Relay interpreting: Complexities of real-time indirect translation

Franz Pöchhacker
University of Vienna
Abstract

The unique features of interpreting as a situated process and performance to enable communication in real time make relay interpreting a particularly complex manifestation of indirect translation and a rich area of investigation. Even so, the great potential of relay interpreting as an object of inquiry in Translation and Interpreting Studies has remained largely untapped. This article seeks to map out the conceptual territory of relay interpreting as indirect translation with reference to relevant factors and features. The analysis highlights the great diversity of scenarios that can be subsumed under the heading of relay interpreting with reference to such key parameters as mode, modality, policy, linguality, multimodality, and technology. The – regrettably modest – state of the art is reviewed with regard to types of research, topics, and methods; and some areas of special interest, such as Deaf relay interpreting and speech-to-text interpreting relying on speech recognition technology, are discussed for their potential to extend the scope of indirect translation to include intralingual and intermodal as well as technology-based manifestations.

Keywords:
Publication history

Date received: 11 September 2020

Date accepted: 15 July 2021

Published online: 28 July 2022

Table of contents

An article on relay interpreting in a collection on the theme of indirect translation can be seen as serving two contradictory purposes: on the one hand, it may show how relay interpreting is uniquely different from (other forms of) indirect translation; on the other, it can argue that an account of indirect translation would be incomplete without a fuller understanding of relay interpreting. I hope to demonstrate how a detailed analysis of relay interpreting in all its possible manifestations can significantly expand the conceptualization of indirect translation developed to date. It is in this – arguably indirect – way that I envisage giving an answer to the question posed by the editors of this special issue. In other words, by extending and enriching our understanding of what indirect translation can be and what factors and relationships it may involve, we will also have served the interests of Translation Studies as a discipline, broadening its ever more diverse object of study and revealing novel facets and interrelations that can spark further theoretical and empirical development.

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