THE EFFECT OF MARKED INTONATION ON THE QUALITY OF SIMULTANEOUS INTERPRETING: EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

Abstract

This research presents the results of a series of empirical studies, including a pilot test, an experiment and a set of questionnaires. These studies were aimed at analyzing the effects, if any, caused by the differences in the intonation of the source texts, i.e. marked and monotonous intonation, on the overall quality of the simultaneous interpreting produced by a group of subjects. The subjects were advanced undergraduate Translation and Interpretation students studying at the University of Vigo.

The pilot test initially appeared to confirm our hypothesis that marked intonation would have a positive effect on the overall quality of simultaneous interpretations. However, the subsequent experiment did not corroborate the results of the pilot study, indicating that a factor other than intonation, namely speed, may have had a greater impact on the subject's performance, stated by the subjects themselves in the questionnaires as being the single-most factor which prevented them from providing a high quality interpretation.