Effects Of Note-taking Language Choice On Consecutive Interpreting

The present study, developed on the theoretical base of Information Processing System and Gile's Effort Model, attempts to discuss the effects of note-taking language choice on performance in Chinese-English and English-Chinese consecutive interpreting. The main task is to address the following questions:Q1: What governs an interpreter's choice of note-taking language during consecutive interpreting, the source language or the target language? Why? Q2: Which note-taking language is more effective in interpreter's reproduction process, the source language or the target language?Bearing in mind the above two questions, the author designed a series of experiments to find out the answers. The first experiment---Experiment 1 is designed to explore the language choice phenomenon during interpreter's note-taking process and discover possible reasons behind the scene. The second experiment---Experiment 2, targeting at the second question, will be carried out to assist a discussion focused on the effectiveness of an interpreter's performance based on the corresponding note-taking language choice.This thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter 1 introduces the background of this study, elaborating on the role, the classifications and the process of consecutive interpreting, discussing the functions of note-taking. Chapter 2 presents two main theories--Information Processing System and Gile's Effort Model, laying the theoretical foundation for the study, together with the purposes and hypotheses of this study. Chapter 3 gives a detailed introduction to the research methodology, including the selection of the subjects and the experiment material, the experiment design, the criteria for rating, the experiment procedures and the post-experiment questionnaire. Chapter 4 analyzes and discusses the findings of the experiments. Chapter 5 sums up the findings of the study and discusses the implications of the study.