In the translation industry, translation education, and machine translation research, multiple translations with the same original text can and do exist. In such cases, it is necessary to recognize and share the differences between translations. This paper presents the process of developing a scheme for describing differences between target documents (TD) that have the same source document (SD). Our scheme includes a system for describing translation differences and a decision tree. We first constructed a system consisting of concepts and their definitions, which has three categories: Syntactics, Semantics, and Pragmatics. We then created a decision tree as a procedure for applying the system, and defined several rules to enable us to consistently apply our scheme to the translation data. This paper also describes the application of our scheme to 50 types of TDs. The result shows that our scheme is helpful for describing the differences between TDs with high resolution.

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This study experimentally investigated the mechanism of information processing when performing Japanese-Chinese consecutive interpreting from the viewpoint of language and cognitive factors for Chinese advanced learners of Japanese. This study clarified the followings. (1) Regardless of the individual differences in working memory capacity and the difficulty of the source language, limited cognitive resources are first spent on source language understanding, with target language retrieval also being carried out simultaneously. (2) The degree of retrieval to the target language in parallel depends on the working memory capacity and the difficulty of the source language. In the case of the complex source language, the cognitive resources of participants with large working memory capacity are more abundant than those with small working memory capacity, resulting in significantly better target language performance.

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This paper aims to identify difficulties in the practices of volunteer-interpreter coordinators in free language-support programs organized by prefectural international exchange foundations. Six coordinators participated in this study in which semi-structured interviews were conducted and analyzed using the data analysis method “SCAT.” The results indicated that the complexity and difficulties of their practice could stem from misunderstandings and excessive consideration that surfaced in the interaction between the actors, volunteer interpreters, their support receivers, and the coordinators themselves, especially due to their perception of volunteer interpreters as being altruistic and unremunerated. This suggests that different perceptions and positioning of the programs and those actors may alleviate some of the difficulties of the coordinators’ practice.

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This paper addresses the role of informal learning for Russian interpreters in Japan, where formal interpreter training is lacking. The main purpose of this research is to explore the ways in which interpreters acquire and develop their competence and expertise. The paper is based on a survey conducted in 2022. The main points addressed are the methods of acquisition and development of competence and expertise including learning through work, the interpreters’ perception of collaborative and self-learning, and the content of interpreters’ learning. A combination of self-learning and collaborative learning which facilitates opportunities for feedback, can be defined as “deliberate practice” and may be an effective way to achieve and maintain expert-level performance.

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This study reports on how interpretation performance and interpretation attitudes have changed through a 15-week interpretation training course. Through a peer speech interpretation exercise in which the students were given the opportunity to interpret a live speech with an audience, the 15 students’ attitudes changed from “translating as a language transfer” to “translating as communication.” Additionally, the results of the pre- and post performance tests revealed that delivery scores (fluency, ease of listening, and persuasiveness) improved significantly. This study concludes that peer speech interpreting exercises are effective activities for improving delivery skills and fostering awareness of audience in classrooms for novice students learning interpretation.

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