An Investigation of Interpreting Strategies When Overlapping Dialogue Occurs in the English Source By: Abby Jackson INT 492 Spring 2016 Introduction Results/Analysis Context # of Strategy Type/ People Phrase Omitted Talking (if any) Additional Notes Rapid turn-taking 2 Omission “Thank you” Non-imperative utterance dropped Sidebar 2 conversation happening right next to the interpreter as someone else is addressing the room. Omission “That’s Pretty” Non-imperative and unrelated to what is being addressed to the class Highlighting a 4-5 specific employee as the winner of an award, comments are made about the employee by multiple people around the room at the same time. Omission “Thank you” x2 Other comments (inaudible) All other audible and pertinent info is interpreted accurately. Trying to connect with someone via video conferencin 3 g. Summary TRY AGAIN is interpreted for “I can try to see if I can get him”. A bit of a delay on that interpretation (from the time the English is produced to the time the ASL interpretation was made). Main presenter 2 speaking, man next to her adding in a comment reaffirming what she is saying Interpret all None Participant asks 2 question to presenter, presenter gives a brief response to one part of the question. Omission “Not necessarily” Talking about a 4-5 clarification of a specific “form” used, lots of people interjecting which form it is Omission (all except for main presenter’s utterances) Interpreter doesn’t show that any other ideas were being suggested (form 48, form 58). Discussion/Conclusions My interest was sparked in this topic during my senior internship because I worked with an agency that holds many government contracts which exposed me to many staff meetings and other group setting scenarios. Overlapping Dialogue occurs often in interpreted interactions and creates a challenging scenario in which interpreters must make decisions and use strategies. By observing video data, I hoped to find out what types of strategies are available and how many of each are used. Overlapping dialogue is natural in human language and occurs often. The data collected using the source video show that when overlapping dialogue occurs, interpreters decide to use the “omission” strategy more than the other strategies (71%). The “omissions” were insignificant to the message and meaning, but that only applies to this video. Limitations Very limited video data No live staff meetings or other data that would require IRB approval Only two interpreters Only 7 instances of overlapping dialogue to analyze (small sampling) Lit Review Dean & Pollard “Demand-Control Schema” for how interpreters identify and categorize demands (2001). Daniel Gile’s “Effort Model” to identify the cognitive process and how much mental energy interpreting requires (1995). Lorraine Leeson’s discussion about “strategic omissions” and “paraphrasing” (2005). Recommendations More video data with group settings/interactions More research about each of the strategies Qualitative data from the interpreters about the strategies they decided to use when overlapping dialogue occurs and why. Data Collection Video source: one video from NCIEC website Group setting “Interpreting a VR Staff Meeting” Two interpreters seen in the video. When overlapping dialogue was present, collected time codes, how many people were talking, strategy used, and notes. Strategy categories: omission, summary, interpret all, or clarify. References: Dean, R. & Pollard, R. (2001). “Application of demand-control theory to sign language interpreting: implications for stress and interpreter training”. Journal of deaf studies and deaf education 6:1. University of Rochester. Gile, D. (1995). “The effort models in interpretation”. In Gile, Basic concepts and models for interpreter and translator training (pp. 159-190). John Benjamins Publishing Company. Leeson, L. (2005) “Making the effort in simultaneous interpreting”. In Terry Janzen (Ed.). Topics in signed language interpreting (pp.51-68). Amsterdam; Philadelphia: John Benjamins. NCIEC. (n.d.). “A VR staff meeting”. Retrieved from: http://www.interpretereducation.org/tim/video-series/interpreting-in-vocational-rehabilitation-settings/ a-vr-staff-meeting/ `