An Interpreting Experiment Report:The Impact Of Logical Coherence On Quality Assessment In E-C Simultaneous Interpreting

Coherence is a significant indicator to judge the quality of interpreting.It can be measured by the extent to which listeners comprehend oral texts.However,trainee interpreters often find it hard to achieve coherence in interpreting.This study conducted an experiment to investigate the relationship among the coherence,accuracy and overall quality of the E-C simultaneous interpretation and how the organization of target language may result in incoherent interpretations among trainee interpreters.The experiment invited 72 subjects from China Foreign Affairs University to listen to two simultaneous interpretations that ideally only differed in logical cohesion.Then,they were asked to answer comprehension questions and evaluate the performance from three indicators: coherence,accuracy and overall quality of the interpretation.Both qualitative and quantitative analysis were adopted to analyze their feedback.The investigation revealed a positive correlation between coherence and quality of the interpretation by using correlation analysis.A more coherent interpretation was thought to be more accurate and of higher quality by the audience.This verified previous studies on coherence in interpreting that logical coherence was one of the most important criteria of quality assessment in interpreting.Moreover,this study also applied the framework of Rhetorical Structure Theory proposed by Mann and Thompson to implement a qualitative examination on common issues of logical coherence among trainee interpreters.The study found that the improper management of lexical and semantic linkages,which were key to listeners’ comprehension,may have an impact on the coherence of the target text.This study also offered some practical suggestions for trainee interpreters to improve coherence in simultaneous interpreting.