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Article published In: Babel
Vol. 66:3 (2020) ► pp.434–456

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Language interference in English-Chinese simultaneous interpreting with and without text

 | Southeast University
 | Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Published online: 20 May 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.00168.che
Abstract
This study investigated the effect of source language interference during English-Chinese simultaneous interpreting (SI) with and without text by examining the relationships between manifestations of language interference and interpreting modes. A corpus-based descriptive approach was used to investigate language interference during English-Chinese interpreting at various sessions of the United Nations General Assembly. An intermodal comparison was carried out in three dimensions, addressing (1) the general linguistic properties of the interpreted texts; (2) the distribution of reformulation strategies; and (3) strategies for interpreting passive constructions and attributive clauses, two structures representing structural asymmetries between English and Chinese. The results indicated that the interpreted texts produced by SI with text and SI without text showed different degrees of language interference.
Résumé
Cette étude examine l’impact de l’interférence de la langue source lors de l’interprétation simultanée (IS) de l’anglais en chinois, avec et sans texte, en examinant les relations entre les manifestations d’interférence linguistique et les modes d’interprétation. Une approche descriptive basée sur un corpus a été utilisée pour examiner l’interférence linguistique pendant l’interprétation de l’anglais en chinois lors de diverses séances de l’assemblée générale des Nations Unies. Une comparaison intermodale a été effectuée en trois dimensions, en traitant (1) des propriétés linguistiques générales des textes interprétés ; (2) de la répartition des stratégies de reformulation ; et (3) des stratégies d’interprétation des constructions passives et des clauses attributives, deux structures présentant des asymétries structurelles entre l’anglais et le chinois. Les résultats montrent que les textes interprétés produits par l’interprétation simultanée avec et sans texte présentent des degrés différents d’interférence linguistique.
Article outline
  • 1.Language interference in interpreting
  • 2.Language specificity: A potential trigger of interference during interpreting
  • 3.Language specificity in English-Chinese interpreting
    • 3.1Passive constructions in English and Chinese
    • 3.2Attributive clauses in English and Chinese: Right-branching vs. left-branching
  • 4.Interpreting mode and language interference
    • 4.1SI with text
  • 5.Research questions
  • 6.Research design
    • 6.1The UN GA archive
    • 6.2Data processing
  • 7.Data analysis and discussion
    • 7.1Overall use of lexical features in different modes
      • 7.1.1Lexical variety
      • 7.1.2High-frequency words
    • 7.2Intermodal comparison: Analysis of target reformulation strategies
    • 7.3Intermodal comparison: Interpreting passive constructions and attributive clauses
      • 7.3.1Interpreting passive constructions in SI with text and SI without text
      • 7.3.2Interpreting attributive clauses in SI with text and SI without text
  • 8.Conclusion
    • 8.1Major findings and implications
    • 8.2Limitations and prospects
  • References
References (34)
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