Presents an historical analysis of simultaneous interpreting comparing two main styles: conference and community interpreting.

1. The Real Value of
Interpreting
Communicating pluralingual relationships into the future . . .
Pluralingual:
social interaction involving two or more languages

2. Thinking in Timestreams
American
Deaf
Culture
(US)
Nuremberg
War Crimes
Tribunal
European
Parliament
(EU)
Sign Language
Community Interpreting
established 1964 (US)
The “IBM Translation System” of Simultaneous Interpreting, 1945
Conference Interpreting [Spoken Language]
~ Research Period 2005-2009
The “Big Bang” Enlargement of the European Parliament
Social Construction of
„the interpreter‟
as a Technology
Neustadt & May 1986
Kline & Pinch 1987
Hughes 1987

3. 2 Styles of
Simultaneous Interpretation
COMMUNITY CONFERENCE
Mistakes, Misunderstandings
Danger, Risk, Loss
InterpretersInterpreters InterpreteesInterpretees
“Interpreting” “Oral Translating”

4. Learning from Failure
A Center that Shifts
Breaks down during turntaking
between sign and speech (inter-
modal, across two mediums).
Breaks down during voting
(too fast) and relay
interpreting (too slow).
“The IBM System”
Doesn‟t break down in relay:
interpreters are allowed to “hold
time” & ensure understanding.
Interpretation itself is
considered “noise”–
the social failure to adapt is
not questioned
Erasure OR preservation of
difference depends on the rate
of interpretation deemed
socially acceptable.

5. Interpreting in the
European Parliament
“Normally people do not
understand the difference between
interpretation and translation.
Translation remains there;
interpretation is to allow people to
communicate.”
www.europarl.europa.eu

6. Two Orientations to Time
CULTURE
 To interpret is to interact in
the present
 Interpreting is the stuff of
ritual
 Rituals are the substance of
relationships
 Relationships sustain
society
CONTROL
 To translate is to fix a
meaning for the future
 Translating is the exercise
of power
 Power reduces
relationships to one
dimension
 Unilateral relations
destabilize society

7. Three Values of Interpreting:
1. Interpreting makes time visible
2. Interpreting makes culture visible
3. Interpreting makes power visible

8. Potentials of Interpreting:
 Interpreting helps us understand that
all social interaction is
meaningful
 Interpreting creates possibilities for
social changecultural equalitynew economiesreducing violencehuman survival

9. 2 Discourses of
Simultaneous Interpretation
COMMUNITY CONFERENCE
InterpretersInterpreters InterpreteesInterpretees
HomolingualismPluralingualism
“Interpreting” “Oral Translating”

10. Interpreting as
Stewardship
 Interpreters enable the co-presence of difference and
connection:
 „„mistakes‟ & „misunderstandings‟ are evidence of
pluralingualism (i.e., of social reality)
 not „noise‟ but the „engine‟
 interpretee‟s utterances are the „fuel‟
 Interpreters cultivate meta-awareness = generally
reliable but fallable
 “closure skills” require making assumptions
 insisting on speed inhibits innovation

11. Interpreters as Stewards
Lee & Llewellyn-Jones 2009
Role Space is
• Dynamic
• Reasoned
• Situational
• Negotiable
Requires “relational autonomy”~ Witter-Merithew, Johnson & Nicodemus 2010
Participant/I
nterpreteeParticipant/I
nterpretee

12. Real Interpreting
is a communication strategy for
SOCIAL RESILIENCE
 develops capacities of listening
 requires adaptation and flexibility
 a democratic activity
 emboldens the local
 exercises strategic foresight –
Does humanity choose the homolingual illusion or the
pluralingual possibility?
Turner 2007

13. Holding Time
To see a World in a
Grain of Sand,
And a Heaven in a
Wildflower,
Hold Infinity in the
palm of your
hand, and Eternity in
an hour.
~ William Blake
Time
Identity
Culture
Information
Social Reality
The Future
& You, Now