Didáctica de la interpretación simultánea

Abstract

The main objective of this study lies in an experimental study of the application of a set of exercises in the training of simultaneous interpreters, and in the repercussion of this application in the development of the skills needed for successful simultaneous interpreting (SI). With this research, we aim to contribute to the field of SI didactics, which requires further work if it is to become consolidated. In SI, a number of different processes coincide, at least partially, in time. The first of the five chapters of this doctoral thesis examines the basic principles of SI and, in particular, the various problems faced by professional interpreters. Analyses of these problems have been carried out from a wide range of perspectives and disciplines in interpreting studies. In the second chapter, we believe it necessary to infer the skills and strategies possessed and applied by the professional interpreter, as our students have to develop or improve these skills and strategies in order at least to pass the practical examination in the booth, which represents a key element in the assessment of both compulsory and elective interpreting subjects within their degree course. Our working hypothesis focuses on the idea that the different skills needed within the SI process may be developed in isolation and subsequently combined using a set of specific exercises, presented in the third chapter. This approach enables us to lay solid foundations, then to introduce combined exercises in the booth and finally to start SI practice. Our research aims to determine the degree to which progress in the acquisition of these skills can be attributed to the system applied under specific circumstances and conditioning factors. In order to draw any such conclusions, an experimental study and subsequent evaluation of the results obtained was required. The fourth chapter presents the empirical study carried out in the first semester of the 2004-2005 academic year, based on preliminary studies carried out since 2002, in order to verify the utility of the set of exercises described in the previous chapter. Chapter five contains our conclusions.