On the use of compensatory strategies in simultaneous interpretation

Weller (1990) believes that Krashen's concept of 'comprehensible input' can play a key role in the simultaneous interpretation process even though thi s concept is most frequently cited inr elation to second and foreign langua ge learning. The 'comprehensible input' concept is referred to here as the spoken or written pieces of information that are understood and interpreted by the hearer. Such information comes int he form of words, sentence, utte rances, or even paragraphs. Based on Weller's recommendation, Krashen's con cept is used as a framework for this study to analyze compensatory strategi es employed by a small group of Jordanian interpreters who worked for an Am erican television network during the Gulf War. This paper first examines th e type of input that causes problems for interpreters. Second, it examines the strategies these interpreters use to compensate for difficult or incomp rehensible input. The findings of the study detected five types of compensa tory strategies that were employed by four interpreters. These strategies w ere grouped into two general types, achievement and reduction. These are di scussed with recommendations at the end in the hope of providing more insig ht into how human beings process language under conditions of stress.