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Article published In: FORUM
Vol. 14:2 (2016) ► pp.173–193

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Strategy use in English-to-Chinese simultaneous interpreting

A descriptive-exploratory study

 | Southwest University
 | Macquarie University
Published online: 30 March 2017
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/forum.14.2.01han
Abstract
The study reported here attempts to describe and explore possible patterns of strategy use in English-to-Chinese simultaneous interpreting (SI) of fast-delivery and accented speeches, drawing upon a subset of empirical data generated from a larger experimental study (see Han, Chao & Riazi, Mehdi. 2016. Investigating the effects of speech rate and accent on simultaneous interpretation: A mixed-methods approach. Manuscript submitted for publication.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). A paralleled text analysis of source speeches and transcripts of interpretations indicates that the interpreters developed a deep repertoire of interpreting strategies, but utilized strategies of syntactic transformation and of substitution most frequently across different speeches. They also employed strategy clusters, a sequential combination of strategies, to cope with complex source-text segments. In addition, the speech rate affected the use of the two prominent strategies (i.e., syntactic transformation and substitution) considerably, whereas the accent did not. These results are explained and their implications for interpreter training are also discussed.
Résumé
L’étude rapportée ici tente de décrire et d’explorer les modèles possibles de l’utilisation de la stratégie en anglais à l’interprétation simultanée chinois (SI) de livraison rapide et discours accentués, en tirant sur un sous-ensemble de données empiriques générées à partir d’une étude expérimentale plus grande. Une analyse de texte parallélisée des discours source et les transcriptions des interprétations indique que les interprètes ont développé un répertoire profond de stratégies d’interprétation, mais les stratégies de transformation syntaxique et de substitution utilisés le plus fréquemment dans les différents discours. Ils ont également employé des grappes de stratégie, une combinaison séquentielle de stratégies, pour faire face aux complexes segments texte source. En outre, le débit de la parole affecté à l’utilisation des deux stratégies de premier plan (à savoir, la transformation syntaxique et substitution) considérablement, tandis que l’accent n’a pas. Ces résultats sont expliqués et leurs implications pour la formation des interprètes sont également discutés.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1Defining, identifying and categorizing interpreting strategies
    • 2.2The effect of source-text characteristics on strategy use
  • 3.Research questions
  • 4.Method
    • 4.1Data source
    • 4.2Strategy coding
    • 4.3English glosses for the target language interpretations
    • 4.4Samples selected for the analysis
  • 5.Results
    • 5.1Strategy use: illustrated examples
    • 5.2Patterns of strategy use
    • 5.3Strategy clusters
    • 5.4Effect of speech rate and accent on strategy use
  • 6.Discussion
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (30)
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