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Article published In:
Translation and Interpreting Studies
Vol. 18:3 (2023) ► pp.399–420

The effectiveness of computer-assisted interpreting

A preliminary study based on English-Chinese consecutive interpreting

ORCID logo | Southwest University
ORCID logo | Macquarie University | North-West University
Facing a new technological turn, the field of interpreting is in great need of evidence on the effectiveness of computer-assisted interpreting. This study proposes a computer-assisted consecutive interpreting (CACI) mode incorporating speech recognition (SR) and machine translation (MT). First, the interpreter listens to the source speech and respeaks it into an SR system, creating an SR text which is then processed by an MT system. Second, the interpreter produces a target speech with reference to the SR and MT texts. Six students participated in training on CACI, after which they performed consecutive interpreting in both the conventional and the new mode. The study finds that CACI featured fewer pauses and reduced cognitive load. Moreover, the overall interpreting quality, especially the accuracy, was increased. The effectiveness of the new mode is found to be modulated by the interpreting direction.
Keywords: computer-assisted interpreting, consecutive interpreting, cognitive load, speech recognition, machine translation
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Interpreting and technology
    • Setting-oriented and process-oriented interpreting technologies
    • Bridging process-oriented technologies for use in interpreting
    • The application of SR and MT to interpreting
    • A CACI mode
    • Research questions
  • Method
    • Participants
    • Apparatus
    • Training
    • Stimulus
    • Procedure
    • Data and analysis
  • Results
    • Differences in the interpreting process
      • A comparison of the fluency
      • A comparison of the cognitive load
    • Differences in the interpreting product
      • Overall quality measured by scale rating
      • Accuracy measured by propositional rating
  • Discussion
  • Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 5 December 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/tis.21036.che
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