Does Style Matter in Remote Interpreting: A Survey Study of Professional Court Interpreters in Australia

Abstract

In court interpreting, what it is said and how it is said are equally important in face-to-face settings. However, little is known about the views on the content and the form of the interpreted utterances in remote settings. Drawing on questionnaires collected from Australian professional court interpreters, this study investigated the perceptions, views, and professional decisions related to the reproduction of speech style and other linguistic features in remote interpreting. Mode of interpreting and condition of video and audio-only interpreting were compared. The NVivo software was used to analyze qualitative data collected from questionnaires. The findings revealed that speech style and discourse markers have implications for the accuracy of court interpreting in remote circumstances. Most of the respondents held favourable views on rendering stylistic features while interpreting remotely.