Memory and language skills in simultaneous interpreters: The role of expertise and language proficiency

被引:210
作者
Christoffels, IK
de Groot, AMB
Kroll, JF
机构
[1] Maastricht Univ, Fac Psychol, Dept Cognit Neurosci, NL-6200 MD Maastricht, Netherlands
[2] Univ Amsterdam, NL-1012 WX Amsterdam, Netherlands
[3] Penn State Univ, University Pk, PA 16802 USA
基金
美国国家科学基金会;
关键词
bilingualism; translation; simultaneous interpreting; picture naming; working memory; expertise;
D O I
10.1016/j.jml.2005.12.004
中图分类号
H0 [语言学];
学科分类号
030303 ; 0501 ; 050102 ;
摘要
Simultaneous interpreting is a complex skill in which language comprehension and production take place at the same time in two languages. In this study, we examined performance on basic language and working memory tasks that have been hypothesized to engage cognitive skills important for simultaneous interpreting. The participants were native Dutch speakers proficient in English as a second language. We compared the performance of trained interpreters to bilingual university students (Experiment 1) and to highly proficient English teachers (Experiment 2). The interpreters outperformed the university students in their speed and accuracy of language performance and on their memory capacity estimated from a set of (working) memory measures. The interpreters also outperformed the English teachers, but only on the memory tasks, suggesting that performance on the language tasks was determined by proficiency more than cognitive resources. Taken together, these data point to (working) memory as a critical subskill for simultaneous interpreting. Published by Elsevier Inc.
引用
收藏
页码:324 / 345
页数:22
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