The Relationship between Simultaneous Interpreters’ Speed of Speaking in Persian and the Quality of their Interpreting: A Gender Perspective

Abstract

This research sought to investigate the relationship between two complex ways of communicating, i.e., speaking and simultaneous interpreting which manifest complex linguistic and neurological processes undertaken with an incredible speed in the brain. The current study aimed at testing whether there was any significant difference between male and female interpreters’ quality of simultaneous interpretation in relation to their speed of speaking in their native language. To this end, a number of thirty participants were chosen based on their proficiency level out of fifty simultaneous interpreters. To test the research hypotheses both descriptive and inferential statistics were used. The results revealed that there was not any significant difference between male and female interpreters with regard to their quality of simultaneous interpretation. Moreover, with regard to the speed of speaking there was a difference between genders; finally, there was no association between interpreters’ speed of speaking and their quality of interpretation.