Parallel processing of the target language during source language comprehension in interpreting

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted to test the hypothesis that the parallel processing of the target language (TL) during source language (SL) comprehension in interpreting may be influenced by two factors: (i) link strength from SL to TL, and (ii) the interpreter's cognitive resources supplement to TL processing during SL comprehension. The influence of the first factor was supported by the contrasting performance on bidirectional SL and TL interpreting tasks by unbalanced bilingual student interpreters, and the second factor was supported by the contrasting performance between participants’ two developmental stages in interpreting. Implications are discussed.