Operational Challenges in Interpreting: A Functional Analysis of Breakdowns and Strategic Responses in Video-Recorded Performances

Although simultaneous and consecutive interpreting have been extensively discussed in the literature, less attention has been given to how interpreters respond to real-time challenges in authentic professional settings, particularly in Persian–English contexts. This study investigates the challenges encountered by professional interpreters and the strategies they employ while working under demanding communicative conditions. An initial collection of more than thirty publicly available unscripted interpreting videos was examined, and eight recordings meeting the selection criteria were chosen for detailed analysis. The data consisted of approximately ninety minutes of professional interpreting across sports interviews, press conferences, and politically sensitive events. All recordings were transcribed and analyzed to identify recurring performance features, including pauses, omissions, disfluencies, reformulations, and changes in speech rhythm. The findings indicate that such features frequently emerged in situations involving rapid speech, overlapping turns, emotional intensity, relay interpreting, and technical disruption. Rather than reflecting simple performance failure, many of these instances appeared to function as adaptive responses that enabled interpreters to maintain communicative continuity. The study highlights the dynamic nature of interpreting performance and offers insights that may be useful for interpreter training and professional preparation in high-pressure contexts.