A Psycholinguistic Approach to Consecutive Interpretation: Identifying Problems Among Saudi Interpreters

Abstract

The complexities associated with the interpretation process have raised considerable attention from researchers. The multifaceted nature of interpretation, which involves transferring meaning from one language to another in real time, presents a range of cognitive, linguistic, and practical challenges. This study comprehensively examines problems encountered by Saudi interpreters while performing consecutive interpretation. The analysis is grounded in Gile’s Effort Models (1995), which investigates the cognitive mechanisms underlying challenges across four phases: listening and understanding, note-taking, note-decoding, and expressing and reformulating. Using a questionnaire as the primary data collection tool, the study applies quantitative analysis to investigate the reported problems among 102 trainee and professional Saudi interpreters. The study reveals insights into the problems encountered by the participants during different phases of consecutive interpretation, such as note-taking, coherence maintenance, handling information density, managing nervousness, and ensuring memory reliability. These findings align with previous empirical studies in the field, emphasizing the importance of understanding the cognitive and practical difficulties inherent in the process of consecutive interpretation. Overall, this study contributes to the existing knowledge base on interpreter challenges while also highlighting the universal nature of these difficulties and the need for customized ongoing interpreter training programs.