Trilingual lexical processing in online translation recognition. The influence of conference interpreting experience

Abstract

There have been very few empirical studies aimed at investigating lexicosemantic processing in trilingual speakers having conference interpreting (CI) experience using online psycholinguistic research methods. In this study E-Prime is used to examine the nature of lexical processing of single words in the translation performance of twelve professional conference interpreters (PRO), twelve conference interpreting trainees (CIS), and a control group of fourteen non-interpreting trilingual speakers (TRI), all with the following language combination: Polish (A/L1), English (B/L2), German (C/L3). The type (i.e. directionality) and amount of interpreting practice was hypothesised to influence the cognitive make-up of PRO (and probably also CIS) to a greater extent than the close lexical affinity existing between the foreign languages in question. The latter factor was hypothesised to have a significant bearing on the translation performance of TRI. In the experiments, the participants decided first whether pairs of words presented to them on the computer screen constitute the correct translation equivalents, and then translated single words (also presented visually on the computer screen) into the microphone. Two models of cognitive organisation in case of trilingual speakers have been developed, including those with and without CI experience. The findings suggest that CI practice supports the accuracy and strategic processing of semantic/conceptual information, but not necessarily the speed of lexical retrieval in translation tasks. The influence of language distance and (psycho-)typology on the translation performance of the control group has been largely negligible in online tasks.