Note-taking effort in video remote interpreting: effects of source speech difficulty and interpreter work experience

This paper reports on an investigation of the interactions between source speech difficulty, interpreters’ work experience and their note-taking behaviour in video remote interpreting. 20 professional interpreters 29 student consecutively interpreted two easy segments difficult from English (L2) to Chinese (L1), with eye pen movements being registered by a Tobii eye-tracker Wacom digital pen. The results show that: (1) increase perceived interpreting difficulty led decrease overt visual attention physical effort invested note-taking, longer time make decisions; (2) although professionals students reported similar level devoted more completing activity than students; (3) cognitive was not affected changes or interpreter experience. These findings indicate accumulation does entail reductions task-difficulty perception but increases amount devote note-taking; increased task affects management during note-taking.