A Report On Information Focus Restructuring In Consecutive Interpreting

This report is based on a simulation consecutive interpretation of materials on artificial intelligence,which covers lectures,forums and a hearing,and it discusses restructuring methods of information focus from the perspective of Information Theory.These materials the author has chosen are coherent because speakers have ppt to refer to.Thus,in order to complete this report,the author has searched for several concepts and glossary about AI in advance.During interpretation,the author has interpreted original videos in the form of consecutive interpretation and has recorded the interpretation process with a recording pen.While interpreting,the author has realized that speakers has used addition,deletion or change of word order to highlight information focus.Thus,under the guidance of Information Theory,the author has analyzed the following questions she has encountered during interpreting: What is information focus? How do interpreters find information focus during interpreting? What is the working definition of restructuring? How do interpreters restructure according to different focus structures?In order to solve these problems,literature research,case analysis and induction are adopted.Based on case analysis,the author has provided her own understanding on the working definitions of information focus and restructuring: information focus is the most important message that the speaker wants to transmit,while restructuring means reorganize the message according to the expression of the target language.In this report,three focus structures are mentioned,namely,accent focus structure,vocabulary focus structure and sentence focus structure.And accordingly,different restructuring methods are adopted for different focus structures.Changing of word order is always adopted in accent focus structures.Addition and rewriting are always applied in vocabulary focus structures.And in order to maintain coherence of the target texts,addition and change of word order are used in sentence focus structures.Finally,this report points out the significance of restructuring based on the Information Theory: restructuring promises that interpreters can focus on information focus in order to achieve the purpose of accuracy and completion.