What a micro-analytical investigation of additions and expansions in remote interpreting can tell us about interpreters' participation in a shared virtual space

•This paper explores data from video-mediated remote interpreting (RI).•The primary aim is to investigate of the motives for additions/expansions in RI.•We employ Conversation Analysis enriched with an analysis of social macro-variables.•A secondary aim is to evaluate the usefulness of this methodological approach.•The analysis highlights the complex and multidimensional nature of additions/expansions in RI.

This paper explores data from video-mediated remote interpreting (RI) which was originally generated with the aim of investigating and comparing the quality of the interpreting performance in onsite and remote interpreting in legal contexts. One unexpected finding of this comparison was that additions and expansions were significantly more frequent in RI, and that their frequency increased further after a phase of familiarisation and training for the participating interpreters, calling for a qualitative exploration of the motives and functions of the additions and expansions. This exploration requires an appropriate methodology. Whilst introspective data give insights into interpreting processes and the motivations guiding the interpreter's choices, they tend to be unsystematic and incomplete. Micro-analytical approaches such as Conversation Analysis are a promising alternative, especially when enriched with social macro-variables. In line with this, the present paper has a dual aim. The primary aim is to explore the nature of additions and expansions in RI, examining especially to what extent they are indicative of interpreting problems, to what degree they are specific to the videoconference situation, what they reveal about, and how they affect the interpreter's participation in RI. The secondary aim is to evaluate the micro-analytical approach chosen for this exploration.