Grammatical Performance in Simultaneous Interpretation: An Error ...

Grammatical Performance in Simultaneous Interpretation: An Error Analysis

HUO Siliang

A Research Paper Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts

in

Linguistics

©The Chinese University of Hong Kong June, 2005

The Chinese University of Hong Kong holds the copyright of this research paper. Any person(s) intending to use a part or whole of the materials in the research paper in a proposed publication must seek copyright release from the Dean of the Graduate School.

Table of Contents Abstract

1

1. Introduction

2

2. Literature Review

4

2.1. Simultaneity

4

2.2. Modeling SI

5

2.2.1. Effort Model

5

2.2.2. Language Processing Model

7

2.3. SI Output 3. Purpose of the Present Research

11 12

3.1. Research Question

12

3.2. Choice of Parameter

13

3.2.1. Topic Chain

14

3.2.2. Coordination

16

4. Methodology

20

4.1. Subjects

20

4.2. Experiment Procedure

21

4.3. Materials

21

5. Results

23

5.1. Part One: Topic Chain

22

5.2. Part Two: Coordination

25

5.2.1. Some Clarifications

26

5.2.2. Findings from the Experiment

29

5.3. Analysis 6. Conclusion

30 35

7. Discussion

37

7.1. Attentional Resources

37

7.2. Studies of Different Language Background

37

7.3. SI Studies and Linguistic Research

38

References

39

Appendixes

44

Appendix A: Sample Transcript of Subject A (Consecutive Interpretation)

44

Appendix B: Sample Transcript of Subject A (Simultaneous Interpretation)

45

Appendix C: Sample Transcript of Subject A (Free Narrative)

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Helen Huo Siliang 04288470

Abstract

In simultaneous interpretation (SI), over 85% percent of the time interpreters are speaking and listening at the same time; interpreters need to split attention and the available mental capacity is limited (Gerver 1971). SI involves continuous listening and analyzing (L), memory (M), production (P) and the coordination (C) of these three tasks. Therefore, Total Mental Capacity equals Listening plus Memorization plus Production plus Coordination (T=L+M+P+C) (Gile 1985). When any of L, M or P runs out of mental resource, problems occur in the interpretation. For example, interpreters pause when there is no mental resource for P. This helps to explain the frequent addition, omission and translation mistakes in SI (Gile 1995). However, previous researches have not addressed the question whether grammatical performance deteriorates in SI when mental capacity has to be shared by multiple tasks. This study uses an experiment to compare grammatical performance in SI, consecutive interpretation (CI) and free narrative. Three interpreters (N=4) are given three tasks: 1) five-minute Chinese to English CI; 2) five-minute Chinese to English SI and 3) five-minute free narrative in English. The English coordinator and is used to measure grammatical performance. The percentages of correct use of this coordinator in the three tasks are compared and analyzed. The result shows that in SI, the grammaticality of the output does deteriorate compared with CI and free narrative. This study contributes to the establishment of a fuller model of SI and the possibility of using SI as a tool for linguistic studies in other areas.

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1.

Introduction

Simultaneous Interpretation (SI) is a relatively new phenomenon. For hundreds of years, when people speaking different languages rely on an interpreter to communicate, they have to stop constantly for the interpreter to speak, which slows down the communication process and distracts both sides. This method of interpretation is consecutive interpretation (CI). After the Second World War, during the judgement of war criminals in Hague Tribunal, simultaneous interpretation (SI) was used for the first time. It greatly fastened the pace of the judgement and the criminals were astonished: ‘These interpreters are shortening our lives!’ Conferences with SI service have a special seat for the interpreter in the corner – the booth, a sound-proof cubicle with headphones, microphones and sometimes video devices that allow the interpreter to see the platform. When a speaker starts talking, the interpreter listens to the speech through the headphones, and interprets while the speaker is talking. The interpretation goes through microphones to audience’s earphones. Thus, the audience can understand the speaker instantaneously; there is no need for the speaker to stop in the middle and the conference can proceed without any interruption. Development in sound and voice equipments provides the technological prerequisite for SI, however, the communication cannot take place without well trained interpreters who are proficient in both languages. The mental demand of this job is so high that interpreters often work in teams of two or three so that they can

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take turns to interpret and allow each other time to take a break. Except for being an indispensable communication tool for international organizations, SI is also a fascinating subject for researchers in many different areas, e.g. psychology, translation studies and linguistics. Researchers are interested in discovering what is actually happening in the interpreters’ mind when they work. Taking on linguistic perspective, this research studies the interference of English (source language) on SI production in Chinese (target language) by examining the interpretation of Chinese topic chain sentences and the usage of English coordinator and. Subjects in this study are all native speakers of Chinese and learners of English as a second language. They are required to do a consecutive interpretation task, a simultaneous interpretation task and a free narrative task. When they are doing SI, they have to listen and speak at the same time, may increase the level of interference of Chinese on English. The study aims to find out whether the multi-task nature of SI leads to higher level of interference between the target language (TL) and the source language (SL), compared with CI and free narrative.

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2.

Literature Review

2.1. Simultaneity Simultaneous interpretation is one of the most complicated language communicative modes. Its complexity attracts the attention of researchers from different backgrounds. Many have attempted to analyze this phenomenon from cognitive and neurolinguistic perspectives. Since the 1970s, several models of SI processing were built (e.g. Gerver 1971, Kirchhoff 1976, Cokely 1992, Gile 1997). Thanks to the joint efforts from academic community and the SI profession, now we have achieved a better understanding of this complex process. At the dawn of interpretation research, there have been debates over the simultaneity of SI. Some suggested that SI is not truly “simultaneous”. Such arguments emphasized the fact that there were pauses in speaker’s speeches, and that interpreters speak during these pauses. If interpreters try to put as much as possible into these pauses, the nature of SI is not speaking and listening at the same time, but speaking when there is no need to listen (Paneth 1957, Barik 1975). These arguments were later refuted by Gerver (1971, 1975). Through experiments, Gerver found that Through his experiments, Gerver found that interpreters have to split their attention and that there is a limited total processing capacity available (Gerver 1971). It is also proposed that the pauses in source speeches are too short for interpreters to say very much. In fact, more than 75% of the time interpreters are speaking and listening at the same time (Gerver 1975).

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One of Gerver’s important findings is that interpreters can recall more of the content of the speech after listening, than after simultaneous interpreting. In one experiment, nine interpretation trainees were required to listen to, shadow (repeat it as they heard it) or simultaneously interpret from French to English. After each task, they were immediately given questions that test their comprehension and recall of the original speech. The result showed that their score of the test after listening is significantly higher than after simultaneous interpretation (Gerver, 1974).

2.2. Modeling SI Researchers have made unrelenting efforts to build models for simultaneous interpretation, including models about the social effect of SI and the communication process of SI. Here we are considering SI language processing models.

2.2.1. Effort Model One of the most widely accepted theories to explain this simultaneous nature of SI is Daniel Gile’s Effort Model (1985). Gile is considered the most influential and prolific researcher in the field of interpretation research (Pochhacker, 2004). Originally, Gile built this model to help students understand the tasks involved in SI in a general way, therefore, the model was designed to be very simple yet explanatory. Gile divides the efforts involved in SI into three parts: listening and analyzing (L), production (P) and memory (M). Listening refers to the process that the interpreter listens to the speakers’ speech and comprehends it. Production refers to the process that the interpreter speaks

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in the target language to the microphone. Usually the interpreter starts speaking after hearing a few words of the speech and lags behind the speaker for a few seconds. Therefore, the interpreter needs to remember what is said in this period. This is the process of Memory. The model is based on the hypothesis that there is a limited amount of “mental energy” that can be used for processing (L+P+M