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Thesis in compliance with the requirements for the Doctor's Degree in Technology: Language Practice, Durban University of Technology, 2011. / This research deals with the development of a model of interpreting services for a newly merged multilingual University of Technology, the Durban University of Technology. The rationale for the study was the urgent need to give students whose mother tongue is not the medium of instruction (i.e. English) equity of access to higher-degree education. The research was carried out within a critical realist approach, which seeks to transform society by practical application of theory. Unlike previous studies in interpreting, this research focuses on the service provision aspect of interpreting. It falls within the field of educational interpreting, but goes beyond the classroom situation in considering other university interpreting needs, such as seminars and in-house conferences, graduation and other ceremonies, operational meetings and labour-related meetings. Franck‟s modelling process was used to formulate a theoretical model of the interpreting service delivery mechanism using data gathered during visitations to local and international universities. The theoretical model, or system of essential functions, was used to arrive at the applied aspect of the mechanism, termed an empirical model of interpreting service delivery. The model was then validated in terms of its application in various contexts at the Durban University of Technology. It is suggested that the theoretical and practical models developed have application not only for educational interpreting, but also in other interpreting contexts. The models are also considered to have relevance for service delivery in general, which is a critical issue at present in South Africa.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Communication in a global context is seriously hampered by language barriers. These barriers pose special challenges to service delivery, particularly in the healthcare sector. Onsite interpreting is considered most conducive to enable effective communication. In South Africa, however, it is not practical and financially viable to employ onsite interpreters for all the possible language combinations. Telephone interpreting is proposed as an alternative to onsite interpreting and Folio Online’s InterTel service offers telephone interpreting in the Western Cape healthcare sector. This study gauges whether the InterTel service has the potential to contribute in any way to effective communication in the Western Cape healthcare sector. In South Africa, language barriers do not only exist in communication with tourists or immigrants, but also among the country’s own inhabitants. Furthermore, effective communication in the healthcare sector is particularly crucial. Miscommunication may lead to misdiagnosis and/or incorrect usage of medication, which in turn may result in death. The possible loss of life renders the issue of overcoming language barriers in the healthcare sector an important one. The aim of the study is to argue descriptively about InterTel telephone interpreting service as a viable solution to the communication difficulties between healthcare practitioners and patients in the Western Cape healthcare sector. The research had to be narrowed down and instead the study descriptively argues whether InterTel service contributes to communication in the Western Cape healthcare sector. The researcher conducted an interview with the Folio InterTel project manager and sent out questionnaires to the Folio telephone interpreters. Five transcribed recordings of conversations between healthcare practitioners, patients and Folio telephone interpreters were analysed. The findings of this study echo the findings of related studies reported in literature on telephone interpreting. The conclusion is that the Folio InterTel service makes a valuable contribution to more effective communication in Western Cape healthcare facilities. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Kommunikasie in ’n globale konteks word ernstig gekortwiek deur taalverskille. Hierdie verskille bied groot uitdagings vir die diensleweringsektor; meer spesifiek die gesondheidsorgsektor. Ter-plaatse tolking word beskou as mees bevorderlik vir betekenisvolle kommunikasie. In Suid Afrika is dit egter nie prakties en bekostigbaar om ter-plaatse tolke in diens te stel vir die groot verskeidenheid taalkombinasies nie en telefoontolking word as alternatief oorweeg. Folio Online bied die InterTel-telefoontolkingsdiens aan in die Weskaapse Gesondheidsektor. Hierdie ondersoek sal bepaal of die InterTel-diens die potensiaal het om effektiewe kommunikasie binne die Wes-Kaapse Gesondheidsektor te bevorder. Taalgapings in Suid Afrika kom nie soseer voor in kommunikasie met toeriste of immigrante nie, maar eerder tussen die land se inwoners. Voldoende kommunikasie in die gesondheidsektor is van kardinale belang. Misverstande kan tot verkeerde diagnoses en/of die verkeerde gebruik van medisyne lei, wat in uiterste gevalle aanleiding mag gee tot die dood van ’n pasiënt. Hierdie moontlike noodlottige gevolge plaas taalgapings in die gesondheidsektor onder die soeklig. Hierdie studie is ’n beskrywende argument wat ten doel het om te bepaal of Folio Online se InterTel-diens ’n lewensvatbare oplossing bied vir die kommunikasie-probleme tussen gesondheidspraktisyns en pasiënte in die Wes-Kaapse gesondheidsektor. Die navorsingsondersoek is gebaseer op ’n onderhoud met die Folio InterTel-projekbestuurder en vraelyste aan die onderskeie telefoontolke. Analises van vyf getranskribeerde opnames van gesprekke tussen gesondheidspraktisyns, pasiënte en Folio InterTel-telefoontolke vorm ook deel van die ondersoek. Die bevindings van hierdie studie toon ooreenkomste met die bevindings van ander relevante studies soos opgeteken in die literatuur oor telefoontolking. Daar is bevind dat die InterTel-diens, soos gelewer aan die Wes-Kaapse Gesondheidsektor, wel ’n waardevolle bydra maak tot die bevordering van kommunikasie.

This theoretical-empirical diploma thesis deals with chuchotage, i.e. whispered interpreting. The analysis focuses on chuchotage without using equipment, however some aspects of whispered interpreting using the portable interpretation equipment are discussed and compared with simultaneous booth interpreting. In the theoretical part of the thesis, relevant research findings are summarized and an introduction to the selected problem field is provided. Subsequently, I name occasions on which this type of interpretation is usually applied and discuss advantages and disadvantages of it with respect to the interpreter himself, the client and other participants. This part also focuses on the working conditions during whispered interpreting (positioning of the interpreter, acoustic conditions, relation between the interpreter and other participants, personal needs of the interpreter and cognitive factors). The empirical part presents the actual research based on questionnaires that aims to describe the current situation on the interpretation market in the Czech Republic (usage extent of whispered interpreting, working conditions of the interpreter, comparison of whispered interpreting and simultaneous booth interpreting). This part deals also with the quality and mistakes made during the interpretation. As...

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Translation (Option Interpreting) Johannesburg, 2017 / The aim of this research project is to examine the feasibility of using technology such as email and YouTube in pre-assessing potential interpreting students. This research project investigates existing pre-assessment methods and proposes a method for online interpreter pre-assessment. Pre-assessment for candidate interpreters is essential, but no standard or universal pre-assessment test exists. Scholars agree on several aspects that should be tested for, yet institutions providing interpreter training conduct pre-assessment tests differently. Generally, pre-assessment testing involves a jury or panel interviewing the potential student and observing him/her perform interpreting-related tasks. Pre-assessment by jury assessment presents several logistical and financial challenges for the institution conducting pre-assessment as well as the potential student. In poor regions such as Africa, this could prevent potentially viable interpreting students from attending pre-assessment tests. This research project investigates current pre-assessment practices in order to determine the skills generally tested for in pre-assessment tests, as well as the methods used for assessing these skills. Based on this investigation, an online delivery method is developed and evaluated in order to determine the extent to which online pre-assessment could be used as an alternative to using a jury for pre-assessment testing. Wits Language School in Johannesburg, South Africa is used as a pilot study for online interpreter pre-assessment: Interpreting students who applied for study, were given the option of online pre-assessment. After the pre-assessment, students attended a course in interpreting and their performance in the pre-assessment test was compared with their performance in the examination for the course. These results along with interviews and questionnaires provide useful information regarding the feasibility of online interpreter pre-assessment. / MT 2018

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Master’s Degree in Translation (in the field of Interpreting) in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Witwatersrand, 2016 / The purpose of this study is to examine the factors that lead to the scarcity of foreign language court interpreters in South African courts. The study seeks to unpack the history of court interpreting in South Africa, the importance and the use of indigenous languages and foreign languages in South African courts and clearly explain the underlying message found in the Section 35 (k) of the Constitution of South Africa which states that all citizens have the right to be tried in the language of their choice. South Africa has witnessed its population being ravaged by heinous crimes and atrocities committed by south Africans and foreign nationals alike. This certainly poses a challenge to the entire legal system in South Africa and particularly the execution of language skills particularly foreign language interpreting in the various courts of law. / MT2017

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Humanities of the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Translation/Interpreting, 2017 / This is a linguistic investigation of English and Shona consecutively-interpreted rape trials heard in selected Regional Magistrates’ courts in Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwean magistrates’ courts can be regarded as a special context because, in most trials, the court officials in an English-medium trial also speak the language(s) of the accused/witness, although they conduct the trial in the language of the court, i.e. English. In such a unique context, the interpreter is not the only bilingual participant. This is unlike many other bilingual settings where court officials do not speak the language of the accused/witness. Specifically, the study investigates the contention between, on the one hand, the impression of the role of the interpreter as a translating device, reflected in court interpreters’ guidelines in Zimbabwe and, on the other hand, the reality of the interpreting situation. Focusing on the effect of additions and omissions on source language utterances, the study employs an interdisciplinary approach which draws from interpreting studies approaches, discourse analytic approaches and corpus-based interpreting studies to investigate interpreted courtroom discourse. The main source of data is question/answer transcripts of consecutively-interpreted rape trials heard at two regional magistrates’ courts in Zimbabwe, making the study principally linguistic although it employs aspects of ethnography. Data from transcripts were supplemented by 92 hours of observation of open court proceedings and structured and semi-structured interviews with court interpreters, magistrates and public prosecutors. The findings presented in this study reveal that, because court interpreters are mindful that their primary goal is to ensure that participants fully understand each other’s communicative intentions, they adopt a strategy for conveying renditions which would ensure that a speaker’s communicative motive, and not only his/her actual words, is available to an end receipient. The resultant interpreted discourse thus reveals some additions and omissions which may impact on the propositional content and style of the source language message. It is possible to argue that the interpreters included these elements based on their intuitive reasoning. The study therefore argues that the presence of additions and omissions in the interpreters’ renditions could be explained in terms of court interpreters’ awareness of the importance of pragmatics and context. In this way, the interpreters’ renditions, as confirmed by my findings, support the expectation that court interpreters are always mindful of the need to convey the speakers’ meaning in full. The study therefore makes a special contribution, from an African point of view, to the debate on interpreters’ role perception by advocating a move towards a more holistic account of dialogue interpreting encounters in which all features are taken into account so that the interpreter’s role is better appreciated. The recommendations the study makes on how various stakeholders can work with interpreters will ultimately enhance the quality of interpreting service provision to ensure that the rights of the people for whom they interpret are safeguarded. Although the findings of this study are based on data from Zimbabwean courtrooms, many of the issues raised in this study would be of interest to other interpreter-mediated courtrooms. / XL2018

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Translation, (interpreting option) Johannesburg, 2016 / In any specialized field,the practioners of an art or science tend to develop norms that govern their practice.Such norms are developed in certain contexts and thereafter professionals operating in different spaces try to adapt them in their practice. Given the differences in socioeconomic and cultural contexts, in different geographical spaces it may be difficult to take norms developed in a particular context in their original form and superpose their use in another context. Institutional conference interpreting norms provide one such example. Institutional norms in East African Institutions tend to influence the way interpreting is done in East African institutions and these norms seem very different from “established/ international” norms.The overall aim of this research is to study the geopolitics of interpreting by examining the differences in interpreting norms in different geopolitical spaces and to consider whether (East) Africa is a special geopolitical space in this context and if so,what the particularities are.This study particularly uses the perceptions of practising interpreters in order to establish whether the current work environment proposed in these institutions requires any improvement. The study reveals that (East)Africa is a different geopolitical space with its own particularities and hence the answer to the questions as to whether AIIC norms and standards are inclusive and whether they take into account the needs and interests of all interpreters in the world today, is negative. At least with regards to (East) Africa, AIIC still has a lot to do for its impact to be felt and also in terms of taking into account the needs and interests of all interpreters. / MT2018

Thesis (M.A. (African languages) --University of Limpopo, 2010 / The study examines a variety of problems that are associated with the translation of the Maintenance Act of South Africa (1998) from English into Tshivenḓa. The study also analyses various translation methods and procedures, and attempts to apply them in the translation of the aforementioned Act. Currently, there seems to be a great lack of legal terminology in Tshivenḓa. As a result, officials end up using English when they interact with their clients who are largely illiterate. Therefore, the study focuses on translation strategies that can be invoked in order to solve the problem of lack of terminology in indigenous languages in general and Tshivenḓa in particular. Chapter two gives a review of the literature and theories pertaining to various translation topics such as, definition of translation, types of translation, methods of translation and procedure of translation. Chapter three addresses issues pertaining to the strategies of translation, methods of translation and terminology development or term formation processes in African languages. These aspects are used by the researcher to expand on the aims and objectives of this research study. Chapter four analyses the respondents’ responses with regard to the translation of legal terminology used in the Maintenance Act (no: 99 of 1998) from English into Tshivenḓa language. A questionnaire was used to examine whether respondents would correctly translate legal terminology from English into Tshivenḓa language. Their responses are also discussed here. Chapter five gives a conclusion to this study.

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of English