Language skills under cognitive pressure in simultaneous interpreting toward an integrative conceptual framework

Abstract

Simultaneous interpreting requires interpreters to comprehend source speech and produce target speech under time pressure and competing cognitive demands. This conceptual paper synthesizes research on cognitive pressure, language skills, memory, problem triggers, coping, training, and interpreting performance to develop an integrative framework. The synthesis indicates that these topics are often examined separately, leaving unclear how language skills relate to processing demands and performance. The proposed framework links task and speech demands to cognitive pressure and attention and working-memory demands, with language availability, language separation, coordination, and coping potentially shaping the relationship between pressure and outcomes. Performance is considered across accuracy, omissions, shifts in meaning, and fluency. Seven propositions are offered to guide empirical research and interpreter education. Because the framework is derived from a conceptual synthesis rather than primary data, its proposed relationships require empirical testing.