Report Of Simulated Simultaneous Interpreting Practice Based On Remarks By Bill Gates At The 58^th World Health Assembly

Simultaneous interpretation (SI for short) is a multi-tasking activity most frequently used in international conferences, in which interpreters tend to use a variety of SI strategies and techniques to have their translation tasks smoothly and successfully fulfilled. Furthermore, in the actual interpreting performances, an interpreter has to make joint efforts to coordinate his/her listening, comprehension, working memory and message success.In this report, the author worked as a practitioner and researcher, and simulated a simultaneous interpretation within the theoretical framework of the Vermeer’s skopos theory. The process of interpreting activities was recorded while interpreting Remarks by Bill Gates at the 58th World Health Assembly. The report identifies the problems, classifies the problems, finds out the possible reasons behind the problems, and finally proposes the countermeasures to these problems. The ultimate objective of the report is expected to provide constructive suggestions for those who are likely to conduct the similar interpreting tasks in the future. This simulating practice helps the author to make at least two reflections:One is that some SI strategies are better understood and thus consciously employed in the actual practice; the other is that the author has learned how to self-evaluate her own interpreting performances.This report consists of five chapters. Chapter One gives a brief introduction to the task. Chapter Two introduces the skopos theory, the theoretical framework on which this practice was based. Chapter Three describes the practice process which includes pre-interpreting preparation and during-interpreting process. Chapter Four focuses on after-interpreting work which includes the identification and classification of the problems that occurred in the simulated interpretation. In this chapter, some case analysis was also conducted to summarize interpreting methods and strategies under the guidance of the skopos theory. Chapter Five is a conclusion part, reporting the experience and reflections obtained from this practice and offering the suggestions for future similar SI practices.