Types of Interpreting Interpreting
the most prestigious form of interpreting. Therefore, the interpreter is demanded to have a high-quality performance in using both consecutive interpreting CI and
simultaneous interpreting SI al-Zahran, 2007: 19. c
Court Interpreting According to Gile in Schäffner, 2004: 11, the work environment of court
interpreting is “essentially at court proceedings.” However, it is not always used
in courtrooms, but it can also be used in “law offices or enforcement agencies,
prisons, police departments, barrister s’ chambers or any other agencies to do with
the judiciary ” Mikkelson 2000: 1; Gamal 2001: 53; al-Zahran, 2007: 19.
d Escort Interpreting
According to Mikkelson cited by al-Zahran, 2007: 20, escort interpreting is usually occurring
“during on-site visits made by official figures, business executives, investors, etc.
” and the interpreter may deal with either formal or informal situations.
“CI is mostly used in this type of interpreting and is usually limited to several sentences at one time
” Gonzalez et al. 1991: 28; al-Zahran, 2007: 20.
e Media Interpreting
According to Pöchhacker, 2004: 15, media interpreting refers to interpreting used in various broadcasts including television and radio and it is also
called „broadcast interpreting’ and „television interpreting’. It demands the
interpreter to have a good performance during the interpreting activity since it would be listened and watched by various audience. In addition, the interpreter
should interpret quickly to save time and to keep the audience ’s attentions.
f Remote Interpreting
According to Pöchhacker 2004: 21, since the 1950s there has been a form of remote interpreting called
„telephone interpreting’ or „over-the-phone interpreting’ which is considered to be the oldest form of remote interpreting. It
allows the interpreter to interpret from a distance and she cannot see the audience because they are in a different place.
3 Types of Interpreting in Terms of „Directionality’
According to directionality, interpreting can be classified into three types as follows.
a Bilateral Interpreting`
According to Pöchhacker 2004: 20, bilateral interpreting requires the interpreter to deal with two languages since the client could be the speaker andor
audience. The interpreter should be able to transfer the message from Language 1 L1 into Language 2 L2 and vice versa.
b Retour Interpreting
According to Jones 1998: 134, when the interpreter interprets from herhis native language Language A into herhis foreign language Language B,
it is called retour interpreting. When the interpreter deals with, for example, cultural terms, she would be considered to be more culturally competent in their
mother language than in their foreign language. c
Relay Interpreting “Relay interpreting is defined as „a mediation from source to target
language in which the translational product has been realised in another language
than that of the original ’” Dollerup cited in al-Zahran, 2007: 24. This situation is
occurring if one of the interpreters, in a conference, does not understand several languages used at that time and then she asks another interpreter to interpret what
the speaker has said. Therefore, the quality of interpreting, in this situation, is poor because what she interprets is an interpreting product, not the original one.
4 Types of Interpreting in Terms of „Language Modality’
Based on language modality, interpreting is classified into two types: „spoken-language interpreting’ and „signed-language interpreting’ Pöchhacker,
2007:17. In spoken-language interpreting, the interpreting uses verbal language to transfer the message from source language SL into target language TL, for
example: from English to Bahasa Indonesia, Spanish to Dutch, Japan to English, etc. Then, in sign-language interpreting, the interpreting uses non verbal language
to transfer the message from source language SL into target language TL. It is usually used in communications to deaf people. It is used, for example, if a
speaker, who does not understand sign-language, wants to communicate to deaf people.