Interpreters are required to study documents, read speeches and other
information, and write down notes during their work, as was mentioned in Chapter 2,
hence ISO 2603 has made a number of specifications with regard to the working
surface and space. The working surface should be placed at the front of the booth
across the full width; the surface height should be 0.73m ± 0.01m from the floor
level of the booth; the useable depth should be 0.45m in relation to the interpreters’
angle of vision into the hall; interpreters should have at least 0.66 meters of leg room
in height; shelves and trays for documents should not be placed under the working
surface, but located towards the rear of the booth, within easy reach of the interpreter.
This factor received a compliance rate of 48%; this section examines the nine booths
and their working spaces.
Five of the nine booths have working surfaces that stretch across the full width
of the booth. The TICC VIP Room, NTUH, GIS, and Howard Conference Room
booths are fitted with tables that do not span the booth width. As mentioned earlier,
the table of the GIS booth has been set back 35 centimeters away from the front wall
of the booth due to a protrusion from one section of a column. As for the height of the
working surface, only the TICC VIP Room, NTUH, and GIS tables conform to the
ISO requirement.
Although ISO 2603 defines “useable depth” as the depth of the working surface
clear of equipment and fixtures, this is difficult to ascertain as some equipment may
be move and locations adjusted according to interpreters’ needs. As such, this study
determined that the average interpretation console is approximately 15 centimeters
deep. Thus, this study set out to examine whether the total depth of working surfaces
was at least 0.60 meters (0.45m + 0.15m). Only the TICC Plenary Hall and NCL
booths failed to reach at least 0.60 meters in depth, being 59 centimeters and 53
centimeters deep, respectively.
Only the TICC VIP Room, NTUH, and Howard Convention Hall and
Conference Room booths provide enough leg room for interpreters.
All nine booths do not contain shelving or trays beneath the working surface.
However, the TICC 401 and Plenary Hall, Grand Hotel, and Howard Conference
Room booths do contain drawers beneath the table.
Of the booths surveyed, only the NTUH and Howard Convention Hall booths
provide any form of shelving for document storage. The NTUH has a whole wall of
shelves located to the side, but it is by no means within easy access of the interpreter
(Figure 4.15). Instead, it seems to be a storage area for when the booth is not in use.
The booths of Howard Convention Hall do not have shelves or trays per se, but rather
a ledge that can be used to place documents and other objects (Figure 4.16). On
another note, the TICC VIP Room, although already a small booth, was provided with
a row of chairs in the back in lieu of storage space (Figure 4.17).
Figure 4.15. Shelves in the NTUH booth
Figure 4.16. Ledge in the Howard Convention Hall booth
Figure 4.17. Chairs in the TICC VIP Room booth
Figure 4.18. Chairs, from left to right, 1st row: TICC 401/Plenary Hall, NTUH, Grand Hotel; 2nd row: Howard Convention Hall, Howard Conference Room, GIS; 3rd row: NCL
4.2.10 Seating
ISO 2603 stipulates that chairs should have five legs, adjustable height,
adjustable back-rest, arm-rests, and castors producing no perceptible noise. Overall,
booth seating received a compliance rate of 37%. Not a single one of the booths
surveyed have adjustable back-rests. The chairs in the TICC VIP Room booth, as can
be seen in the photographs shown in Figure 4.18, follow none of the requirements.
The chairs in the TICC 401 and Plenary Hall booths are identical, both having five
legs. Although these chairs are adjustable in theory, it is near impossible to do so
without assistance in reality. The castors of the chairs in 401 do produce noise as
opposed to those in the Plenary Hall, probably due to lack of oil. The chairs in NTUH,
Grand Hotel, and Howard Convention Hall booths also do not conform to any of the
requirements. Chairs in the GIS and Howard Conference Room booths have five legs,
are adjustable and have arm rests. The chairs in the NCL booths have five legs and
adjustable height, but no arm rests. (Figure 4.18)
4.3 Questionnaire
Out of the 96 email invitations sent, only 28 interpreters responded. The original
questionnaire, conducted online in Mandarin is attached in Appendix C, as well as the
translated questionnaire including results in parentheses, in Appendix D.
As mentioned in the previous chapter, the questionnaire contains two main
sections: the section for general booth factors with 31 questions in which respondents
were asked to rate each with “no opinion”, “very unimportant”, “unimportant”,
“average”, “important”, or “very important”; and the booth-specific section, repeating
19 questions for each booth, in which respondents were asked to rate each with “not
applicable”, “strongly disagree”, “disagree”, “neutral”, “agree”, or “strongly agree”.
0
under 20 21-30 31-40 41-50 over 50
Number of respondents