Exploring Quality in Interpreting: Insights from Università degli Studi di Trieste

Delve into the enigmatic realm of quality in interpreting through a series of thought-provoking studies and perspectives presented at Università degli Studi di Trieste. The discourse challenges traditional notions and offers diverse insights into the subjective yet critical aspect of interpretation quality assessment.

• Quality Interpreting
• Trieste Studies
• Interpretation Assessment
• Language Studies
• Academic Research

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1. Universit degli Studi di Trieste Aspects of quality in interpreting Maurizio Viezzi University of Trieste / CIUTI Universit degli Studi di Trieste

2. Universit degli Studi di Trieste Quality You know what it is, yet you don t know what it is [ ] What the hell is Quality? What is it? R.M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 2

3. Universit degli Studi di Trieste Quality that elusive something which everyone recognises but no one can successfully define (AIIC 1982: 1) Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 3

4. Universit degli Studi di Trieste Quality it seems unlikely that translation quality assessment can ever be completely objectified in the manner of the results of natural science subjects (House 1976: 64) Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 4

5. Universit degli Studi di Trieste 5 Research on quality Barik (1969, 1971, 1994) Altman (1994) Gerver (1971), Anderson (1979) H. B hler (1986) Kurz (1988, 1993) Kopczynski (1994) ... Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 5

6. Universit degli Studi di Trieste 6 Barik 48 SI by 6 subjects (2 pros, 2 graduates, 2 amateurs) Departures of translation in SI omissions additions substitutions and errors Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 6

7. Universit degli Studi di Trieste 7 Barik "nor is the system intended to reflect except in a very gross way on the adequacy or 'quality' of an interpretation" (1971: 207) Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 7

8. Universit degli Studi di Trieste 8 Barik seen as as a study on quality mere comparison of ST and TT no attention to the social dimension of interpreting Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 8

9. Universit degli Studi di Trieste 9 Altman 5 students omissions additions inaccurate rendition of individual text items distortion of longer phrases Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 9

10. Universit degli Studi di Trieste 10 Altman need to develop a sysyem to evaluate the extent to which errors "afftect the communicative impact of the speaker's message" importance of "TL fluency" importance of any "loss of rhetorical effect" Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 10

11. Universit degli Studi di Trieste 11 Gerver, Anderson transcribed TT evaluated according to the intelligibility scale (1-9): 9: "perfectly clear and intelligible. Sounds like ordinary speech; has no stylistic infelicities" 1: "both totally unintelligible and nonsensical" Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 11

12. Universit degli Studi di Trieste 12 Gerver, Anderson the intelligibility scale is not enough: "interpretations can be highly intelligible and the product of the interpreter's fertile imagination" (Anderson 1979: 25) Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 12

13. Universit degli Studi di Trieste 13 Gerver, Anderson ST evaluated according to the informativeness scale (0-9): 9: extremely informative, makes 'all the difference in the world' 1: not informative at all, no new meaning added 0: the original contains, if anything, less information than the translation Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 13

14. Universit degli Studi di Trieste 14 Gerver, Anderson laborious procedure written texts ("la valeur de l'interpr tation se juge l'oreille", Lederer 1981: 354) Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 14

15. Universit degli Studi di Trieste 15 B hler 47 AIIC interpreters: importance attached to linguistic and non-linguistic criteria when sponsoring a candidate to AIIC membership Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 15

16. Universit degli Studi di Trieste 16 B hler assumption: " sponsors applied the same criteria to sponsoring a candidate as to a 'first-class interpretation' " (1986: 234) hence linguistic criteria = quality parameters Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 16

17. Universit degli Studi di Trieste 17 B hler native accent pleasant voice fluency of delivery logical cohesion of utterance sense consistency with the original (+) completeness of information correct grammatical usage use of correct terminology use of appropriate style (-) Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 17

18. Universit degli Studi di Trieste 18 B hler "lack of precision in definitions" (Seleskovitch 1986: 236) the problem of questionnaires Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 18

19. Universit degli Studi di Trieste 19 B hler "the quality of interpretation can only be judged by comparison with the original" "delegates do not normally know the original and its quality and are therefore likely to judge the quality of interpretation by [...] superficial criteria" (B hler 1986: 233) Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 19

20. Universit degli Studi di Trieste 20 Kurz B hler's questionnaire administered to conference participants: MDs (47), engineers (29), CoE delegates (48) different priorities (also vs. B hler) "one should not speak of the user but should differentiate between different audiences" (1993: 14) Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 20

21. Universit degli Studi di Trieste 21 Kopczynski 57 people from human sciences (20), science & technology (23), diplomacy (14) (speakers and listeners) # 1 quality criterion: "rendering the detailed content of T1" # 1 irritating factor: "faulty terminology" ghost role vs. intruder role Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 21

22. Universit degli Studi di Trieste Quality what can be done [ ] is to elaborate a set of parameters for analysis which aim to promote consistency and precision in the discussion of translating and translations (Hatim & Mason 1990: 5) Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 22

23. Universit degli Studi di Trieste Quality: a relative concept l'ensemble des propri t s et des caract ristiques qui conf rent un produit ou un service l'aptitude satisfaire des besoins exprim s ou implicites (ou potentiels) (AFNOR, in Lord 1993: 33) Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 23

24. Universit degli Studi di Trieste Quality: a relative concept a function of the attainment of goals Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 24

25. Universit degli Studi di Trieste Interpreting cross-cultural, cross-linguistic, text- producing activity (Neubert & Shreve 1992: 43) source-text induced target-text production for a third party (Neubert 2000: 10) a service provided to particular people in a particular communication situation (Gile 1995: 19) Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 25

26. Universit degli Studi di Trieste Key Words service communicative situation cross-cultural activity cross-linguistic activity text (re)production Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 26

27. Universit degli Studi di Trieste Service (communication) needs to be met: the speaker s need to be understood and the listeners need to understand Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 27

28. Universit degli Studi di Trieste Communicative situation a constellation at a given time and place involving text producers (speakers, interpreters) and listeners (in the source and target languages) (P chhacker 1992: 216) Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 28

29. Universit degli Studi di Trieste Communication quality: speaker communication is successful from the Sender s point of view if he manages to achieve his aim, that is [ ] if he manages to inform, explain or convince (Gile 1991:191) i.e. if listeners are successfully informed, understand the point, and/or have been persuaded (Gile 1995: 27) Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 29

30. Universit degli Studi di Trieste Communication quality: listener are successfully informed understand the point have been persuaded ? oratore e ascoltatori possono non condividere gli stessi obiettivi comunicativi Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 30

31. Universit degli Studi di Trieste Communication quality: listener may attach importance to: transmission de la totalit du message d une mani re claire de mani re convaincante (registre, terminologie) d une mani re agr able (cf. Gile 1995:120) Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 31

32. Universit degli Studi di Trieste Communication quality: interpreter not only Target text Listeners informing, explaining, etc. une mani re claire, convaincante, agr able Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 32

33. Universit degli Studi di Trieste qualit della comunicazione: interprete but also, crucially Target text Source text Communication must be established on the basis of ST content (and form?) Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 33

34. Universit degli Studi di Trieste El traductor habla para re-producir lo dicho, no para decir lo que quiere decir. Traducir es hablar para redecir lo ya dicho. La traducci n es un habla que redice lo ya dicho (Garc a Landa 1984: 65) Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 34

35. Universit degli Studi di Trieste Interpreting goals 1. Equivalence 2. Accuracy 3. Appropriateness 4. Usability Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 35

36. Universit degli Studi di Trieste Quality parameters If quality is a function of the attainment of goals 1. Equivalence 2. Accuracy 3. Appropriateness 4. Usability Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 36

37. Universit degli Studi di Trieste Basic assumption the 4 goals / parameters are common to all interpreting irrespective of the setting, but - exceptions may apply (e.g. Court) - priorities may vary (e.g. TV) Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 37

38. Universit degli Studi di Trieste Equivalence controversial, but equivalence identity the TT is not an autonomous text ST/TT producers, ST/TT addressees share the same situation equivalence is the raison d tre of mediated interlingual communication Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 38

39. Universit degli Studi di Trieste Equivalence TT equivalent to ST overall sense communicative function informing, explaining, convincing, saying almost the same thing (Eco 2003) Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 39

40. Universit degli Studi di Trieste Accuracy Accurate reformulation of the information content of the ST - relevance 50 feet = 15 m / 15.24 m 20 mg vs 30 mg 10 km vs 12 km Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 40

41. Universit degli Studi di Trieste Appropriateness TT appropriate to the addressees - as participants in a given communicative situation - as belonging to a different linguaculture Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 41

42. Universit degli Studi di Trieste Culture idioculture (individual culture) paraculture (a people's, nation's or society's culture) diaculture (group culture defined by the shared professional background, common technical expertise etc.) (Vermeer1983, P chhacker 1995) Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 42

43. Universit degli Studi di Trieste Culture the role of paraculture in public service interpreting vs the role of diaculture in conference interpreting Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 43

44. Universit degli Studi di Trieste Appropriateness cultural barriers (e.g. culture-bound terms) register norms expectations Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 44

45. Universit degli Studi di Trieste Appropriateness [packaging] the message in such a way that it is likely to be understood by the hearer in the context of utterance, while couching the message in a socially appropriate manner. This means taking into account what the hearer can reasonably be expected to know, as well as the nature of the social roles that the speaker and hearer are playing (Brown 1996: 24) Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 45

46. Universit degli Studi di Trieste Appropriateness United Nations 6 languages 193 member states Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 46

47. Universit degli Studi di Trieste Appropriateness something is rotten in the state of Denmark Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 47

48. Universit degli Studi di Trieste Appropriateness President Clinton s grand jury testimony Skopostheorie and media interpreting Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 48

49. Universit degli Studi di Trieste Appropriateness headache mal di testa / cefalea liver disease mal di fegato epatopatia skin pelle / cute brain cervello / encefalo Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 49

50. Universit degli Studi di Trieste Appropriateness Les deux auteurs directs de l'attentat [ ] ont quitt Auckland [ ] l'un pour Noum a, l'autre pour Sydney (Australie) The two men who carried out the attack left Auckland [ ] one for Noumea, in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia, and the other for Sydney Trieste, 14 settembre 2024 - 50

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