On The Use Of Coping Strategies In Simultaneous Interpretation Between English And Chinese

Coping strategies are a very fundamental practical skill in simultaneous interpretation. In Gile's Effort Model (1995, 1997), simultaneous interpretation is accomplished by the sharing of cognitive resources among four major efforts: listening and analysis, memory, production and coordination. According to this Effort Model, problems do arise in interpreting situations because of processing capacity limitations, errors in processing capacity management, or gaps in the interpreters'knowledge base. It is in this regard that simultaneous interpretation has been referred to as"crisis management". In the light of interpreters'daily experience, these are apt words to describe an aspect of simultaneous interpretation that is virtually unknown to the public at large. When interpreters are aware of those"small crises"or"cognitive breakdown", they tend to use a variety of strategies to limit their impact such as anticipation, storing, and reformulation, which is then further classified into conversion, change of voice and the interesting"salami technique". Apart from Gile's Effort Model, there are other factors influencing Interpreters'multiple task performance as well as simultaneous interpretation quality and closely related to the use of coping strategies. They are concurrent listening and speaking, Ear-Voice-Span (EVS), fluency and fidelity. This study aims at combining coping strategies with its implications in simultaneous interpretation in the specific language pair of English and Chinese and at exploring how to reduce the cognitive demands imposed by interpretation task and to help cope with emergencies in the process of interpretation through strategy use.