Abstracts
Abstract
This mixed methods study investigated the effects of directionality (language direction) and age of signed language acquisition on the simultaneous interpreting performance of professional English/Auslan (Australian Sign Language) interpreters, who comprised native signers and non-native signers. Each participant interpreted presentations simultaneously from English into Auslan, and vice versa, with each task followed by a brief semi-structured interview. Unlike a similar study, results reveal no significant differences between the native signers’ English-to-Auslan simultaneous interpreting performance and their Auslan-to-English simultaneous interpreting performance, suggesting that balanced bilingual interpreters are free from the rule of directionality. Although this finding held true for the non-native signers, results indicate a need for the non-native signers to continue to enhance their signed language (L2) competence. Furthermore, although the native signers were similar to the non-native signers in overall simultaneous interpreting performance in each language direction, the native signers were significantly superior to the non-native signers in both the target text features and delivery features of English-to-Auslan simultaneous interpreting performance. These findings also suggest that the non-native signers need to further improve their signed language (L2) proficiency. Nevertheless, an analysis of the qualitative interview data reveals that the professional interpreters perceived distinct challenges that were unique to each language direction.
Keywords:
- signed language interpreting,
- simultaneous interpreting performance,
- directionality (language direction),
- native signers,
- non-native signers
Résumé
Cette étude à méthodologie mixte examine les effets du sens de traduction et de l’âge d’acquisition de la langue des signes sur les performances d’un groupe d’interprètes professionnels simultanés anglais/Auslan (langue des signes australienne), comprenant des signeurs à la fois natifs et non natifs. Chaque participant a été invité à interpréter en simultanée une série de présentations de l’anglais vers l’Auslan et vice versa, puis à participer à un bref entretien semi-directif. Contrairement aux conclusions d’une étude similaire, aucune différence notable n’a été constatée entre les performances des interprètes signeurs natifs de l’Auslan vers l’anglais et leurs performances de l’anglais vers l’Auslan, ce qui suggère que le sens de traduction n’affecte pas les performances des interprètes bilingues dits « équilibrés ». Bien que la même conclusion ait été observée pour les interprètes signeurs non natifs, l’étude révèle que ceux-ci doivent toutefois continuer à améliorer leur compétence en langue des signes (L2). Par ailleurs, malgré la similitude entre les performances globales des signeurs natifs et celles des signeurs non natifs dans les deux sens de traduction, l’étude a démontré que, dans le cas de l’interprétation de l’anglais vers l’Auslan, les performances des signeurs natifs étaient nettement supérieures à celles des signeurs non natifs sur deux points : les aspects du texte cible et la qualité d’élocution. Cette observation suggère également que les signeurs non natifs doivent continuer à améliorer leur compétence en langue des signes (L2). Une analyse des données qualitatives issues des entretiens révèle cependant que chaque sens de traduction était perçu par les interprètes professionnels comme posant des défis distincts.
Mots-clés :
- interprétation en langue des signes,
- performances en interprétation simultanée,
- sens de traduction,
- signeurs natifs,
- signeurs non natifs
Appendices
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