Consecutive Interpreting Unit 7: Monitoring and Correction

This unit focuses on how interpreters monitor their own interpretation and make corrections to target language utterances.

In simultaneous interpreting the interpreter listens to new information in the source language while simultaneously processing previously presented information, rendering still other parts of the message into the target language, and checking the target message for accuracy in terms of content and pronunciation.

These steps happen in consecutive interpreting but they do not happen simultaneously.

In consecutive interpreting the interpreter can mentally re-inspect the interpretation without the interference of an ongoing message that must be processed.

This “luxury” can be viewed as a disadvantage because it requires that the interpreter remember the source and target versions of the message after some delay.

The elapsed time can enhance the possibility of forgetting information from either the source or the target message.

The interpreter is still required to achieve the highest level of accuracy possible and make corrections to the interpretation when necessary.

This unit focuses on the monitoring and correction process. In order to know what to correct you must closely monitor your own interpretations. By learning to monitor your work in consecutive interpretation you can determine what corrections are necessary.

Moser (1978) says that the simultaneous interpreter must process his or her own output (interpretation) in addition to processing the input (source message) and that the capacity needed to process the incoming message should not use up all the interpreter’s available capacity.

The same requirements apply to the consecutive interpreter. When the interpreter is struggling to comprehend the message, then more capacity is used at the earlier phases of the process and less is left for later stages such as reformulation and monitoring.

Sometimes the interpreter can catch and correct an error, but that correction may reduce the capacity to accurately process ongoing incoming information.

Memory plays a role in monitoring and correction because you must remember your interpretation and compare that to the source message.

Monitoring skills include listening and attending to your own output in the target language, checking the target message output to make sure it agrees with the meaning in the source language. You must also check the target language output for sense and cohesion.

If you determine that you need to correct a portion of the interpretation, this process also depends on accurate memory skills. Using self-correction skills in real time means that you provide a corrected target language output immediately after monitoring the interpretation.

If you detect an error in the interpretation, the correction may be in the area of meaning or in form. A meaning error would convey the information that was not in the source message.

The most common error types are omitting information and adding information.

An error in form would include stating a question as a statement or a command or using inappropriate syntax.

Factors in Self-Monitoring:

There are several factors to check when learning to monitor and correct your own interpretations. Learning this self-monitoring in combination with consecutive interpreting allows you to detect and correct errors.

The factors to check are the following:

1. Intelligibility: this focuses on clear diction and pronunciation of words or expression of signs and phrases in the target language. The target audience should not have to struggle to understand the message in the target language or further “interpret” it. Intelligibility does not include evaluating the accuracy of message transfer.

2. Volume: The interpretation must be loud enough for the intended audience to hear if you are working into a spoken language. If you are working into a signed language, your signs must be large enough to be easily discernible by the audience watching your interpretation.

3. Message Accuracy: The message conveyed in the target language must match the source language message in meaning, content and intent. Cultural adjustments may be necessary to convey ideas appropriately in the target language. You must also consider the composition of the target audience and their linguistic needs as well as cultural background. In order to make decisions about message equivalence you must be able to understand the message in the source language, transfer the message, and reformulate it in the target language. Language fluency in both the source and the target language is necessary in order for you to be able to make judgments about equivalence.

4. Illocutionary Force: Your interpretation should convey the illocutionary force of the source message. If the source message is a question seeking information, then the interpretation should have the same effect and elicit information from the target language listener. If the source language message contains a rhetorical question, then your interpretation should reflect that, although the form was a question, it does not necessarily seek information from the target audience. Likewise, statements should be rendered as statements and strong declarations in the source language should convey the same impact in the target language.

5. Fillers and Repetitions: Sometimes interpreters use fillers such as “um”, “ah”, and “hmm” or other verbalizations that are not part of the source message. Fillers are additions to the message and skew the message somewhat. Adding fillers like “um” and “ahh” show uncertainty. The target audience may assume that the speaker rather than the interpreter generates that uncertainty.

Sometimes interpreters use fillers as a way to allow more time to process a message into the target language. At other times, interpreters may use fillers in response to silence on the part of the speaker. This often shows that the interpreter is not comfortable with silence and wishes to continue verbalizing in order to keep the attention of the target language audience. Adding vocalizations like fillers can have the opposite effect of silence. If the speaker is using silence to allow time for reflection or to increase impact, then the interpreter must be confident enough to allow the silence to occur in the interpretation.

Interpreters occasionally use repetitions to attempt to repair interpretations that are not satisfactory. This can happen when the interpreter does not initially allow enough time to fully understand or process the message. When the interpreter repeats the message the target audience is likely to think that the speaker is repeating the message, when the speaker may have delivered the message only once. Then the target audience infers that the speaker is repeating the message out of either disorganization or perhaps attempting to overstate a point when in fact neither may be true. This is an example of how the interpreter can change the impact of the message by simply repeating it. Neither the speaker nor the target audience will be aware that the interpreter, not the speaker, generated this repetition. You should avoid fillers and repetitions in interpretations unless they are part of the source.

6. Comments on Your Own Interpretation: Comments on your own interpretation are really another form of addition. These comments add something to the message that was not delivered by the speaker. It is common to hear interpreters or interpretation students commenting on their own interpretations, usually in unfavorable ways. But what is really going on when interpreters comment on their own work? There are very few studies that address that area. The comments interpreters make while working can reveal information about the interpreting process as well as attitudes about performance. Vik-Tuovinen (2000) studied two simultaneous interpreters’ comments to each other during an interpreting assignment. The comments fell into two different categories, linguistic and extralinguistic. Linguistic comments are about the source text while extralinguistic comments are about procedures in interpreting or the speakers. The comments reveal how interpreters solve problems and how they prioritize problems.