The autonomic nervous system is responsible for modulating peripheral functions in the human body and consists of sympathetic and parasympathetic branches. Its activation affects, among other things, heart rate, respiratory rate, salivation, perspiration, pupillary dilation, and blink rate. For some years now, physiological measurements have found their way into interpreting and translation studies to investigate, in particular, cognitive, emotional and ergonomic demands and stress in translating, interpreting and post-editing. We conducted a meta-review of publications from 1990 until 2020 in order to investigate the relevance of (a) the four constructs of emotional, cognitive and ergonomic demands and physiological stress and of (b) physiological data for translation and interpreting research. With our selection of search terms, we identified 369 publications investigating one of the four constructs, of which 28 use physiological data. Analysis of the 28 studies shows a tendency towards triangulating physiological with other types of data, which reflects the complexity of the investigated tasks and constructs. Moreover, there seems to be an effort to increase sample size, which is an important step towards more robust results in quantitative research in the field.

Simultaneous interpreting requires interpreters to listen to a source text while producing the target text in a second language. In addition, the interpreter needs to process various types of visual input, which may further increase the already high cognitive load. A study with 14 students of interpreting was conducted to investigate the impact of a speaker’s visible lip movements on cognitive load in simultaneous interpreting by analysing the duration of silent pauses in the target texts. Background noise masking the source speech was introduced as a control condition for cognitive load. Silent pause durations were shorter when interpreters saw the speaker’s lip movements, which indicates that interpreters benefitted from visual input. Furthermore, silent pause durations were longer with noise, which suggests that comparative silent pause durations can indicate changes in cognitive load.

The cognitive demands associated with performing a task involve at least two dimensions: (1) the load dimension that is related to the assumed task difficulty and (2) the effort dimension that reflects the resources invested in a task. This study considers whether this distinction is actually relevant to translators and interpreters when they report load and effort and, if so, how the assumed psychological reality of these two dimensions is related to task performance. In this study, professional translators and interpreters performed naturalistic tasks with comparable stimuli, working from English into German. After each task, they were asked to rate their experienced load and effort as part of the NASA Task Load Index. Their performance was measured by analysing process and product indicators that correspond in interpreting and translation. Results indicate that while self-reported load and effort are highly correlated, their relationships to process or product measures appear to be more complex.

The focus to date on interactive encounters has resulted in there being little research into monological texts and speeches produced in English as a lingua franca (ELF) contexts. They are, however, the very substance of what interpreters and translators increasingly deal with today. The quality of these language professionals’ performance depends to a large extent on the input they receive. From a translation and interpreting studies (TIS) perspective, understanding what makes an ELF text or speech special and different seems paramount. In this paper, we present an innovative approach to exploring what is in an ELF text. We introduce the concepts of ‘ELF density’ and ‘ELF dense spots’ to capture and visualize types and tokens of ELF features as well as clusters they form at a local and more global level across stretches of text or speech and discuss a number of methodological challenges in determining ELF density. Based on a preliminary retrospective verbal protocol and interview analysis following 26 professional interpreters’ renditions, we aim to demonstrate the concepts’ added value for TIS, but also for non-TIS related applied linguistic tasks geared towards ELF.

The trinational agglomeration of Basel is a very densely populated region attracting more and more inhabitants and employers. The use of space to provide housing and office space has become a sensitive matter in cross-border cooperation as the developments in one parts directly affects the other parts of the agglomeration. Currently, the Canton of Basel-Stadt (Switzerland) plans to delocalize its harbor and to use the harbor site for urban developments. The area borders the cities of Weil am Rhein (Germany) and Huningue (France). For this reason, the Building and Traffic Department of the Canton Basel-Stadt, the city of Weil am Rhein (Germany) and the city of Huningue (France) have defined a trinational perimeter with the aim to develop a trinational sustainable urban district: 3Land. The project partners have developed a common set of sustainability criteria to ensure sustainability of the urban developments within the 3Land-area. It appears, however, that the notion of sustainability is defined differently in the three countries and determined by different legislations and actors in urban planning. For instance, municipalities in France may apply a particular tool for pilot projects that allows them to apply specific criteria on a site that go beyond the existing legislation. In Switzerland, foundations play in important role in fostering sustainable urban development on private property. In Germany, municipalities need to consider specific social criteria if they want to apply to national funding programs. This paper will explore the method that has been implemented in order to ensure sustainability in a cross-border context and its limitations.