Natural selections: regularities observed in a case of untrained ad hoc academic interpreting

A case is presented in which a doctoral student in Scientific and Technological Education with no prior experience was asked to interpret a lecture by a foreign colleague with minimal preparation. The event was recorded and regularities in communication behavior were determined for both speaker and interpreter. Through these regularities in positioning, inferences were drawn regarding their assumptions about the interpretation act. Background information was obtained in an interview with the interpreter. Standing out among the findings was the high visibility of the interpreter, interposing herself both physically and by means of discourse between the audience and speaker, and this marginalization was tacitly accepted by the speaker, indicating a shared view of the interpreter as an acknowledged active participant and (re)shaper of the transmitted discourse.