Strategies For Chinese-English Simultaneous Interpreting Of Impromptu Speech In Light Of The Sense Unit Of The Interpretive Theory

Impromptu speech is a form of communication commonly adopted in international conferences,debates,interviews and panel discussions.Interpreters,when carrying out simultaneous interpreting,should choose proper the unit of translation to ensure quality performance.The unit of translation has long been discussed by scholars and schools under different theories,among which the Interpretive Theory provides interpreters with feasible strategies to tackle practical issues,including incomplete syntax structure,false start,loose logic,etc.The theory posits that interpreters should take the non-verbal sense unit(or unit of meaning)as the unit of translation,and that the full interpretive process comes into play only when the interpreter combines his knowledge of language and his knowledge of the world.Under the guidance of the Interpretive Theory,the author recruited 8 subjects(4 student interpreters and 4 professional interpreters with a minimum of 5 years' experience)to interpret simultaneously an impromptu speech from Chinese to English.After the experiment,the subjects were interviewed and asked to finish a questionnaire.Quantitative and qualitative analysis were then conducted on the results of their interpreting.The findings indicate that professional interpreters can easily capture the sense conveyed by words and thus take the sense unit as the unit of translation,while student interpreters show a stronger tendency of being trapped in lexical items and syntax structures.It is also found that the more use of the sense unit and cognitive complements,the higher the quality of interpreting is.