The manipulation of ideology in the simultaneous interpreting of political discourse

Initial conclusions suggest that the interpreters intervene in order to represent certain ideological positions, among them stances that are anti-lslamophobic, sectarian, and anti-Israeli. These initial conclusions are further tested by applying the same model to another key speech by Barack Obama, ‘A Moment of Opportunity’, again with three renderings, taken this time from Al-Hurrah, Al-Jazeera, and Al-Arabiya. In addition to finding that most of the ideological positions that are evidenced in the interpretations of the first speech are present in the work of the interpreters of the second one, new positions (such as anti-sexism) are also detected.

The broad conclusion is that manipulative intervention (resulting from the different constraints under which interpreters live and work) is a defining characteristic of everyday live simultaneous interpreting into Arabic. So as to potentially lessen the impact of such interventions, the thesis concludes by offering a number of possible solutions, such as the design of specific training programmes.