Global English and English as a lingua franca (ELF) : implications for the interpreting profession

The unprecedented global spread of English as a lingua franca is a recent phenomenon that poses a challenge to the age-old craft of interpreting. What little research has so far been undertaken has concentrated on the effects of non-native source text production, especially nonnative accents, on the interpreter’s comprehension process. Based on a cognitive-constructivist and functional view of language, this paper analyses the results of a questionnaire-based survey of 32 experienced conference interpreters. Examining the changes inevitably brought about by ELF, the survey looks at the impact on interpreters and their profession. The findings identified capacity-related problems not only in the comprehension process, but also, in the form of accommodation, in the (target text) production process. On a more general level, working conditions are reported to be adversely affected, with consequences for performance quality and job satisfaction.