Agnieszka Chmiel

Towards common European audio description guidelines: Results of the Pear Tree Project

This article reports on the Pear Tree Project (PTP) conducted as part of the DTV4All project, whose original aim was to develop audio description (AD) guidelines in Europe, in order to ensure consistent high quality AD. However, before streamlining AD standards, a number of issues had to be addressed, the most essential being whether relevant cross-linguistic and cross-cultural differences in Europe are insignificant enough to enable the development of such common European AD guidelines. In order to answer these questions, a methodology proposed by Chafe (1980) concerning the way representatives of various cultures and languages perceive and describe moving images was adopted by a group of AD researchers in the PTP. Participants from various countries were asked to watch a short film and recount what they saw. The data were then subjected to comparative lexical, discourse, and narrative analyses in order to uncover both similarities and differences in the processing of visual information by representatives of the languages and cultures concerned. The results and their analysis will be presented in this paper, on the basis of which the authors will attempt to provide an answer to the question of whether creating common European audio description guidelines is feasible.

Cognate facilitation in sentence context – translation production by interpreting trainees and non-interpreting trilinguals

Conference interpreters form a special case of language users because the simultaneous interpretation practice requires very specific lexical processing. Word comprehension and production in respective languages is performed under strict time constraints and requires constant activation of the involved languages. The present experiment aimed at shedding more light on the effects of conference interpreting training on word production in the process of translation in sentence context. In the study we tested trilingual interpreting trainees and matched non-interpreting trilinguals. Both groups were required to verbally produce L1 and L2 translation equivalents in response to L3 target words (L2–L3 cognates and non-cognates) presented in two context constraints – high sentence context constraint and low sentence context constraint. This enabled us to investigate whether expertise developed during interpreting training in translation between L1 and L2 (extensively practised) is transferable to translation from L3 to L2 (not practised at all). The study provided evidence for cognate facilitation and context effects on naming latencies. However, we found no significant evidence of enhanced semantic processing of interpreting trainees compared to trilingual non-interpreters.

Directionality and context effects in word translation tasks performed by conference interpreters

Abstract Professional interpreters employed by international institutions usually work into their L1 from their L2, while freelance interpreters tend to work both into and from their L1. A study was devised to see if the long-term interpreting unidirectional practice (in the L2–L1 direction only), in contrast to bidirectional practice (in the L2–L1 and L1–L2 direction), influences the speed of lexical retrieval manifested through shorter translation latencies. Forty-eight professional conference interpreters produced oral translations of nouns presented in isolation, in high context constraint sentences and in low context constraint sentences. Contrary to predictions, unidirectional interpreters did not manifest directionality asymmetry and their L2–L1 translation latencies were not shorter than L1–L2 translation latencies. Surprisingly, the L2–L1 direction advantage was found in the group of bidirectional interpreters. The data suggest that the dominant directionality in interpreting practice has little impact on the strength of interlingual lexical links in the interpreter’s mental lexicon or that other factors (such as language use, exposure and immersion) might offset any such impact. The study also revealed an expected context effect, which shows that interpreters use semantic constraint to anticipate sentence-final words.

How Effective is Teaching Note-Taking to Trainee Interpreters?

Abstract This paper examines the effectiveness of teaching note-taking to trainee interpreters. It first identifies layout, symbols and visualizations as aspects assumed to contribute to more successful consecutive interpreting and then presents contents of a note-taking course. The experimental study described in the paper features interpreting trainees who had previously completed this course as participants. The students were asked to interpret a text into their B language consecutively, submit their notes to the conductor of the experiment and complete a questionnaire. The analysis focuses on certain elements of the source text (concepts to be noted down as symbols, figures, easy to visualize excerpts, etc.) as reflected in the notes and in the questionnaire. The results show that the majority of students focus on correctly writing down numbers, apply visualizations as mnemonics and adhere to well-structured layout principles. However, such elements as symbols are not readily transferable to the students’ individual note-taking systems.

In search of the working memory advantage in conference interpreting – Training, experience and task effects

Aims and Objectives: The purpose of the study was to disentangle the effects of simultaneous interpreting experience and training on working memory, to examine the effect of language, modality and recall on working memory scores, and to associate memory scores of trainees with interpreting quality. Design: Working memory scores were compared in the L2 reading span task (performed by professional conference interpreters, bilingual controls and interpreter trainees tested before and after training) and in the L1 reading span task and L1 listening span task (performed by interpreters and controls). Data and Analysis: Data was collected from 68 participants in experiment 1 and from 51 participants in experiment 2. It was analysed by means of linear models, regressions and t-tests. Findings: Professional interpreters consistently outperformed controls on all working memory tasks. They performed better in L1 than L2, and their scores were not affected due to modality (visual vs. auditory presentation) and recall mode (serial vs. free). Interpreter training improved working memory scores. Trainees’ higher scores predicted better interpreting performance. Originality: This was the first study to adopt a longitudinal design to examine the effect of training on memory of conference interpreter trainees. Significance: The study shows that interpreter training (but not experience) improves working memory capacity and predicts interpreting performance.

Researching preferences of audio description users — Limitations and solutions

Reception studies are frequently used in audio description research to elicit preferences of the visually impaired about certain aspects and level of acceptance of various solutions. However, this research method is characterised by limitations, which are discussed in this article as regards the participants and the design of reception studies. We then present a study which we think has been successful in overcoming some of these limitations, conducted as part of the European project entitled ADLAB: Lifelong Access for the Blind on 80 visually impaired persons (VIPs) and 77 sighted controls from six project partners’ countries. The respondents were presented with various audio description solutions and answered preference, comprehension and visualisation questions to find out which solutions they preferred, how much they understood following a given description and how easy it was for them to imagine a given description. We conclude that eliciting subjective opinions of respondents might be inconclusive a...

Paraphrasing in respeaking – comparing linguistic competence of interpreters, translators and bilinguals

ABSTRACT Respeaking is a method of producing subtitling for live events and TV programmes. Respeakers repeat speakers’ utterances so that they may be changed by speech recognition software into subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing. Respeakers need to paraphrase the text so that it conforms with temporal and spatial constraints of subtitling. Due to the similarities between respeaking, interpreting and translation, we tested interpreters, translators and bilingual controls on a paraphrasing task to see whether interpreters or translators would manifest any advantage thanks to experience. Following respeaking training, the participants were asked to paraphrase sentences with semantic redundancies, oral discourse markers and false starts in a simultaneous and delayed condition. Contrary to our predictions, we found that experience did not modulate paraphrasing quality or speed in general, but interpreters did outperform other groups when eliminating semantic redundancies, which were also the most difficult reformulations to tackle for all participants. The data suggest that while interpreters and translators are not better predisposed to become respeakers than regular bilinguals, at least as regards the paraphrasing performance, certain aspects of the interpreting experience (the need to express meaning concisely within time constraints) may offer a slight advantage in producing well-formed respoken subtitles.

Ear–voice span and pauses in intra- and interlingual respeaking: An exploratory study into temporal aspects of the respeaking process

Respeaking involves producing subtitles in real time to make live television programs accessible to deaf and hard of hearing viewers. In this study we investigated how the type of material to be respoken affects temporal aspects of respeaking, such as ear–voice span and pauses. Given the similarities between respeaking and interpreting (time constraints) and between interlingual respeaking and translation (interlingual processing), we also tested whether previous interpreting and translation experience leads to a smaller delay or lesser cognitive load in respeaking, as manifested by a smaller number of pauses. We tested 22 interpreters, 23 translators, and a control group of 12 bilingual controls, who performed interlingual (English to Polish) and intralingual (Polish to Polish) respeaking of five video clips with different characteristics (speech rate, number of speakers, and scriptedness). Interlingual respeaking was found to be more challenging than the intralingual one. The temporal aspects of respeaking were affected by clip type (especially in interpreters). We found no clear interpreter or translator advantage over the bilingual controls across the respeaking tasks. However, interlingual respeaking turned out to be too difficult for many bilinguals to perform at all. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to examine temporal aspects of respeaking as modulated by the type of materials and previous interpreting/translation experience. The results develop our understanding of temporal aspects of respeaking and are directly applicable to respeaker training.

Should Audio Description Reflect the Way Sighted Viewers Look at Films? Combining Eye-Tracking and Reception Study Data

The chapter by Mazur and Chmiel reports on a study combining eye-tracking and reception study data to find out to what extent audio description beneficiaries appreciate eye-tracking based descriptions. In-depth interviews were conducted with 12 visually impaired respondents who saw videos either with audio descriptions based on eye-tracking data from sighted viewers and reflecting film language, or with audio descriptions based on long-established British audio description standards. The results seem to suggest that audio description should take into consideration the perception of sighted viewers. The findings also show that preferences are greatly determined by individual experience (such as prior exposure to audiobooks).