An Analysis On The Difficulties Of Syntactic Linearity In English-Chinese Simultaneous Interpreting

This report makes study into the difficulties in the application of Syntactic Linearityin Simultaneous Interpreting (SI). Syntactic Linearity, as an important principle inEnglish-Chinese SI, is regarded as the golden rule by many professional interpreters andscholars. However, in the application of this rule to SI practice, difficulties do exist. Thisreport takes Yang Lan One-on-One, an interview show produced by Shanghai Dragon TV,as training material, and focuses on Moderator Yang Lan’s interview with former USPresident Bill Clinton, US Secretary of the State Hilary Clinton and Olympic ChampionMichael Phelps. Syntactic Linearity will be applied during the SI process. Based on theprevious research results, the author will focus on several common difficulties includingrelatives, prepositions or prepositional phrases, passive voice, formal subject it andcomparative degree, and list some of the typical sentences where the application ofSyntactic Linearity is difficult. The author will try to find ways and coping techniques, soas to provide some guidance for future SI training and practice.