The Interpreters' Newsletter n. 29 bis - 2024

This article aims to observe potential interpreter-machine approaches in Consecutive Interpreting (CI) assisted by Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR). Sight-Terp was used in the study, a CAI tool for CI equipped with ASR and Machine Translation (MT). Six student-interpreters at the end of their second year of the master’s degree in Conference Interpreting at SSLMIT, Trieste were asked to interpret one speech in the traditional consecutive manner and one using Sight-Terp in a randomised order. The results show that a) the transcript produced by Sight-Terp does not always enable the interpreters to concentrate more on speech listening and comprehension, b) the duration of the interpreters’ renditions tends to increase, owing to an increased dependency on the written text and to additional cognitive efforts involved in the rendition phase, and c) ASR can be a useful resource for the retrieval of names and figures (although there may be errors in the transcript), but it presents limitations in the transcription of spontaneous spoken language. In conclusion, despite the significant advances in ASR technologies, more research is needed to further explore the advantages of ASR-assisted consecutive interpreting and strategic approaches.

Speech-to-text interpreting (STTI) is increasingly gaining traction as an effective service to ensure access to communication for people encountering a hearing barrier. Significant developments in offering this service and training professionals have been made in the Scandinavian and English-speaking countries for more than three decades; the German-speaking countries, Germany and Austria, following in the early and late 2000s. In other countries, such as Italy, however, this service still remains relatively unknown and therefore is not used to its full potential. This paper proposes a comparative analysis of the professionalisation status in terms of awareness, use and spread of STTI in Italy and Austria, with the aim of highlighting the gaps in the Italian context and providing a possible model to address them. To explore this topic, the paper also briefly addresses a closely related issue, namely accessible communication, which is often neglected in Italy. Furthermore, a theoretical overview of the main features and functioning of STTI is provided. This article emphasises the need to make progress in Italy with regard to accessible communication and, in particular, the need to recognise STTI as a service capable of significantly improving the quality of life for a substantial segment of Italian society

Remote interpreting has been studied and tested since the 1970s, but it has become more widespread since the Covid-19 pandemic. It is one of the key recent developments in the field of interpreting – along with CAI tools and artificial intelligence. It has the potential to bring about major changes in the way interpreters work, interact, and define their profession. While it is a cost-effective and flexible mode that offers opportunities to interpreters and clients, it is important to be mindful of the consequences for the profession. The aim of this study is descriptive, to review the literature on the subject to illustrate the impact that remote interpreting may have on various aspects of the profession. The focus is on the potential effects of remote interpreting on the interpreter as an individual, addressing auditory health and psychological health; and on the interpreter as a professional figure, analysing aspects such as identity and the process of professionalisation, teamwork between members of the profession, and training and research issues. The goal is to take stock of the situation currently, to consider possible future developments, and to reflect on ways to help the profession develop resilience and adapt to the technological advances underway.

The Interpreters’ Newsletter of the Dipartimento di Scienze Giuridiche, del Linguaggio, dell’Interpretazione e della Traduzione, Sezione di Studi in Lingue Moderne per Interpreti e Traduttori (SSLMIT) is an international journal promoting the dissemination and discussion of research in the field of Interpreting Studies.

Working memory holds information in an immediately accessible state for ongoing cognition. It is thought to play an important role in successful simultaneous interpreting. This study investigated the relationships between, on the one hand, variations in cognitive load (high vs. low) in a working memory task and, on the other hand, the accuracy of rendition of a source text of predefined difficulty (easy vs. difficult) in a simultaneous interpreting task. The results show that more information was retained in the working memory task when the cognitive load was low than when it was high. Correlations with accuracy scores in the simultaneous interpreting task revealed that working memory performance in both high and low cognitive load conditions was related to difficult source text passages, but not to easy ones. The results of this study provide a more nuanced picture of the relationship between working memory and simultaneous interpreting than heretofore.