Simultaneous interpreting (SI) is a highly complex cognitive process which aims to deliver a complete and accurate rendition of the original message in real time. However, there is a myriad of factors that can influence the process, speed being one of the factors most frequently put forward by practising interpreters as a major challenge. Against this background, we, who are professional interpreters at the United Nations and in the private market, and have observed that speed has become an increasingly present challenge in our work, have carried out an experimental study with the aim of elucidating one of the strategies that expert interpreters resort to when confronted with different speed rates, namely the omission of redundant information. Ten professional interpreters from the United Nations were asked to simultaneously interpret three speeches, which were written to be read and were of similar lexical density, at different speeds. The findings indicate that at higher speeds interpreters omit more redundant information, and it would appear that omission is a strategy the interpreter resorts to for coping with speed.

This article presents an overview of interpreting in conflict zones and scenarios in different periods of history as represented in the papers included in the special issue. Conflict between parties with different cultural and linguistic backgrounds is pervasive in human history and has always involved interpreters in the sense of intercultural and linguistic mediators. Although interpreting became highly professionalized from the second half of the twentieth century, language brokering in conflict zones is still an unregulated occupation mainly pursued by untrained interpreters. Furthermore, there is a lack of recognition of the specific role that interpreters in conflict situations play. In spite of an increasing awareness of the role of interpreters in conflict zones and an expanding scholarly literature on the subject, we believe that more studies adopting a historical standpoint are needed. The aim of this special volume is to shed light on the characteristics, ideology, status, neutrality, occupation, role in the different stages of the conflict, training issues, and working practices and procedures of interpreters in conflict zones.

This study explores the issue of interpreters’ positionality as outsiders to the forces’ personnel and insiders to the local communities. Twenty local interpreters who worked in the different peacekeeping operations (PKOs) in the Bosnian War, and seven members of the forces’ personnel were surveyed on their personal and professional background, their experiences with working conditions and training as well as the particularities and challenges of PKOs. The results indicate that the status, motivations, hiring procedures, and working conditions of the interpreters changed under the different PKOs, and that this had an impact on the positionality of the interpreter. The findings suggest that specific training programs are needed to better train interpreters to work in PKOs, and that consideration should be given to the issue of how to better train peacekeeping forces to work with interpreters.

The figure of the interpreter in conflict is as interesting as it is elusive to the rest of the profession and academia. One of the regions that has caught the attention and the interest of scholars is the Middle East. The literature tends to focus on one specific category – locally recruited interpreters – and the application of different theoretical concepts to their role and consideration by the parties involved, and does not delve too deeply into the intricacies of the specific role of other categories of interpreter in this context. Also, the existing narratives do not always frame this role through the typology of the conflict in which it is developed. This paper identifies narratives included in the literature that represent interpreters working in armed conflicts in the Middle East in order to examine the different existing categories. The paper then draws on the results of a qualitative study carried out with staff interpreters at an international organisation with the aim of completing this categorisation. Our focus will be on the characteristics of the different categories of interpreter in terms of their involvement in the different stages of the conflict, their positionality, working conditions, status and recognition by the parties involved in the conflict.

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