Aptitude

Aptitude for conference interpreting has always been a sensitive issue for both Conference Interpreter Training Programs and professional interpreter associations alike. This chapter will provide an overview of the basic concepts and research developments in the field of aptitude testing over the last 60 years. The chapter will first illustrate the concept of aptitude developed within the framework of educational sciences and see how it was applied to the field of conference interpreting. It will then show how the concept of aptitude for conference interpreting and of the ‘ideal candidate’ has been consistently broken down into cognitive, linguistic, behavioural, motivational and skill components in an attempt to develop valid and reliable predictive tests. The chapter will report on the issues debated, the methodologies developed and the results obtained in the main investigations carried out so far, with a focus on empirical research on hard and soft skills. While there is still a dearth of empirical studies with conclusive results on aptitude testing, the chapter will nevertheless highlight how, despite the many challenges and constraints, several studies have laid the foundations for promising predictive tests.