Interpreting accuracy revisited: a refined approach to interpreting performance analysis
Anne Catherine Gieshoff, Michaela Albl‐Mikasa
Abstract
Interpreting accuracy is one of the most commonly used indicators of cognitive demands in experimental interpreting studies. One possibility to assess interpreting performance is to analyse interpreting accuracy based on meaning units. The methodological approaches used thus far, however, have some drawbacks: (a) they are limited to an assessment of sense consistency with no indication of the logical cohesion of the rendition, (b) they do not take into account the difference between unintended and strategic omissions or, more generally, the prioritization of source speech information as an interpreting strategy, and (c) they do not allow for the observation of fluctuations of cognitive load or effects of fatigue. In this article, we will present a refined approach to unit-based accuracy analysis that may contribute to solving the issues mentioned above. The new method will be illustrated by means of an example data set from a larger project consisting of the renditions of ten professional and ten student interpreters. It will also include relevant statistical analyses.