A Study Of Improper Pauses In Consecutive Interpreting From The Perspective Of Effort Model

When we evaluate the quality of interpretation,the fluency of the interpreter is usually considered as an important criterion.If the improper pauses occur frequently in consecutive interpreting,misunderstandings are likely to happen between both sides.The capability of the interpreter could be suspected,which would in turn affect the quality of the interpretation and lead to a vicious circle.Thus,it is important to guarantee the fluency of the interpreting.Scholars from both home and abroad have done many researches on the improper pauses,especially in the area of foreign language and Simultaneous Interpreting.Zellner divided pauses into filled pauses and silent pauses.The filled pauses are more overt with fillers such as "ahs,er,um" etc.However,there are proper Silent pauses such as those made when the speaker need to start a new sentence or to make an emphasis.The improper pauses in fact consist of filled pauses and the improper silent pauses.Those are also the components of improper pauses in this study.Compared with the studies in the area of foreign language and in Simultaneous Interpreting,studies on improper pauses in Consecutive Interpreting are far less.Most of the studies focused on the type,the frequency and the time length of pauses.Only a few shed light on the causes and features of improper pauses in different CI tasks.This study aims at discovering the differences of the causes and features of improper pauses between E-C CI and C-E CI.In the meanwhile,this study also aims at testing the hypothesis that the increasing difficulty of the source text would affect the causes and features of improper pauses.Based on those hypotheses,a case study is designed.Six MTI students from Hubei University are selected to take the test.Different from the studies took by the former researchers,this study set up two E-C CI and C-E CI experiments which aims at improving the accuracy and the fidelity of the study.Besides,the texts chosen for the second CI experiment are more difficult than that of the first CI experiment.Questionnaires,Consecutive Interpreting test,stimulated recall and post-test interview are used in this study to collect the data.The statistical analysis of the data shows the following findings:1)Improper pauses caused by formulation are significantly more in C-E CI than in E-C CI.While improper pauses caused by logic are significantly more in E-C CI than in C-E CI.There’s no significant difference between E-C CI and C-E CI in terms of the improper pauses caused by notes.This relates to whether the interpreter has built in a note-taking system.In terms of the features of improper pauses,the time length and frequency of the silent pauses and total pauses are significantly more in C-E CI than in E-C CI.There’s no significant difference between E-C CI and C-E CI when it comes to the filled pauses as it relates to the interpreter’s habit and self-monitoring ability.2)When the difficulty of the source text increases,the improper pauses caused by logic are significantly more in the second CI experiment than those in the first CI experiment.However,the improper pauses caused by formulation and notes are significantly less in the second CI experiment than in the first CI experiment.This is true in E-C CI.However,there’s no significant difference between these two experiments in C-E CI.In terms of the features of improper pauses,the time length and frequency of the silent pauses and total pauses are more in the second CI experiment than in the first CI experiment.There’s no significant difference between the two experiments on filled pauses.This is true in E-C CI.In C-E CI,the time length and frequency of the silent pauses filled pauses and total pauses are all more in the second CI experiment than in the first CI experiment.Based on the findings above,it can be concluded that in both E-C CI and C-E CI,it is crucial for the interpreter to have a good command of the source language,especially when it is foreign language.In the meanwhile,the interpreter should build his/her own note-taking system.Beside,the interpreter should also have related public speaking ability so as to reduce the improper pauses,and to make interpretation as fluent as possible.Daniel Gile developed the Effort Model based on cognitive psychology in which he described the cognitive process of Simultaneous Interpreting and Consecutive Interpreting.The Effort Model is one of the best theories to explain the process of interpreting.The author of this study tries to analysis the findings from the perspective of Effort Model in Consecutive Interpreting and to further come up with strategies to reduce the improper pauses in Consecutive Interpreting.