Chinese-English Simultaneous Interpretation Study On Interpreters’ Performance In Face Of Unfamiliar Key Words In Data And Its Coping Strategies

There are many difficulties in Chinese-English simultaneous interpretation, one of which is processing numeral (or digital) information. It is already challenging joggling two languages, but interpreters are also expected to process abstract digital information. These make interpreting number-related information a great challenge. Audience may be not aware of the difficulty, but for interpreters, it seems an insurmountable obstacle. The "independence" of the digital information context, burdens interpreters, which lead to a high error rate.Researches on digital processing focus on the quality of translating numbers, yet little special attention is given to the key words which are more than central in a data entry. This study put forward this concept of "data", with a shift in focus from purely digital information to a combined context. The experiment attempts to observe and analyze what specific impact key words have on the overall translation; and in the face of unfamiliar key words, what strategies interpreters will take.The theory is based on Gile’s (1995) effort model with two assumptions:brain energy is limited, and overload causes mental exhaustion, which results in a decline in the translation quality. The experiment measures how and why a same group of interpreters react differently when they interpret data information of very different familiarity, and tries to explore different strategies they adopt. The study will draw up conclusions of how the results are different, why there are such differences and what coping strategies interpreters were using, in the hope of offering some insights into interpretation study and practice.