Research Upon The Distribution, Integration And Anticipation Of Information In Simultaneous Conference Interpreting

Our times, characterized by the ever increasing velocity and scale of mass communication across national boundaries, embraces an upsurge of translation studies of which interpretation research is part and parcel. But the communication between the two sub-communities of interpretation research remains virtually non-existent for long and interdisciplinarity in interpretation research makes its debut about only two decades ago. The Paris School, usually considered to belong to the liberal arts group, has made tremendous contribution to interpretation research and enjoys wide spread acceptance. Based on the interpretative theory of this school, and drawing on information theory and research findings in modern linguistics, the present study, via a contrastive approach, explores distribution, integration, and anticipation of information in simultaneous conference interpreting and discusses the viability and application of information integration-based anticipation and framework pre-setting in simultaneous interpreting. The paper posits a new concept of "information adequacy" as the communicative purpose and yardstick for assessment of interpreting; it further proposes an "Interpretation + Information adequacy" model which incorporates anticipation mechanism and framework presetting in an attempt to steer clear of the flaws Seleskovitch's triangle model and develop it. A case study is also conducted to demonstrate the realization and working of framework presetting in simultaneous interpreting. The paper is aimed at providing, hopefully, some new insights into interpretation research for theorists and some concrete manageable skills for practicing interpreters as well.