A Practice Report On Guide Interpreting In Kunming Scenic Spots-the Application Of The Theory Of Textual Function To C-E Interpreting

As is known to all,with the reform and opening-up as well as constant progress of our country,more and more foreign visitors have come to China to explore its ancient civilization,to appreciate its gorgeous landscape of rivers and mountains and to sense its unique way of life.Consequently,guide interpreting,along with other types of interpreting like conference interpreting and exhibition interpreting,has played an increasingly important role in exchanges between China and the outside world.At the same time,the study on guide interpreting is of great significance since it can provide guidance on how to improve the interpreting quality in this field.The thesis is a report on a guide interpreting practice of author in Kunming scenic spots.It demonstrates interpreting process in detail and presents the author’s study based on the interpreting practice.The interpreting process is described in three aspects,including preparations in practice and in theory before the task,the process of the on-site interpreting and emergency disposition,as well as the feedback collecting and text transcribing after the task.In the study based on the interpreting practice,the author introduces the theory of textual function by M.A.K.Halliday into this practice and attempts to study this guide interpreting from the perspective of the Theme choice.Through the study,the author aims to figure out some pragmatic C-E interpreting skills in the Theme choice of TL,especially in the field of guide interpreting.In sum,the study discusses two questions:1)In which situations does consistency in the Theme choice find its expression?2)In which situations does deviation in the Theme choice find its expression?As for the findings of the study,they are listed as follows.In this study the SL is Chinese while the TL is English.The strategy of consistency in the Theme choice is much more adopted in the interpreting task than the strategy of deviation in the Theme choice.That is to say,in most cases the same Theme is used in TL,and the author has summarized three situations in keeping the same Theme: keeping the same participant in TL,keeping the same circumstance in TL and keeping the thematic marker in TL.When it comes to the strategy of deviation in the Theme choice,though it is employed in fewer times,its application in the interpreting is more complicated.Specifically speaking,it can be used in two ways: shifting Themes and supplementing Themes.With regard to shifting Themes,the author has summarized three situations:firstly,when the Theme choice of source Chinese changes frequently and randomly,the Themes can be shifted into the same one to make TL more coherent;secondly,in C-E interpreting,if a different sentence structure is employed in TL so as to conform to the syntactic characteristics of English,different Themes may be used in TL;thirdly,in this guide interpreting,the author often deliberately uses “we” as the Theme in TL to arouse the interest of tourists and to involve them into the charming attractions.As regards supplementing Themes,the author has also summarized three situations:supplementing topical Themes,supplementing textual Themes and supplementing interpersonal Themes.Firstly,the topical Theme is supplemented in TL if there exists a declarative clause without the Subject in SL.In this kind of situation,the topical Theme added in TL is surely the component of participant.Secondly,the textual Theme is often supplemented in TL when the clauses in source Chinese language seem to be arranged loosely without connectives.The textual Theme added in this kind of situation includes conjunctions and those adverbial groups or prepositional phrases that can relate the clause to the preceding text.Thirdly,the interpersonal Theme is often supplemented in English to explicitly show the speaker’s judgement or attitude which is usually hided in Chinese.The interpersonal Theme added in this kind of situation includes those adverbials or even adverbial groups showing judgement or attitude.The author hopes that the interpreting skills concluded in this study may be helpful for fellow interpreters and may also provide some reliable references for interpretation quality evaluation.Meanwhile,the author hopes the study may infuse some fresh blood into the existing guide interpreting research and may also prove the feasibility of the theory of textual function in guide interpreting research.