Quality Assessment Criteria Of Simultaneous Interpretation From English To Chinese

This paper aims at defining a set of quality assessment criteria of simultaneous interpretation from English to Chinese based on theoretical reasoning, field observation together with some empirical studies. Gile's Sequential Model of translation has been discussed to explain the underlying similarity between translation and interpretation in terms of working process,which implies the feasibility of applying the research findings of translation study to the field of interpretation. Given their great emphasis on communication effects, Nida's concept of Dynamic Equivalence and the Skopos theory from the Functional School of translation have been explored with a view to coming up with some guiding principles for defining quality assessment criteria in terms of content and delivery speed respectively, that is,"to arouse the similar response from delegates"and"follow the speaker as soon as possible". Then, with further reference to the author's field observation and experiences, a set of quality assessment criteria of simultaneous interpretation from English to Chinese has been proposed. In order to examine the validity of these criteria, the author has conducted a survey on users'expectation of delivery in simultaneous interpretation. Two other surveys on users's expectation of content are referenced to give a more comprehensive review of the proposed criteria. The results of these surveys point to the convergence of the proposed criteria with major expectations of users as well as some deficiencies of the set of criteria that are to be overcome in future researches.