On the potential impact of directionality on emotion processing in interpreting

Resumen

The main aim of the study is to investigate the process of interpreting emotionally-laden content in the two directions (i.e., L2>L1 vs. L1>L2). In line with previous research on bilingualism, there is a psychological distance when processing the non-native relative to the native tongue, reflecting a decreased sensitivity to affect-laden stimuli in L2 compared to L1. Yet thus far only little attention has been devoted to investigating how interpreters process emotionally-laden as compared to neutral stimuli when interpreting. Additionally, in the context of language processing in interpreting, previous studies have shown an interpreting asymmetry, pointing to more cognitively taxing operations engaged in interpreting in the L1-L2 than L2-L1 direction; however, it remains under-investigated whether emotion processing might be modulated by interpreting directionality. To this aim, in the present pilot study, five professional interpreters were asked to interpret negatively-valenced as well as neutral sentences, both from Polish (L1) into English (L2) and in the opposite direction. To measure emotional responding, skin conductance (SC) method was triangulated with a self-report measure (SUPIN S30, the Polish adaptation of the PANAS questionnaire, Positive and Negative Affect Schedule). The obtained results showed an increased emotional responding, as reflected in SC results, in the process of interpreting a negatively-valenced compared to neutral content, irrespective of interpreting direction. The obtained results may contribute to research on emotional language processing in the context of interpreting.