Non-native source texts : a stress factor for students of translation and interpreting?

References: - Albl-Mikasa, Michaela. 2010. ‘Global English and English as a Lingua Franca (ELF): Implications for the Interpreting Profession’. Trans-Kom 3 (3): 126–48. - Bendazzoli, Claudio. 2020. ‘Translators and Interpreters’ Voice on the Spread of English as a Lingua Franca in Italy’. Journal of English as a Lingua Franca 9 (2): 239–64. https://doi.org/10.1515/jelf-2020-2040. - Taviano, Stefania. 2013. “English as a Lingua Franca and Translation: Implications for Translator and Interpreter Education.” The Interpreter and Translator Trainer 7 (2): 155-167.
With the increased use of English as a lingua franca (ELF), translators and interpreters are more and more often confronted with English source texts produced by non-native English speakers (Albl-Mikasa 2010). This does not come without challenges for translators and interpreters, who have described non-native source texts as more demanding because it is more difficult to understand the intended meaning (Bendazzoli 2020). Little is known, however, about the effects these comprehension problems may have on students of translation and interpreting, and more particularly whether, apart from being perceived as more demanding, non-native English source texts may also cause more intense feelings of uncertainty or stress than source texts that conform with English norms. We will present data collected from 18 students of translation and interpreting. They were asked to sighttranslate either the original version of a transcription of a conference talk produced by a non-native speaker of English, or a transcript of the same talk that had been edited to comply with English conventions. The target language was German, which was also the native language of all study participants. Prior analysis of the original version of the transcript had confirmed that it contained many vague, unclear or inconsistent expressions that may increase the perceived cognitive load. As indicators of the latter, we recorded the participants’ heart rates during the task, as well as their self-reported levels of stress after the task (i.e. STAIX). Based on the assumption that non-native English source texts are more demanding than their edited versions, we hypothesize that 1) non-native source texts are reported to be more demanding than the corresponding edited versions and that 2) nonnative source texts cause higher heart rate levels than the edited version. The results may contribute to a better understanding of the effects of non-native source texts on students of translation and interpreting, and