On Anticipation Strategy In Simultaneous Interpreting

Simultaneous interpreting (SI) is a demanding task. Simultaneous interpreters oftenneed to resort to certain strategies to cope with the problems during the interpretingprocess. As one of SI strategies, anticipation can help interpreters to better complete anSI task. This paper attempts to examine the role of anticipation as a strategy insimultaneous interpreting.First, in order to prove the necessity and practicality of anticipation in SI, the authorfirst establishes a theoretical framework that combines the Effort Model, theProbability-Prediction Model, and the Relevance Theory. The Effort Model proves thenecessity of anticipation in SI, and the other two theories prove the practicality ofanticipation in SI.Then, based on the theoretical framework, the author conducts an observationalstudy by analyzing the video materials of one session of2012Summer Davos. Theauthor analyzes several types of anticipation observed in the material, dividing theexamples into two categories: linguistic anticipation and extra-linguistic anticipation.This case study shows that anticipation is both necessary and practical inEnglish-Chinese and Chinese-English simultaneous interpreting. Anticipation can helprelieve the interpreter’s short-term memory load, and thus ensure the quality of an SItask.The conclusion of the paper is that anticipation is an indispensable strategy in SI,especially for SI between two structurally different languages. The proper use ofanticipation can help reduce the interpreter’s capacity requirements, thus ensuring thequality of an SI task. With a view to applying the research findings to interpretingpractices, the author ventures to make some suggestions for the teaching of anticipationstrategy in SI.