A Study Of Coping Strategies In Simultaneous Interpretation-With Implications For Interpreting Training

With the advancement of China's opening-up and globalization, the presence of simultaneous interpretation (SI) has been considerably expanded as an indispensable element in international economic and cultural exchanging conferences. In SI task, the interpreters work under great pressure of information absorbing, decoding and reproducing concurrently. The complex and demanding nature of SI requires various coping strategies to be adopted by the interpreters so as to optimize their performances.Targeting simultaneous interpreting, this thesis tries to carry out an in-depth study into it from the perspective of strategy usage as well as propose its implications for SI training. While previous studies only discuss the usage of coping strategies in SI, this thesis will tentatively explore the corresponding training methods for each particular strategy, aiming at guiding the practice of SI more effectively and shedding light on the improvement of SI training. The practical meaning of the thesis is to help simultaneous interpreters better manage the limited processing resources in the booth, control the interpreting progress, and optimize their performance through the use of coping strategies and proper training.This paper firstly provides a panoramic view of the definition, characteristics and possible difficulties arising in the working process of SI. The author also presents a systematic literature review of previous research achievements in this field. Gile's (1995,1997)Effort Model is applied as the theoretical framework in analyzing in detail how the interpreters allocate their limited processing capacities during the SI task and later in explaining the reasons for proposing each coping strategy under discussion. In addition, the author tries to put forward four prerequisites for initiating SI training in terms of instructors, training environments, materials and basic qualifications of trainees.The threshold will guarantee the feasibility and effectiveness of SI training. Three stages, namely, initiation, experimentation and consolidation in the process of SI training are also tentatively summarized in this thesis to show a step-by-step process of developing from basic to professional in SI. Then, the author will elaborate on four frequently used coping strategies in SI, namely, anticipation, syntactic linearity, reformulation and omission, with examples carefully selected from the real-life on-the-spot SI situation. Following each strategy, the author spares no effort to put forward specially-designed training method correspondingly. The author hopes to imply that SI training should be strategy-based and focus on equipping the trainees with essential coping strategies. Well-trained professional interpreters should be capable of steering the cross-cultural communication toward a mutually expected outcome.