An Empirical Study On Differences In Grammatical Correctness Between Professional Simultaneous Interpreters And Interpreting Candidates

This paper deals with an empirical study on differences in grammatical correctness between professional simultaneous interpreters and interpreting candidates. The paper proposes the two hypotheses that there are significant differences in grammatical correctness between professional interpreters and interpreting candidates and that these differences are attributed to the differences in allocation of efforts. The author intends to explore the specific aspects of differences, the causes and how these findings can be applied to simultaneous interpreting teaching and training.The empirical research to testify the two hypotheses is based on an experiment in simultaneous interpreting, in which the subjects are divided into two groups, professional interpreters and interpreting candidates. The steps are as follows: 1. pre-test on proficiency in grammar; 2. Chinese to English interpretation which is recorded and transcribed; 3. examination of transcripts by a native speaker of English to find out the differences in grammatical correctness; 4.interviews with interpreters to find out the causes for the grammatical mistakes. In exploring the causes for the differences, this paper focuses on, among the many causes, the differences in allocation of efforts between professional interpreters and interpreting candidates.This thesis aims to conclude that different allocations of efforts between professional interpreters and interpreting candidates have significant impact on the differences in grammatical correctness between them. The findings are hoped to shed some light on how to improve the training of students of interpreting.