Interpreting Quality: A Look Around and Ahead

The issue of quality in interpreting has been debated for almost three decades now. This volume is evidence of the sociological turn Interpreting Studies is taking on quality research. Based on either a socio-cognitive perspective, a sociological approach, or the situational social variability of the entire source and target context, this volume's contributions analyse the respective roles of participants in a communicative event and the objective of an equivalent effect. The contributions from Europe, North America, and Australia signal a trend in the research on quality in interpreting: they challenge the concept that 'sense' in a communication is a single, stable entity, and instead view it as something constructed in a common effort. This in turn highlights the interpreter's social responsibility.

Cornelia Zwischenberger is a lecturer in Translation studies and postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Translation Studies, University of Vienna, where she is currently working on her habilitation. Martina Behr is a lecturer at the FTSK at the University of Mainz/Germersheim and at Saarland University, where she teaches the theory and practice of simultaneous and consecutive interpreting.