A mixed-methods approach in corpus-based interpreting studies : quality of interpreting in criminal proceedings in Spain

This chapter first presents a mixed-methods approach to studying interpreting in criminal proceedings and next shows the application of the method, illustrating it with the project TIPp ("Translation and Interpreting in Criminal Proceedings"). The project aimed at describing and assessing the reality of court interpreting in Spain and at creating a computer application which comprises a complete set of resources to facilitate court interpreters' performance. The researchers compiled, transcribed and analysed a representative oral corpus of real, video-recorded criminal proceedings with interpreting in the three language combinations studied (English, French and Romanian into Spanish). Regarding the methodology, an attempt was made to operationalise the quality of legal interpreting by trying to measure it with various criteria. Therefore, the research combined a rigorous, qualitative design - ideally suited to describing real practice - with quantitative data analysis techniques and the creation of a measurement instrument. Two direct variables were chosen to describe the quality of court interpreting, namely interaction problems and textual problems, based on Wadensjö's distinction between 'talk-as-activity' and 'talk-as-text' (Wadensjö 1998, p. 21). Then the variables were operationalised into indicators to create a measuring instrument validated through a pilot study and consisting of several interval and categorical scales