Loss Of Cultural Information In Consecutive Interpreting And Compensational Strategies

The primary purpose of this thesis is to analyze the loss of cultural information in the comprehension process in consecutive interpreting and the compensational strategies. Scholars all believe that comprehension process is the key step to fulfill a successful interpreting task. The process not only provides a solid ground for memory but also ensures the successful reproduction of the target language. Therefore, the focus of the thesis is given on how the loss of cultural information happens in the comprehension process and how to deal with it on the basis of Functional Equivalence Theory.The thesis starts from reviewing basic concepts of interpreting, culture as well as their relationship. The perspective the thesis gets into is to study interpreting cross-culturally. Interpreting acts as an indispensable bridge that connects people of different languages and makes it possible for them to communicate with each other. As a communicative activity, interpreting is closely related with culture. In addition, interpreters'cultural communicative awareness and the role they play are also highlighted in this part.The thesis then analyzes relative theories about the process of interpreting and components of comprehension based on Daniel Gile's famous Comprehension Equation. The complete process of interpreting can be summarized as follows: Input→Comprehension→Memorizing→reformulation→output. Comprehension is the key step in the process of interpreting. Due to the great importance of comprehension process, Daniel Gile created Comprehension Equation: C=KL+EKL+A. As Daniel pointed, cultural factor which belongs to Extra Linguistic Knowledge (known as ELK) is an undoubtedly unavoidable factor for interpreters to consider during interpreting. Detailed discussion is followed then to illustrate factors that affect comprehension process.By doing so, the author is in the purpose of making further explanation of the cultural barriers caused during the comprehension process and the causes of the loss of cultural information. A general description of comprehension barriers in interpreting is given and cultural information is also classified. As for the loss of cultural information in interpreting, the author focuses on two aspects among all the barriers listed: the lexical system in the category of linguistic barriers and cultural differences in the category of extra linguistic barriers.Finally, the author raises the compensational strategies as well as practical approaches to the loss of cultural information in interpreting on the basis of Functional Equivalence Theory. Foreignization and domestication are basic strategies used to coordinate at cultural level in translation and in interpreting. Detailed approaches are also suggested such as transliteration, semi-transliteration, calque, borrowing, annotation, paraphrase, deletion, generalization and cultural substitution.