Investigating the effect of source difficulty on interpreters’ perceptions, perceived cognitive load, and performance in machine interpreting-assisted simultaneous interpreting

This study investigated student interpreters’ perceptions, perceived cognitive processes, and performance in MI-assisted simultaneous interpreting across three levels of source speech difficulty. Twenty-six student interpreters completed experimental tasks, followed by self-report questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and self- and expert-evaluations of performance. Findings showed that increased source speech difficulty intensified reliance on MI and was associated with self-reported shifts in perceived caption focus from the original language toward the target language or dual captions. However, MI assistance could not fully mitigate the adverse impact of higher difficulty on perceived cognitive load and interpreting quality. Additionally, the perceived quality of MI assistance correlated positively with performance under higher difficulty, underscoring its potential as an aid from interpreters’ subjective perspectives. The study offers suggestions for interpreter training, practices, and the development of MI systems to support technology-enhanced interpreting education. It also contributes to ongoing discussions of interpreter–technology interaction in technologized interpreting contexts.