Effects on situational and relational variables on interpreting in high stakes interviewing

This project examined the effectiveness of three specific interpreting practices to mitigate risks in interpreted police interviews and to reduce the potential for interpreting errors. Increasingly, interviewers rely on interpreters because they lack proficiency in the language spoken by the suspect. Yet little is known about ways that situational and relational factors within the control of the interviewer can be implemented to minimize risks or error. The present study addressed this gap in the literature by testing how real interpreters perform under different circumstances within the control of the interviewer. The key factors were the influence of (a) the presence of an interpreter (monolingual vs. consecutive interpreted interview by trained interpreters vs. untrained bilinguals vs. monolingual intermediaries); (b) the position of the interpreter in the interview in relation to the interviewer and suspect (adjacent to or behind the interviewee); and (c) maintenance by the interpreter of rapport-building strategies used by the interviewer.A simulated interview tested the impact on interpreters’ performance of (a) their understanding of the interpreter’s role; (b) changes in interpreter placement; and (c) an information sheet on the importance of interviewer-interviewee rapport. A scripted interview containing typical interpreting challenges in propositional content, legal terminology, rapport-building strategies, manner of delivery, coordination of turn-taking and ethical protocols was performed by professional actors who role-played a police interviewer and a suspect with 99 English-Spanish untrained bilinguals and trained interpreters and 65 trained and untrained monolingual intermediary interview facilitators. The intermediaries served as a control group for the presence of a third party at an investigative interview.Participants completed a pre-experiment questionnaire about the interpreter’s role and their formal interpreting or facilitation training, and one half read a pilot-tested rapport-maintenance information sheet. In the simulated interview, all participants interpreted from both a triangular position and behind the suspect (changed mid-way through the interview). A post-experiment questionnaire for participants sought ratings of the suspect’s credibility. The performance of all participants was rated by the actors who were blind to their background. Interpretations were transcribed and objectively coded for accuracy on the interpreting challenges and interpreting competence. Rapport-maintenance was assessed verbally, paraverbally and nonverbally.Formally trained interpreters were more likely to understand and perceive their role as neutral and outperformed bilinguals on all measures of accuracy and competence. Interpreting training predicted fewer errors and omissions (d = -1.98), better maintenance of verbal rapport markers (d = 1.56), and nonverbal communication, namely, pace (d = 1.48), tone of voice (d = 1.54), emotional variation (d = 1.48), and facial expression (d = 0.87). Together, interpreter training and understanding of the role accounted for 40% of the observed differences in proficiency between trained interpreters and untrained bilinguals.Overall, the rapport maintenance information sheet did not assist trained interpreters or untrained bilinguals in replicating rapport-building strategies in either the triangular position or from behind the suspect. Finishing in the triangular position increased perceptions that the interaction between the police interviewer and suspect was positive but did not improve interpreting performance. Untrained bilinguals who reviewed the information sheet used the first person while interpreting significantly more than their counterparts who did not receive this information.Results support the need for universally available legal training for interpreters. To secure accurate reproduction of verbal and nonverbal communication and maintenance of rapport-building strategies practitioners are advised to use legally trained interpreters