A Study On The Relation Between Source Text Speech Rate And English-Chinese Simultaneous Interpreting Quality

In English-Chinese simultaneous interpreting(SI),speakers often have different styles when delivering the speech.Speech rate is one of the major characteristics of one's speaking style and also a key factor affecting the SI performance.High speech rate or high information density may pose challenges to interpreters in comprehending the source text(ST)and grasping the line of reasoning,resulting in misinterpretations or omissions;slow speech rate or low information density may force interpreters to lengthen the EVS and stretch their memory effort,leading to nonfluencies and incoherent outputBased on Gile's Effort Models,this study aims to examine the SI quality of ST delivered at different speech rates by conducting an empirical study.This study identifies problem triggers and coping tactics,which may help interpreters adapt themselves to different source text delivery ratesBased on previous research,this study provides a specific definition of slow,moderate,and fast presentation rates in the SI context and divides nine trainee interpreters into three groups to interpret the same speech delivered at three different rates.Two groups of error categories are adopted to assess the output quality in terms of accuracy and fluencyThis study concludes that interpreters tend to produce output of higher quality when the ST is delivered at a moderate speech rate;both slow and fast delivery rates undermine the SI performance.In the case of slow delivery,the interpreting often shows a lower level of fluency and more logical errors,whereas a high presentation rate tends to increase the output fluency while causing a greater number of omissions...