An Experiment Report On Topic-Subject Alternation In Chinese-English Consecutive Interpreting

In language learning,the difference between two languages is the first and most important point to observe,especially for students majoring in translation and interpreting.Li & Thompson(1976)proposed,for the first time,that Chinese is topic-prominent language and English is subject-prominent language,which opened up a unique perspective for a clearer study of differences between Chinese and English.Afterwards,research on the topic structure of Chinese language and the differences between Chinese and English has emerged in an endless stream.However,we have found that most of the studies either focus solely on the characteristics of Chinese language or combine it with the second language acquisition(SLA)or use this theory to study different translation versions of Chinese classical works and novels.On the contrary,few study was made on the interpretation within this theory scope.To begin with,we must be clear of different kinds of topic structures in Chinese.Common topicalization devices include: word order change,speech pauses,anaphora,topic chain,etc.,each of which contains several branches.Consequently,coping strategies to different topic structure are also different.If these topic structures fail to be highlighted effectively in English,the semantic focus will be partially missing.As a result,the author designed an interpreting experiment to study whether the interpreter can smoothly achieve the transfer from the “topic-prominent” Chinese to “English-prominent” English.Besides,in the process,what kind of semantic deviation may occur? What are the reasons for such deviation and how to deal with them in the future practice and study.Due to the variety and complexity of topicalization devices,quantitative research is not suitable in some cases.Therefore,the author mainly use qualitative research to observe the interpreters' handling approaches towards each topical structure.The presented data serves only as a whole reference.It is hoped that the experiment in this paper will provide inspiration for the future interpretation studies.