Neurophysiologie des Simultandolmetschens : eine fMRI-Studie mit Konferenzdolmetschern
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Abstract
This PhD thesis describes the neurophysiological processes in simultaneous intepreting from German into Spanish and vice versa in comparison with each other and with the shadowing in both languages. The participants are conference interpreters with a university degree, German (A, mother tongue) and Spanish (B, first active foreign language) and no bilinguals (in terms of growing up with two languages). 11 contrasts were used and the brain areas involved in simultaneous interpreting and in shadowing in the language combination German<>Spanish were localized. The anylisis of the fMRI data showed that interpreting cannot be equated with shadowing. Shadowing activated large brain areas in the right hemisphere (Wernicke) in the temporal lobe as well as in the prefrontal cortex. In interpreting from German into Spanish and vice versa, however, there was a unilateral activation of the inferior frontal lobe in the left hemisphere (Broca) and an activation of the superior temporal lobe in the left hemisphere which indicates a certain involvement of the Broca area. Speaking in the B language – in both, interpreting and shadowing – resulted in a high activation of the brain area associated with pronunciation and articulation (BA6) which, according to the authors suggests that pronunciation in the foreign language (non-mother tongue) requires a higher neurogical effort.
Keywords: fMRI, Neurophysiology, Conference Interpreting, Simultaneous Interpreting (SI), Conference Interpreters, Spanish, German, Shadowing, Pronunciation and Articulation, Setton: Model for Simultaneous Interpreting, Phonological Loop