交替传译与同声传译的比较

湘潭大学硕士学位论文交替传译与同声传译质量的比较研究姓名：詹德邦申请学位级别：硕士专业：英语语言文学指导教师：文卫平;吴庄20080525Descriptive Chinese Abstract摘要交替传译和同声传译是目前应用最广泛，最受欢迎的两种口译模式。

交替传译主要应用于记者招待会，媒体发布会以及各种小型会议中；同声传译则主要在各种国际大中型会议中被大量采用。

两种口译模式有各自的优势和特点，那么，他们各自的优势和特点是否是他们在不同场合应用的原因？他们的译文质量是否存在差异？若存在，这些差异是否也是导致他们在不同场合应用的原因？本论文应用口译的精力分配模式，信息处理能力，循环模式等原则和理论来阐述交替传译和同声传译各自进行的步骤，对译文质量的要求以及作为其译员所必须具备的能力；采用实验研究的方法来回答以上提出的几个问题，实验对象为广东外语外贸大学高级翻译学院口译专业二年级的研究生，他们被随机分为了两组。

实验材料选定了两篇演讲，一篇为英语国家人士演讲稿，实验对象所具备的背景知识较少；一篇是中国特色较浓郁的演讲稿，背景知识掌握较多。

实验内容为一组实验对象对材料进行交替传译，另一组进行同声传译。

在本实验中，文化知识背景以及语言的熟练程度被设定为常数。

实验重点是通过实验对象对材料进行交替传译和同声传译所产出的译文质量进行比较和分析。

作者对实验结果进行了定量分析和定性分析。

作者在对实验结果进行比较分析之后，得出如下结论：交替传译和同声传译在译文的质量上确实存在差异；场景的差异对这两种口译模式各自特点和对译文质量的不同要求是交替传译和同声传译在不同场合的应用的原因。

本篇论文同时检验了口译方面的一些理论以及前人所做研究的一些成果。

因为实验对象为广东外语外贸大学高级翻译学院口译专业二年级研究生，本篇论文对高等学校口译人员的培训与教学也具有一定的借鉴意义。

关键词：精力分配模式；交替传译；同声传译；处理能力；循环模式English AbstractAbstractConsecutive interpretation and simultaneous interpretation are two forms of most popular and widely used interpretation. Consecutive interpretation is mainly applied at press conferences, media briefings and other small meetings while simultaneous interpretation is focused on all kinds of international conferences. These two forms of interpretation have their own features and advantages. Do their features and advantages lead to their application in different situations? Are there any differences on the quality between consecutive interpretation and simultaneous interpretation? If yes, do these differences also lead to their application in different situations?The author gives expression to the their own steps, requirements for the reproduction and capacity required by interpreters of consecutive interpretation and simultaneous interpretation by applying effort model in CI and SI, processing capacity, and sequential model of CI and SI. In addition, experimental research is also applied to answer the above-mentioned questions. The experiment is based on tests on the second year of postgraduates majoring interpretation at Guang Dong University of Foreign Studies. They are divided into two groups randomly. Two speeches are chosen with one spoken by person from English-speaking country on which the subjects have less background knowledge and the other from extract with Chinese characteristics on which the subjects have more background knowledge. One group interpreted consecutively and the other simultaneously. In experiment, cultural background and language proficiency are set as invariables. The key for experiment is to compare and analyze the interpretation produced by subjects. The author adopted quantitative and qualitative analysis for the experimental results. After comparison and analysis for the results, the author draws the following conclusion that there are real differences on quality between consecutive interpretation and simultaneous interpretation. The features of two forms of interpretation and the different requirements for the quality in different situations lead to their applications in different situations.As a by-product, the thesis testifies theories on interpretation and findings of previous studies. As the subjects participating in the experiment are second-year postgraduates majoring in interpretation at GDUFS, the study may shed light on the teaching and training provided by universities and colleges.Keywords: effort model; consecutive interpretation; simultaneous interpretation; processing capacity; sequential model湘潭大学学位论文原创性声明本人郑重声明：所呈交的论文是本人在导师的指导下独立进行研究所取得的研究成果。

除了文中特别加以标注引用的内容外，本论文不包含任何其他个人或集体已经发表或撰写的成果作品。

对本文的研究做出重要贡献的个人和集体，均已在文中以明确方式标明。

本人完全意识到本声明的法律后果由本人承担。

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作者签名：日期：年月日导师签名：日期：年月日IntroductionWhat is the origin of interpretation? How long has interpretation been existing? Dating back to the primitive society, people of various tribes found it necessary for them to communicate with each other for the purpose of bartering, exchanging information, marriage, etc. The primitive interpreting occurred among people who had their own voice systems respectively. That's the origin of interpretation. Interpretation has been existing for thousands of years. However it has emerged as an internationally recognized profession since the end of World War One.Consecutive interpretation and simultaneous interpretation are two major forms of interpretation. Chronologically, consecutive interpretation (CI) antedates simultaneous interpretation (SI). CI developed into a recognized profession only during the First World War. The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 was conventionally introduced consecutive interpretation as an instrument to provide language service.The first attempt to introduce SI was made shortly before the Second World War. SI was first patented as a technique by IBM in 1926, and its first implementation (in whisper form) was at Geneva in a tentative in 1927.With development of the economy and progress of the society, more and more international conferences are held around the world, interpretation is serving as an increasing important communicative bridge for cultures and economics. Simultaneous interpretation, as its features of straight, simultaneous and without much time occupying, enjoys great popularity and is widely used in various kinds of international meetings. Against this background, consecutive interpretation, as its features of more accurate, coherent and logical, is also widely used, especially in media briefings and press conferences and addresses for banquets.In the present thesis, following questions are expected to be discussed:Do consecutive and simultaneous interpretations’ features and advantages lead to their application in different situations?Are there any differences on the quality between consecutive interpretation and simultaneous interpretation?If yes, do these differences also lead to their application in different situations?In order to answer these questions, the author conducted a method of experimental comparison and analysis.The whole thesis contains following sections. The first is a brief introduction. Chapter one is literature review, explaining the definition, process and characteristics of both CI and SI and quality assessment and criteria for CI and SI. Previous studies on the research of CI and SI are also expounded in this Chapter. Chapter two presents theoretical framework, including Gile’s Effort Model in CI and SI, Processing Capacity and Fluency in CI and SI and Sequential Model which lay a foundation for the following analysis of the experiment. In Chapter three, author gives a detailed account of the experiment design, subjects and materials and procedures of experiment, aiming to take on an overall and exact arrangement for the experiment. This Chapter is the focus of the whole thesis. In this Chapter, author analyses the experiment results very specifically in quantitative and qualitative manner. In quantitative analysis, descriptive and inferential statistical analyses are applied while qualitative analysis, applying the theories discussed in Chapter two, is conducted on the basis of the quality of target language and content of the subjects’ reproduction. The last section is more of a summary than a conclusion with a brief review of this paper and implications of the present study for the interpretation training and teaching provided by the universities and colleges.Chapter 1: Literature ReviewInterpretation is an activity that consists of establishing, either consecutively or simultaneously oral or gesture communications between two or more speakers who are not speaking the same language. Interpretation is widely accepted profession as well as an important means of cross-cultural communication. Against the backdrop of globalization, interpretation is playing an increasingly role in the world economic and political arena. Consecutive interpretation and simultaneous interpretation are the two main modes of interpretation.1.1 Introducing CI and SIConsecutive interpreting is single work normally done by one interpreter for one conference. In consecutive interpreting, the interpreter usually sits beside or closes to the speaker facing the public, and do not speak at the same time with the speaker. The interpreter will deliver his interpretation after the speaker finished a segment of speech. The speaker will pause and the interpreter will interpret and after the interpreter’s interpretation the speaker will continue the speech. The consecutive interpreting is carried on in the cycling order shifting from the speaker to the interpreter all the time till the end of conference.In consecutive mode, since the interpreter does not start interpreting until the original speaker has stopped, the interpreter has time to analyze the information as a whole, which makes it easier for him to understand its meaning. Therefore, the interpreter can cover the massage more accurately, completely and logically. That is why the consecutive interpreting is often used in high level political talks, press conferences, speeches for welcoming addresses, speeches for banquets, bilingual negotiations, drafting committees, court interpreting, and tourism. Consecutive interpreting can also be applied to escort interpreting, business interpreting, medical interpreting and over-the-phone interpreting.Great efforts have been made by previous scholars to illustrate the CI process. Although different scholars have different focuses and assumptions, their CI process models have a lot in common, which are thought-inspiring for the current study.Weber’s CI Process ModelWeber divides CI process into the following five stages:The first stage --- Hearing.The second stage --- ListeningThe third stage --- AnalyzingThe fourth stage --- Memorizing and/or Note-taking.The fifth stage --- InterpretingWeber emphasizes that the first four stages happen synchronously, and only the last stage is separated from the other four. He believes that in the whole CI process, the first four stages are most effort-consuming, while the fifth stage is most relaxing. Obviously, he puts the focus of CI on the receiving and input process. This is the process when most analyses happen.Liu Minhua’s CI ProcessLiu Minhua’s (1993) understanding of CI Process as shown below is slightly different from Weber’s.The first stage --- Hearing (Including Listening)The second stage --- Analyzing & ComprehensionThe third stage --- Memorizing and/or Note-takingThe fourth stage --- Remembering & Note-readingThe fifth stage --- InterpretingHe thinks that at the hearing or listening stage, the interpreters do not listen passively, but serve as active listeners. This kind of listening is called selective listening. At the second stage, each interpreter has a different ‘depth of processing’ in information analyzing and comprehension.This stage happens synchronously with the first stage. At the third and fourth stages, the interpreter normally uses short-term memory to make a connection between the input information and the knowledge stored in the long-term memory. And at the interpreting stage, the interpreter transfers the message of the original passage into the target language.In consecutive interpretation, the interpreter does not start speaking until the original speaker has stopped. He therefore has time to analyze the message as a whole, which makes it easier for him to understand its meaning. The fact that he is there in the room, and that thespeaker has stopped talking before he begins, means that he speaks to his listeners face to face and he actually becomes the speaker.A common conversation is a two-side interaction, which is composed of the speaker and listener. That CI is distinctive lies in the evidence that between the speaker and listener there is an interpreter, thus forming a link as: the speaker--the interpreter--the listener. The communication between the speaker and listener is not achieved directly but achieved with the interpreter's transmitting message as an inter media. CI comprises double communications: firstly, the communication between the speaker and the interpreter, then the communication between the interpreter and the listener. When he receives the information from the speaker, he is a listener. When he reproduces the information to the audience, he then changes to be a speaker. The original speaker is the speaker and the listener is just the listener all the time in interpreting. The interpreter is special, for he has to shift his roles constantly during interpreting. However, in the speaker-to-listener’s communication, the speaker and listener are not in fixed roles at all. The communication can be divided into several parts of interaction.At the first stage, the speaker speaks and the listener listens. When the communication carries on to the second stage, the former speaker change to be the listener and the previous listener turns to be the speaker. In the speaker-to- interpreter-to-listener’s interpreting, the speaker speaks to the interpreter rather than the listener and the listener listens to the interpreter instead of the speaker.While simultaneous interpreting is a relatively new mode of interpreting. It did not have its full until 1945 at the League of Nations. The practice of simultaneous interpreting (SI) requires a sound-proof booth, in which the simultaneous interpreter sits to receive and deliver the source text and the target text almost concurrently. The reception of the information and the presentation of the interpreted information in the target language are realized through headphones and microphones. The needed conference audience, who do not speak the source language but the target language of the interpreting, may choose to put on a headphone, switch to the right channel and get the interpreted version of the ongoing presentation. The interpreter and the target audience may not communicate with each other directly. The communication chain among the speaker, the interpreter and the delegates goes on like this---the chain among the speaker has his or her own way of delivering the speech withoutthe need of referring to the interpreter; the interpreter listens to the speaker but talks to the audience; and the audience may decide to listen to the floor without putting on the headphone or to the interpreter with the headphone. The information may only be slightly delayed when it is delivered from the speaker till it is received by the audience. This means that the original speech and its reproduction are almost simultaneous..On the basis of observation and analysis of interpretation practice, Seleskovitch and a close-knit group of theorists, among which Lederer is one of her most prominent students, built a theory and a series of training principles, which divided the process of interpretation into three stages, namely, comprehension, deverbalization and expression. They considered SI as a spontaneously proficient bilingual activity, which needs training in speaking while listening instead of merely special linguistic strategies. Based on a blow-by-blow analysis of the recording of the French-German SI, Lederer divided the process of SI into 8 sub-processes as follows:1. Listening;2. Language comprehension;3. Conceptualization (combining the segments that have been heardwith the previous knowledge so as to form the cognitive memory);4. Expressing according to the cognitive memory;5. Understanding of the situation;6. Listening monitoring;7. Trans-coding interpretation;8. Special signifier indication.(Liu Heping, 2005:125)On the basis of Seleskovitch and Lederer’s theory of ‘sense’, Liu Heping, who did interpretation research under the guidance of Lederer, extended the process of interpretation into the following three steps:1. Combining the linguistic meaning with extra-linguistic knowledge soas to generate meaning;2. Deverbalizing during the generation of meaning;3. Using appropriate forms to freely express this meaning.（Liu Heping2001：85）Judging from the specific characteristics of English-Chinese SI, and on the basis of their own personal English-Chinese SI experiences, Zhang Weiwei and Zhong Weihe offered a simplified version of SI working process as follows:addresser →microphone → earphone → SI interpreter →microphone → earphone → addressee.（Zhang Weiwei, 1999:7; ZhongWeihe, 2001:39）1.2 Quality Assessment in CI and SI.What is the quality assessment of interpretation? According to the Cai Xiaohong and Fang Fanquan (2002:281), it refers to the measurement of the quality in the interpretation activities. As far as I am concerned, there are many factors influencing the quality of interpretation, such as the cultural background, the language proficiency, and the physical and psychological conditions of interpreters when interpreting. Therefore, the quality assessment is a very complicated process.According to Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, quality can be defined as a degree of excellence or a degree of conformance to a standard. However, when it comes to the quality of CI, sometimes the criteria are controversial because an interpreter’s performance, to a large extent, is determined not only by the interpreter’s L1 and L2 proficiency, but also by a variety of external factors.Some criteria, such as fluency of delivery, are considered to be very important in judging an interpreter’s performance on various occasions. There is a survey conducted by a foreign institute that three groups of people, those who engaged in the humanities (H), and those dealt with science and technology (S&T) and those who were diplomats (D) were asked to evaluate interpreters’ performance. The aim of this survey is to find out what speakers and receptors concern most in the interpreter’s performance. The result was that both speakers and receptorsconsidered content more important than form in interpreting. Form was ranked the third important. For speakers, the most important factor in form is fluency and for receptors, style and fluency. When the professions of the subjects are taken into account, the result is almost the same. In terms of the form of the interpretation, the H group stressed grammaticality and style while the S&T and D groups emphasized fluency. This survey shows that even though sometimes it is hard to assess the interpreter’s delivery with a set of very rigid standard, fluency is usually the factor which both the speaker and the receptor are concerned about most, because lack of fluency will often irritate the speaker and the receptor, thus leaving a bad impression on the interpreter. That is why fluency must be emphasized during the training of the student- interpreters and the interpreter’s practice.What are the criteria of SI? According to the American linguist Chomsky’s Transformational-Generative Grammar theory, SI can be explained in this way: SI is starting from the surface structure of speaker’s speech (Source) to its deep structure, then from its deep structure to the surface structure of target language (Receptor). That is to say, the interpreter should catch the “implied” meaning behind the surface structure instead of confining in it. Here Nida’s (1993) Equivalence Theory on translation can be used for reference. He advocates that translation consists in producing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source language, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style. Similarly, SI should seek “the closest natural equivalent” of the source language and convey the meaning in idiomatic target language as much as possible. Moreover, SI should give priority to meaning, then to style.It goes without saying that there are some similarities and differences in tens of criteria between interpreting and SI. The criteria of SI also depend on its characteristics. SI is a process to seek the equivalence instantly in the target language in the condition of incomplete information. As a result, the criteria of SI can be defined as the following: Correctness, Quickness and Expressiveness. The soul of the criteria is the principle of “Correctness”; otherwise it is nonsense to talk about expressiveness or quickness. “Correctness” goes first in SI because the goal of SI is transmitting messages. SI, as a highly intensified mental activity, in which the interpreter transfers continuous information, at a rate of 100-150 words per minute approximately, has its connotation in terms of “Correctness”. Generally speaking, theprinciple of “Correctness” consists of three levels in connotation: A) Rendering the meaning fully, which means the interpreter achieves the closest equivalence from the surface structure to the deep structure; B) Rendering the meaning basically, which means the interpreter conveys the meaning, while confining to the surface structure partially; C) Rendering the superficial meaning, which means the interpreter is confined to the surface structure greatly and can not go into the deep structure of the source language. The three levels of fidelity is an equivalent process in which the high-quality interpretation moves from A to B, the poor interpretation moves from B to C.The principle of “Quickness” should come before the principle of “Expressiveness” in SI, which is slightly different from CI. It is decided by the characteristics of SI. It has two connotations. On the one hand, it refers to the interpreter’s quick processing of the incoming information. On the other hand, it means that the interpreter should have a quick response and quick rendition. Of course, it is a misunderstanding that the interpreter should interpret as quickly as possible. Actually, an excellent interpreter should have his or her own pie in interpreting, which will impress the listener, that he or she is worthy to be trusted. If the interpreter speaks too quickly or too slowly, listeners will doubt the interpreter's capacity.“Expressiveness” means that the interpreter should be aware that his or her responsibility is to make the listeners understand what has been said. Therefore, his or her rendition should be compatible with the rules of the target language. At any rate, these three principles are interrelates and inseparable.1.3 Previous Studies on the Research of CI and SIAs far as interpreting in China during these years is concerned, research is being carried out in the following four areas:1) theoretical research; 2) research on practical interpreting skills and techniques; 3) research on teaching interpreting and interpreter training and 4) introducing interpreting. (Hu Gengshen, 2000)Theoretical research is centered on discussions of the definition, principles, features, laws that govern interpreting activities, mode, process, interpreting psychology, genre of the language used, quality of interpreting, criteria for evaluation, etc.Zhong Shukong (1997) thinks that “interpretation, essentially, means an extempore oralreproduction, in one language, of what is said in another language”. He also discusses the forms of interpretation, prerequisites for interpretation, basic qualities required of the interpreter and principles of interpretation. Li Kuiliu (1994) discusses the features, process, criteria for evaluation and social functions of interpreting. Hu Gengshen (2000) deals with tile definition, genre of language, quantitative evaluation for interpretation, and he proposes a “CREDIT” model assessing interpretation effects. Liu Miqing (2003) discusses the function, characteristics, criteria, training and principles of interpretation. And in the last decade, there are more papers and books published discussing the principles, features, process, and genre of language, interpreting psychology, criteria, quantitative evaluation and taboo of interpreting. (Hu Gengshen, 2000)Research on interpreting skills and techniques, which holds the biggest proportion of the four areas of interpreting research, includes discussions about comprehensive interpreting skills, skills for political negotiation, skills for interpreting of science and technology, skills for technical negotiation, skills for tourism interpreting, skills for simultaneous interpreting, skills for memorization, skills for diplomatic interpreting, etc.(Hu Gengshen, 2000)The current research trend of interpreter training is the interdisciplinary study of the process of interpreting and the correlative questions. Some scholars have put their research results in papers or books, such as Liu Heping’s Interpreting Techniques:Science of Thinking and Interpretation Reasoning Pedagogy (2001), Cai Xiaohong’s “Interpretation Study with Interdisciplinary Perspective” (2001), Bao Gang’s Aspects of Interpreting Theory (1998), Zhong Weihe’ s “Interpreter Training: Models and Methodology” (2001), etc.There are still some papers and books introducing the flourishing development of interpreting theories and practice both at home and abroad and offering suggestions about interpreter training, pedagogical course designs and the methods for evaluation, etc, such as Contemporary Translation Theory by Liu Miqing, Teaching of Translation and Interpretation in Hong Kong Universities by Liu Jingzhi, etc.Actually, not only some professors and teachers carried out comparative study on the quality of CI and SI, but also some students conducted some comparison in this regard. Ye Sen, a postgraduate at University of International Business and Economics carried out anexperiment in his thesis An Exploratory Comparison of Quality between Simultaneous and Consecutive Interpretations. Through analysis and comparison of the experimental results, he drew the conclusion that there are differences between consecutive and simultaneous interpretation concerning quality. Consecutive interpretation has better quality concerning fidelity to the original speech and acceptability of the interpretation. It is more accurate, logical and coherent than simultaneous interpretation. Another postgraduate at Guang Dong University of Foreign Study named Li Cheng, also conducted similar study. His thesis is focused on the differences of quality assessment criteria between simultaneous interpreting and consecutive interpreting. However, certain limitations and shortages in their thesis are prominent. In Ye Sen’s thesis, he carried out experiment by choosing four subjects and two speeches as test materials, and then the subjects interpreted the speeches consecutively and simultaneously respectively. Then he collected the recordings and compared and analyzed the results through quantitative analysis and qualitative analysis. At last, he drew the conclusion mentioned above. It seems that his experiment and process of analysis are perfect. As matter of fact, the biggest limitation is the speeches themselves. From his essay, we can see that the two speeches are divided into 118 information units and 94 information units respectively. Just as he said in the thesis, information units are important because they are the primary factors that will be used in the following analysis. The scoring will judged on the quantity of the information units in terms of omissions, distortions in meaning and errors. Therefore, the more information units the speeches are divided into, the more objective and accurate scoring will be. It is quite clear that 118 information units and 94 information units are far from enough which will exert a direct and negative impact on the judgment and scoring. The present study conducted the experiment and methods for comparison and analysis similarly, but the prominent improvement is the author chose two longer speeches which were divided into 211 information units and 489 information units. Therefore, the comparison, scoring and analysis in the present study are much more objective, accurate, prudent and all in all, much more persuasive. In Li Cheng’ thesis, he drew the conclusion by comparing and analyzing lots of definitions and theories, such as overview of quality assessment of quality between CI and SI, tactical differences in CI and SI, cognitive differences in CI and SI and some comparison and analysis on basic concepts and theories about the quality between CI and SI. He did not。