Relativity of Time in Interpreting: Simultaneity in the Consecutive Mode

Abstract

Time is a key factor in interpreting. Heavy time pressure is generally associated especially with simultaneous interpreting, in which the interpreter has to parallelly carry out a number of cognitive and linguistic operations in a short time. Simultaneously with the reception of the speaker’s speech, the interpreter produces the target-language text, regulates and coordinates processes in the working memory and monitors his own output. It might therefore seem that consecutive interpreting does not impose such strict time constraints on the interpreter since the production of the target-language discourse takes place only after the reception of all or part of the source-language discourse.

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that time and simultaneity are important aspects also in consecutive interpreting and this fact must be taken into account in the practical training of future interpreters. Simultaneity, which can be understood as effective regulation of limited cognitive resources, is applied both in the receptive and productive phase of consecutive interpreting. It represents a specific cognitive skill that can be gradually automatized, and therefore improved by training.