Turn-taking Strategies In Dialogue Interpreting

Turn-taking is a basic speech-exchange system which occurs in all types of conversational communication.Turn-taking in dialogue interpreting distinguishes itself from that in daily conversation in that the two primary interlocutors do not exchange turns directly with each other,but rely on the interpreter to translate for both sides.Ideally speaking,in dialogue interpreting,the interpreter takes turn to interpret after one interlocutor stops,and then the next interlocutor speaks.However,turns do not always occur alternately in reality.There can be many irregular turns that can spell trouble for interpretation.This report is based on two dialogues interpreted by the author---Sino-Dutch Fresh Chain Logistics Seminar and Sino-Dutch Healthcare Innovation Seminar,which are,though different in themes,share great similarities in format.In this report,the author describes the whole interpreting process,including pre-task preparation and on-site performance.Based on the relevant research,the author summarized the irregular turns she encountered during the process into four categories,including interrupted turns,overlapping turns,turns with unusual silence and turns with no need for interpreting.She then elaborated on the corresponding turn-taking strategies adopted in different cases,namely,combining turns,ignoring turns,creating turns and returning turns.