A Report On The Consecutive Interpreting Of Technical Texts From The Perspective Of Gile's Comprehension Equation

Microsoft held an event on May 2017 themed "Learn what's next," during which a series of hardware and software were launched targeting the education market to support students,teachers and administrators.During the presentation,9 speakers took turns showcasing the new features,functions and performance of the new products.In this report,a case study on English-to-Chinese consecutive interpreting is carried out based on this event.Gile's Effort Models are applied to analyze the difficulties during the interpretation.Coping tactics are proposed on the basis of both Gile's Effort Models and Comprehension Equation(1997),and other interpreting formulas.The interpreter was confronted with four challenges in the task,namely multiple proper nouns,confusing expressions and ambiguous references,fast speech delivery,as well as the distraction of presentation files.In coping with the above challenges,on-site interpreting tactics are proposed.Transliteration and repetition are for dealing with multiple proper nouns appearing consecutively;association and explanation are for figuring out confusing expressions and ambiguous references;generalization and omission are for saving energy confronted with fast speech delivery;drawing flow charts and addition are for minimizing the distraction of the presentation files.The guiding principle is to economize the interpreter's energy and to avoid the deterioration the interpreting performance due to overload of mental energy.Based on post-task reflection and assessment,the interpreter's flawed performance is also resulted from three other challenges,namely frequent change of speakers,overloading technology knowledge and polysemy.Coping solutions are offered from the perspective of knowledge accumulation which facilitates comprehension and reduces disturbances.