Thematic Risk as Social Practice: A Three-Element Model Analysis of Simultaneous Interpreting

Building on Pym’s concept of risk and risk management in translation, and with an abductive research design combining constructivist grounded theory with social practice theory, this study examines how risk in simultaneous interpreting is situated, constructed, and managed in practice. Drawing on data from onsite interpreting and retrospective interviews with interpreters at the 2022 World 5G Convention, the study identifies three dimensions of thematic risk—sectoral, regional, and procedural—that are understood as domain- and theme-induced constraints on meaning transfer. These dimensions are interpreted through Shove et al.’s three-element model of practice to show how risk emerges not just from individual cognition alone but also from interactions between the interpreters and material, competence-based, and socio-discursive conditions. The interpreters employed strategies such as omission, generalization, and repair to manage these risks in situ. Notably, despite cumulative fatigue, the interpreters demonstrated a dynamic adaptation trajectory, shifting from phonetic guessing to standardized terminology use over time. The study thus proposes a dynamic model that reconceptualizes thematic risk as a continuum of challenges evolving through the interpreter’s ongoing coupling with their thematic ecosystem.