An Empirical Study On The Impact Of Visible Lip Movements On E-C Simultaneous Interpreting

Simultaneous interpreting requires interpreters to process auditory information and orally translate it into the target language.At the same time,they also need to handle various types of visual information,such as the facial expressions and gestures of the speaker,the response of the audience,as well as speeches,slides and glossaries prepared before the meeting,etc.However,most interpreters do not consider the additional visual information as increasing their cognitive load,but believe it is indispensable.When doing on-site interpreting,conference interpreters usually have a certain distance away from the speakers,and thus cannot clearly see their facial expressions and have a limited access to visual input.Whether the lack of visual information has an impact on interpreters’ SI performance is still not a heavily researched topic.The research results mainly come from Western scholars,and the research system is not yet well established.As it is known that different types of visual information have different effects on the cognitive load of interpreters,the present study only focuses on the speaker’s lip movements.Based on Gile’s effort model and Seeber’s model of cognitive load,this paper tries to investigate the impact of the speaker’s visible lip movements on trainee interpreter’s SI performance and find out their perception of visual information.In order to investigate the relationship between visual input and SI performance,the researcher conducted an experiment and retrospective interviews with 10 MTI third-year students in English-Chinese simultaneous interpreting and analyzed the SI performance of all the subjects in the two conditions(with and without lip movements)from three dimensions:completeness,accuracy and fluency.This study found that the speaker’s visible lip movements to some extent could alleviate the cognitive load of trainee interpreters.Clearly seeing the speaker’s lip movements strengthens the interpreter’s ability in L2 listening comprehension.But when the speaker’s lip movements are not visible,the interpreter’s SI performance can suffer,particularly the accuracy of reproduction is the most negatively affected.The effects are inextricably linked to the interpreter’s ability to work under stress and anxiety.The vast majority of subjects reported that when visual information was not blocked,their psychological state became uneasy and worrisome.In such a case,the more the interpreter is able to maintain a steady state of mind,the less their SI output is negatively affected.The study also revealed that the majority of student interpreters recognised the importance of visual information,but were still struggling to balance visual and auditory information.Although visual information is vital to the interpreter’s SI performance,too much visual information can be distracting and interpreters should prioritize their attentional resources on auditory information first.