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Article published In:
Interpreting
Vol. 26:1 (2024) ► pp.80–113

Coordination in telephone-based remote interpreting

| Leibniz Institute for the German Language | University of Mainz
| Leibniz Institute for the German Language | University of Mainz

Telephone-based remote interpreting has come into widespread use in multilingual encounters, all the more so in times of refugee crises and the large influx of asylum-seekers into Europe. Nevertheless, the linguistic practices in this mode of communication have not yet been examined comprehensively. This article therefore investigates selected aspects of turn-taking and clarification sequences during semi-authentic telephone-interpreted counselling sessions for refugees (Arabic–German). A quantitative analysis reveals that limited audibility makes it more difficult for interpreters to claim their turn successfully; in most cases, however, turn-taking occurs smoothly. The trouble sources that trigger queries are mainly content-related and interpreters vary greatly in the ways they deal with such difficulties. Contrary to what one might expect, the study shows that coordination fails only rarely during telephone-based remote interpreting.

Keywords: telephone interpreting, turn-taking, trouble sources, Arabic, German, dialogue interpreting
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Previous research on telephone-based interpreting in bilateral community settings
  • 3.The TIGA Corpus: Data collection and transcription
    • 3.1Data collection
    • 3.2Data transcription
  • 4.Categories of analysis
    • 4.1Turn-taking
      • 4.1.1Types of turn acquisition: Smooth vs forced turn-taking
        • Smooth turn-taking
        • Forced turn-taking
      • 4.1.2Failed turn-taking (turn claims)
        • Claiming the turn at a transition relevance place
        • Claiming the turn at a non-transition relevance place
    • 4.2Trouble sources
      • 4.2.1Acoustic perception
      • 4.2.2Lack of visual cues, lack of transparency: Irritated interlocutors
      • 4.2.3Dialect
      • 4.2.4Content
      • 4.2.5“Cognitive load”
      • 4.2.6Mix of trouble sources
  • 5.Quantitative analysis
    • 5.1Turn-taking
      • 5.1.1Interpreters’ successes and failures at taking over: Turn acquisitions vs turn claims
      • 5.1.2Limited audibility as a challenge to turn-taking
    • 5.2Trouble sources
  • 6.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • 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: 25 September 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/intp.00097.far
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