A data driven analysis of telephone interpreting

The telephone is quickly becoming the predominant medium through which interpreting services are delivered. However, aside from some initial descriptive works (Wadensjö 1999; Niska 1998), objective empirical analysis of this kind of interpreting is conspicuous by its absence in the literature. Over a two-year period I collected data on the features of some 1876 interpreter-mediated telephone calls. The analysis of this data shows that these calls are far more complex than as suggested in earlier studies. Three main subcategories are analysed herein: telephone interpreting or, three-way telephone conversation, speakerphone interpreting, remote interpretation of a face-to-face encounter, and finally, telephone passing, a face-to-face encounter where the telephone is passed from one party to another.