Major Factors Affecting Interpreter’s Comprehension In Conference Interpreting And Coping Strategies

With the globalization of economy and the advancement of science and technology,various types of conference interpretations are extensively performed throughout the worldwith an astonishing speed of development. It not only brings opportunities to conferenceinterpreters, but also sets a high requirement to them. Because these conferences involvemany professional fields on an increasingly large scale, the comprehension difficulties inthe process of interpreter’s interpretation deserve special attention. Many studies about thissubject focus attention on the common interpreting, but the study and analysis ofconference interpreting are very rare. This thesis concentrates on one of the significantphases of conference interpreting process—comprehension. The pivotal phases ofinterpreting activities are comprehension and production. Full comprehension is thefoundation of precise production. Without a good comprehension, production can not beformed and the whole interpreting activity cannot proceed smoothly.The introduction part of this thesis explains the purposes, structure and theoreticalfoundation of this thesis, expounding the importance of the current study and aiming atstudying difficulties of comprehension in conference interpreting. Chapter One mainlypresents an overview of conference interpreting, including its definition, characteristics,importance and the role of its interpreter. Chapter Two focuses on the major factors thataffect interpreter’s comprehension in conference interpreting from the perspectives oflinguistic, extra-linguistic and other important factors. Chapter Three comes up with somecoping strategies for the difficulties mentioned in the previous chapter, namely, preparationsof three stages, anticipation on the spot of conference interpreting, application ofdomestication and foreignization for cultural differences and some countermeasures tounbalanced efforts allocation and to high information density. The thesis ends with aconclusion that summarizes the study and points out the importance and limitations of thisstudy.