Volume 9, Issue 2 - Special Issue: English as a Lingua Franca and Interpreting and Translation; Guest Editors: Michaela Albl-Mikasa and Juliane House

This article aims at examining the topic of ELF intelligibility from the interpreters’ perspective. Therefore, the focus is put on listener factors affecting intelligibility in settings typical for interpreting i.e. monologic settings. Data from various intelligibility studies are compared with results from a study that tested an ELF user’s intelligibility in a conference-like ELF setting and examined the influence of listener variables such as background knowledge, familiarity with ELF use or proficiency in English. In this study, an Italian speaker gave an impromptu speech in English to participants who subsequently were asked to answer written questions on the topic. The results showed that listeners with more experience in ELF settings reached the highest score in the test, while participants with specialist knowledge were unable to profit from it. The participants’ English language skills played a rather subordinate role. The findings of this study may prove useful for considerations in interpreter training and can contribute to the development of concrete, evidence-based training methods for interpreters in the interpreting sub-skill of comprehension. Zusammenfassung Das Thema Verständlichkeit von ELF-SprecherInnen wird in diesem Artikel aus dem Blickwinkel der Dolmetschwissenschaft beleuchtet. Daher liegt der Fokus vor allem auf ZuhörerInnenfaktoren, die Verständlichkeit in typischen monologischen Dolmetschsettings beeinflussen. Daten aus verschiedenen Verständlichkeitsstudien werden mit Ergebnissen aus einer Studie in Zusammenhang gesetzt, die die Verständlichkeit eines ELF-Nutzers in einer konferenzähnlichen Situation testete und ZuhörerInnenvariablen wie Hintergrundwissen, Vertrautheit mit ELF-Kontexten oder Englischkenntnisse überprüfte. Dabei hielt ein italienischer Redner einen frei gesprochenen Vortrag auf Englisch, zu dem den TeilnehmerInnen im Anschluss schriftliche Verständnisfragen gestellt wurden. Bei der Auswertung der Antworten zeigte sich, dass ZuhörerInnen vor allem von viel Erfahrung mit Kommunikation in ELF-Settings profitierten. Die TeilnehmerInnen mit Fachwissen im Bereich des Vortrags konnten hingegen keinen Vorteil daraus schlagen. Die Englischkenntnisse der ZuhörerInnen spielten eine eher untergeordnete Rolle. Diese Erkenntnisse könnten in der Dolmetschlehre genutzt werden und dazu beitragen, konkrete, evidenzbasierte Ausbildungsmaβnahmen für DolmetscherInnen in der Teilfertigkeit Verstehen zu erarbeiten.

The use of English as a Lingua Franca is a promising solution to the overcoming of language barriers in a wide variety of contexts and, despite being formally governed by the principle of multilingualism, the European institutions are no exception. This paper aims at shedding light on the perception on the use of ELF within the European Commission, by presenting the results of a questionnaire carried out within the framework of a broader PhD project. The target population is that of interpreters working for the European Commission. The analysis focuses on two specific questions, which address interpreters in their role as communication experts, inviting them to momentarily set aside their opinion on the relationship between ELF and interpretation and rather assess ELF in terms of “communicative effectiveness,” considered as an essential component to a successful communication. Results confirm previous ITELF (Interpreting, Translation and English as a Lingua Franca) studies, in that interpreters believe that ELF tends to decrease the level of communicative effectiveness and that, based on their direct experience, less than half of the speakers in these meetings succeed at expressing themselves effectively when using ELF. Most importantly, they elaborate on what this loss of effectiveness entails in terms of communication quality, interlocutors’ participation rights and multilingualism.

Many factors can affect the translation and interpreting process, but the quality of source texts has been explicitly identified as an issue in surveys of professional translators and interpreters as well as in recent workplace studies. If translators and interpreters encounter resistance in carrying out their tasks, for example by difficulties in extracting meaning from non-native English input, then flow can be interrupted and performance affected. In this paper, we explore how English as a lingua franca (ELF) input could potentially increase the cognitive load not only for translators and interpreters but also for other multilinguals. We describe the range of methods that can be used to measure the cognitive effort and stress associated with processing ELF input and explain the challenges that can be encountered when researchers are committed to using authentic ELF material to make comparisons under relatively controlled but ecologically valid conditions. One of the driving motivators for this type of research is to understand how interpreters and translators deploy their expertise to deal with ELF input in work settings in order to draw inferences about strategies for other segments of the population.

This paper presents the results of an online survey on the spread of ELF in the translation and interpreting (T&I) industry in Italy. It follows previous perception studies based on a limited number of ad-hoc interviews or broader surveys including unsolicited comments on ELF. This study is the first attempt to carry out a large-scale, online survey among professional translators and interpreters specifically to analyze how they perceive the effects of the increasing use of English by non-native speakers and the resulting consequences on their job. A total of 247 T&I professionals took part in the survey, answering questions about their professional profile, ELF-related features found in source texts, the resulting strategies and solutions adopted to deal with them, and the future developments of T&I. Overall, several challenges are voiced by survey participants, from greater comprehension difficulties to fewer jobs, thus confirming the results of previous studies. However, ELF use also seems to provide new opportunities in more specialized settings and enable better communication with a broader client base. In fact, opposite views can be highlighted in most survey items, pointing to the need to increase the awareness of both service users and providers about the positive and negative effects of the global language par excellence .

The article reports on a survey of Spanish-based interpreters’ perceptions of ELF in simultaneous interpreting settings. The findings of the survey were then further explored through interviews with eight professional conference interpreters in order to provide a more accurate overview of the current situation of the Spanish conference interpreting market. Our research revealed the growing prevalence of ELF at international conferences held in Spain, and that this new reality is perceived as a threat to the interpreting profession. Participants were asked about the quality and accessibility of non-native English source speeches, about their approach to interpreting into English for a non-native English audience, and about whether or not they had to seek alternative employment in other parallel language services, such as translation or teaching in order to make a living. Resumen Este artículo se basa en una encuesta realizada entre intérpretes de conferencias con domicilio profesional en España acerca de sus percepciones sobre el uso del inglés como lengua franca en reuniones con interpretación simultánea. Los resultados de la encuesta se profundizaron después con cinco entrevistas realizadas a intérpretes profesionales para ofrecer una panorámica más precisa de la situación actual del mercado español de la interpretación de conferencias. Nuestra investigación revela la creciente hegemonía del inglés como lengua franca en las conferencias internacionales celebradas en España y que esta situación es percibida como una amenaza para la profesión de intérprete. Se preguntó también a los participantes acerca de la calidad y accesibilidad de los discursos pronunciados en inglés por hablantes no nativos, sobre su enfoque a la hora de interpretar hacia el inglés para un público de hablantes no nativos y sobre si se han visto obligados a complementar sus ingresos con otros trabajos relacionados con las lenguas, como la traducción, o con la docencia.

This paper analyzes the translation of five child protection assessments and decisions from Finnish into English. Translators of such text have to make difficult decisions in relation to the linguistic resources of the end users, namely the child’s parents or custodians, because it is impossible for the translator to assess their linguistic resources. Therefore, it is difficult to strike a balance between an accurate translation and a pragmatically felicitous translation. Besides, these texts are typically translated by community interpreters who have no formal training in translation. A total of 18 examples of translation problems related to terminology, nominalization, passive constructions, and speech representation were analyzed by mobilizing different linguistic theories related to each category. The results show that the target texts present several accommodation strategies aimed at rendering the translations more accessible. Thus, terms are explained or glossed, and terms, grammatical constructions, and complex forms of reported speech are simplified. More awareness-raising among different stakeholders is needed in order to produce translations that really empower migrant communities. Tiivistelmä Kirjoituksessa tarkastellaan lastensuojelun päätösten ja selvitysten kääntämistä suomesta englantiin. Tällaisten tekstien kääntäminen on haasteellista, sillä käännösten käyttäjät ovat hyvin harvoin syntyperäisiä englannin kielen puhujia. Käännöksen on siis säilytettävä lähtötekstin laillinen voima, mutta lisäksi käännöksen käyttäjän eli lapsen huoltajan on voitava ymmärtää käännös. Usein tekstejä kääntävät asioimistulkit, joilla ei ole kääntäjän koulutusta. Analysoitavaksi valittiin 18 käännösongelmaesimerkkiä, jotka edustavat terminologiaa, nominalisaatiota, passiivirakenteita ja referointia. Tulosten perusteella kääntäjät käyttävät useita sopeuttamiskeinoja, joilla he lisäävät käännösten saavutettavuutta. Keinoja ovat muun muassa kaksikielinen merkitseminen (glossaaminen), selittäminen, monimutkaisten rakenteiden yksinkertaistaminen ja kieliopillinen “luonnonmukaistaminen” eli prototyypillisen kategorian käyttäminen (esim. verbin käyttäminen substantiivin sijaan kerrottaessa tapahtumisesta tai tekemisestä). Ongelmien ratkaisemiseksi olisi tärkeää lisätä kielellistä tietämystä kaikkien lastensuojelutekstien kanssa tekemisessä olevien henkilöiden parissa.