ABSTRACT

To date, research into conference interpreting has not produced a definition of the concrete subskills associated with an A, B and C language in interpreters’ combinations of working languages. Existing frameworks for performance assessment in foreign languages are not designed to cover the very advanced range of language mastery associated with an A or a B language in conference interpreting. To fill this gap and deepen our understanding of what characterises an A, B or C language, we reviewed the existing literature on language classification in interpreting and foreign language acquisition, and analysed frameworks for performance assessment in foreign languages as well as archives of feedback given to interpreting students regarding their respective languages. Based on this analysis, we developed a self-administered online test that allows applicants to assess whether their mastery of a language, in our case French, corresponds to the level normally expected for an A, a B or a C language. The test was calibrated with three different groups of subjects (native speakers of French, professional interpreters and interpreting students), showing a high level of accuracy in identifying the language classification of subjects in all samples.

摘要

迄今为止，对会议口译的研究还没有对口译员的工作语言组合中与 A、B 和 C 语言相关的具体子技能进行定义。现有的外语绩效评估框架并非旨在涵盖与会议口译中的 A 或 B 语言相关的非常高级的语言掌握范围。为了填补这一空白并加深我们对 A、B 或 C 语言特征的理解，我们回顾了有关口译和外语习得的语言分类的现有文献，并分析了外语绩效评估的框架以及给定的反馈档案。为学生解释他们各自的语言。基于这一分析，我们开发了一个自我管理的在线测试，允许申请人评估他们对一门语言的掌握程度，在我们的例子中是法语，是否符合 A、B 或 C 语言的正常预期水平。该测试对三组不同的科目（法语母语人士、专业口译员和口译学生）进行了校准，在识别所有样本中科目的语言分类方面表现出高度的准确性。