Coping Strategies Of Prepositional Phrases In English-Chinese Simultaneous Interpretation In Light Of Economy Principles

Simultaneous Interpretation is a complicated process, requiring the interpreters to coordinate listening, analyzing, memorizing, choosing and speaking in target language at the same time. In this case, the interpreters face great pressure. Therefore, if any effective way to cope with any key constituent of the speech is feasible, the interpreters will find the memory load pressure much less and then divert more time or energy to others aspects, making a more successful interpretation. Prepositional phrases, as links of different constituents, are frequently presented in English language and act as the cutting point. Hence any effective strategy to cope with the prepositional phrases is more than applausive.Given the mentioned-above points, this essay intends to analyze and summarize the coping strategies of the prepositional phrases in English-Chinese simultaneous interpretation through observing and comparing the skills employed in the classroom simultaneous interpretation materials in light of economy principles proposed by Noam Chomsky in the Minimalist Program. It is expected that this essay may be of some practical value for further learning and training practice in this respect.Therefore, this essay firstly introduces the reasons for choosing this topic for thesis as well as the structure of the paper, followed by relevant theoretical framework in which the essence of economy principles has been pointed out, that is, the most feasible derivation version is the one with least and shortest movement. This paper then devotes one chapter to summarizing effective coping strategies of preposition phrases in English-Chinese Simultaneous Interpretation through analyzing and comparing the audio transcripts for two training sessions by five senior MTI students under the theoretical framework of economy principles. The main four effective strategies have been summarized as follows:(1) Compromising: where the preposition indicates time, location, range or is referred as fixed phrases, the interpreters may compromise by using literal translation in order to satisfy the morphologic requirement.(2) Concealing: where the constituents linked by the preposition are of relation "subject-predicate" or "predicate-object", the interpreters may conceal the preposition to serve the principle of shortest link.(3) Converting:where the preposition indicates manner, purpose or ownership, the interpreter will convert the preposition into verb or noun etc to avoid large-scale movement.(4) Complementing: where there is any preposition phrase out of interpreters’expectation, the interpreters will complement this part by repeating or adding some information.Applying the coping strategies of prepositional phrases under the guideline of economy principle, the interpreters can not only reduce their attention pressure but also improve the overall effect of simultaneous interpretation. It is hoped that this study will serve as the reference for the classroom training in E-C simultaneous interpretation.