Natural Interpreting Competence in a Multilingual Child

Abstract

In our previous article The skill of natural interpreting in a trilingual child (2021) we studied the translation and interpreting competence of a single Slovak/English/German balanced trilingual child from 0;03 to 8;01 years. This study is focusing on the translation and interpreting skills in the former child’s two years younger sibling at the age of 5;11. As in the previous case study, here too we draw from the assertion that the skill of natural translation is an “innate skill which can be acquired without formal training and is developed through guidance and practice” (Hornackova Klapicova 2021, 38; Harris, 1978) and that “natural interpreting can occur within different combinations of languages” (Hornackova Klapicova 2021, 38). By natural interpreting we mean a procedure followed by bilingual and multilingual children whereby messages articulated in the source language (SL) are expressed in the target language (TL). The aims of this study are a) to affirm that the errors committed in the process of interpreting do not cause misinterpretation of SL messages in the TL; and b) to compare the skill of natural interpreting in two balanced trilingual siblings with parallel social and academic upbringing considering the types and number of errors produced by each child on the same test. This paper should contribute to the fields of translation and interpreting and bilingualism by showing evidence for the assertion that a multilingual child with a strong social and academic support can become a sophisticated interpreter in multiple language directions.