Abstract:
This research aims to investigate the quality of community interpreting in social settings
through studying the interpretation of talk-shows encounters from English into Arabic and to
present some quality assessment criteria to this end. It hypothesizes that if a model for quality
assessment is applied to this community interpreting, using a multi-disciplinary approach, we
can systematically account for 'ideal', 'close' and 'divergent' renditions and hence improve the
practice. The objectives are to show the gap in the knowledge of quality interpreting in the real
practices of interpreters at social settings and the limitations of research in this regard, to
analyse and discuss the collected data using a pragmatic and cultural approach, and to elicit
some criteria for quality assessment. It attempts to answer three questions. How and to what
extent can a multi-disciplinary approach together with a quality assessment model help decide
the quality of community interpreting in social contexts like talk-shows? What is an ideal or a
close rendition? What is a divergent one? It examines three encounters in a talk-show
interpreted simultaneously (SI) and consecutively (CI) from English into Arabic. The
participants are not native speakers of English. A qualitative research method of content
analysis is utilized to compare Arabic renditions to their original English utterances.
The study concludes that there is a gap in the knowledge of quality interpreting among
practitioners of the profession. The appropriateness of the interpreter's role and performance
is decided according to the suggested criteria for quality assessment. Also, the multi-
disciplinary approach used helps tackle different perspectives and uncover aspects in 'close'
and 'divergent' renditions that would not have been possible otherwise. It recommends that this
model is adopted by interpreters and in training courses.
