CASLI Simultaneous Interpreting 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: When interpreting humor or wordplay simultaneously, what is the most appropriate interpreter strategy according to CASLI standards?
- Omit the humor to avoid mistranslation
- Attempt to convey the pragmatic intent and effect, even if the literal wordplay cannot be transferred (Correct answer)
- Translate the words literally and let consumers interpret the humor themselves
- Pause and explain the joke to the deaf consumer
Correct answer: Attempt to convey the pragmatic intent and effect, even if the literal wordplay cannot be transferred
The interpreter's goal is to convey the communicative intent and effect of humor, which may require a pragmatic equivalent rather than a literal translation.
Question 2: What is 'interference' in the context of simultaneous sign language interpreting?
- Background noise disrupting the interpreter's concentration
- Source language structures incorrectly bleeding into target language output (Correct answer)
- A co-interpreter providing unsolicited corrections
- Technical equipment malfunctioning during the assignment
Correct answer: Source language structures incorrectly bleeding into target language output
Interference occurs when source language grammatical structures, lexical choices, or prosodic patterns are inappropriately transferred into the target language output.
Question 3: A simultaneous interpreter is working at a legal proceeding and receives highly complex, embedded clause sentences in English. Which strategy is most appropriate?
- Render each clause in the exact order received
- Restructure sentences into simpler, more natural ASL syntax while preserving full meaning (Correct answer)
- Ask the attorney to rephrase before interpreting
- Interpret only the main clause and omit subordinate clauses
Correct answer: Restructure sentences into simpler, more natural ASL syntax while preserving full meaning
Skilled interpreters restructure complex English syntax into natural ASL grammar to ensure consumer comprehension, as direct transliteration often produces ungrammatical or unclear ASL.
Question 4: Which non-manual marker in ASL is critical for an English-to-ASL simultaneous interpreter to produce accurately when interpreting yes/no questions?
- Raised eyebrows (Correct answer)
- Furrowed brows
- Puffed cheeks
- Mouth morpheme 'mm'
Correct answer: Raised eyebrows
Raised eyebrows are the primary grammatical non-manual marker for yes/no questions in ASL and must be produced to render the question grammatically correct.
Question 5: During a CASLI assessment, how is 'cognitive saturation' most likely to manifest in an interpreter's simultaneous output?
- Increased use of role-shifting and spatial referencing
- Increased omissions, substitutions, and reduced syntactic complexity (Correct answer)
- Faster overall rate of interpretation
- Greater use of fingerspelling for technical terms
Correct answer: Increased omissions, substitutions, and reduced syntactic complexity
When cognitive resources are overwhelmed, interpreters typically show increased errors of omission, inappropriate substitutions, and simplified grammatical structures.
Question 6: What is the significance of 'prosodic features' in simultaneous interpreting evaluation for ASL?
- They determine how fast an interpreter signs
- They reflect the rhythm, pacing, and non-manual stress patterns that convey meaning and naturalness in ASL (Correct answer)
- They measure the size of signing space used
- They indicate the interpreter's vocabulary range
Correct answer: They reflect the rhythm, pacing, and non-manual stress patterns that convey meaning and naturalness in ASL
Prosodic features in ASL include timing, pacing, and non-manual markers that together convey emphasis, sentence boundaries, and naturalness in signed output.
Question 7: Which professional boundary is most important for a CASLI-tested interpreter to maintain when assigned to a highly emotional simultaneous interpreting situation?
- Avoid interpreting emotionally charged vocabulary to protect consumers
- Maintain professional role boundaries by conveying emotional content accurately without personally counseling consumers (Correct answer)
- Interrupt the event to ensure all parties are emotionally ready
- Soften emotionally negative content to reduce consumer distress
Correct answer: Maintain professional role boundaries by conveying emotional content accurately without personally counseling consumers
Interpreters must convey the full emotional register of the source message accurately while remaining in their professional role and not assuming a counseling or advocacy function.
CASLI Simultaneous Interpreting 5
When interpreting humor or wordplay simultaneously, what is the most appropriate interpreter strategy according to CASLI standards?