The use of comparable corpora in interpreting practice and training

Abstract

Terminology research and domain knowledge acquisition constitute a substantial part of the preparation activity performed daily by professional and trainee interpreters. Corpus-based preparation can assist interpreters in investigating subject-related terminology as well as phraseology and in acquiring subject-specific knowledge. This is particularly important in light of the fact that interpreters often do not have the same level of linguistic and domain expertise as the other event participants. Since tools for corpus analysis have the potential to enhance the quality of preparation, it is reasonable to suggest that they should become an integral part of a modern interpreter’s workstation. This paper will introduce two kinds of corpora which can be used in interpreter practice and training in the context of deliberate practice. It will also describe the results of an empirical test of the resources created by a tool designed for this purpose in terms of their adequacy to be used during advance preparation.