Non-renditions and the court interpreter's perceived impartiality : a role-play study

Abstract

This experimental study examined whether non-renditions are linked to the court interpreter's perceived impartiality. A witness examination was simulated in three variations on a scripted role play, with consecutive interpreting between Cantonese and English. A sample of female Cantonese speakers, divided into two experimental groups and a control group, each played the part of the witness in one role play; the interpreter and the English-speaking bench (judge and defense attorney) were always played by the same three actors. In two experimental groups, the interpretation included some utterances with no source speech counterpart (non-renditions): a Cantonese non-rendition group (16 individuals) had procedural and textual non-renditions addressed to them in Cantonese, without English interpretation for the bench; an English non-rendition group (15 individuals) heard some brief exchanges between the interpreter and the bench, with no Cantonese interpretation. A control group (15 individuals) was not exposed to non-renditions. All three groups completed a questionnaire after the role play. The English non-rendition group rated the interpreter significantly lower than the others on impartiality, and was also the only group to comment unfavorably on the interpreter. A possible explanation is that the Cantonese speakers in this group could not follow the English non-renditions and felt excluded.