University of Macau / Faculty of Arts and Humanities. / Department of English

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Keywords. Simultaneous Interpreting; Compression; Strategy; Chinese (Cantonese)-English / Studying compression has both theoretical and practical implications for quality assessment in interpreting, interpreter training and interpreting practice. It could also provide us with concrete and palpable signs of the interpreting process. The findings of the study may also be applied to other language pairs, to the translation of subtitles, and to sign language interpreting. The research provides us with a new perspective to the objective assessment of some phenomena in SI, such as omissions, substitutions, deletions and simplifications. / The aim of this thesis is to investigate the use of compression strategy in simultaneous interpreting (SI) with reference to the language combination of Chinese (Cantonese) and English. The study uses concepts in linguistics, such as the Economy Principle, pragmatics, such as the Cooperative Principle and translation theories, such as Chernov's (1987/2004) categories of compression, Levy's (1967) MiniMax Principle, Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS), Skopos Theory, and "the Theory of Sense." The thesis addresses the following questions: (1) To what extent professional simultaneous interpreters resort to compression as a strategy in Chinese and English SI? (2) Is compression intrinsic to the process of SI and universal for all language combinations? If so, are Chernov's categories of compression applicable to Chinese and English SI? (3) What are the causes and factors of compression in SI? How factors such as contexts and situations, textual inferences and syntactic differences in the two language systems affect interpreters' use of compression as a strategy in SI? / The study concludes that interpreters use compression as a linguistic coping strategy to match with the speakers' delivery speed in the specific discourse environments and contexts of SI under temporal constraints. Compression is also a "labour-saving device" to cope with the cognitive load in the extreme conditions by simultaneous interpreters. It is also a stylistic device to achieve brevity and clarity for the target text, and an effective communicative device to realize the communicative act which benefits the addressees. Compression is found to be intrinsic to the process of SI which could be argued as a universal phenomenon and a universal strategy for all language combinations. / This research uses the quantitative and qualitative methods. It adopts a corpus-based approach, embracing discourse analysis, DTS, participant observation and simple statistics. This is achieved through compiling a parallel corpus of the performance of professional simultaneous interpreters in three meetings of Hong Kong Legislative Council (LegCo) in which the renderings are made from Cantonese into English, i.e. from A Language to B Language. It is found that compression occurs in 60% of the whole discourse in all the three meetings and compressions are used mainly as a linguistic coping strategy in specific situations and temporal constraints due to linguistic redundancy in human languages and specific characteristics of the spoken language. All of Chernov's categories of compression are found in Chinese (Cantonese) and English SI, such as syllabic compression, lexical compression, syntactic compression, semantic compression and situational compression. Pragmatic compression is also found in the data. The main factors of compression are linguistic redundancy of languages, specific characteristics of the spoken language, speech contexts and situations, different syntactic structures of Chinese and English, and interpreters' manipulation with delivery speed under stringent temporal constraints in the process of SI. Professional skills and experiences of individual interpreters and their delivery speed have also affected their use of compression in SI. / Wang, Yongqiu. / Adviser: Chan Sin-wai. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-06, Section: A, page: 2019. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 303-320). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.

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M.A. (Applied Linguistics) / Much research has focused on general strategy use during simultaneous interpreting (SI), while little research has been conducted on how interpreters’ choice of strategies relates to source text (ST) delivery speed (DS). Hence, it is unclear whether interpreters use the same strategies when confronted with fast speech, average speech, and slow speech; or, whether they use different strategies under these three conditions. This research argues that interpreters use specific strategies to cope with the different ST delivery speed during simultaneous interpreting within the Pan-African Parliament (PAP). The PAP consists of delegates from African countries with different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. In order to facilitate communication in this multilingual setting, the PAP has adopted six official working languages. However, the latter still do not resolve institutional communication barriers; hence the need for such services as simultaneous interpreting. The PAP is situated in Midrand, South Africa, and plays an important role in African politics. It offers SI in English and French. Nevertheless, no previous studies on simultaneous interpreting have been conducted at the PAP. Thus, through empirical research based on primary data consisting of recordings of simultaneous interpreting in French and English at the PAP, this study examines interpreters’ use of strategies. The main focus of the study is the strategies for fast, average, and slow delivery speed identified by Gile (1995), during actual interpreting at the PAP The study categorises these interpreting strategies into meaning-based (lexical dissimilarity) or form-based (lexical similarity) and indicates those that are more appropriate for each DS during SI. By differentiating the various strategies used by interpreters to deal with all three ST delivery speeds, this study creates an awareness about and clarifies how certain interpreting conditions, such as speed, affect interpreters’ coping tactics. In particular, the study demonstrates that the faster the speed, the more form-based (FB) the strategies will be; and, the slower the speed, the more interpreters will resort to meaning-based (MB) strategies. Ultimately, the study demonstrates that strategies that lead to meaning-based interpreting are more successful than the others which lead to a form-based interpreting.

Šárka Timarová: Pracovní paměť v konferenčním simultánním tlumočení disertační práce Abstrakt Tato disertační práce se zaměřuje na otázku zapojení pracovní paměti v procesu konferenčního tlumočení. Pracovní paměť je pro simultánní tlumočení považována za klíčový kognitivní mechanismus, ale toto tvrzení zatím nebylo významně empiricky podloženo. Předkládaná studie vychází z teoretické literatury jak v oblasti tlumočení, tak v oblasti kognitivní psychologie. Analýza publikovaných empirických prací ukázala několik mezer v současném bádání, a to především skutečnost, že výzkum se dosud soustředil pouze na některé funkce pracovní paměti (především funkce paměťové) a na testování osob bez tlumočnické praxe či s praxí omezenou (studenti tlumočení). Předkládaná studie pojímá pracovní paměť šířeji se zvláštním zřetelem k funkcím řídícím, které úzce souvisejí s pozorností, a dále se zaměřuje výlučně na profesionální tlumočníky. Podstatou studie je srovnání výkonu tlumočníků v testech pracovní paměti a při simultánním tlumočení. Výsledky ukazují, že a) existuje vztah mezi pracovní pamětí tlumočníků a simultánním tlumočením, b) tento vztah se týká především funkcí řídících; u funkcí paměťových se žádný zásadní vztah neprokázal, c) některé funkce pracovní paměti se rozvíjejí spolu s tlumočnickou praxí, a d) vztah...

The purpose of the present thesis is to shed light on the role of pauses in simultaneous interpreting between French and Czech, mainly from the point of view of the listeners of the source speeches in French as well as both students of interpretation and professional interpreters and from the viewpoint of the listeners of the speeches interpreted into Czech. It is divided into a theoretical and an empirical part. The theoretical part briefly outlines the process of simultaneous interpreting and Daniel Gile's Effort Model and then it focuses on prosody and individual prosodic (suprasegmental) features, especially pauses and their use in simultaneous interpreting. The empirical part describes the experiment and presents its results. The experiment itself examines the effect that unnaturally long or unnaturally placed pauses in the speaker's quasi-authentic source speeches have on the choice of strategy and the simultaneous interpreters' performances (students and professionnals) and on the subsequent assessment of their performances made by the listeners of the interpreted speeches. Keywords simultaneous interpreting, pause, listener, speech, speaker, interpreter, comprehensibility

Considerando a pouca quantidade de dados e o tempo limitado para a preparação do intérprete de conferência, o objetivo desta pesquisa é propor uma metodologia para a elaboração de glossários bilíngues, inglês/português, voltados às necessidades de preparação deste profissional, no modo de Interpretação Simultânea, utilizando as ferramentas da Linguística de Corpus. Apesar do crescente número de publicações sobre Estudos de Interpretação, ainda não existe uma extensa bibliografia, em português, que apresente material de suporte para a preparação do intérprete. O modelo de glossário proposto tem como objetivo incluir não apenas termos técnicos e acrônimos, mas também colocados de termos, nomes próprios e paráfrases, e até mesmo pronúncia, quando relevante, pois o acesso a tais informações não somente permite que a Interpretação siga as normas da convencionalidade da língua de chegada, como também poupa o intérprete de depender tanto de um conhecimento intuitivo da língua, reduzindo, dessa forma, a carga cognitiva. Devido ao pouco tempo para a preparação do intérprete, é impraticável fazer uma leitura detalhada de grande quantidade de material de estudo. A Linguística de Corpus, por permitir o estudo de grandes coletâneas de textos e possibilitar a análise dos padrões de linguagem em textos naturais, foi utilizada na elaboração dos glossários. A metodologia descreve a elaboração de glossários para quatro trabalhos com tópicos distintos, sendo que os corpora coletados têm como base as informações enviadas pelo contratante do serviço, biografias de palestrantes, resumos de palestras e outros documentos relacionados aos eventos. Os corpora foram explorados com o programa WordSmith Tools, e, ao final, os glossários foram avaliados em relação a sua eficácia para o evento de Interpretação estudado, tendo como base a transcrição das palestras proferidas. / Given the lack of data and the limited time available for the preparation of Conference Interpreters, this research aims to propose a methodology for the preparation of English/Portuguese bilingual glossaries, based on the preparation needs of professionals in the simultaneous interpreting mode, using Corpus Linguistics tools. In spite of the growing number of publications on Interpreting Studies, there is still no extensive bibliography in Portuguese that can provide support material for the preparation of interpreters. The proposed glossary model aims to include not only technical terms and acronyms, but also collocates of terms, proper names and paraphrases, including their correct pronunciation, whenever relevant. By having access to this information, Interpreters can follow the norms of language use of the target text, while depending less on their intuitive knowledge of the language, thus reducing the cognitive load. Interpreters have little time to prepare and, therefore, are unable to read large quantities of studying material. Corpus Linguistics enables the analysis of a large number of documents and language patterns in natural texts, which makes it very useful for the preparation of glossaries. The methodology describes the preparation of glossaries on four different topics and the collected corpora were based on information sent by the parties contracting Interpreting services, such as speakers biographies, lecture summaries and other documents related to the events. The corpora were explored with WordSmith Tools software and assessed with regard to their efficacy for the Interpreting event studied, based on the transcription of the lectures given.

Considerando a pouca quantidade de dados e o tempo limitado para a preparação do intérprete de conferência, o objetivo desta pesquisa é propor uma metodologia para a elaboração de glossários bilíngues, inglês/português, voltados às necessidades de preparação deste profissional, no modo de Interpretação Simultânea, utilizando as ferramentas da Linguística de Corpus. Apesar do crescente número de publicações sobre Estudos de Interpretação, ainda não existe uma extensa bibliografia, em português, que apresente material de suporte para a preparação do intérprete. O modelo de glossário proposto tem como objetivo incluir não apenas termos técnicos e acrônimos, mas também colocados de termos, nomes próprios e paráfrases, e até mesmo pronúncia, quando relevante, pois o acesso a tais informações não somente permite que a Interpretação siga as normas da convencionalidade da língua de chegada, como também poupa o intérprete de depender tanto de um conhecimento intuitivo da língua, reduzindo, dessa forma, a carga cognitiva. Devido ao pouco tempo para a preparação do intérprete, é impraticável fazer uma leitura detalhada de grande quantidade de material de estudo. A Linguística de Corpus, por permitir o estudo de grandes coletâneas de textos e possibilitar a análise dos padrões de linguagem em textos naturais, foi utilizada na elaboração dos glossários. A metodologia descreve a elaboração de glossários para quatro trabalhos com tópicos distintos, sendo que os corpora coletados têm como base as informações enviadas pelo contratante do serviço, biografias de palestrantes, resumos de palestras e outros documentos relacionados aos eventos. Os corpora foram explorados com o programa WordSmith Tools, e, ao final, os glossários foram avaliados em relação a sua eficácia para o evento de Interpretação estudado, tendo como base a transcrição das palestras proferidas. / Given the lack of data and the limited time available for the preparation of Conference Interpreters, this research aims to propose a methodology for the preparation of English/Portuguese bilingual glossaries, based on the preparation needs of professionals in the simultaneous interpreting mode, using Corpus Linguistics tools. In spite of the growing number of publications on Interpreting Studies, there is still no extensive bibliography in Portuguese that can provide support material for the preparation of interpreters. The proposed glossary model aims to include not only technical terms and acronyms, but also collocates of terms, proper names and paraphrases, including their correct pronunciation, whenever relevant. By having access to this information, Interpreters can follow the norms of language use of the target text, while depending less on their intuitive knowledge of the language, thus reducing the cognitive load. Interpreters have little time to prepare and, therefore, are unable to read large quantities of studying material. Corpus Linguistics enables the analysis of a large number of documents and language patterns in natural texts, which makes it very useful for the preparation of glossaries. The methodology describes the preparation of glossaries on four different topics and the collected corpora were based on information sent by the parties contracting Interpreting services, such as speakers biographies, lecture summaries and other documents related to the events. The corpora were explored with WordSmith Tools software and assessed with regard to their efficacy for the Interpreting event studied, based on the transcription of the lectures given.

[pt] O presente trabalho enfoca a interpretação enquanto atividade social e o intérprete profissional como agente em interação com as outras partes interessadas em eventos mediados por interpretação simultânea. O objetivo principal é caracterizar e explicar as atitudes e crenças do intérprete para com a sua função profissional, bem como suas ações e reações com relação aos outros agentes que participam dos eventos nos quais atuam. São identificadas as fontes e naturezas das pressões e restrições que afetam seu desempenho e a maneira como a profissão vem respondendo a elas no âmbito global e, mais especificamente, no Brasil. Essas questões são abordadas pela perspectiva do próprio intérprete, tomando como foco central suas experiências e expectativas profissionais. A atividade de interpretação é caracterizada historicamente em contraste com a tradução, e as atitudes predominantes relativas a ambas as áreas em determinadas épocas históricas são descritas. São destacadas as rápidas transformações ocorridas a partir do século XX, tanto nas atividades em si como na sua estruturação profissional e acadêmica. Para identificar as crenças e atitudes dos intérpretes e as restrições às quais são sujeitos, são apresentados os resultados de entrevistas realizadas com profissionais que atuam no Rio de Janeiro. Os dados são analisados com o uso de duas ferramentas teóricas: as normas tradutórias de Gideon Toury e os conceitos de habitus e campo de Pierre Bourdieu. São identificadas as normas inicial e preliminares presentes no mercado carioca, bem como aqueles comportamentos que indicam a existência de um habitus compartilhado na profissão e os que apontam para aspectos ainda não consolidados. Quando os dados das entrevistas são analisados junto às informações sobre a evolução histórica da profissão, chega- se à conclusão de que ela representa um campo ou sub-campo ainda em formação. São levantadas as implicações do processo atual de consolidação da profissão e as possíveis sinergias com a academia. / [en] This study views interpreting as a socially-oriented activity and the professional interpreter as an agent who interacts with the other stakeholders at events mediated by simultaneous interpreting. Its main aim is to describe and explain interpreters´ attitudes and beliefs regarding their profession, as well as their actions and reactions concerning the other agents who take part in the events at which they work. The source and nature of the pressures and restrictions which affect interpreters´ performance are identified, as is the profession´s response to them on a worldwide and national (Brazilian) level. These issues are viewed from the perspective of interpreters themselves, taking their own professional experiences and expectations as the core focus. A historical overview of interpreting is presented in contrast with that of translation and the prevailing attitudes towards both areas at given moments in time are described. The rapid changes as of the 20th century seen in both the activities and their respective professional and academic structuring are given special attention. In order to identify the interpreters´ beliefs and attitudes and the restrictions they feel, the findings of interviews held with professionals who work in Rio de Janeiro are presented. The data are analysed from two complementary perspectives: Gideon Toury´s translation norms and Pierre Bourdieu´s concepts of habitus and field. The initial and preliminary norms present in the Rio market are identified, as are those behaviours that indicate the existence of a shared habitus in the profession, along with those that point to issues as yet unconsolidated. When the data from the interviews are analysed together with the information about the profession´s historical development, it is concluded that the profession represents a field or sub-field in formation. The implications of the current process of consolidation in the profession are raised, as are its potential synergies with the academic world.