MEMORIAS DEL V FORO DE ESTUDIOS EN LENGUAS INTERNACIONAL (FEL 2009)

ISBN 978-607-9015-05-3

Main problems of language and communication in

interpretation
Vilma Portillo Campos
Alessio Zanier Visintin
Ruth Cordova Baruch
Universidad de Quintana Roo

Abstract
Interpretation is more instantaneous than translation. Human beings have
always made use of intermediaries in order to communicate from one
language to another. Through the years, interpretation has become into a
revolutionary activity practiced by elders of the profession such as Kaminker
and Herbert amongst others. Generally interpreters, specially those who are
in training courses deal with various difficulties related to the speaker, the
listener, the language and the message during the process of interpretation.
Thus, the objective of this research is to learn about the main problems of
language and oral communication with which students of interpretation deal
the most. The methodology consisted of a bibliographical research on
consecutive and simultaneous interpretation. Field work consisted in the
design of a questionnaire to be answered by a sample of students in
advanced courses of interpretation. The information was compiled and
analysed using the data collecting technique of the qualitative research. The
findings enumerated the difficulties encountered related to the practice of
interpretation. This work might be useful for students, professional
interpreters and translators, beginners in these fields and instructors.

1 Introduction
An interpreter is a person who converts an expression of a source
language into an equivalent expression in a target language. The interpreter's
work is to convey every semantic element and feeling of the message that the
source-language speaker is directing to the target-language audience.
Interpretation is the practice of oral and sign-language communication,
simultaneously and consecutively, between two different languages. Interpreting
and interpretation are provide a description for this process.
Professionally, interpreting depicts the act of facilitating communication
from one language form into its equivalent, in another language. Interpretation
denotes the message rendered into speech, sign language, writing and nonmanual signals. A big amount of people confuse translation with interpretation.
The main difference is that translation is written, while interpretation is verbal.
In order to interpret a text the interpreter must be able to receive and
understand the incoming message and then express its meaning in the target
Universidad de Quintana Roo Departamento de Lengua y Educacin
http://fel.uqroo.mx - [email protected]

481

MEMORIAS DEL V FORO DE ESTUDIOS EN LENGUAS INTERNACIONAL (FEL 2009)

ISBN 978-607-9015-05-3

language. Interpretation is also held to a different standard of accuracy than

translation. While interpreters try to achieve total accuracy at all times, details of
the original speech can be omitted from the interpretation into the target
language, without a pause. Interpreting occurs in real time, in the presence of
the parties for whom the interpreter renders an interpretation. In order to
accomplish this task, the interpreter must go through an overlapping series of
cognitive processing activities.

These include: attending to the message,

concentrating on the task at hand, remembering the message, comprehending

the meaning of the message, analyzing the message for meaning, visualizing
the message nonverbally, and finally reformulating the message in the target
language.
Seleskovitch (1978) compresses these tasks into three steps, noting that
the second step includes the, Immediate and deliberate discarding of the
wording and retention of the mental representation of the message.
(Seleskovitch, 8); interpreters often refer to this as dropping form.

By

discarding words, structure etc. of the source text the interpreter is free to
concentrate on extracting and analyzing the meaning of the text, and conceiving
strategies for reformulating the message into the target language. Consecutive
and simultaneous interpreting employ the same cognitive processing skills, with
the only difference being the amount of time that elapses between the delivery
of the source utterance and the delivery of the interpretation.
2. Objective
The objective of this research is to learn about the main problems of
language and oral communication with which students of interpretation deal the
most.
3 Methodology
The methodology consisted of a bibliographical research on consecutive
and simultaneous interpretation.
The professional interpreting services are mainly on the following: PreCourt Interpreting: Any out-of-court hearings or interviews; Judicial Interpreting:
In the courtroom with the judge present; Immigration: Translation of documents
and interpretation of hearings etc.; Seminar Interpreting: Addresses and
Universidad de Quintana Roo Departamento de Lengua y Educacin
http://fel.uqroo.mx - [email protected]

482

MEMORIAS DEL V FORO DE ESTUDIOS EN LENGUAS INTERNACIONAL (FEL 2009)

ISBN 978-607-9015-05-3

discussions at meetings or small conferences; Escort Interpreting: Business

lunches, real estate appointments, or any two-way communications; Business
Interpreting: Contract negotiations, brochures, advertising, etc.; Community
Interpreting: Hospitals, public meetings, social services, etc.; Tour Interpreting:
Tours given to foreign tourists, businessmen, etc.
Seleskovitch solidifies the correlation between the cognitive processes
involved in consecutive and simultaneous interpreting when she states,
simultaneous interpretation can be learned quite rapidly, assuming one has
already learned the art of analysis in consecutive interpretation (Seleskovitch,
30).

Consecutive and simultaneous interpreting employ the same cognitive

processing skills, with the only difference being the amount of time that elapses
between the delivery of the source utterance and the delivery of the
interpretation.

In consecutive interpretation while the speaker delivers his

speech, the interpreter takes notes and structures his interpretation by

abbreviating it opportunely.

It reproduces the original speech with an often

superior clarity the interpreter do not hesitate much, do not use filler sentences,
and non-intentional repetitions.
3.1 Figure 1. The Consecutive Interpretation Process

Consecutive interpretation requires additional execution time, which can

go from one-tenth to three quarters of the original time. It may be rendered
when the interpreter does not have a text in its entirety, that is, the person
delivering the source utterance may have more to say, but the interpreter has
enough information to deliver a message that could stand alone if need be. As
Seleskovitch (1978) points out, In consecutive interpretation the interpreter has
Universidad de Quintana Roo Departamento de Lengua y Educacin
http://fel.uqroo.mx - [email protected]

483

MEMORIAS DEL V FORO DE ESTUDIOS EN LENGUAS INTERNACIONAL (FEL 2009)

ISBN 978-607-9015-05-3

the advantage of knowing line of the argument before he interprets (28).

Simultaneous interpretation takes place during and even in the same time
period as the original speech, the interpreter renders their interpretation while
still receiving the source utterance, consecutive interpretation has distinct
advantages in certain interpreting situations, not the least of which is that
consecutive interpretations render more accurate, equivalent and complete
target texts.

Seleskovitch (1978) states that in the simultaneous mode the

interpreter continues to receive and process new information while rendering,

and monitoring the target for equivalence.

Main language and communication problems

Even memorizing a half dozen words would distract the interpreter,
whose attention is already divided between listening to his own words, and
those of the speaker... his memory does not store the words of the sentence
delivered by the speaker, but only the meaning those words convey.
(Seleskovitch, 1978, 30-31)
Many interpreters regard consecutive as the most difficult mode of
interpreting because it is so hard to retain all of these aspects of the source
language message, particularly when a question or answer is very lengthy or is
not entirely coherent like an unfortunate fact of life in court interpreting. Memory
is such an important language and oral communication problem in interpreting
specially in consecutive. Some experts like Seleskovitch (1978) mention a sort
of strategies which help improve memory skills before beginning to practice
consecutive interpretation. Most of them have logical sequence so that the
interpreter can work on the individual components of consecutive interpretation
and gradually put them together to form a whole.
Six memory lessons are presented to improve o remediate language and
oral communication problems.
Memory lesson 1, is related to listening activities often, errors in
consecutive interpretation occur because the interpreter was not using good
listening skills. For example, if one becomes bogged down in details and fail to
grasp the overall meaning of a passage, that one will not be able to recall it
correctly. If one is distracted by an unfamiliar word, or an emotional reaction to
vulgar language or incorrect usage, that one may stop listening to the rest of the
Universidad de Quintana Roo Departamento de Lengua y Educacin
http://fel.uqroo.mx - [email protected]

484

MEMORIAS DEL V FORO DE ESTUDIOS EN LENGUAS INTERNACIONAL (FEL 2009)

ISBN 978-607-9015-05-3

passage and will not be able to recall it accurately. Memory Lesson 2, contains
controversial passages that help become aware of how personal prejudices can
impede retention and recall, and how identification with the speaker can
enhance these skills. Memory Lesson 3, illustrates the value of focusing on key
words as an aid to memory. Whether y the interpreter writes down these words
or make a mental note of them, they help organize the ideas into a meaningful
structure that is easier to recall than a mere string of disjointed words. Memory
Lesson

4,

is designed to show how much the interpreter can remember

without taking any notes, provided that the original message is clear and logical;
it also helps if the content lends itself to visualization. The more coherent the
original message, the more you can retain. If the interpreter is unfamiliar with
the subject matter, he has more trouble remembering the message. In Memory
Lesson 5, the interpreter has an opportunity to try note-taking again. Some
interpreters take very few notes, writing down only names and numbers, while
other interpreters take copious notes. The interpreter will find that with some
speakers and some subject matter, he can make more notes than with others.
Finally, Memory Lesson 6, contains questions and answers that are typical of
the length and detail of the testimony the interpreter is expected to interpret in
court.
Interpretation quality implies the fidelity of the target-language speech,
the quality of the interpreters linguistic output, the quality of his or her voice, the
prosodic characteristics of his or her delivery, (Bhler 1984 and 1986, Kurz
1989 and 1993, Gile 1990, Kopczyski 1994). Fidelity cannot be assessed with
any degree of precision without referring to the source-language speech. This
makes fidelity assessment difficult in simultaneous interpreting, (Carroll 1978,
Lambert 1978, Varantola 1980, Cartellieri 1983). Due that it is practically
impossible to monitor all of the original speech and all of its interpretation on
site.
When conference participants or observers do evaluate fidelity in the
simultaneous mode, they generally do so on the basis of two types of
processes:

Sampling, which means to listen to selected segments of the

original, in particular to difficult segments containing lexical or grammatical

difficulties, etc., whether these are found in the target-language speech.

Universidad de Quintana Roo Departamento de Lengua y Educacin

http://fel.uqroo.mx - [email protected]

485

MEMORIAS DEL V FORO DE ESTUDIOS EN LENGUAS INTERNACIONAL (FEL 2009)

ISBN 978-607-9015-05-3

Interpreters can do so by switching from the source-language channel to the

target-language channel and back on their receiving equipment, or by taking the
headphones off to listen to the original speech and then putting them on again
to listen to the interpretation, or by using only one earphone and by focusing
alternatively on input coming into the earphone ear, tuned in to the targetlanguage speech, and the free ear, which receives the source-language
speech. Accidental error detection: which takes place when sometimes a
segment heard in the target-language speech does not seem plausible to the
listener, hence the inference that the interpreter made an error.
Field work consisted in the design of a questionnaire to be answered by
a sample of students in advanced courses of interpretation of the University of
Quintana Roo, Campus Cozumel. The subject is registered under the name of
Translation IV, but the program consists mainly on getting the strategies to learn
interpretation from English to Spanish.
The Likers scale was used to design the instrument to measure the reliability of
the sample of students whom the questionnaire was given.
Universidad de Quintana Roo, Campus Cozumel.
Please mention the difficulties you have had related to the interpretation practice
1. Memory skills
Never Almost never Sometimes Frequently Always
2. Understanding of the Source Language (grammar structure, pronunciation)
Never Almost never Sometimes Frequently Always
3. Fidelity
Never Almost never Sometimes Frequently Always
4.Listening skills
Never Almost never Sometimes Frequently Always
5.Excesive note-taking
Never Almost never Sometimes Frequently Always
6. Unfamiliar topic
Never Almost never Sometimes Frequently Always
Tabla 1. Portillo-Zanier-Cordova 2009

1. Analysis
The information was compiled and analysed using the data collecting
technique of the qualitative research. The information was organized as follows:
If a student answers Always and Frequently in four or more questions, it
is assumed that the student has problems regarding to the interpreting process.
Thus it could be said that the student has various opportunity areas to work on.
If a student answers Algunas Veces in four or more questions, it is assumed
Universidad de Quintana Roo Departamento de Lengua y Educacin
http://fel.uqroo.mx - [email protected]

486

MEMORIAS DEL V FORO DE ESTUDIOS EN LENGUAS INTERNACIONAL (FEL 2009)

ISBN 978-607-9015-05-3

that the student has to acquire and domain some strategies. Therefore, the
student has some areas of opportunity to work on. If a student has underlined
four times Never o Almost Never, and also if he/she has underlined twice either
Always/ frequently or Sometimes, it could be assumed that the student does not
have problems regarding to his/her interpretation practice.
The entries follow a logic sequence therefore by logic a student has to
have underlined Always, Sometimes, Almost never or Never, four, or more
times.
The analysis states that regarding question number one, five students
out of six underlined Always, and only one underlined Frequently,

As for the

second question four students out of six answered Almost never and two
underlined Sometimes. As far as fidelity, the premise of the third question, four
students out of six underlined Frequently,, and two underlined Always. As for
question number four regarding listening skills, four students underlined Always,
and two underlined Frequently. In question five related to excesive note-taking,
five students out of six underlined Always, an only one underlined Frequently,.
As far as question six related to Unfamiliar topic, three students out of six
answered Frequently, and three underlined Sometimes.
2. Findings and conclusions
A big amount of people confuse translation with interpretation. The main
difference is that translation is written, while interpretation is verbal.

The

findings enumerated the difficulties encountered related to the practice of

interpretation.

Consecutive and simultaneous interpreting employ the same

cognitive processing skills, with the only difference being the amount of time
that elapses between the delivery of the source utterance and the delivery of
the interpretation.

Rather than being two separate skills, consecutive

interpretation is in fact a building block for successful

simultaneous

interpretations.
According to the bibliographical investigation there are various language
and oral communication problems in interpreting, for instance one of these is
listening many people overlook listening as a component of memory. Often,
errors in consecutive interpretation occur because the interpreter was not using
good listening skills. For example, if one become bogged down in details and
Universidad de Quintana Roo Departamento de Lengua y Educacin
http://fel.uqroo.mx - [email protected]

487

MEMORIAS DEL V FORO DE ESTUDIOS EN LENGUAS INTERNACIONAL (FEL 2009)

ISBN 978-607-9015-05-3

fail to grasp the overall meaning of a passage, that one will not be able to recall
it correctly. Memory is such an important language and oral communication
problem in interpreting specially in consecutive.

Note-taking, is another

problem for interpreters either taking very few notes, writing down only names
and numbers, or taking copious notes.

The more coherent the original

message, the more you can retain. A good domain of the language or vice
versa determines the performance in interpretation. Fidelity is the only quality
component which cannot be assessed with any degree of precision without
referring constantly to the source-language speech.

Also, if the interpreter is

unfamiliar with the subject matter, he has more trouble remembering the
message.

Finally, interpretation quality implies the fidelity of the target-

language speech and the quality of the interpreters linguistic output.

According to the data obtained from the analysis it can be concluded that
the main language and oral communication difficulties face by advanced
students of interpretation are: memory, note-taking and listening, followed in
less proportion are fidelity and unfamiliar topic.
However, due to the time allowed for comprehension and analysis of the
source text consecutive interpretations offer greater accuracy and equivalence
than do simultaneous interpretations. Thus, the speaker who addresses an
audience for which interpretation has been requested must have a speech as
clearly structured as possible considering a good quality of the interpreted
speech which should be independent from the semantic, lexical, and emotional
quality of the interpretation.

He or she should have a domain in memory,

listening, and note-taking skills. Interpreter should also be familiar with the topic
and transmit an accurate speech.

This work might be useful for students,

professional interpreters and translators, beginners in these fields and

instructors.

Universidad de Quintana Roo Departamento de Lengua y Educacin

http://fel.uqroo.mx - [email protected]

488

MEMORIAS DEL V FORO DE ESTUDIOS EN LENGUAS INTERNACIONAL (FEL 2009)

ISBN 978-607-9015-05-3

References
1. Bhler, Hildegund.1984. Pragmatic criteria for the evaluation of professional
translation and evaluation. Jan den Haese and Jos Nivette, eds. AILA Brussels 84:
Proceedings 4. Brussels, 1984. 1560.
2. Bhler, Hildegund. 1986. Linguistic (semantic) and extra-linguistic (pragmatic) criteria
for the evaluation of conference interpretation and interpreters. Mutlilingua 5:4.231235.
3. Carroll, John B. 1978. Linguistic abilities in translators and interpreters. Gerver and
Sinaiko 1978: 119-130.
4. Cartellieri, Claus. 1983. The inescapable dilemma: quality and or quantity. Babel
29.209-213.

5. Chuzhakin, Andrei (2007) "Applied Theory of Interpretation and Note-Taking", "Mir

Perevoda 1 to 7", Ustny Perevod, Posledovatelny Perevod, Ace Perevoda Mir
Perevoda.
6. Gerver, David and H. Wallace Sinaiko, eds. 1978. Language interpretation and
communication. New York and London: Plenum Press, NATO conference series.

7. Gile, Daniel. 1989. La communication linguistique en runion multilingue: les

difficults de la transmission informationelle en interprtation simultane. University of
Paris III [Doctoral dissertation].
8. Gile, Daniel. 1990. Lvaluation de la qualit de linterprtation par les dlgus : une
tude de cas. The Interpreters Newsletter 3.66-71.

9. Gile, Daniel. 1995a. Basic concepts and models for interpreter and translator training.
Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
10. Gile, Daniel. 1995b. Regards sur la recherche en interprtation de confrence. Lille:
Presses Universitaires de Lille.
11. Kopczyski, Andrzej. 1994. Quality in conference interpreting: some pragmatic
problems. Mary Snell-Hornby, Franz Pchhacker and Klaus Kaindl, eds. Translation
studies: an interdiscipline. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 189-198.

Universidad de Quintana Roo Departamento de Lengua y Educacin

http://fel.uqroo.mx - [email protected]

489

MEMORIAS DEL V FORO DE ESTUDIOS EN LENGUAS INTERNACIONAL (FEL 2009)

ISBN 978-607-9015-05-3
12. Kurz, Ingrid. 1989. Conference interpreting: user expectations. ATA Proceedings of
th

the 30 Annual Conference. Medford, New Jersey: Learned Information Inc. 143-148.
13. Kurz, Ingrid. 1993. Conference Interpretation: expectations of different user groups.
The Interpreters Newsletter 5.13-21.
14. Lambert, Wallace E. 1978. Psychological approaches to bilingualism, translation and
interpretation. Gerver and Sinaiko 1978: 131-144.
15. Seleskovitch, Danica (1968) L'interprte dans les confrences internationales, Cahiers
Champollion.
16. Seleskovitch, Danica (1978) Interpreting for international Conferences (2 nd printing
2001), Pen and Booth, Arlington, VA
17. Seleskovitch, Danica (1978) Fundamentals of the interpretative theory of translation, in
Expanding Horizons.

Proceedings of the 12th National RID Convention 1991, RID

Press.
18. Varantola, Christa. 1980. On simultaneous interpretation. Turku: Publications of the
Turku Language Institute.
19. Williams, Sarah. Forthcoming. Observations on anomalous stress in interpreting.
Presented as a poster at the International conference on interpreting in Turku, August
1994.

Universidad de Quintana Roo Departamento de Lengua y Educacin

http://fel.uqroo.mx - [email protected]

490

MEMORIAS DEL V FORO DE ESTUDIOS EN LENGUAS INTERNACIONAL (FEL 2009)

ISBN 978-607-9015-05-3

Biodata

Vilma Portillo Campos currently works as ELT profesor at Uqroo and as

professional translator. She is a researcher in the fields of translation and
language learning process. Publications: several articles and memoirs in
national and international magazines.
Contact: [email protected]
Alessio Zanier Visintin was born in Trieste, Italy, he has a degree in Modern
Languages and a Master in Translation and Interpreting. He is a researcher at
Uqroo since 1999. Production: three books, translated three books, wrote 26
articles on language learning, translation, literature, international relations.
Contact: [email protected]
Ruth Cordova Baruch es pasante de la Lic. en Lengua Inglesa. Ha publicado
como co-autora en congresos nacionales e internacionales en el rea de
traduccin, interpretatcin y ELT. Actualmente trabaja en su tesis Glosario de
terminologa religiosa en CD-ROM
Contacto: [email protected]

Universidad de Quintana Roo Departamento de Lengua y Educacin

http://fel.uqroo.mx - [email protected]

491