A Report On A Simulated Interpreting Practice From The Perspective Of Attitude Within Appraisal Theory—Based On The Class Of "The Political Work Of The People’s Liberation Army"

This article is a practice report on a simulated consecutive interpreting task done by the author during his internship in the International College of Defense Studies(ICDS)of the National Defense University(NDU),an institution committed to providing high-level professional education,training and defense exchange opportunities to foreign officers.Working as an intern interpreter at the ICDS from October 2021 to January 2022,the author participated in the interpreting of some lectures.This report is based on the author’s simulated interpreting of the lecture entitled “the Political Work of the People’s Liberation Army”.From the perspective of Attitude in Appraisal Theory,the author analyzed his performance in the interpreting task,explored subsystems and various modes of attitudinal realization and discussed corresponding interpreting tactics.Appraisal Theory is a new development of the interpersonal metafunction of Systemic Functional Linguistics,with a focus on the kinds of attitudes,the strength of the feelings and the ways in which values are sourced in the discourse.According to the theory,the appraisal system consists of three subsystems,namely,Attitude,Engagement and Graduation.In particular,attitudinal resources are categorized as affect,judgement and appreciation,and the modes of attitudinal realization are differentiated as inscribed attitude and invoked attitude.In the process of interpreting,the interpreter is supposed to accurately identify the classifications of attitudinal resources as well as the modes of attitudinal realization and adopt well-targeted interpreting tactics,in a bid to deliver attitudinal meanings of the source text in an appropriate way and improve the transmission of interpersonal meaning.The interpreting practice report demonstrates that there are abundant attitudinal resources within the language communication of the lecture.Accordingly,the author puts forward targeted interpreting tactics based on modes of attitudinal realization.For inscribed attitudes,“selecting corresponding attitudinal resources”,“making category shifts of attitudinal resources” and“downplaying severity of attitudinal meanings” are proposed to deliver more accurately the appraisal meaning of the source text as well as the speaker’s intention.For invoked attitudes,“maintaining attitudinal metaphorical concepts”,“adding direct attitudinal resources” and“paraphrasing attitudinal resources with Chinese characteristics” are employed by the author to restore the attitudinal meaning of the source text and ease the burden of the audience to the greatest extent possible.Evaluation shifts happen in some cases because of the interpreter’s choice.However,whether the appraisal meaning is enlarged,reduced or retained,the underlying motivation is to present a positive image of the PLA to foreign officers and make them get a comprehensive understanding of the PLA’s political work.The practice proves that Appraisal Theory can help interpreters grasp and properly handle the appraisal meanings of language resources and improve the transmission of interpersonal meaning in actual interpreting,thus providing a positive theoretical guidance for future interpreting study and practice.