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Article published In:
Translation, Cognition & Behavior
Vol. 3:2 (2020) ► pp.287–310

The interpreter’s aging

A unique story of multilingual cognitive decline?

ORCID logo | Hong Kong Baptist University
| University of Vienna
ORCID logo | University of Geneva
| Bar-Ilan University
This article reports part of the first phase of the AIIC Lifespan Study, for which ten conference interpreters over 70 years old were interviewed to learn how interpreters’ professional language experiences interact with their cognitive functions and, specifically, if they demonstrate different patterns of cognitive decline regarding language use. The interview transcripts were coded to identify examples that matched the items in the research-informed interview guide or any emerging patterns that informed the theme of cognitive changes. The interview­ees experienced some aging-induced cognitive challenges, such as comprehension difficulties in less than optimal environments, concentration and memory issues, and slowness in lexical retrieval. Some of these challenges had an impact on some interview­ees’ decision to quit interpreting.
Keywords: aging, AIIC, cognitive decline, cognitive functions, cognitive reserve, conference interpreters
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Bilingualism, cognitive aging and cognitive reserve
    • 2.1Cognitive reserve
  • 3.The AIIC Lifespan Study: Methodology
    • 3.1The interview­ees
    • 3.2Interview guide
    • 3.3Procedure, data preparation and analysis
  • 4.The AIIC Lifespan Study: Results and discussion
    • 4.1Difficulty in comprehension
    • 4.2Distractibility and noise
    • 4.3Concentration and memory
    • 4.4Output production and word retrieval
    • 4.5Compensatory strategies
    • 4.6Decision to quit
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 10 November 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/tcb.00045.liu
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