Equivalence In Interpreting Quality Assessment

It is fair to say all theories of translation are variants on a single question: in what way can equivalence (or fidelity) to be achieved. However, compared with the well-established application of equivalence theory in translation quality assessment, equivalence theory is much less applied in interpreting studies. The thesis aims to apply equivalence theory in interpreting quality assessment. Rather than give a comprehensive set of parameters for interpreting quality assessment, the scope of the paper is limited to equivalence-related parameters. The purpose is to both put forward some tentative parameters to evaluate whether the interpreting is"equivalent"and to highlight the dual nature of interpreting event both as a text-based product and as a service to enable communication.Based on equivalence theory, in particular, Nida's Dynamic Equivalence Theory and the interactions between equivalence, translation and other studies, namely, semantic-cognitive, pragmatics and intercultural, the thesis aims to apply three equivalence parameters in translation quality assessment, namely, itemized parameter, relational parameter and holistic parameter into interpreting quality assessment. The hypothesis is that these parameters CANNOT be directly applied into interpreting quality assessment and need to be combined with characteristics of oral form of language and different styles of oral language as well as the scene (happenings) of the interpreting event. With this hypothesis in mind, the author adopts a case-specific view.