Abstract
The present research examines phonetic perception (i.e., listening skills) of Japanese professional interpreters and Japanese student interpreters. The research was carried out in order to verify the results of Takahashi (2009) and Takahashi & Ooigawa (2009). In the present research, professional interpreters and student interpreters were asked to identify English consonants and vowels in words embedded in sentences. As in Takahashi & Ooigawa (2009), the results show that there is no significant difference between the two groups. However, there is a significant difference between the results of returnees (i.e., kikoku-shijo in Japanese) and non-returnees. The results suggest that the differences in phonetic perception derive not from the interpreting career, but from the early residential experience.
