Cover not available

Article published In: FORUM
Vol. 7:2 (2009) ► pp.61–88

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
authorization required

Numbers in Simultaneous Interpreting

An experimental study

 | Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Published online: 1 October 2009
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/forum.7.2.03che
L’Interprétation des nombres en interprétation simultanée (IS) est reconnue depuis longtemps comme problématique. Cette étude identifie des modèles numériques dans les restitutions en IS qui s’écartent de la langue source. Elle explore également les différents manières dont ces modèles pourraient être adaptés aux différentes méthodes d’entrainement que des interprètes ont suivies avant d'effectuer l’IS. L'analyse statistique indique que le groupe qui a reçu, avant l'expérience, un entrainement sur la base de « nombres avec unités de référence » a enregistré la plus forte fréquence de reformulations approximativement juste des nombres. Par contre le groupe ayant travaillé à partir de « nombres isolés » a enregistré la plus forte fréquence de restitutions erronées. Enfin, le groupe témoin qui n'a bénéficié d’aucun entrainement sur les nombres a rencontré la plus forte fréquence d'omissions. Les recherches de ce type se faisant rares, l'intention de cette étude programmatique est par conséquent d'ouvrir la voie à d'autres travaux de plus grande envergure. En outre, cette étude tente de fournir des données empiriques pouvant concerner l'aspect pédagogique de la formation à l’interprétation.
References (39)
Alessandrini, M. S. (1990). Translating numbers in consecutive interpretation: An experimental study. The Interpreters’ Newsletter 3, 78–80.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Al-Khanji, R. & El-Shiyab, S. & Hussein, R. (2000). On the use of compensatory strategies in simultaneous interpretation. META 45(3) 548–557. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Altman, J. (1994). Error analysis. In Sylvie Lambert and Barbara Moser-Mercer (eds.) Bridging the gap: Empirical research in simultaneous interpretation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 25–38. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bao, C. (1998). The process of SI and the training of attention allocation. Studies of Interpretation and Translation, 31, 21–36.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Braun, S. and Claric, A. (1996). Inaccuracy for numerals in simultaneous interpretation: Neurolinguistic and neuropsychological perspectives. The Interpreters’ Newsletter, 71, 85–102.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cheung, A. K. F. (2008). Simultaneous interpreting of numbers. An experimental study. FORUM 6(2), 23–38. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chiaro, D. & Nocella, G. (2004). Interpreters’ perception of linguistic and non-linguistic factors affecting quality: A survey through the World Wide Web. META 49(2), 278–293. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Christoffels, I., de Groot, A., & Waldorp, L. (2003). Basic skills in a complex task: A graphical model relating memory and lexical retrieval to simultaneous interpreting. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 6 (3), 201–211. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Christoffels, I, de Groot, A., & Kroll, J. (2006). Memory and language skills in simultaneous interpreters: The role of expertise and language proficiency. Journal of Memory and Language, 541, 324–345. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cohen, L., Dehaene, S., and Verstichel, P. (1994). Number words and number non-words: A case of deep dyslexia extending to Arabic numerals. Brain, 1171, 267–279. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Darò, V. (1997). Experimental studies on memory in conference interpretation. Meta, 42 (4), 621–628. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fu, W. T. & Anderson, J. (2006). From recurrent choice to skill learning: A reinforcement-learning model. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 135(2), 184–206. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gelman, R. & Butterworth, B. (2005). Number and language: How are they related? TRENDS in Cognitive Sciences, 9(1), 6–10. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gile, D. (1994). Methodological Aspects of Interpretation and Translation Research in Sylvie Lambert and Barbara Moser-Mercer (eds.) Bridging the Gap. Empirical Research in Simultaneous Interpretation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 39–56. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1999). Testing the effort models’ tightrope hypothesis in simultaneous interpreting – a contribution. Hermes 231, 153–172.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Her, E. (1995). The effectiveness of training simultaneous interpretation of numbers with English as source language. The Proceedings of the fourth International Symposium on English Teaching Kaoshiung, Nov. 17-18 1995, 81–91.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hong, H. W. (2001). The Influence of Interpretation Training on Simultaneous Interpretation Performance, Unpublished MA thesis: Graduate Institute of Translation and Interpretation, National Taiwan Normal University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jefferies, E., Patterson, K., Jones, R., Bateman, D., Ralph, M. A. L. (2004). A category-specific advantage for numbers in verbal short-term memory: Evidence from semantic dementia. Neuropsychologia. 42(5), 639–660. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jones, R. (1998). Conference Interpreting Explained. Manchester, St. Jerome.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lee, T. H. (2002). Ear Voice Span in English into Korean simultaneous interpretation. Meta, 47(4), 596–606. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Liu, E. (2005). Numbers Count – How Training, Presentation Mode and Complexity Affect the Processing of Numbers in Interpretation, Unpublished MA thesis: Graduate Institute of Translation and Interpretation, National Taiwan Normal University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Liu, M. H. (2001). Expertise in Simultaneous Interpreting: a Working Memory Analysis. PhD Dissertation, The University of Texas at Austin.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2008). Consecutive Interpreting and Note-taking. Taipei, Bookman Publishing.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Liu, W. & Zong S. (2006). A tentative study of the peculiar words in Indonesian Chinese. Journal of College of Chinese Language and Culture of Jinan University, 22–33.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mackintosh, J. (1999). Interpreters are made not born. Interpreting, 4(1), 67–80. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mazza, C. (2001). Numbers in Simultaneous Interpretation. The Interpreters’ Newsletter 111, 87–104.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mead, P. (2000). Control of pauses by trainee interpreters in their A and B language. The Interpreters’ Newsletter, 101, 89–102.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Moser-Mercer, B. (1997). The expert-novice paradigm in interpreting research, in Herausgegeben von Eberhadr Fleischmann, Wladimir Kutz and Peter Schmitt (eds.) Translationsdidaktik: Grundfragen de Übersztzungswissenschaf. Gunter Narr Verlag Tübingen, 255–261.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nolan, J. (2005). Interpretation: Techniques and Exercises. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Padilla, P., Bajo, M.T., Canas, J. J. & Padilla, F. (1995). Cognitive Processes of Memory in Simultaneous Interpretation, in Tommola, J. (ed.) Topics in Interpreting Research, Turku, University of Turku Centre for Translation and Interpreting.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Padilla, F., Bajo, M. T., & Macizo, P. (2005). Articulatory suppression in language interpretation: Working memory capacity, dual tasking and word knowledge. Bilingual: Language and Cognition 8(3), 207–219. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Padilla, P. & Martin, A. (1992). Similarities and differences between interpreting and translation: implications for teaching, in Cay Dollerup & Anne Loddegaard (eds.) Teaching translation and interpreting : Training, talent, and experience: Language International Conference (1st : 1991 : Elsinore, Denmark) , Amsterdam: John Benjamins Pub. Co., 195–204.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Paradis, M. (1994). Neurolinguistic aspects of implicit and explicit memory, in Nick Ellis (ed.) Implicit and Explicit Learning of Languages. CA: San Diego, Academic Press, 393–420.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pöchhacker, F. (2007). Coping with culture in media interpreting. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology, 15(2), 1–19. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sanford, A. and Sturt, P. (2002). Depth of processing in language comprehension: Not noticing the evidence. TRENDS in Cognitive Sciences 6(9) 382–386. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shlesinger, M. (1999). Norms, strategies and constrains: How do we tell them apart? Anovar-Anosar, Estudio de traducción e interpretación, 11, 65–77.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wang, H. Y., (2005). Numbers as a Quality Variable in Simultaneous Interpreting: A case study of English into Chinese SI, unpublished MA thesis: Graduate Institute of Translation and Interpretation, National Taiwan Normal University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (10)

Cited by ten other publications

Xie, Rui, Yao Yao, Wenkang Zhang & Andrew K.F. Cheung
2025. Language interference in Mandarin Chinese-English simultaneous interpreting: insights from multi-dimensional syntactic complexity. Lingua 325 ► pp. 104005 ff. DOI logo
Zong, Xueyan, Lei Song & Shanshan Yang
2025. Decoding the Digits: How Number Notation Influences Cognitive Effort and Performance in Chinese-to-English Sight Translation. Behavioral Sciences 15:9 ► pp. 1195 ff. DOI logo
Julaiti, Kaifusai, Nina Delia YY Cheung, Andrew KF Cheung & Jessy Yujie Huang
2024. Number training in simultaneous interpreting: A corpus-assisted longitudinal study. Interpreting and Society DOI logo
Su, Wenchao
2023. Eye-voice span in sight interpreting: an eye-tracking investigation. Perspectives 31:5 ► pp. 969 ff. DOI logo
ARZİK ERZURUMLU, Özüm & Perihan DEMİR
2022. Taking Stock of the COVID-19 Working Conditions on the Performance of the Interpreters: Rendering the Numbers in the 2020 American Presidential Debates. Çeviribilim ve Uygulamaları Dergisi 2022:32 ► pp. 25 ff. DOI logo
Cheung, Andrew K. F.
2022. Remote Simultaneous Interpreting from Home or Hub: Accuracy of Numbers from English into Mandarin Chinese. In Translation and Interpreting in the Age of COVID-19 [Corpora and Intercultural Studies, 9], ► pp. 113 ff. DOI logo
Cheung, Andrew K. F.
2024. Cognitive load in remote simultaneous interpreting: place name translation in two Mandarin variants. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications 11:1 DOI logo
Zhang, Yifan & Andrew K. F. Cheung
2022. A corpus-based study of modal verbs in Chinese–English governmental press conference interpreting. Frontiers in Psychology 13 DOI logo
Lu, Xinchao
2018. Propositional information loss in English-to-Chinese simultaneous conference interpreting. Babel. Revue internationale de la traduction / International Journal of Translation 64:5-6 ► pp. 792 ff. DOI logo
Cheung, Andrew Kay-fan
2014. Anglicized numerical denominations as a coping tactic for simultaneous interpreting from English into Mandarin Chinese. FORUM. Revue internationale d’interprétation et de traduction / International Journal of Interpretation and Translation 12:1 ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 8 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue