Cover not available
Article published In:
Interpreting
Vol. 25:2 (2023) ► pp.159–185

Pioneering interpreting studies

The extraordinary case of Ingrid Kurz

| University of Vienna
On the occasion of her 80th birthday, this article highlights the pioneering contribution of Ingrid Kurz to the development of interpreting studies. Following a biographical sketch describing her professional and academic career over half a century, the most important themes of her research are reviewed under the headings of history, profession, psychology, training, quality, media, and fiction. An attempt is made to gauge the impact of her pioneering work and to trace some of its links to recent research in the field. Kurz’s early work is placed in its context at the time and compared to present-day features of the discipline. With reference to trends such as internationalization, specialization and professionalization, Kurz is characterized as a precursor whose unique combination of professional commitment and intellectual curiosity in the formative decades of interpreting studies yielded an impact that would no longer be conceivable in the way the discipline has evolved in the 21st century.
Keywords: interpreting studies, history, biography, profession, impact
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.From professional to professor: A fifty-year career
  • 3.Pioneering research
    • 3.1History
    • 3.2Profession
    • 3.3Psychology
    • 3.4Training
    • 3.5Quality
    • 3.6Media
    • 3.7Fiction
  • 4.Ingrid Kurz: A case in context
    • 4.1Small projects, big impact?
    • 4.2A model in her time
  • 5.Conclusion
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at [email protected].

Published online: 28 August 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/intp.00094.poc
References (92)
References
Albl-Mikasa, Michaela & Tiselius, Elisabet (Eds.) (2021). The Routledge handbook of conference interpreting. London/New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Andres, Dörte, Kaindl, Klaus & Kurz, Ingrid (Eds.) (2017). Dolmetscherinnen und Dolmetscher im Netz der Macht: Autobiographisch konstruierte Lebenswege in autoritären Regimen. Berlin: Frank & Timme.Google Scholar
Baigorri-Jalón, Jesús (2014). From Paris to Nuremberg: The birth of conference interpreting. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bontempo, Karen & Napier, Jemina (2014). Evaluating emotional stability as a predictor of interpreter competence and aptitude for interpreting. Interpreting 13 (1), 85–105. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bowen, Margareta (1995/2012). Interpreters and the making of history. In J. Delisle & J. Woodsworth (Eds.), Translators through history (Rev. edn). Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 247–282.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bühler, Hildegund (1986). Linguistic (semantic) and extra-linguistic (pragmatic) criteria for the evaluation of conference interpretation and interpreters. Multilingua 5 (4), 231–235.Google Scholar
Chabasse, Catherine (2009). Gibt es eine Begabung für das Simultandolmetschen? Erstellung eines Dolmetscheignungstests mit Schwerpunkt Simultandolmetschen. Berlin: Saxa.Google Scholar
Chabasse, Catherine & Kader, Stephanie (2014). Putting interpreting admissions exams to the text: The MA KD Germersheim Project. Interpreting 16 (1), 19–33. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cheung, Andrew K. F. (2013). Non-native accents and simultaneous interpreting quality perceptions. Interpreting 15 (1), 25–47. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Collados Aís, Ángela, Pradas Macías, E. Macarena, Stévaux, Elisabeth & García Becerra, Olalla (Eds.) (2007). La evaluación de la calidad en interpretación simultánea: Parámetros de incidencia. Granada: Comares.Google Scholar
Cooper, Cary L., Davies, Rachel & Tung, Rosalie L. (1982). Interpreting stress: Sources of job stress among conference interpreters. Multilingua 1 (2), 79–108. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Downie, Jonathan (2015). What every client wants? (Re)mapping the trajectory of client expectations research. Meta 60 (1), 18–35. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Eichmeyer, Daniela (2017). Luftqualität in Dolmetschkabinen als Einflussfaktor auf die Dolmetschqualität. Berlin: Frank & Timme.Google Scholar
Elmer, Stefan, Hänggi, Jürgen & Jäncke, Lutz (2014). Processing demands upon cognitive, linguistic, and articulatory functions promote grey matter plasticity in the adult multilingual brain: Insights from simultaneous interpreters. Cortex 54 1, 159–189. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Elsagir, Ina M. (2000). Anforderungen an Dolmetschleistungen im Fernsehen aus Zuschauersicht: eine Fallstudie. In S. Kalina, S. Buhl & H. Gerzymisch-Arbogast (Eds.), Dolmetschen: Theorie, Praxis, Didaktik. St. Ingbert: Röhrig, 107–123.Google Scholar
Enk [Guido] & Reinert [David] (1968). Interpreters and interpreting. Alpbach 1968, 19–24 August 1968. Unpublished report.Google Scholar
Gavioli, Laura & Wadensjö, Cecilia (Eds.) (2023). The Routledge handbook of public service interpreting. London/New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gile, Daniel (1994). Opening up in interpretation studies. In M. Snell-Hornby, F. Pöchhacker & K. Kaindl (Eds.), Translation studies – an interdiscipline. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 149–158. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1995). Basic concepts and models for interpreter and translator training. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Harzing, Anne-Will (2007). Publish or perish. [URL] (accessed 12 December 2022).
Herbert, Jean (1952). The interpreter’s handbook: How to become a conference interpreter. Geneva: Georg.Google Scholar
ILSA (2020). ILSA project: Interlingual Live Subtitling for Access. [URL] (accessed 12 December 2022).
Kaindl, Klaus (2014). Going fictional! Translators and interpreters in literature and film: An introduction. In K. Kaindl & K. Spitzl (Eds.), Transfiction: Research into the realities of translation fiction. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1–26. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Keiser, Walter (1978). Selection and training of conference interpreters. In D. Gerver & H. W. Sinaiko (Eds.), Language interpretation and communication. New York: Plenum, 11–24. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Korpal, Pawel (2016). Interpreting as a stressful activity: Physiological measures of stress in simultaneous interpreting. Poznań Studies in Contemporary Linguistics 52 (2), 297–316. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kurz, Ingrid (1981). Temperatures in interpreters’ booths – a hot iron? AIIC Bulletin 9 (4), 39–43.Google Scholar
(1983a). Temperatures inside and outside booths – a comparative study. AIIC Bulletin 11 (2), 67–72.Google Scholar
(1983b). CO2 and O2 levels in booths at the end of a conference day – a pilot study. AIIC Bulletin 11 (3), 86–93.Google Scholar
(1983c). Konferenzdolmetscher: Berufszufriedenheit und soziales Prestige. FIT Newsletter N.s. 2 (4), 130–135.Google Scholar
(1983d). “Der von uns …”: Schwierigkeiten des Simultandolmetschens Deutsch – Englisch. In Festschrift zum 40jährigen Bestehen des Instituts für Übersetzer- und Dolmetscherausbildung der Universität Wien. Tulln: Ott.Google Scholar
(1985a). Zur Rolle des Sprachmittlers im Fernsehen. In H. Bühler (Ed.), Translators and their position in society. Proceedings. Xth World Congress of FIT. Vienna: Braumüller, 213–215.Google Scholar
(1986b). Dolmetschen im Alten Rom. Babel 32 (4), 215–220. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1987). Conference interpreting: Myth and reality. In K. Kummer (Ed.), Across the language gap. Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the American Translators Association. Medford, NJ: Learned Information, 315–320.Google Scholar
(1989a). The use of video-tapes in consecutive and simultaneous interpretation training. In L. Gran & J. M. Dodds (Eds.), The theoretical and practical aspects of teaching conference interpretation. Udine: Campanotto, 213–215.Google Scholar
(1989b). Conference interpreting: User expectations. In D. L. Hammond (Ed.), Coming of age. Proceedings of the 30th Annual Conference of the American Translators Association. Medford, NJ: Learned Information, 143–148.Google Scholar
(1990). Overcoming language barriers in European television. In M. Bowen & D. Bowen (Eds.), Interpreting – yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Binghamton, NY: SUNY, 168–175. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1991). Conference interpreting: Job satisfaction, occupational prestige and desirability. In M. Jovanović (Ed.), Proceedings. XIIth World Congress of FIT – Belgrade 1990. Belgrade: Prevodilac, 363–376.Google Scholar
(1992). ‘Shadowing’ exercises in interpreter training. In C. Dollerup & A. Loddegaard (Eds.), Teaching translation and interpreting: Training, talent and experience. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 245–250. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1993a). Conference interpretation: Expectations of different user groups. The Interpreters’ Newsletter 51, 13–21.Google Scholar
(1993b). The 1992 U.S. presidential elections: Interpreting the “American debatathon” for Austrian television. In C. Picken (Ed.), Translation – the vital link. Proceedings of the XIIIth World Congress of FIT. London: Institute of Translation and Interpreting, 441–445.Google Scholar
(1994). A look into the “black box”: EEG probability mapping during mental simultaneous interpreting. In M. Snell-Hornby, F. Pöchhacker & K. Kaindl (Eds.), Translation studies – an interdiscipline. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 199–207. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1995a). Interdisciplinary research – difficulties and benefits. Target 7 (1), 165–179. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1995b). Watching the brain at work: An exploratory study of EEG changes during simultaneous interpreting. The Interpreters’ Newsletter 6 1, 3–16.Google Scholar
(1996a). Simultandolmetschen als Gegenstand der interdisziplinären Forschung. Wien: WUV-Universiätsverlag.Google Scholar
(1996b). Special features of media interpreting as seen by interpreters and users. In XIVth World Congress of FIT. Proceedings, Vol. 2. Melbourne: AUSIT, 957–965.Google Scholar
(1997). Getting the message across: Simultaneous interpreting for the media. In M. Snell-Hornby, Z. Jettmarová & K. Kaindl (Eds.), Translation as intercultural communication. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 195–206. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2000a). Mediendolmetschen und Videokonferenzen. In S. Kalina, S. Buhl & H. Gerzymisch-Arbogast (Eds.), Dolmetschen: Theorie, Praxis, Didaktik. St. Ingbert: Röhrig, 89–106.Google Scholar
(2000b). Tagungsort Genf/Nairobi/Wien. Zu einigen Aspekten des Teledolmetschens. In M. Kadric, K. Kaindl & F. Pöchhacker (Eds.), Translationswissenschaft: Festschrift für Mary Snell-Hornby zum 60. Geburtstag. Tübingen: Stauffenburg, 291–302.Google Scholar
(2001a). Conference interpreting: Quality in the ears of the user. Meta 46 (2), 394–409. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2001b). Small projects in interpretation research. In D. Gile, H. V. Dam, F. Dubslaff, B. Martinsen & A. Scholdager (Eds.), Getting started in interpreting research. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 101–120. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2002a). Physiological stress responses during media and conference interpreting. In G. Garzone & M. Viezzi (Eds.), Interpreting in the 21st century: Challenges and opportunities. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 195–202. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2002b). Interpreter training programmes: The benefits of coordination, cooperation, and modern technology. In E. Hung (Ed.), Teaching translation and interpreting 4: Building bridges. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 65–72. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2003). Physiological stress during simultaneous interpreting: A comparison of experts and novices. The Interpreters’ Newsletter 12 1, 51–67.Google Scholar
(2007). The fictional interpreter. In F. Pöchhacker, A.-L. Jakobsen & I. M. Mees (Eds.), Interpreting studies and beyond: A tribute to Miriam Shlesinger. Copenhagen: Samfundslitteratur, 277–289.Google Scholar
(2014). On the (in)fidelity of (fictional) interpreters. In K. Kaindl & K. Spitzl (Eds.), Transfiction: Research into the realities of translation fiction. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 205–220. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2022). Interpreting for the Nuremberg Trials – four eyewitness accounts. The Interpreters’ Newsletter 27 bis, 53–63.Google Scholar
Kurz, Ingrid & Katschinka, Liese (1988). Live subtitling: A first experiment on Austrian TV. In P. Nekeman (Ed.), Translation, our future. Proceedings of the XIth World Congress of FIT. Maastricht: Euroterm, 479–483.Google Scholar
Kurz, Ingrid & Mikulasek, Brigitta (2004). Television as a source of information for the deaf and hearing impaired: Captions and sign language on Austrian TV. Meta 49 (1), 81–88. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kurz, Ingrid & Pöchhacker, Franz (1995). Quality in TV interpreting. Translatio: FIT Newsletter N.s. 14 (3/4), 350–358.Google Scholar
Kurz, Ingrid & Schuh, Franz (1985). Die Königin der Dolmetscher. Zu Doris Lessings Vorstellung von Arbeitswelt in ihrem Roman “Der Sommer vor der Dunkelheit”. Die Presse 110781 (16/17 February 1985), 35.Google Scholar
Kurz, Ingrid, Basel, Elvira, Chiba, Doris, Patels, Werner & Wolfframm, Judith (1996). Scribe or actor? A survey paper on personality profiles of translators and interpreters. The Interpreters’ Newsletter 7 1, 3–18.Google Scholar
Kurz, Ingrid, Chiba, Doris, Pastore, Martina & Medinskaya, Vera (2000). Translators and interpreters: Different learning styles? Across Languages and Cultures 1 (1), 71–83. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kurz, Ingrid, Liu, Minhua, Shlesinger, Miriam & Obler, Loraine K. (2011). Interpreting work buffers against aging? Reporting on the AIIC Lifespan Study. Communicate! [URL] (accessed 12 December 2022).
Liu, Minhua (2023). User expectations research revisited: Methodological considerations. In C. Zwischenberger, K. Reithofer & S. Rennert (Eds.), Introducing new hypertexts on interpreting (studies): A tribute to Franz Pöchhacker. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 44–65. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Liu, Minhua, Kurz, Ingrid, Moser-Mercer, Barbara & Shlesinger, Miriam (2020). The interpreter’s aging: A unique story of multilingual cognitive decline? Translation, Cognition & Behavior 3 (2), 287–310. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mackintosh, Jennifer (2003). The AIIC Workload Study. Forum 1 (2), 189–214. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Moser, Peter (1996). Expectations of users of conference interpretation. Interpreting 1 (2), 145–178. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Moser-Mercer, Barbara (1985). Screening potential interpreters. Meta 30 (1), 97–100. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2015). Pedagogy. In F. Pöchhacker (Ed.), Routledge encyclopedia of interpreting studies. London/NewYork: Routledge, 303–307.Google Scholar
Muñoz Martín, Ricardo (2010). Leave no stone unturned: On the development of cognitive translatology. Translation and Interpreting Studies 5 (2), 145–162. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Orlando, Marc (2016). Training 21st century translators and interpreters: At the crossroads of practice, research and pedagogy. Berlin: Frank & Timme.Google Scholar
Petsche, Hellmuth, Etlinger, Susan C. & Filz, Oliver (1993). Brain electrical mechanisms of bilingual speech management: An initial investigation. Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology 86 (6), 385–394. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pinter, Ingrid (1969). Der Einfluss der Übung und Konzentration auf simultanes Sprechen und Hören. Doctoral dissertation, University of Vienna.
Pöchhacker, Franz (Ed.) (2015). Routledge encyclopedia of interpreting studies. London/New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2018). Media interpreting: From user expectations to audience comprehension. In E. Di Giovanni & Y. Gambier (Eds.), Reception studies and audiovisual translation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 253–276. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2019). Structure and process: A case study of the evolving interpreter education curriculum in Vienna. In D. B. Sawyer, F. Austermühl & V. Enríquez Raído (Eds.), The evolving curriculum in interpreter and translator education: Stakeholder perspectives and voices. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 141–160. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2022). Introducing interpreting studies. Third edition. London/New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pöchhacker, Franz & Liu, Minhua (2021). Interpreting research in print: A quarter-century update. Interpreting 23 (1), 1–17. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pöchhacker, Franz & Shlesinger, Miriam (Eds.) (2002). The interpreting studies reader. London/New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Roziner, Ilan & Shlesinger, Miriam (2010). Much ado about something remote: Stress and performance in remote interpreting. Interpreting 12 (2), 214–247. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ruiz Rosendo, Lucía & Baigorri-Jalón, Jesús (Eds.) (2023). Towards an atlas of the history of interpreting. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sandrelli, Annalisa (2015). Computer assisted interpreter training. In F. Pöchhacker (Ed.), Routledge Encyclopedia of Interpreting Studies. London: Routledge, 75–77.Google Scholar
Sanz, Jesús (1930). Le travail et les aptitudes des interprètes parlementaires. Anals d’Orientació Professional 4 1, 303–318.Google Scholar
Schweda Nicholson, Nancy (2005). Personality characteristics of interpreter trainees: The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). The Interpreters’ Newsletter 131, 109–142.Google Scholar
Seeber, Kilian G., Keller, Laura, Amos, Rhona & Hengl, Sophie (2019). Expectations vs. experience: Attitudes towards video remote conference interpreting. Interpreting 21 (2), 270–304. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Seleskovitch, Danica & Lederer, Marianne (1989). Pédagogie raisonnée de l’interprétation. Paris/Brussels: Didier Érudition/OPOCE.Google Scholar
Setton, Robin & Dawrant, Andrew (2016). Conference interpreting: A trainer’s guide. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Takeda, Kayoko & Baigorri-Jalón, Jesús (Eds.) (2016). New insights in the history of interpreting. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Thieme, Karl, Hermann, Alfred & Glässer, Edgar (1956). Beiträge zur Geschichte des Dolmetschens. Munich: Isar.Google Scholar