the participants. Overall, the findings show that factors other than the features identifiable in an interpretation can influence the perception of quality of interpretation.

Keywords: perceptions of quality, reverse linguistic stereotyping, non-native accents, consecutive interpretation
Article outline
  • Introduction
    • Perceptions of interpreters and interpreting quality
    • Linguistic stereotyping in China
    • Reverse linguistic stereotyping
  • Methods
    • Participants
    • Procedures, stimulus materials and instruments
  • Results
    • Quantitative analysis
    • Qualitative analysis
  • Discussion
  • Conclusion
  • References
Published online: 10 April 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/intp.00033.che
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