Problem Triggers And Coping Strategies In Chinese-English Simultaneous Interpreting For Impromptu Speech

This paper presents the preliminary findings of a study comparing four student interpreters and four professional interpreters' simultaneous interpretation of a Chinese impromptu speech into English,which is their B language.It details problem triggers in the original speech and classifies the strategies used to resolve the difficulties and assesses the subjects" perception as to whether and how they have completed the task.Quantitative and qualitative analyses of interpreting performance,substantiated by retrospection and questionnaire data,resulted in four major findings.1)Fragmented sentence poses a bigger challenge than redundancy and poor logic,and it affects novices much more than experts;2)While both groups resort to omission to deal with redundancy,experts can be more selective in terms of what to interpret and what not to interpret,while novices often deprive the audience of important information;3)When fragmented sentences occur,seasoned interpreters tend to delay response and shift their Ear-Voice Span;while student interpreters tend to keep pace with the speaker to reduce cognitive load,but only to produce unacceptable rendering;4)Experts consciously adapt strategies to deal with challenges,while novices are more passive and less decisive in dealing with problem triggers due to the lack of expertise and real-world experiences.Hopefully,this paper can shed light on the coping tactics and the quality of interpreters' performances,and leave some scope for a future line of research in interpreting pedagogy.