Cover not available
Article published In:
Interpreting
Vol. 25:2 (2023) ► pp.211–238

Student interpreters predict meaning while simultaneously interpreting - even before training

| University of Geneva
| University of Geneva
| University of Edinburgh
Prediction has long been considered advantageous in simultaneous interpreting, as it may allow interpreters to comprehend more rapidly and focus on their own production. However, evidence of prediction in simultaneous interpreting to date is relatively limited. In addition, it is unclear whether training in simultaneous interpreting influences predictive processing during a simultaneous interpreting task. We report on a longitudinal eye-tracking study which measured the timing and extent of prediction in students before and after two semesters of training in simultaneous interpreting. The students simultaneously interpreted sentences containing a highly predictable word as they viewed a screen containing four pictures, one of which depicted a highly predictable object. They made predictive eye movements to the highly predictable object both before and after their training in simultaneous interpreting. However, we did not find evidence that training influenced the timing or the magnitude of their prediction.
Keywords: simultaneous interpreting, prediction, eye-tracking, longitudinal study
Article outline
  • Introduction
    • Prediction in challenging conditions
    • Prediction in interpreting
    • Why might training change predictive processing during simultaneous interpreting?
  • The current study
  • Methods
    • Participants
    • Stimuli
    • Procedure
    • Analyses
  • Results
    • Predictive eye movements before and after training
    • Analysis of unpredictable sentences
    • Effects of training on prediction
    • Relationship between fixation proportions and relative speech onset
    • Effects of training on speech onset
    • Extent of prediction and student performance
  • Discussion
  • References
Published online: 27 July 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/intp.00093.amo
References (53)
References
Altmann, G. T. M. & Kamide, Y. (1999). Incremental interpretation at verbs: Restricting the domain of subsequent reference. Cognition 73 (3), 247–264. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Amos, R. M. & Pickering, M. J. (2020). A theory of prediction in simultaneous interpreting. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 23 (4), 706–715. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Amos, R. M., Seeber, K. G. & Pickering, M. J. (2022). Prediction during simultaneous interpreting: Evidence from the visual-world paradigm. Cognition 220 1: 104987. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Babcock, L., Capizzi, M., Arbula, S. & Vallesi, A. (2017). Short-term memory improvement after simultaneous interpretation training. Journal of Cognitive Enhancement 1 (3), 254–267. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Babcock, L. & Vallesi, A. (2017). Are simultaneous interpreters expert bilinguals, unique bilinguals, or both? Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 20 (2), 403–417. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Barr, D. J. (2008). Analyzing “visual world” eyetracking data using multilevel logistic regression. Journal of Memory and Language 59 (4), 457–474. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Barr, D. J., Levy, R., Scheepers, C. & Tily, H. J. (2013). Random effects structure for confirmatory hypothesis testing: Keep it maximal. Journal of Memory and Language 68 (3), 255–278. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bates, D., Mächler, M., Bolker, B. & Walker, S. (2015). Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. Journal of Statistical Software 67 (1). DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Boersma, P. & Weenink, D. (2002). Praat: Doing phonetics by computer (Version 6.2.08). [URL]
Borovsky, A., Elman, J. L. & Fernald, A. (2012). Knowing a lot for one’s age: Vocabulary skill and not age is associated with anticipatory incremental sentence interpretation in children and adults. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 112 (4), 417–436. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chernov, G. V. (1994). Message redundancy and message anticipation in simultaneous interpretation. In S. Lambert & B. Moser-Mercer (Eds), Bridging the Gap: Empirical Research in Simultaneous Interpretation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 139–153. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chmiel, A. (2016). In search of the working memory advantage in conference interpreting – training, experience and task effects. International Journal of Bilingualism 22 (3), 371–384. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
DeLong, K. A., Urbach, T. P. & Kutas, M. (2005). Probabilistic word pre-activation during language comprehension inferred from electrical brain activity. Nature Neuroscience 8 1: 1117. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dijkgraaf, A., Hartsuiker, R. J. & Duyck, W. (2017). Predicting upcoming information in native-language and non-native-language auditory word recognition. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 20 (5), 917–930. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dikker, S., Rabagliati, H., Farmer, T. A. & Pylkkänen, L. (2010). Early occipital sensitivity to syntactic category is based on form typicality. Psychological Science 21 (5), 629–634. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dong, Y. & Liu, Y. (2016). Classes in translating and interpreting produce differential gains in switching and updating. Frontiers in Psychology 7 1: 1297. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fan, D. C., Collart, A. & Chan, S-H. (2022). When two languages are competing: An ERP study of sentence processing in expert and novice interpreters. Interpreting 24 (1), 1–37. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Frauenfelder, U. & Schriefers, H. (1997). A psycholinguistic perspective on simultaneous interpretation. Interpreting 2 (1/2), 55–89. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gile, D. (1997). Conference interpreting as a cognitive management problem. In F. Pöchhacker & M. Shlesinger (Eds), The interpreting studies reader. London: Routledge, 162–178.Google Scholar
Hervais-Adelman, A., Moser-Mercer, B., Murray, M. M. & Golestani, N. (2017). Cortical thickness increases after simultaneous interpretation training. Neuropsychologia 98 1, 212–219. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hoffman, R. R. (1997). The cognitive psychology of expertise and the domain of interpreting. Interpreting 2 (1/2), 189–230. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Huettig, F. & Janse, E. (2016). Individual differences in working memory and processing speed predict anticipatory spoken language processing in the visual world. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience 31 (1), 80–93. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ito, A., Corley, M. & Pickering, M. J. (2017). A cognitive load delays predictive eye movements similarly during L1 and L2 comprehension. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 21 (2), 251–264. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ito, A., Gambi, C., Pickering, M., Fuellenbach, K. & Husband, E. (2020). Prediction of phonological and gender information: An event-related potential study in Italian. Neuropsychologia 136 1: 107291. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ito, A., Pickering, M. J. & Corley, M. (2018). Investigating the time-course of phonological prediction in native and non-native speakers of English: A visual world eye-tracking study. Journal of Memory and Language 98 1, 1–11. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kalina, S. (1998). Strategische Prozesse beim Dolmetschen. Theoretische Grundlagen, empirische Fallstudien, didaktische Konsequenzen. Tübingen: Gunter Narr.Google Scholar
Kamide, Y., Altmann, G. T. M. & Haywood, S. L. (2003). The time-course of prediction in incremental sentence processing: Evidence from anticipatory eye movements. Journal of Memory and Language 49 (1), 133–156. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lew-Williams, C. & Fernald, A. (2010). Real-time processing of gender-marked articles by native and non-native Spanish speakers. Journal of Memory and Language 63 (4), 447–464. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Liontou, K. (2015). Anticipation. In F. Pöchhacker (Ed.), Routledge encyclopedia of interpreting studies. London/New York: Routledge, 15–17.Google Scholar
Liu, M. (2008). How do experts interpret? Implications from research in Interpreting Studies and cognitive science. In G. Hansen, A. Chesterman & H. Gerzymisch-Arbogast (Eds.), Efforts and models in interpreting and translation research: A tribute to Daniel Gile. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 159–177. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Liu, M., Schallert, D. L. & Carroll, P. J. (2004). Working memory and expertise in simultaneous interpreting. Interpreting 6 (1), 19–42. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Liu, Y., Hintz, F., Liang, J. & Huettig, F. (2022). Prediction in challenging situations: Most bilinguals can predict upcoming semantically-related words in their L1 source language when interpreting. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 25 (5), 801–815. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lozano-Argüelles, C. & Sagarra, N. (2021). Interpreting experience enhances the use of lexical stress and syllabic structure to predict L2 word endings. Applied Psycholinguistics 42 (5), 1135–1157. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lozano-Argüelles, C., Sagarra, N. & Casillas, J. V. (2020). Slowly but surely: Interpreting facilitates L2 morphological anticipation based on suprasegmental and segmental information. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 23 (4), 752–762. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Marian, V., Blumenfeld, H. K. & Kaushanskaya, M. (2007). The language experience and proficiency questionnaire (LEAP-Q): Assessing language profiles in bilinguals and multilinguals. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 50 (4), 940–967. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Martin, C. D., Thierry, G., Kuipers, J.-R., Boutonnet, B., Foucart, A. & Costa, A. (2013). Bilinguals reading in their second language do not predict upcoming words as native readers do. Journal of Memory and Language 69 (4), 574–588. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McDonald, J. L. (2006). Beyond the critical period: Processing-based explanations for poor grammaticality judgment performance by late second language learners. Journal of Memory and Language 55 (3), 381–401. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mitsugi, S. & Macwhinney, B. (2015). The use of case marking for predictive processing in second language Japanese. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 19 (1), 19–35. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Moser, B. (1978). Simultaneous interpretation: A hypothetical model and its practical application. In D. Gerver & H. W. Sinaiko (Eds.), Language interpretation and communication. New York: Plenum Press, 353–368. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Otten, M. & Van Berkum, J. J. A. (2009). Does working memory capacity affect the ability to predict upcoming words in discourse? Brain Research 1291 1, 92–101. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pickering, M. J. & Gambi, C. (2018). Predicting while comprehending language: A theory and review. Psychological Bulletin 144 (10), 1002–1044. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Saslow, M. G. (1967). Latency for saccadic eye movement. Journal of the Optical Society of America 57 (8), 1030–1033. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Seeber, K. G. (2001). Intonation and anticipation in simultaneous interpreting. Cahiers de Linguistique Française 23 1, 61–97.Google Scholar
Seleskovitch, D. (1984). Les anticipations de la compréhension. In D. Seleskovitch & M. Lederer (Eds.), Interpréter pour traduire. France: Didier Erudition, 273–283.Google Scholar
Setton, R. (2002). Deconstructing SI: A contribution to the debate on component processes. The Interpretersʼ Newsletter 11 1, 1–26.Google Scholar
Setton, R. & Dawrant, A. (2016). Conference interpreting: A trainer’s guide. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tzou, Y.-Z., Eslami, Z. R., Chen, H.-C. & Vaid, J. (2012). Effect of language proficiency and degree of formal training in simultaneous interpreting on working memory and interpreting performance: Evidence from Mandarin–English speakers. International Journal of Bilingualism 16 (2), 213–227. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Van Berkum, J. J., Brown, C. M., Zwitserlood, P., Kooijman, V. & Hagoort, P. (2005). Anticipating upcoming words in discourse: Evidence from ERPs and reading times. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 31 (3), 443–467. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Van Besien, F. (1999). Anticipation in simultaneous interpretation. Meta 44 (2), 250–259. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Van de Putte, E., De Baene, W., García-Pentón, L., Woumans, E., Dijkgraaf, A. & Duyck, W. (2018). Anatomical and functional changes in the brain after simultaneous interpreting training: A longitudinal study. Cortex 99 1, 243–257. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vandepitte, S. (2001). Anticipation in conference interpreting: A cognitive process. Revista Alicantina de Estudios Ingleses/Alicante Journal of English Studies 14 1, 323–335. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

Asanova, G.S. & D.A. Jailganova
2024. INTERPRETING POLITICAL DISCOURSE: SIMULTANEOUS INTERPRETATION ANALYSIS OF DONALD TRUMP’S INAUGURAL ADDRESS FROM ENGLISH TO RUSSIAN. Журнал серии «Филологические науки» 74:3 DOI logo
Hodzik, Ena
2023. Predictive processes in interpreters. Translation, Cognition & Behavior 6:2 ► pp. 141 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 18 october 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.