Elements of Arabic into English inaccurate performances in simultaneous interpreting : the case of Iraqi students of translation

Abstract EN

The main goal of this paper is to shed light on those elements that most frequently lead to inaccurate performances by Iraqi simultaneous interpretation (SI) students interpreting from Arabic into English.

Awareness of these elements will increase learners’ accuracy; it will also assist their tutors to teach this oral module by focusing on these elements during lectures so that their students can avoid them.

To achieve this aim, a triangle method was used to create the theoretical set up; both quantitative and qualitative methods were used, the first in the form of an experiment and the second in the form of a survey.

The study identified two types of elements: linguistic elements such as (i) incorrect word choice (ii) misinterpreting titles (iii) false interpretation of numbers (iv) wrong rendering of acronyms (v) misinterpreting fixed expressions (vi) incorrect use of prepositions and linking words (vii) mispronouncing words; and non-linguistic such as lack of knowledge.

Having recognised the importance of these elements in facilitating SI assignments, Iraqi students have shown increased eagerness to learn about and memorise these elements in both A and B languages.