Media interpreting: From user expectations to audience comprehension

This chapter offers a thorough conceptual analysis of media interpreting as a form of audiovisual translation, with special reference to interpreting performed for broadcast mass media programs, especially on television. Based on criteria such as interpreting modes, language modality and communicative scenarios, a fourfold (proto)typology of media interpreting is proposed as a framework for the presentation of reception-oriented studies. Following a review of the evolution of reception-oriented research on media interpreting, with special attention to methodological approaches, two main lines of work are identified: research on media users’ expectations and assessment of interpreted audiovisual content, and studies on media accessibility for deaf viewers through signed language interpreting. Relevant research designs are exemplified in an effort to highlight promising avenues for future studies.