Introduction to Translation and Interpreting Studies

3 Interpreting

Christopher D. Mellinger

Objectives

• Define interpreting as a product, as a process, and as a service.
• Identify and describe the three modes of interpreting.
• Differentiate various interpreting settings and domains.
• Outline the development of interpreting studies as a discipline.
• Describe several approaches of how to conduct interpreting studies research.

3.1 Introduction

Interpreting has been a commonplace feature of cross-cultural communication and linguistic mediation since our earliest histories. Interpreters have been present at pivotal historical moments to facilitate communication between various parties who do not share a common language. Consider, for instance, the meeting of the Aztec emperor Moctezuma II and the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés. During the early part of the 16th century, Cortés sought to conquer and claim the city of Tenochtitlan in the name of Spain. Speaking Spanish, Cortés did not have an unmediated means by which to communicate with the emperor Moctezuma II. Instead, he relied on several interpreters, the most famous of whom was Malintzin or “La Malinche,” to enable communication. These interpreters, despite being untrained bilinguals who learned their respective “other” languages under undesirable circumstances,¹ nevertheless facilitated the Spanish conquistadors’ efforts to conquer the Aztec empire by means of language mediation (Valdeón 2013).

In addition to their language mediation duties, some interpreters throughout ...