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Article published In:
Interpreting
Vol. 22:1 (2020) ► pp.87–116

Pragmalinguistic challenges for trainee interpreters in achieving accuracy

An analysis of questions and their interpretation in five cross-examinations

| Dalian University of Technology

In cross-examination, questions are used by counsel as powerful tools to control witness testimonies. In bilingual courtrooms, conveying the subtlety in the use of questions from one language to another is crucial for all participants. However, achieving a high level of accuracy is extremely demanding due to the intricacy of courtroom discourse and the complexity of interpreting in such an institutional setting. Drawing on a moot court exercise at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, this study investigates the most common pragmalinguistic challenges for trainee interpreters in achieving accuracy when interpreting cross-examination questions from English to Mandarin. Findings show that it can be challenging to produce pragmatically accurate renditions: Mandarin interpretations have an overall weakened illocutionary force compared to the original English questions. In particular, declaratives, reported speech declaratives, modal interrogatives, and tag questions are found to be difficult to interpret into Mandarin. This paper also explores the way the illocutionary force of the interpreted questions deviates from the original and the possible causes for this shift. Findings point to the need to enhance pragmatic competence among trainee interpreters, which in turn will require specialised training for interpreters working in legal settings.

Keywords: cross-examination questions, interpreting accuracy, pragmalinguistic challenges, interpreter training
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Interpreting courtroom questions
    • 1.2Accuracy of court interpreting
  • 2.The study
  • 3.The overall illocutionary force of English questions and their Mandarin interpretation
  • 4.Question type and illocutionary accuracy
    • 4.1Pragmalinguistic challenges related to cross-linguistic differences
      • 4.1.1Modal interrogative
      • 4.1.2Declarative with ratification tag
      • 4.1.3Declarative with auxiliary tag
      • 4.1.4Polar interrogative
    • 4.2Pragmalinguistic challenges despite the availability of cross-linguistic equivalence
      • 4.2.1Declarative
      • 4.2.2Reported speech declarative
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 10 April 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/intp.00035.liu
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