Dr Sabine Braun
Senior Lecturer in Translation Studies
Qualifications: MA, Dr Phil
Email: s.braun@surrey.ac.uk
Phone: Work: 01483 68 2825
Room no: 13 LC 03
Office hours
Wed 12-14
Further information
Biography
I am Senior Lecturer in Translation Studies at the University of Surrey. I hold a Diploma/MA in Translation Studies (Heidelberg) and a Dr Phil in Applied English Linguistics (Tübingen). Before I came to Surrey in 2006, I taught and conducted research at the University of Tübingen in Germany.
Research Interests
My research interests revolve around the broad area of 'multilingual communication and new media'. I am particularly interested in the strategic, pragmatic and discourse-processing dimensions of novel forms of interpreting and audiovisual translation. A complementary interest of mine is the use of new media in interpreter training.
My research interests in a nutshell
– Remote and videoconference interpreting
– Intersemiotic translation, especially audio description
– The pragmatic foundations of interpreting
– Discourse processes in interpreting
– Interpreting as strategic processes
– Spoken language and spoken corpora
– Corpora in interpreter training
Video-Mediated Interpreting
In my work in the area of remote and videoconference interpreting, I have analysed the adaptation strategies which interpreters develop in this unfamiliar and difficult form of interpreting. The use of videoconference and remote interpreting is a continued research interest of mine, especially its emerging uses in public service interpreting. I am currently working on the evaluation of videoconference and remote interpreting in criminal proceedings
More info: http://www.videoconference-interpreting.net.
Grants:
AVIDICUS 1 – Assessment of Videoconference Interpreting in the Criminal Justice System (EU DG Justice, JLS/2008/JPEN/03, 2008-2011, project leader).
AVIDICUS 2 – Assessment of Videoconference Interpreting in the Criminal Justice System (EU DG Justice, JUST/2010/JPEN/AG/1558, 2011-2013, project leader)
Building Mutual Trust 2 (EU DG Justice, JUST/2010/JPEN/AG/1566, 2011-2013, partner)
London Probation Trust – Analysis of videoconference communication and interpreting in European cross-border resettlement cases (2012-2013).
Interpreting in Virtual Reality
The thought of interpreting in a 3D virtual world such as Second Life or an Open Sim is an interesting expansion of more ‘classic’ forms of ‘remote interpreting’ via telephone or video link. Apart from that, virtual worlds are also useful for simulating interpreter-mediated situations. The rise of migration and multilingualism throughout the world requires professional interpreters to master an ever broadening range of communicative scenarios and skills in business, legal, medical and many other settings. Teaching such skills is difficult to achieve with traditional methods. In a project that aims to educate interpreters together with their clients in business and public service settings, I am therefore currently creating an adaptive 3D virtual environment that supports the acquisition and application of skills required by interpreters and those who work with them. More info: http://www.virtual-interpreting.net.
Grant:
IVY – Interpreting in Virtual Reality (EU Lifelong Learning, 511862-2010-LLP-UK-KA-KA3MP, 2011-12, project leader)
Spoken Corpora in Interpreting
I am particularly interested in how we can make spoken corpora and corpus analysis techniques fruitful in the context of communication, language and interpreter training. Some years ago, I began to develop the ELISA corpus, a small video-based corpus of spoken professional English, as a resource for second-language learners and interpreters, and a method for the pedagogical exploitation of such corpora. In BACKBONE, this idea was expanded to create further video corpora for English and five other languages, and to develop additional tools and resources for interpreter training. More info: http://www.corpora4learning.net.
Grants:
BACKBONE – Content and Language Integrated Learning (EU Lifelong Learning, 143502-LLP-1-2008-1-DE-KA2-KA2MP, 2009-10, partner)
SACODEYL – Compilation and Open Distribution of European Youth Language (EU Sokrates-Minerva, 2005-08, partner)
ELISA – Exploration of an English-Language Interview Corpus as a Second-Language Application (University of Tübingen 2003-04, project leader).
Audio Description
My interest in audiovisual media has also led me to conduct research into audio description, an emergent practice helping blind and partially sighted people to follow and enjoy audiovisual content (e.g. films, TV programmes, theatre plays). I am particularly interested in interdisciplinary approaches to audio description as a complex form of intermodal mediation. In 2007, Margaret Rogers and I organised an interdisciplinary research seminar on Audio Description for Visually Impaired People: Towards an Interdisciplinary Research Agenda to contribute to developing audio description as an academic discipline. Project report: http://www.ias.surrey.ac.uk/reports/AUDIO-report.html.
Publications
Journal articles
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(2012) 'Using virtual reality for interpreter-mediated communication and training'. Proceedings of the 2012 International Conference on Cyberworlds, Cyberworlds 2012, , pp. 191-198.doi: 10.1109/CW.2012.34
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(2011) 'Creating coherence in Audio Description'. Les Presses de l'Université de Montréal Meta: Journal des Traducteurs/ Meta: Translator's Journal, 56 (3), pp. 645-662.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/205792/
Abstract
As an emerging form of intermodal translation, audio description (AD) raises many new questions for Translation Studies and related disciplines. This paper will investigate the question of how the coherence of a multimodal source text such as a film can be re-created in audio description. Coherence in film characteristically emerges from links within and across different modes of expression (e.g. links between visual images, image-sound links and image-dialogue links). Audio describing a film is therefore not simply a matter of substituting visual images with verbal descriptions. It involves ‘translating’ some of these links into other appropriate types of links. Against this backdrop, this paper aims to examine the means available for the re-creation of coherence in an audio described version of a film, and the problems arising. To this end, the paper will take a fresh look at coherence, outlining a model of coherence which embraces verbal and multimodal texts and which highlights the important role of both source text author (viz. audio describer as translator) and target text recipients in creating coherence. This model will then be applied to a case study focussing on the re-creation of various types of intramodal and intermodal relations in AD.
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(2010) 'Audio Description with Audio Subtitling – an emergent modality of audiovisual localisation'. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group Perspectives: Studies in Translatology, 18 (3), pp. 173-188.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/303023/
Abstract
Audio description (AD) has established itself as a media access service for blind and partially sighted people across a range of countries, for different media and types of audiovisual performance (e.g. film, TV, theatre, opera). In countries such as the UK and Spain, legislation has been implemented for the provision of AD on TV, and the European Parliament has requested that AD for digital TV be monitored in projects such as DTV4ALL (www.psp-dtv4all.org) in order to be able to develop adequate European accessibility policies. One of the drawbacks is that in their current form, AD services largely leave the visually impaired community excluded from access to foreign-language audiovisual products when they are subtitled rather than dubbed. To overcome this problem, audio subtitling (AST) has emerged as a solution. This article will characterise audio subtitling as a modality of audiovisual localisation which is positioned at the interface between subtitling, audio description and voice-over. It will argue that audio subtitles need to be delivered in combination with audio description and will analyse, system- atise and exemplify the current practice of audio description with audio subtitling using commercially available DVDs.
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(2008) 'Audiodescription Research: State of the Art and Beyond'. School of Applied Languages, Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey Translation Studies in the New Millennium, 6, pp. 14-30.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/303022/
Abstract
Audiodescription (AD) is a growing arts and media access service for visually impaired people. As a practice rooted in intermodal mediation, i.e. ’translating’ visual images into verbal descriptions, it is in urgent need of interdisciplinary research-led grounding. Seeking to stimulate further research in this field, this paper aims to discuss the major dimensions of AD, give an overview of completed an ongoing research relating to each of these dimensions and outline questions for further academic study.
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(2007) 'Interpreting in small-group bilingual videoconferences: Challenges and adaptation processes'. Interpreting, 9 (1), pp. 21-46.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/1294/
Abstract
When interpreting takes place in a videoconference setting, the intrinsic technological challenges and the very remoteness of the interpreters' location compound the complexity of the task. Existing research on remote interpreting and the problems it entails focusses on remote conference interpreting, in which the interpreters are physically separated from the conference site while the primary interlocutors are together on site as usual. In an effort to broaden the scope of research in the area of remote interpreting to include other types and to address other questions, in particular that of the interpreters' adaptability to new working conditions, this paper analyses small-group videoconferences in which the primary interlocutors as well as the interpreters all work from different locations. The findings from an empirical case study (based on recordings of videoconference sessions as well as introspective data) are used to identify and exemplify different types of interpreter adaptation.
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(2007) 'Audio Description from a discourse perspective: a socially relevant framework for research and training'. University Press Antwerp (UPA) Linguistica Antverpiensia NS, 6, pp. 357-369.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/303024/
Abstract
The topic of this paper is Audio Description (AD) for blind and partially sighted people. I will outline a discourse-based approach to AD focussing on the role of mental modelling, local and global coherence, and different types of inferences (explicatures and implicatures). Applying these concepts to AD, I will discuss initial insights and outline questions for empirical research. My main aim is to show that a discourse-based approach to AD can provide an informed framework for research, training and practice.
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(2007) 'Integrating corpus work into secondary education: From data-driven learning to needs- …'. ReCALL, 19 Article number 3 , pp. 307-328.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/1293/
Abstract
This paper reports on an empirical case study conducted to investigate the overall conditions and challenges of integrating corpus materials and corpus-based learning activities into Englishlanguage classes at a secondary school in Germany. Starting from the observation that in spite of the large amount of research into corpus-based language learning, hands-on work with corpora has remained an exception in secondary schools, the paper starts by outlining a set of pedagogical requirements for corpus integration and the approach which has formed the basis for designing the case study. Then the findings of the study are reported and discussed. As a result of the methodological challenges identified in the study, the author argues for a move from ’data-driven learning’ to needs-driven corpora, corpus activities and corpus methodologies.
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(2005) 'From pedagogically relevant corpora to authentic language learning contents'. ReCALL, 17 Article number 1 , pp. 47-64.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/1300/
Abstract
The potential of corpora for language learning and teaching has been widely acknowledged and their ready availability on the Web has facilitated access for a broad range of users, including language teachers and learners. However, the integration of corpora into general language learning and teaching practice has so far been disappointing. In this paper, I will argue that the shape of many existing corpora, designed with linguistic research goals in mind, clashes with pedagogic requirements for corpus design and use. Hence, a ‘pedagogic mediation of corpora’ is required (cf. Widdowson, 2003). I will also show that the realisation of this requirement touches on both the development of appropriate corpora and the ways in which they are exploited by learners and teachers. I will use a small English Interview Corpus (ELISA) to outline possible solutions for a pedagogic mediation. The major aspect of this is the combination of two approaches to the analysis and exploitation of a pedagogically relevant corpus: a corpus-based and a discourse-based approach.
Conference papers
- . (2001) 'ViKiS – Videokonferenz mit integriertem Simultandolmetschen für kleinere und mittlere Unternehmen'. Karlsruhe : Schriftenreihe der Karlsruher Kongreß- und Ausstellungs GmbH LTS: 9. Europäischer Kongreß und Fachmesse für Bildungs– und Informationstechnologie(9th European Congress for Educational and Technology Information), pp. 263-273.
Books
- . (2012) Videoconference and remote interpreting in legal proceedings. Antwerp : Intersentia
- . (2009) Dimensionen der Zweitsprachenfoschung – Dimensions of Second Language Research. Festschrift für Kurt Kohn zum 65. Geburtstag. Tübingen : Narr
- . (2006) Corpus Technology and Language Pedagogy: New Resources, New Tools, New Methods. English Corpus Linguistics Vol 3.. Frankfurt/M : Lang
- . (2005) Sprache(n) in der Wissensgesellschaft.. Frankfurt am Main : Peter Lang
- . (2004) Kommunikation unter widrigen Umständen? Einsprachige und gedolmetschte Kommunikation in der Videokonferenz. Gunter Narr
Book chapters
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(2012) 'AVIDICUS comparative studies - part I: Traditional interpreting and remote interpreting in police interviews'. in Braun S, Taylor J (eds.) Videoconference and Remote Interpreting
in Criminal Proceedings
Antwerp : Intersentia , pp. 99-117.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/303020/
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(2012) 'Video-mediated interpreting: an overview of current practice and research'. in Braun S, Taylor J (eds.) Videoconference and Remote Interpreting in Criminal Proceedings
Antwerp : Intersentia , pp. 33-68.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/303018/
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(2012) 'Recommendations for the use of video-mediated interpreting in criminal proceedings'. in Braun S, Taylor J (eds.) Recommendations for the use of video-mediated interpreting in criminal proceedings
Antwerp : Intersentia , pp. 301-328.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/303017/
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(2012) 'Training in video-mediated interpreting in criminal proceedings: modules for interpreting students, legal interpreters and legal practitioners'. in Braun S, Taylor J (eds.) Videoconference and Remote Interpreting
in Criminal Proceedings
Antwerp : Intersentia , pp. 233-288.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/303019/
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(2012) 'Video-mediated interpreting in criminal proceedings: two European surveys'. in Braun S, Taylor J (eds.) Videoconference and Remote Interpreting
in Criminal Proceedings
Antwerp : Intersentia , pp. 69-98.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/303021/
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(2010) '“These people I was taking care of their horses for, they owned Tennessee Walkers”: on ‘spokenness’ in English, its acceptance and pedagogical implications.'. in Albl-Mikasa M, Braun S, Kalina S (eds.) Dimensionen der Zweitsprachenfoschung – Dimensions of Second Language Research. Festschrift für Kurt Kohn zum 65. Geburtstag
Tübingen : Narr Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/303025/
Abstract
Spoken language is often perceived as a deviation from the norm. This chapter highlights some of the characteristic features of ‘spokenness’ and the rationale behind them. Using English as the exemplar case, it then reports the findings of a study that investigated how the perception and acceptance of such features is influenced by the medium and mode in which spoken language is encountered (face-to-face, video, transcript) and how this differs between native speakers and non-native speakers. At the end, the pedagogical implications of the study will be discussed.
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(2010) 'Getting past 'Groundhog Day': Spoken multimedia corpora for student-centred corpus exploration'. in Harris T, Moreno M (eds.) Corpus Linguistics in language teaching.
Frankfurt : Peter Lang , pp. 75-98.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/207027/
Abstract
Since the pioneering work of John Sinclair on building and using corpora for researching, describing and teaching language, much thought has been given to corpora in Applied Linguistics (Hunston 2002), how to use corpora in language teaching (Sinclair 2004), teaching and learning by doing corpus analysis (Kettemann / Marko 2002) and similar themes. A look at the titles of recent papers, monographs and edited volumes—which are printed in italics in this introduction—suggests that Applied Corpus Linguistics (Connor / Upton 2004) has established itself as a specific and expanding field of study. It has provided ideas on how to manage the step from corpora to classroom (O’Keeffe et al. 2007) and has produced a growing body of research into the use of corpora in the foreign language classroom (Hidalgo et al. 2007). At face value, the enthusiasm of the research community seems to be increasingly shared by practising teachers. At many teacher training seminars at which I have discussed the use(fulness) of corpus resources, I have met teachers who—at the end of the seminar—were eager to use corpora with their students and were especially interested in the growing number of easily accessible web-based resources. But in spite of everyone’s best intentions, the use of corpora in language classrooms remains the exception, and the question of what it takes to get past ‘Groundhog Day’ in corpus-based language learning and teaching is far from being solved. Spoken corpora may not be the obvious solution. The use of Spoken corpora in Applied Linguistics (Campoy / Luzón 2007) is usually considered to be more challenging than the use of written corpora, since spoken language is often perceived to be ‘messy’, grammatically challenging and lexically poor. Moreover, spoken corpora have traditionally been more difficult to build and distribute. However, multimedia technologies have not only made this easier but they have also opened up new ways of exploiting corpus data. Against this backdrop, this paper will argue that spoken multimedia corpora are not simply an interesting type of corpus for language learning, but that they can in fact lead the way in bringing corpus technology and language pedagogy together (Braun et al. 2006). After a brief review of some of the prevailing obstacles for a more wide-spread use of corpora by students and some common approaches and solutions to the problems at hand (in section 2), one approach to designing a pedagogically viable corpus will
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(2007) 'Designing and exploiting small multimedia corpora for autonomous learning and teaching'. in Hidalgo E, Quereda L, Santana J (eds.) Corpora in the Foreign Language Classroom. Selected papers from TaLC6. Language and Computers Vol. 16
Amsterdam : Rodopi 16, pp. 31-46.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/1298/
Abstract
The use of corpora in the second-language learning context requires the availability of corpora which are pedagogically relevant with regard to choice of discourse, choice of media, annotation and size. Here I describe a pedagogically motivated corpus design which supports a direct and efficient exploitation of the corpus by learners and teachers. One of the major guidelines is Widdowson’s (2003) claim that the successful use of corpora requires a learner’s (and teacher’s) ability to ‘authenticate’ the corpus materials. In line with this, I argue for the development of small and pedagogically annotated corpora which enable us to combine two methods of analysis and exploitation to mutual benefit: (1) a corpus-based approach (i.e. ‘vertical reading’ of e.g. concordances), which provides patterns of language use; and (2) a discourse-based approach, which focuses on the analysis of the individual texts in the corpus, and of linguistic means of expression in relation to their communicative (situational) and cultural embedding. To illustrate my points, I use a small multimedia corpus of spoken English which is currently being developed as a model corpus with pedagogical goals in mind.
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(2006) 'Elektronische Korpora als Resource für den Fremdsprachenunterricht'. in Jung U (ed.) Praktische Handreichung für Fremdsprachenlehrer
Frankfurt/M : Lang Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/1302/
Abstract
In diesem Beitrag geht es um Möglichkeiten der Nut¬zung von Korpora im Sekundarschulbereich. Nach einem Überblick über einschlägige Korpusressourcen, Analy¬severfahren und Tools werden in knappen Zügen die Grundlagen der Korpusnutzung im Sprachlernkontext skizziert und anschließ end verschiedene Möglichkeiten für die Nutzung von Korpora gesprochener und ge¬schriebener Sprache illustriert.
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(2006) 'ELISA–a pedagogically enriched corpus for language learning purposes'. in Braun S, Kohn K, Mukherjee J (eds.) Corpus Technology And Language Pedagogy: New Resources, New Tools, New Methods
Frankfurt/M : Lang , pp. 25-47.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/1292/
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to introduce a methodological solution for the design and exploitation of a corpus which is dedicated to pedagogical goals. In particular, I will argue for a pedagogically appropriate corpus annotation and query, and for the enrichment of such a corpus with additional materials (including corpus-based tasks and exercises). The solution will be illustrated with the help of ELISA, a small spoken corpus of English containing video interviews with native speakers. However, the methodology is transferable to the creation of pedagogically relevant corpora with other contents and for other languages.
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(2006) 'Multimedia communication technologies and their impact on interpreting'. in Gerzymisch-Arbogast H (ed.) Proceedings Of The Marie Curie Euroconferences MuTra: Audiovisual Translation Scenarios Copenhagen, 1-5 May 2006.
Online Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/1291/
Abstract
In line with the aim of the MuTra conference to address "the multiple (multilingual, multimedia, multimodal and polysemiotic) dimensions of modern translation scenarios" and to raise "questions as to the impact of new technologies on the form, content, structure and modes of translated products" (Gerzymisch-Arbogast: 2007: 7), this paper will investigate the impact of multimedia communication technologies on interpreting. The use of these technologies has led to new forms of interpreting in which interpreting takes place from a distance, aided by technical mediation. After reviewing the major new and emerging forms, I will outline a set of research questions that need to be addressed and, by way of example, discuss the results of research on interpreter adaptation in videoconference interpreting.
- . (2003) 'Kommunikation unter widrigen Umständen? – Optimierungsstrategien in zweisprachigen Videokonferenz-Gesprächen'. in Döring, J & Schmitz, W and Schulte, O (eds.) Connecting Perspectives. Videokonferencz: Beiträge zu ihrer Erforschung und Anwendung Aachen : Shaker , pp. 167-185.
- . (1999) 'Dolmetschen in der Videokonferenz. Kommunikative Kompentenz und Monitoringstrategien'. in Braun S&K (ed.) Kultur und Übersetzung: Methodologische Probleme des Kulturtransfers - mit Ausgewählten Beiträgen des Saarbrücker Symposiums 1999 (Jahrbuch Übersetzen und Dolmetschen 2/2001) Tübingen : Narr , pp. 3-32.
For a full list of publications, please see: http://www.sabine-braun.net/publications.html
Teaching
I am teaching interpreting theory and practice, translation studies and applied linguistics at undergraduate and postgraduate level and am co-supervising a range of PhD projects in the Centre for Translation Studies.
Departmental Duties
I am programme director of three Master's programmes offered by the Centre for Translation Studies, the MA Business Interpreting in Chinese and English, the MA Business Translation with Interpreting and the MA Public Service Interpreting.
Please click here for more information about our Master's programmes.
Papers and presentations
Over the last couple of years, I was often invited to lecture on videoconference and remote interpreting and audio description, for example:
2011 The use of videoconference technology to provide interpreting in criminal proceedings: Findings from the EU project AVIDICUS. 4th International Conference on Interpreting & Translating in Public Services, Alcala (Spain), 13/04/2011
2010 Audio Description in the UK. 2nd Annual Audio Description Project (ADP) Conference, Phoenix, 13/07/2010 (by video link).
2010 Bridging the gap: Onsite and remote interpreting in dialogue situations. International Symposium 'New Insights into the Study of Conversation', Granada (Spain), 28/05/10.
2009 Translating images into words: Audio Description for visually impaired people as a new form of intermodal mediation. Research Seminar. Queens University, Belfast (UK), 09/11/09.
2009 Videoconference and remote interpreting in the Criminal Justice System. Magistrates Association. London (UK), 21/10/09.
2009 Using videoconference technologies in interpreting: challenges, opportunities and new research questions. PhD school Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Barcelona (Spain), 10/06/08.
2009 Audio Description with Audio Subtitling – an emergent modality of audiovisual localisation. ARSAD Seminar on Audio Description. Barcelona (Spain), 11-12/06/08. (with P Orero)
2008 Videoconference interpreting in legal settings – a new professional profile. Annual meeting of the Association of Police & Court Interpreters' meeting. London (UK), 16/10/08.
2008 'Getting past Groundhog Day': Spoken Multimedia Corpora as a model for student centred corpus exploration. International Seminar 'New Trends in Corpus Linguistics for Language Teaching and Translation Studies. In Honour of John Sinclair'. University of Granada (Spain), 23-24/09/08.
2008 Educating Linguistics or The Importance of Being Applied: Research methods in linguistics. Research Seminar 'Empirical Methods in Educational Linguistics'. University of Giessen (Germany), 28/06/08.
2008 Using videoconference technologies in interpreting: New challenges, new opportunities and new research questions. Marie Curie PhD school 'MuTra Multidimensional Translation Scenarios'. Winterthur (Switzerland), 03/05/08.