English-to-Chinese Simultaneous Interpreting Of Numbers: Problems, Causes And Mechanism

This thesis applies Gile's Effort Model in exploring number mistakes,their causes and mechanisms in English to Chinese simultaneous interpreting(E-to-C SI)via simultaneous interpretation,number translation tests and "stimultated recall" interviews.The research found that number mistakes in E-to-C SI are reflected both in number information itself and non-digital information.Omission,approximation and errors are mistakes concerning number information.And mistakes about non-digital information include wrong information matching and omission of non-digital information.Both cognitive and non-cognitive factors would result in number mistakes in E-to-C SI,with cognitive factors being the major influencing factor.Non-cognitive factors would indirectly cause number mistakes.Deficit of any of the Listening and Analysis Effort,Short Term Effort,Speech Production Effort,and Coordination Effort or saturation of the entire efforts may cause different number mistakes in the SI.A failed anticipation would cause overload in the Listening and Analysis Effort,leading to number omission.A long pause to listen to and analyze information without producing it in time may affect the Production Effort of the numbers,making it impossible to produce the number information.Dense number information or fast speech rate would cause saturation of all efforts,which would cause number omission.Partial omission of a number may suggest that the Listening and Analysis Effort was in short supply and then coordinated.If interpreters put in the Listening and Analysis Effort and Memory Effort in number processing,they would make a low degree of approximation by using substitutions like"about 20",in which the magnitude of the number can still be told.But if interpreters only put in the Listening and Analysis Effort,they would make a high degree of approximation by using substitutions like "many".Deficit of the Listening and Analysis Effort may result in a number being wrongly interpreted into another number with a similar sound.Deficit of the Memory Effort may result in the errors of magnitude conversion.Saturation of all efforts may cause the interpreter to wrongly translate a number into another irrelevant number.Number information and neighbouring non-digital information may fight for an interpreter's limited effort supply,which may cause number problems.Besides,non-cognitive factors such as turning a notebook page or lowering one's head may indirectly affect the effort supply and therefore lead to SI number mistakes.The study also found that adequate advance preparation would to some extent help interpreters anticipate numbers in the speech.