Interpreting training at the university level emphasizes helping students acquire the needed vocabulary as well as the ability to handle scenario-based interpreting tasks. The training approach of case simulation not only can familiarize the learners with the elements typically found in a certain scene but also can help the learners predict the development in an investigation. Take Chinese-English court interpreting cases as an example. Student-interpreters need to understand the vocabulary items unique to different cases and have a good understanding of possible details in certain types of cases. This study adopted case simulation as the training approach and placed the focus on drug-trafficking cases as the training scope. In drug-trafficking cases, the scenario often involves a party committing such a crime, an unknown party commissioning such a deal, the items confiscated by customs, and the story presented by the wrongdoer(s). Through six-week intensive training, the student-interpreters’ learning outcomes were investigated. Three data collection tools were employed: student-interpreters’ pre- and post-tests on two drug-trafficking cases, focused interviews, and students’ weekly learning logs. The findings indicated that these students found the similar nature of such criminal cases contributed greatly to their performance improvement. Case simulation presented itself as a great training approach because it allowed the students to predict what would come up in the investigation of a drug-trafficking case. In particular, the students shared that when they learned to expect what would come up in such a case, they became more confident in successfully interpreting such a court case.

Authors:
Karen Chung-chien Chang, National Taipei University, Taiwan

About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Chang is currently a full professor at National Taipei University, Taiwan. Her research interests cover translation/interpretation studies (especially court interpreting), L2 writing, learner autonomy, teacher identity, and distance learning.

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