1 Project Survey

1.1 Background of this research

With the deepening of Chinese “Reform and Opening up Policy”, there are more and moreinternational communication activities between China and other countries including those betweenChinese students and foreign scholars. At the same time, there are also related researches oninterpreting and techniques for interpreting, some researches emphasize on the interpretingprocess, some researchers are about interpreting teaching techniques and some focus on theanalysis of interpreters’ role. Nevertheless, there are few researchers who have ever had the studyon long-distance conversation interpreting under the context of instant messaging software,including the analysis of the difficulties encounter in this interpreting process as well as solutions.Therefore, in this study, the author aims to give an analysis of interpreting practice oflong-distance conversations under the context of instant messaging software.

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1.2 Significance of this research

This research will be based on Gile’s Efforts Model and Comprehension Equation, the authorconducts a study on the difficulties and solutions to difficulties encountered during thelong-distance interpreting process under instant messaging software, providing some practicalexperience for future study especially in the long-distance interpreting field. There are manybarriers during interpreting process for interpreters especially during long-distance interpreting, sointerpreters’ excellent performance will be influences which may lead to the lack of informationfor the receiver and misunderstanding of both sides (Gile 1995:76 ). Therefore, it is necessary toanalyze the barriers and difficulties take place during long-distance interpreting process andprovide corresponding solutions, which can also help interpreter achieve better interpretingperformance in the long-distance interpreting activities, to better promote the smooth conductionof interpreting process and the better understanding of both sides.

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2 Literature Review

2.1 Definition and characteristics of long-distance interpreting

Conversation interpreting is a service which allows participants at international conversationto speak and follow proceeding in their own languages and is widely viewed as a particularlyimpressive form of rapid, instant translation (Setton, 1997:13). From the above words, we canknow that interpreting can solve barriers between different languages and cultures through the wayof various interpreting techniques. But conversation interpreting can provide a platform forparticipants from different countries to overcome distance barrier to communicate with each other.As for the characteristics of long-distance conversation interpreting, one is that theinterpreters work in given time, so they have to keep in step with the speaker and accomplishlanguage transformation within a given time (Pochhacker, 2004:33). In long-distance conversationinterpreting, it is nearly impossible for the interpreter to ask speakers to repeat their speech so thatthe interpreter should do the interpreting within several seconds after they hear a chunk ofinformation. The other characteristic is the flexibility of the interpreter (Schaffner, 1995:102). Theprompt interpreting requires the interpreter to handle interpreting flexibly so that the smoothcommunication process can be guaranteed. But it does not mean that the interpreter can neglectthe principle of faithfulness. Instead, the interpreter should achieve the faithful interpreting outputbased on the respecting of original meaning by the speaker. The interpreter should also revokefrom their background knowledge storage to give some additional information for the problemscaused by cultural differences.

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2.2 Status quotation of researches on interpretation in and abroad

The earliest research on interpretation appeared in Le Manuel de Interpreter by J.Herbert in1952, in which various types of interpreting way are illustrated together with the presenting ofconference interpreting rules and methods (Herbert, 1952:54). This research has given greatimpact on the following research on interpreting including H. Salevsky. D.’s Le theorie deI’interpretation, which argues that interpreting is a special kind of communication activity and theunderstanding of source language is the core in interpreting process (Thiery, 1990:46 ). What ismore, Daniel. Gile also made great contribution to the interpreting field by his Efforts Model andComprehension Equation, in which the causes of less-interpreting are analyzed. Through years’development, research in interpreting field in foreign countries is relatively systematic (Gile,1995:29 ) and can be divided into four phrases: the pre-research phrases which is from 1950s to1960s, the experimental psychology period from 1960s to 1970s, the Practitioners’ period from1970s to 1980s and the Renewal Period from the second half year of 1980s ( Pochhacker, 2004).Nowadays, the research in interpreting field is much more detailed and much deeper than before, which can also be reflected on the study of macro-theoretical study, quantification analysis andterminology studies (Setton, 1997:83 ).As for domestic researches on interpreting, Liu Heping has written a book on interpreting, inwhich she made an overview of over two hundred dissertations on interpretation, finding that therewere 23 dissertations focus on the process of interpreting, there are 34 focus on the analysis ofinterpreting quality, there are 36 emphasize on the way of interpreting, there are 5 emphasize onthe classification of translation types, there are 7 about terminology researches and there are 10tracing back to interpretation origination and development , there are 37 on the teaching ofinterpreting (Thiery, 1990:48). Being similar to the four phrases of interpreting developmentphrases in foreign countries, Chinese study on interpreting also contains four phrases: startingfrom 1950s till 1960s, the study was mainly focus on the experiences of some interpreters togetherwith their personal feelings about interpreting.

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3 Difficulties Encountered in the Research........7

3.1 Listening barriers .......7

3.2 Memory barriers....8

3.2.1 Classification of memory .......9

3.2.1.1 Sensory Memory .......9

3.2.1.2 Short-term Memory........9

3.2.1.3 Long-term Memory ........9

3.3 Note-taking barriers ......10

3.3.1 Interpretation and Note-taking .......10

3.3.2 Methods to take notes...... 11

3.4 Expression barriers........124 Solutions....15

4.1 Daily accumulation .......15

4.2 Targeted training ......15

4.3 Ample Preparation ........16

4.4 Cultural awareness ........16

5 Conclusion and recommendations.......18

5.1 Conclusion .....18

5.2 Limitations and suggestions for research in the future....18

4 Solutions

4.1 Daily accumulation

English learning is a process of daily accumulation which contributes to the basis of languageusage (Setton, 1997:45). Based on the barriers analyzed from the interpreting practice, the authorrealizes the importance of daily accumulation in the development of interpreting abilities. In orderto achieve the development, it is required to read more books to get familiar with different cultures.Moreover, interpreters should also practice their ears to adapt to different accents. Theunpredictable nationalities of speakers in interpreting activities make it necessary for interpretersto be an expert in listening, no matter whether the voice is “standard” or not. It is suggested by theauthor that interpreting learners should also listen to all kinds of listening materials from differentaccents. What is more, during interpreting, interpreters should set the meaning of the text as thefirst priority instead of focusing on the syllables and single word.In addition, it is recommended that interpreters should have a wide knowledge scope,therefore they should read as many book as they can. The books they read should cover fields likecross-cultural communication, foreign culture, note-taking and so on. All in all, interpreters haveto make efforts to continuously improve their reading, listening and speaking skills all the time.

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Conclusion

In this research, the long-distance conversation interpreting activity was conducted underinstant communication software. Although the process went smoothly, there were still somebarriers took place: listening barrier, note-taking barrier and expression barrier. in order to solvethese barriers, the author found some solutions: to do daily accumulation, to do targeted training,to do ample practice and develop cultural awareness. If interpreters can develop their linguisticknowledge as well as background knowledge of culture, it will be easier for interpreters tocultivate their good interpreting performance. Therefore, this research provides somecorresponding solutions for the author as well as other interpreting learners to better improve theirinterpreting skills comprehensively in the future.As Gile once argued that “interpreters typically work near the saturation of threshold of theirprocessing ability and run the risk of having their system overwhelmed by the processing demandsof the task” (张吉良,2003:47).Till now, many scholars have conducted researches on conference interpreting. But few ofthem studied on the difficulties and barriers exist on the long-distance interpreting under instantcommunication software. In this research, the barriers encountered by the author during hislong-distance interpreting are analyzed. It is hoped by the author that this research can give somehint to the future interpreting learners to avoid similar barriers during interpreting. The barrierscaused by linguistic and cultural factors can be all avoided. Together with the related solutions tothese problems, the author aims to develop himself to be a more qualified and professionalinterpreter in the future.

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Reference (omitted)