Effort Distribution In English-Chinese Simultaneous Interpreting In Livestreaming

This report is based on a model English-Chinese interpretation.The author chose videos of SpaceX's Falcon Heavy launches' livestream in February 2018 and April 2019 as source material.Hosts of the livestream were all internal staff as well as professionals.The content included space technology,the history of space exploration and SpaceX.When doing the model interpreting,the interpreter tried to simulate realistic situation as much as possible,and recorded in the whole process.After the model interpreting,through analysis on the interpreter's output,the author gave 20 examples to reveal typical problems in the interpretation,and suggested solutions.After learning about the source text,the author assumed that it is a highlyspecialized piece of material with high density of information,posing challenges to the interpreter in terms of effort distribution.Besides,in the special scenarios of video livestreaming,there could be many different factors when compared with ordinary simultaneous interpreting.In particular,there could be more frequent shifts in topic in video livestreaming,and more unexpected situations that require proper solutions.The author divided examples into several categories based on the length of earvoice span,respectively zero EVS,normal EVS and long/extra-long EVS.Considering several special examples in interpretation,the author included three other categories,respectively EVS below zero,omission,and missing.The author found that in order to achieve zero or short EVS,the interpreter adopted the “zero translation” technique for terms and abbreviations.When topic shifted,the interpreter also immediately shifted.When faced with complex structures or keywords that hinders the interpreting,the interpreter made right decisions in a timely manner,conveyed only the key information to avoid a long EVS.Moreover,taking advantage of the background knowledge and proper anticipation,the interpreter achieved an EVS below zero.In some cases,the interpreter chose to omit unimportant information to achieve desired effects.