Terminologia e interpretazione di tribunale: un’esperienza didattica spagnolo-italiano

Abstract

This paper aims to present a court interpreting module in Spanish and Italian as part of the two-year Master’s degree in Translation and Interpreting (LM94) in the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures at the University of Genoa. This module has been conceived as part of the Innovative Teaching Project promoted by the University. It provides legal-institutional terminology study, dedicated classes with experts in the field and simulations of interpreting situations in court. To design such simulations, we collaborated with a legal expert who also participated in the dramatization of the different court situations in class. Furthermore, the activity development has been monitored and followed up by psychologists and pedagogists in order to check, boost and evaluate the innovative role-play method used in the simulations. Starting from the deep interest in the interrelation between translation and terminology, we observed the role of terminology competence and lexical competence in the students’ performances. This paper describes the design and implementation of our didactic experience focusing on its planning phase, its methodology, and the preparation of pedagogical materials and interpreting simulations in class, including the final exam of the module. The study will also assess the strengths, obstacles and strategies that students were confronted with, offering food for thought on the line of Innovative Teaching Projects and on tools aimed at teaching interpreting.