A Sociolinguistic Analysis of the Interpreter’s Role in Simultaneous Talk in a Face-to-Face Interpreted Dialogue

Historically, a common but inaccurate assumption of interpreting has been that interpreters serve as nearly robotic conduits of information, who have little or no impact on the communicative situation in which interpretation is taking place. An interpeter is an active participant when simultaneous or overlapping talk occurs. When primary speakers talk simultaneously, the interpreter recognizes the overlap and makes linguistic choices to resolve the overlap, deciding who will get the turn. Many of the decisions made by the interpreter reflect an understanding and interpretation of the social situation of a meeting between student and professor. The interpreter’s role is active, governed by social and linguistic knowledge of the entire communicative situation, requiring not only competence in the languages but also competence in the appropriate “ways of speaking” and in managing the intercultural event of interpreting.