Understanding how stress can negatively impact interpreting performance. Techniques and practices for stress reduction. Strategies for real life stressful situations are demonstrated, along with audience participation to sample among several techniques. Methods for simulating stress during interpreting practice are shared. Simulations help diminish the negative impact of stress on performance, as do familiarity with techniques of stress reduction. Attendees will come away with a sampling of both.

1. PRESENTED BY: ELIANA LOBO
FOR: NOTIS

2. Presenter: Eliana Lobo, M.A., CoreCHITM
Trainer of Trainers of Healthcare Interpreters
Certified CoreCHI™ Interpreter and Trainer of Trainers, with M.A.s from Brown University in
Bilingual Education, and Portuguese & Brazilian Studies, Eliana began her career as a
Spanish/Portuguese medical interpreter at RI Hospital. Coming to Seattle to be Trainer & Supervisor
for Harborview Medical Center’s Interpreter Services, then National Director of Interpreter Quality
for InDemand, and Director of Multicultural Programs and Services for IEO (Interpreter Education
Online). Currently, Director of Lobo Language Access in Tacoma WA, Eliana consults on language
access plans, DEI and interpreter training curricula. A frequent speaker at healthcare interpreter
conferences, presenter/co-host for NCIHC’s “Home for Trainers” webinar series, NCIHC Board
member and the Chair of the Standards and Training Committee, and CCHI Commissioner.
05/17/2021 2

3. Learning Objectives
•Today we will learn about
◦ Physiological effects of stress
◦ “Fight or Flight” response, and
◦ How to manage effects on
◦ Memory,
◦ Breathing
◦ Delivery
•Techniques for establishing baseline metrics will
be shared
◦ How fast is too fast,
◦ How long is too long
3

4. Learning Objectives
•Exercises for measuring one’s progress and
establishing stretch goals for memory and speed will
be demonstrated
•Sample scripts for managing flow before the
discussion or conversation goes off track will be given
•Tech tools and apps will be named so that interpreters
can utilize them to create and track their improved
performance over time
•Skill drills that simulate added stress will be shared
4

5. Continually Developing Your Proficiency is the Key
There’s a big difference between ability and
proficiency as it relates to interpreting. This is so
important for all working interpreters to understand.
As an interpreter, you possess many strong language and
communication abilities.
Proficiency, however, is based on what you can actually DO in
the real world, spontaneously, in a wide variety of contexts.
Many working contexts involve highly stressful situations. In
order to really be proficient, as an interpreter, you must learn
to manage stress effectively, so that you can perform
effectively when stressed.
5

6. Continually Developing Your Proficiency is the Key
Just as important, is the requisite time invested by the
interpreters in training, learning, PRACTICE, and self-
assessment.
Whether you are learning stress management
techniques or doing a shadowing drill, progress can
only be made when you regularly invest time in skills
sharpening activities.
6

7. Continually Developing Your Proficiency is the Key
Proficiency develops over time.
It is a gradual process.
You can’t get on the floor, do ONE sit-up and
then find that your waist measures smaller!
Similarly, exercises to improve your proficiency
as an interpreter can only bear fruit with
regular repetition.
7

8. Interpreters can develop & improve the skills they need
to do a better job, on the job
•Understand what happens inside your body when you
are stressed
• Techniques for self-calming
• Breathing and Memory Exercises
• Strategies for predictable bumps in the road
• Scripts
• Customer Service
•Ways to prepare for the unpredictable by training
under pseudo “duress”
• Exercises that mimic physical stress, by requiring a physically
or mentally demanding protocol while practicing an
interpreting exercise
• Demand control schema and decision-making
8

9. Three main causes of stress
Frustration
Fatigue
Fear
Stress can negatively affect your interpreting performance!
9

10. Human Physiology & Stress
PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES TO STRESS AND THEIR
EFFECTS ON BREATHING, LISTENING, AND RECALL
10

11. How Stress Affects the Body
Acute stress has an instantaneous effect on
your physical, mental, and emotional state.
• Stress prepares the body for defensive action by releasing
hormones that
• Sharpen the senses,
• Speed up the pulse,
• Deepen respiration, and
• Tense the muscles
• During this classic “fight-or-flight” response
• It becomes more difficult to think clearly
• We make more mistakes
• We have difficulty processing new information
• Emotions cloud our judgment
05/17/2021 LOBO LANGUAGE ACCESS 11

12. How Stress Affects Interpreting
Acute stress has an instantaneous effect on
your mental, physical, and emotional state.
•During an interpreting session
•We may have to ask for more frequent repetitions
•Have trouble maintaining accuracy
•Have trouble maintaining completeness
•Find it difficult to manage the flow of conversation
•Lose our objectivity, and
•Become emotionally affected by the emotions of
those around us
•FREEZE
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13. Stress and Your Brain
To understand how stress can impact your interpreting
ability, we need to understand how the brain processes
interpreting in non-stressful situations first.
What does the brain actually DO while we interpret?
◦ To understand what happens, we should first
look at cognitive function during
normal conversational speech
13

14. Cognitive Functions During Speech
Language processing refers to the way humans use words to
communicate ideas and feelings, and how such
communications are processed and understood
Cognitive function during interpreted speech involves all the
areas in the brain and body that receive and process input in
order to:
• hear it,
• understand it,
• convert it, and
• be able to reproduce it
• in another language
14

15. The eight steps of speech production
(in a single language)
For someone speaking a single language, it looks like this:
1. Speech sounds and other stimuli are received by your ear or hearing aid.
2. These sounds are converted to bioelectric signals within the human ear, or
within the hearing aid device.
3. These electric impulses are then transported through specific ganglial
structures, ending up in the primary auditory cortex, on both hemispheres
of the brain. Interestingly, each hemisphere treats this input differently
4. The left side recognizes distinctive parts such as phonemes or basic sounds
of speech, whereas the right side takes over prosodic characteristics* and
melodic information
5. The input then moves through the following areas
in the brain that process
6. speech perception
7. semantic association, and only then does it move to
8. speech production-- Only EIGHT steps!
15

16. 11 steps to speech production
(when interpreting between two languages)
When we move from communicating in
one language to interpreting, we add
the following tasks to the mix:
◦ Memory
◦ Conversion
◦ Iteration
◦ Your brain is now handling ALL of the prior tasks,
plus, three new tasks
◦ Essentially, you are adding 3 balls to the 8 balls
you’re already juggling!
Adding stress to this mix ensures that you are going to
drop some, if not all, of those balls at some point. It will
probably happen more than once in a day.
What can you do in these situations?
16

17. What Can You Do?
•One of the best way to prepare for the emotional or
physical stress on the job, and feel ready to interpret
as your appointment begins, is to:
• Do the work
• Conversion practice
• Skill drills
• SELECTING A SELF-CALMING TECHNIQUE THAT WORKS FOR
YOU AND MINDFULLY EMPLOYING IT WHEN NEEDED
• Exercises and practice prior to entering the room!
•The best tactic during an appointment, is to
manage the flow, as soon as you notice things
beginning to go off track.
17

18. What can you do?
18
Practice how you are going to say this, so
that when you need to, you can smoothly
and professionally interrupt the flow, and
ask for a repetition or clarification.
• You may ask speakers to slow down or speak more
clearly (emotions tend to make people talk faster and
less intelligibly). If you phrase it professionally,
• “The interpreter requests that you slow down so that
nothing is missed”
• “The interpreter requests that you pause more
frequently to ensure accuracy”
• You may need to remind people to slow down, and for
this, it’s always helpful to introduce a hand signal or
sign, that you will consistently use to interrupt, such as
hand up/palm out, or the ‘timeout’ symbol from sports.
Personally, I find it simplest to demonstrate
the hand signal I will be using, towards the
end of my pre-session, (even though often,
I end up never using it).

19. Scripts
on Demand
Having a professional script ready for when you make a
mistake or forget a word, is a great tool to always use.
◦ By professional script, I mean a statement you have prepared
beforehand, that you regularly use for certain situations
◦ For example, your introduction should include a greeting, your
name and the language you interpret, and you should consistently
introduce yourself the same way. Practice makes perfect. Smooth
delivery of your introduction is professional and a way to work in
those pre-session items before anyone can stop you.
◦ Having additional scripts, for example, a way you regularly ask for
someone to speak up, repeat themselves, or a standard way to ask
for clarification, helps further professionalize your interaction with
your clients.
◦ “The interpreter requests the attorney to speak louder”
◦ “The interpreter needs to clarify…”
◦ “The interpreter is not familiar with the term ‘x’, could
you please explain?”
◦ Use a script when something slips your mind,
◦ “The interpreter asks that you repeat the question”
◦ There is no need to go into a long explanation about how you
can recall five of the six items, but just can’t put your finger on
the sixth item.
◦ SIMPLY ASK FOR A REPETITION
19

20. Pre-Session | Introduction Script
1. Hi, I’m Eliana, your
Portuguese/English
interpreter
2. Please speak directly to
each other in first person…
3. …and be aware that
everything that is said will
be interpreted, and, kept
confidential
4. This is the signal I will use,
if I need a repetition or
clarification
1. Greeting to provider and
patient, plus confirmation of
language pair
2. Use of first person
reinforced
3. Transparency regarding
interpreting all utterances,
reminder of
confidentiality/HIPAA
4. Demonstrate the hand
signal or motion so it will be
recognized if used
Now Repeat Your Introduction In Your Second Language! 20

21. Clarification | Repetition Script
1. The interpreter needs a
repetition, or interpreter
asks for a repetition
2. The interpreter can’t hear
o Please turn up the volume
o Please turn the crying baby
around
o Please close the window
3. The interpreter can no longer
see you/the patient
o Please turn the camera
towards the speaker
1. Third person used whenever the
interpreter is referring to self,
use pre-determined hand signal
2. Third person used to manage
encounter, ask for what you
need to do a good job!
3. Visual cues are always helpful
21
Now Repeat Your Request In Your Second Language!

22. Breakout Room Practice
PAIRED EXERCISE TO PRACTICE PRE-SESSION & CLARIFICATION REQUEST
22

23. Emotional Stress and Your Brain
Now that we have a basic understanding of all the cognitive tasks
we are simultaneously juggling during a standard, calm
interpretation, we should consider what is taking place in our
brains during an emotionally charged, highly stressful
interpretation assignment.
These assignments can range from
◦ interpreting for a pelvic exam for a sexual assault victim,
(particularly if the victim is very young)
◦ interpreting for a victim of assault, battery, or capital crime
◦ interpreting in the trauma bay
◦ in the Emergency Room
◦ for families at end of life
◦ involuntary commitment
◦ deportation hearings
◦ anything where pain and fear are
present or reawakened by the telling
23

24. Emotional Stress and Your Brain
Firstly, there are as many responses to stress as there are
people. Some of us handle stress very well. Most of us don’t.
When you interpret under a great deal of stress, the stress
triggers off an alarm in the brain, which responds by preparing
the body for defensive actions. The nervous system becomes
fully aroused and hormones are released to sharpen the senses,
quicken the pulse and respiration, tense the muscles.
◦ This response is often called the “fight or flight” response
◦ Common symptoms are
◦ Increased heart rate
◦ Increased respiration
◦ Increase in blood pressure
◦ Blood circulation diverted
◦ Hormonal changes
◦ adrenalin release, cortisol production
24

25. Emotional Stress and Your Brain
• Interpreting while experiencing “fight or flight” response
• adds weight to the processing load you, as the interpreter, are
cognitively carrying and experiencing
• Inevitably, this extra weight either slows you down, or
stops you altogether
• Self-monitoring of imminent performance failure is critical
• Even more important, is having the skills needed to manage
the situation before it reaches epic fail levels
25

26. Interpreting with Emotional Stress
Interpreting while experiencing “fight or flight” response, while
simultaneously experiencing strong emotions, adds even more
weight to your cognitive load, and reduces the amount of focus
you are able to place on your conscious attention.
This is where you can begin to make serious mistakes, because you are
no longer able to take in all the information as fully as when you were
not stressed.
◦ Having scripts for managing the flow
helps in these moments.
◦ So does being ready for your current
assignment in terms of terminology,
familiarity with processes for the location
◦ Having self-confidence because you have
been practicing, studying and preparing.
◦ Fluency is key for better performance
under stress, because effortless
processing places fewer demands
on conscious attention.]
26

27. Interpreting with Emotional Stress
• In what other ways does stress affect your interpreting ability?
• We’ve already seen that it adds more weight to your cognitive load
• It also reduces the degree of focus you are able to sustain within your
conscious attention / attentive listening.
• High stress also affects your comprehension, concentration,
décalage, as well as your ability to find equivalents.
• As a result, your ability to keep up with the speaker is reduced.
• Processing time is the time you use to perceive the source
message, mentally develop an interpretation, and deliver it.
• It is also called décalage or lag time.
• Most authors agree that interpreters with greater
control of décalage skills tend to make fewer errors.
• However, stress compromises and shortens your
processing time
27

28. Preparatory Exercises can you do, that help minimize your stress,
later, while you are interpreting
Be proactive. Use scripts for managing the flow, which you have practiced,
so you can deliver them smoothly and professionally as needed.
You can train and improve your performance with
exercises designed to cause stress to your cognitive capacity
and language processing speed.
Do the practice exercises suggested below, always combine them
with an interpretation practice drill. Suggested exercises for this include:
1. Shadowing while adding or subtracting a column of numbers by hand
2. Interpreting while copying entries from a dictionary or telephone book
onto a sheet of paper
3. Shadowing while standing on one foot, or juggling, or holding a yoga pose
4. Interpreting while bouncing a ball
5. Interpreting while knitting or crocheting
6. Interpreting at faster than normal speed
7. Shadow / interpret while doing ANY repetitive task
(folding laundry, sweeping, raking, washing dishes, while stuck in traffic)
28

29. Strategies to prepare for the inevitable stress that will come
These exercises divert your attention to other areas in your
brain and body, causing your speech processing to become
challenged
◦ It does not provoke a “fight or flight” reaction, but it does stress your
cognitive capacity and language processing speed and capabilities.
Increase your décalage, by practicing increasing your lag time
◦ This increase will only take place with mindful practice.
But practice will assist you in lengthening your décalage.
Know yourself and your limitations
Learn how to detect when you are at
your cognitive load limit!
Then, take charge and MANAGE THE FLOW!
29

30. Why should I do these exercises?
You are never going to be able to replicate the true angst and
emotional distress you can often experience on the job during
your private practice. But you can cause an intellectual or a
physical distraction during your skills practice, which will make
your interpreting practice exercise harder.
◦ When you split your attention, and direct your body to manage standing
on one foot or bouncing a ball while doing the practice drill, there is less
attention left over for your interpreting
This split attention forces you to work through the exercise with
less than 100% full attention to the interpreting task. This helps
you develop skills in managing your own stress.
◦ It also helps you identify early on, the feelings and thoughts you usually
have when you are starting to have trouble keeping up with the speech,
when you start to fall behind and are approaching the point of failure, or
no proficiency.
◦ PAY ATTENTION TO HOW THIS FEELS SO YOU CAN IDENTIFY IT EARLY ON THE JOB!
◦ This is where managing the flow helps forestall going blank or slamming
into a full stop
30

31. Incorporating Practice Into Your Daily Life
Find ways to practice your interpreting on a daily basis
• I listen to NPR while commuting and find it a great source of
dialogue on a wide variety of interesting subjects that I can
practice shadowing or interpreting on daily basis.
• You can use ear buds and do the same while biking, jogging or
going for a walk, or even while doing chores.
• Staying “Fit” and proficient as an interpreter is a matter of
incorporating small things into your everyday routine, just like
eating right, getting enough sleep or exercising.
• It’s not like studying for a final exam, it can be as simple
as finding a way to incorporate a few small practice
drills into your daily routine, when you do chores or
go for a walk.
31

32. Stress & Cognitive Function
The NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) addresses the
effect of stress on cognitive function in their published paper
http://www.nfpa.org/~/media/Files/proceedings/supdet11chandlerpaper.pdf
The NFPA states,
◦ “the average individual suffers from diminished cognitive
functions during peak stress periods of an emergency.
◦ We know that the ability to comprehend and understand
messages decreases during these periods, and
◦ We also know that the typical person has a loss of about
four grade levels in verbal or reading ability.”
The above statement applies to English-only speakers, it does not apply to
LEP (limited English proficiency) or bilingual and multi-lingual speakers!
The situation for LEP is far worse, when it comes to language loss and
language access during traumatic events.
32

33. NFPA Study
“Research has already demonstrated that peak periods of crisis stress can
alter cognitive processes for reading, comprehension, interpretation, and
assessment of risk among target audiences for such emergency notification
communication.
The unexplored questions relate to how those who are proficient in a
second (or subsequent) language react and respond to warnings and
messages in peak periods of stress and complexity.
◦ First language (Language 1 or L1) is a construct which typically is used to indicate a language that
a person either learned “first” in development chronology and/or is as proficient in as a native
individual or as proficient as the average person who speaks no other language but that language.
Subsequent language fluency is called “second language” (L2). Language attrition is the loss of a
first or second language (L2) or a portion of L2 language skills by individuals.
Language reversion of L2 speakers is a phenomenon where cognitive
processing (decoding/encoding) and comprehension abilities for
communication of an L2 speaker unexpectedly diminish and L2 speakers
shift to vocabulary, grammar, and lexical processing (thinking) in L1
languages.
◦ Some research has suggested that some higher order cognitive processes, including those
performed under high stress conditions result in reversion to thinking and processing
communication in primary L1 language and makes processing L2 warnings and emergency
messages challenging and confusing.”
33

34. Managing Stress While Interpreting
STRESS ON THE JOB, AND HOW TO MANAGE IT
WHILE YOU ARE INTERPRETING
34

35. It Happens to Everyone
• All interpreters have experienced that moment when they
realize they are forgetting something, or worse, when the word
you are about to say, vanishes from your mind as you are about
to speak
• These types of situations tend to occur more frequently both
when you are physically stressed, like at the end of a long day,
when you are tired, or fighting a cold or suffering from an allergy
• These situations also tend to occur more often during highly
emotional situations, when the speaker is overwrought with
anger, pain or fear
• If you are a court interpreter, or a healthcare interpreter, you
may be repeatedly exposed to this kind of stress throughout a
typical workday
35

36. Two Types of Stress
•Stressors can be
• Chronic (long term)
• Acute (short term)
•Stressors can include
• Traumatic events
• Significant life changes
• Daily hassles, and
• Situations where one is frequently exposed to challenging
and often unpleasant events
•Many potential stressors include events or situations
that require us to
• Make changes in our lives, such as a divorce or moving to a
new residence, or
• Require making difficult decisions
36

37. Two Types of Stress
•Stressors can be
• Chronic (long term)
• Acute (short term)
•Stressors can include
• Traumatic events
• Significant life changes
• Daily hassles, and
• Situations where one is frequently exposed to challenging
and often unpleasant events
•Many potential stressors include events or situations
that require us to
• Make changes in our lives, such as a divorce or moving to a
new residence, or
• Require making difficult decisions
37

38. Managing Your Stress in the Moment
•The first step in managing stress is to understand it
•The second step is to give yourself permission to
focus on yourself in order to deal with it
•The third step is to proactively practice the stress
management technique that works for you,
regularly, on an ongoing basis
• You will not know which technique is best suited to you,
until you try several different techniques and pick the
one you like the best
You cannot attempt any of these strategies or techniques
for the very first time, in the middle of an encounter!
38

39. Physiological Effects of Stress
https://youtu.be/v-t1Z5-oPtU
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39

40. Self-calming Techniques
The Tapping Solution Foundation
www.tappingsolutionfoundation.org
◦ The Tapping Solution Foundation was formed shortly after the Sandy Hook
Elementary School tragedy to provide trauma relief for families who had
lost loved ones, teachers, first responders, and other survivors.
The calm breathing technique
https://www.calmclinic.com/anxiety/treatment/breathing-exercises
◦ Take a slow breath in through the nose (for about 4 seconds)
◦ Hold your breath for 1 or 2 seconds.
◦ Exhale slowly through the mouth (over about 4 seconds)
◦ Wait 2-3 seconds before taking another breath (5-7 seconds for teenagers)
◦ Repeat for at least 5 to 10 breaths.
Daily Meditation or Yoga
https://blog.spire.io/2017/04/25/meditation-techniques-for-anxiety/
Other Techniques
https://psychcentral.com/lib/9-ways-to-reduce-anxiety-right-here-right-now/
40

41. How to Manage Stress During an Interpretation
•How you manage these stressful moments, can either
help or hurt your performance going forward.
•Getting flustered is a natural response! However,
allowing the momentary stress to take over and
spiral out of control, will only further hamper your
performance as an interpreter.
• If you don’t address the “Fight or Flight” feelings, they
inevitably transform into “Deer Caught in the Headlights”
syndrome! Now you are FROZEN.
• YOU NEED TO HAVE PRACTICED SELF-CALMING TECHNIQUES
PRIOR TO THE EVENT! SO IT WILL WORK WHEN NEEDED!
41

42. Physical Movement Intervention
If, while you are interpreting, you experience a
“fight or flight” moment. For example, when
• Your attention wandered
• You missed part of an utterance
• You were about to say the right word and suddenly
it was gone from your mind
• You have never heard a particular term or word
before, and don’t know what it means…
• You are triggered…
42

43. Make a Small Physical Movement
Conscious physical movement interrupts frozen pauses.
Anything you can do that requires movement of a body part,
will help jolt you out of the momentary “freeze”.
Use small UNOBTRUSIVE movements, such as:
• Take a deep breath and let it out slowly
• Open/close your hand in your lap
• Clench and unclench your toes
inside of your shoes
• Wiggle your big toe!
[Remember, we don’t want any movements
to appear obvious to others, either in the
room with you, or to clients onscreen.]
43

44. Shiatsu Pressure Point
Used To Relieve Anxiety
44

45. Decision-making
Often anxiety and stress can come from not knowing the right
decision to make in the moment
Demand-Control Schema theory offers insight into this. For a
quick training on this technique I would recommend,
◦ “Help! What do I do now?”, Improving Decision-Making Skills for Interpreters
Using Demand-Control Schema, by Karen Malcolm
https://ncihc.memberclicks.net/home-for-trainers---help--what-do-i-do-now---
improving-decision-making-skills-for-interpreters-using-demand-control-schema
45

46. Demand-Control Schema: what is it?
In 2001, Robyn Dean and Robert Pollard had applied Demand-
Control theory to the world of sign language interpreting.
Dean and Pollard used their findings to not simply bring a
customized approach to understanding and mitigating the
effects of stressors endemic to interpreting but to
fundamentally shift the paradigm within which new interpreters
are prepared.
In their Demand Control Schema (DC-S), Dean and Pollard find
four discrete kinds of demands that come to bear on the
interpreter at work. Namely:
1. Environmental
2. Interpersonal
3. Paralinguistic
4. Intrapersonal
46

47. Demand-Control Schema: what is it?
Environmental Demands
◦ Environmental challenges are those related to setting: the required lexicon; the
weather or temperature; the configuration and availability of necessary things; the
tasks and job descriptions of consumers and others within their sphere of influence.
Interpersonal Demands
◦ Interpersonal challenges may include: personalities; understandings and
misunderstandings, preconceived notions; and idiosyncrasies of those interacting
with interpreting stakeholders.
Paralinguistic Demands
◦ The prefix para- means alongside or beyond. Paralinguistic challenges include the
stuff that accompanies or surpasses mere vocabulary or syntax; but, can make or
break the communication: Is it clear? Is there an accent or dialect that impedes it?
Do the stakeholders understand the subject, are they communicating concepts
effectively? Is the discourse coherent? Are there "lazy communicators" involved, or
is everyone equally concerned with communication success?
Intrapersonal Demands
◦ Intra- means within. These are the physical, psychological, and emotional
experiences of the interpreter: Too hot? Hungry? Sleepy? Angry? Frustrated?
Afraid? Confident?
47

48. Demand-Control Schema: what is it?
Controls
◦ The controls an interpreter might use to satisfy
workplace demands include: skill; knowledge;
ability; competence; decision-making experience;
and any other resources she or he can call upon
while on the job.
◦ Is the interpreter prepared?
◦ Does the interpreter have emergency plans in place, ready
as needed?
◦ Is the interpreter making effective communication
choices?
◦ Making sound cultural mediation decisions?
◦ Managing fatigue, hunger, boredom?
48

49. Demand-Control Schema: what is it?
Dean and Pollard identified three critical points during which
time the interpreter is called upon to make key control
decisions.
The three critical points in time are:
1. Pre-assignment-education, vocabulary, subject
competence; nutrition; health;
2. Assignment-interpretive choices; relationships with other;
ethical integrity and decision-making; and
3. Post-assignment-reflection and analysis; professional
development activities; continued ethical and professional
integrity.
Once the assignment is completed, DC-S becomes a tool to be
used for analysis, the interpreter checking the effectiveness of
his or her use of controls to satisfy demands.
49

50. Why Does DC-S Matter?
The impact of stress on cognitive functioning
depends on an individual's response to stressors.
Knowledge of Controls helps guide decision making
and helps manage stressors.
The ability to engage in goal-directed behavior,
despite exposure to stress, is critical for the
development of RESILIENCE.
Moderate responses to
stress can lead to improved
performance, while extreme
stress can lead to impaired
performance.
05/17/2021 LOBO LANGUAGE ACCESS 50

51. 51
Demand
Control
Control

52. RESILIENCE
The ability to engage in goal-directed behavior despite
exposure to stress is critical to resilience.
How stress can impair or improve behavioral functioning impacts
performance in diverse settings, from athletic competitions to
academic testing, to on-the-job performance.
Controllability is a key factor in the impact of stress on behavior:
learning how to control stressors, buffers people from the negative
effects of stress on subsequent cognitively demanding tasks.
Research suggests that the impact of stress on cognitive functioning
depends on an individual's response to stressors.
Moderate responses to stress
can lead to improved performance,
while extreme stress can
lead to impaired performance.
05/17/2021 LOBO LANGUAGE ACCESS 52

53. 53
View
Obstacles as
Challenges
Utilize the
Best of ALL
Available
Options
Demand
Control
Control

54. Be Prepared
Have scripts for well-known pitfalls
◦ Introduction/Pre-Session
◦ Intervening when
◦ Someone is talking too fast
◦ You can’t hear the speaker
◦ Patient or client appears confused/doesn’t
understand the question
◦ When you yourself are not familiar with a term
It’s called “managing the flow”
54

55. Managing the Flow
The key is to quickly recognize a possible challenge or
pitfall, and manage the situation right away, as it
occurs, BEFORE you get stuck.
This works far better than allowing things to get off track.
As in all communication, immediately address any
concerns clearly and inclusively. This leads to
transparency, which always aids
communication and cooperation.
55

56. Assert Yourself When You Need To
Remember to couch any request as an example of
your customer service:
“The interpreter can’t hear you clearly, in order do a good
job for you, and interpret accurately and completely, your
volume needs to be louder”,
◦ People are generally receptive when you say you are working to
make the encounter better for them
Practicing scripts and being able to deliver them smoothly
helps you manage the flow of the encounter professionally
◦ Umms and Errrs weaken your professional impact, if you need to interrupt
the flow, it should sound smooth, clear and quick
56

57. You Can Do It!
57

58. Free Phone Apps You Can Use to Record Yourself
iPhone
• Best voice recording apps for iPhone
and iPad - iDownloadBlog
• www.idownloadblog.com/2016/05/22/b
est-voice-recording-apps-iphone-ipad/
• Audio Speed Changer Free on the App
Store - iTunes - Apple
• https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/audio-
speed-changer-free/id680523422?mt=8
Android
• How to Change the Speed of Audio
Playback With these 4 Android Apps
• https://www.guidingtech.com/56100/al
ter-speed-audio-playback-android-apps/
• Speed Changer - Android Apps on
Google Play
• https://play.google.com/store/apps/det
ails?id=jp.ne.sakura.ccice.audipo&hl=en
These voice recording apps for smart phones, also allow you
to alter the speed of ANY recording. Very helpful to know
what speed is too fast for you, to be able to render accurately.
58

59. RESOURCES for this webinar
1. PHYSIOLOGICAL STRESS DURING SIMULTANEOUS INTERPRETING: A COMPARISON OF EXPERTS AND NOVICES
Ingrid Kurz, Univ of Vienna, THE INTERPRETERS' NEWSLETTER, Number 12, 2003
http://etabeta.univ.trieste.it/dspace/bitstream/10077/10166/1/12%20full%20text.pdf#page=56
2. Application of Demand-Control Theory: Sign Language Interpreting: Implications for Stress & Interpreter Training
Robyn K. Dean and Robert Q Pollard Jr.
http://jdsde.oxfordjournals.org/content/6/1/1.short
3. Prolonged turns in interpreting: Effects on quality, physiological and psychological stress (Pilot study). Authors:
Moser-Mercer, Barbara; Künzli, Alexander; Korac, Marina, Interpreting, Volume 3, Number 1, 1998, pp. 47-64(18)
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/jbp/intp/1998/00000003/00000001/art00003
4. Assessing Medical Interpreters - The Language and Interpreting Testing Project,
Claudia V. Angelelli, The Translator, Volume 13, Issue 1, 2007
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13556509.2007.10799229
5. Intercultural Mediation in Healthcare: From the Professional Medical Interpreters’ Perspective
Izabel E.T. de V. Souza, Ph.D., xLibris.com, 2016, pp. 28-270
6. INTERPRETING STRESS by Yolanda Aaliyah
https://www.scribd.com/doc/312535057/Interpreting-stress-pdf
7. Crossing Borders in Community Interpreting: Definitions and Dilemmas (Benjamins Translation Library, Vol. 76)
by Carmen Valero-Garces (Editor), Anne Martin (Editor),
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/9027216851?ie=UTF8&tag=terpt-
20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=9027216851
59

60. RESOURCES for this webinar
cont’d
8. Cognitive Skills of the Brain, Brain Injury Alliance https://biau.org/about-brain-injuries/cognitive-skills-of-the-
brain/
9. PHYSIOLOGICAL STRESS DURING SIMULTANEOUS INTERPRETING: A COMPARISON OF EXPERTS AND NOVICES,
by I Kurz - The Interpreters' Newsletter, 2003
http://etabeta.univ.trieste.it/dspace/bitstream/10077/2472/1/03.pdf
10. Interpreting as a stressful activity: physiological measures of stress in simultaneous interpreting, by Walter de
Gruyter, Poznan Studies in Contemporary Linguistics, Volume 52, Issue 2 (Jun 2016)
http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/psicl.2016.52.issue-2/psicl-2016-0011/psicl-2016-0011.xml
11. What is Proficiency? National Security Language Initiative (NSLI),
https://startalk.umd.edu/public/system/files/resources/ACTFLModule/index.html
12. Language Registers Montano-Harmon, M. R. “Developing English for Academic Purposes” California State
University, Fullerton. http://www.genconnection.com/English/ap/LanguageRegisters.htm
13. Stress And The Interpreter, A Research Paper By, Said Shahat, presented at ATA
14. Stress Busters for the Interpreters (and Everyone Else), by Julie Burns, ATA Chronicle 2010
15. Stress, Lifestyle and Health, Courses, Lumen Learning
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/ivytech-psychology1/chapter/introduction-defining-stress/
16. When does stress help or harm? The effects of stress controllability and subjective stress response on stroop
performance Roselinde K., Henderson, Hannah R Snyder, Tina Gupta, Marie T Banich
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22701442/
17. How stress affects your body - Sharon Horesh Bergquist
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-t1Z5-oPtU
60

61. ANY Questions?
Please feel free to contact me at:
61