Simultaneous Interpretation with Text. Is the Text 'Friend' or 'Foe'? Laying Foundations for a Teaching Module

This observational research paper devoted to Simultaneous Interpretation with Text (SI+T), a mode of interpreting which is becoming increasingly common in international meetings, studies the attitudes of practicing conference interpreters and their teachers with regard to (1) strategies used by interpreters in dealing with text in SI, and (2) both the cognitive constraints and benefits of SI+T, paying special attention to possible variations of these attitudes depending on the moment at which interpreters receive the text: (1) long before (hours, days, weeks) - the 'ideal' scenario; (2) shortly before (15 to 30 minutes) - the 'normal' scenario; (3) just before (less than 15 minutes) - the 'rush' scenario; and (4) after the speaker has begun - the 'crisis' scenario. To this end, an email enquiry was conducted among various conference interpretation schools to study their approaches to the teaching of SI+T, four colleagues were interviewed in person and a special SI+T survey was run among interpreters working in a selection of different meetings. For the latter, survey constructs and their measurements for strategies and cognitive constraints and benefits in SI+T were developed and, on that basis, a questionnaire on SI+T was designed, piloted, refined and finally distributed among 100 interpreters, with 50 returned completed. The results of the survey are presented and analysed in tabular, graphic and narrative form. The conclusions of this research aim at providing a sound foundation for developing a well-structured SI+T module for advanced students of conference interpreting