Adaptation in Consecutive Interpreting

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

This article was downloaded by:On: 18 February 2009Access details: Access Details: Free AccessPublisher RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House,37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

PerspectivesPublication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t794297831

ADAPTATION IN CONSECUTIVE INTERPRETINGHu Gengshen a

a Tsinghua University, China

Online Publication Date: 20 June 2006

To cite this Article Gengshen, Hu(2006)'ADAPTATION IN CONSECUTIVE INTERPRETING',Perspectives,14:1,3 — 12

To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/09076760608669013

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09076760608669013

Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.informaworld.com/terms-and-conditions-of-access.pdf

This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial orsystematic reproduction, re-distribution, re-selling, loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply ordistribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden.

The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contentswill be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug dosesshould be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss,actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directlyor indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material.

http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t794297831

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09076760608669013

http://www.informaworld.com/terms-and-conditions-of-access.pdf

ADAPTATION IN CONSECUTIVE INTERPRETING

Hu Gengshen, Tsinghua University, [email protected]

AbstractStanding at the centre of a dynamic process of communication between communicators from

different cultures, consecutive interpreters adapt to the oral interpretational eco-environment through selective adaptation and selection. Providing exemplification and analyses from his own thirty-odd years of experience of work with English-Chinese and Chinese-English consecutive interpreting, the author first discusses the oral interpretational eco-environment and the interpreter’s adaptation and selection to it. On this basis, he then classifies the interpreter’s selective adaptation in consecutive interpreting into three types: i) adaptive replication; ii) adaptive reduction, and iii) adaptive addition. The interpretational and situational examples of adaptation and selection clearly demonstrate that when interpreting is regarded as a process of the interpreter’s adaptation to the oral interpretational eco-environment, this leads to an effective rendition. This article not only confirms the theoretical approach to Translation as Adaptation and Selection, but may also be helpful for students of interpreting as well as practicing interpreters by heightening their awareness of factors that have a bearing on their performance in specific situations.

Key words: Chinese-English; English-Chinese; consecutive interpreting; interpreter intervention vs. interpreter neutrality; interpreter’s adaptation and selection; interpreting strategies

IntroductionInterpreting is as a basic communicative tool for communicators who do not

share the same language and culture. In both international and international situations, the availability of accurate, expressive, and timely interpreting helps progress, understanding, and the exchange of ideas among cultures. The effect of communication is thus directly dependent on the quality of the interpreting service provided.

Characterized by live and immediate transmission, consecutive interpreting can be thought of as a process in which adequate information is orally presented and transferred into another linguistic and cultural system. Consecutive interpreting, therefore, requires both accurate comprehension of the source discourse and clear delivery in the target language by the interpreter.

Interpreting activities have come to flourish with the international communication which increases day by day. Successive studies of interpreting have been conducted on the subjects such as consecutive, teaching interpreting, the interpreter’s ‘Efforts models’ and ‘coping tactics’, and cognitive processes, etc. (e.g., Altman 1987: Gile 1995a: Katan 2004: Liu 2005). But there is still little primary material that is publicly accessible (with Dollerup and Ceelen 1996 as a notable exception (but confined to European languages)).

However, this article explores the subject using non-European languages. In addition, it does so from a new perspective, namely the approach to Translation as Adaptation and Selection (Hu 2003). This model can shed light on and be used for a more conscious approach to specific assignments in consecutive interpreting. The approach demands that the interpretational situation is viewed as an interpretational eco-environment. How does the interpreter fit a specific eco-environment of a given interpreting assignment? And what are main strategies for adaptation and selection in practical interpreting? With these questions in

�

0907-676X/06/01/003-10 $20.00Perspectives: Studies in Translatology

© 2006 Hu GengshenVol. 14, No. 1, 2006

Downloaded At: 23:34 18 February 2009

2006. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology. Volume 14: 1

mind, the author intends to offer possible answers.

The approach to Translation as Adaptation and SelectionInterpreters themselves are selected and adapted for a translation assignment,

and translators adapt, and play a dominating role in the process of interpreting in order to survive and thrive. According to this approach, consecutive interpreting is regarded essentially as “a selection activity of the translator’s adaptation to fit the eco-environment of translating”. Within this framework (Translation as Adaptation and Selection henceforth TAS), the process of translation, notably as seen in consecutive interpreting, is the production of a target text through the translator’s adaptation to a specific translational eco-environment and the translator’s selection of both the degree of adaptation and the phrasing of the final target text.

It is, thus, argued that the approach of Translation as Adaptation and Selection is valid to consecutive interpreting practice and that it may also sometimes apply to other translational contexts under given specific situational circumstances.

Interpretational eco-environment and adaptation and selectionIn light of the special features of consecutive interpreting, interpreting in

this article is regarded as “a selection activity of the interpreter’s adaptation to fit the eco-environment of interpreting”. The eco-environment of interpreting refers to the worlds of the source discourse and the source and target languages, comprising the linguistic, cultural and social aspects, and the physical setting of interpreting, including the speaker, the listener(s), and the client. Interpreting is to produce target-language discourse through the interpreter’s adaptation to the interpretational eco-environment. At the linguistic level, the principles for interpreting are “multi-dimensional adaptations and adaptive selections”, while the interpretational methods are “three dimensional transformations” (i.e., linguistic, cultural, and communicative dimensions).

Like Peter Newmark “I feel uneasy if I write more than a dozen lines about translation without producing an example, partly to explain, illustrate and support my ‘theory’, partly to invite discussion, reaction in favour or against, and in the hope of finding a rapprochement, a conciliation if not an agreement” (Newmark 1991: 5). In this spirit, the process and principles of interpreting and the criteria for assessing the effect of interpreting will be illustrated with real-life, professional examples.1

Adaptive replicationBy adaptive replication, the author means that in order to fit the specific oral

interpretational eco-environment, the interpreter merely transfers the linguistic form (or pattern) of the source discourse, including the word order, the sentence structure, and the amount of words, etc. in the target rendition.

Generally speaking, as an interpretational strategy, adaptive replication is chiefly applicable to eco-environments in which copying lexical meanings, syntactical structures, and the sentence order of the source discourse will adequately render the meaning of those of the target discourse.

4


Example 1

Scenario: In the course of a business negotiation, the speaker utters a statement:

Source utterance: 他们采取了一种门户开放的政策。[Literal translation: They adopted a kind of open-door policy.]Real-life rendition: They adopted a kind of open-door policy.

Comments: The source discourse is a ‘subject’ + ‘verb’ + ‘object’ sequence, with a relatively simple word order. Considering the simple sentence structure and word order which is an important element of the interpretational eco-environment, the interpreter simply replicated the equivalent words and structure into the target discourse. In this case, the actual interpretational rendition is a literal translation.

Example 2

Scenario: In the course of a professional lecture, the speaker provides an outline of what he is going to speak about:

Source utterance: Our job in physics is to see things simply, namely, to understand a great many of complicated phenomena in a unified way, in terms of a few simple principles. However, in this talk, I want to discuss the development of two lines of thought in theoretical physics.[Literal translation: 我们的工作在物理学方面是简单地去看事物，也就是说，以少数简单的原理，用一个统一的方法去理解许多复杂的现象。但是，在这次演讲中，我想谈一下理论物理中两条思路的发展。]Real-life rendition: 我们的物理学工作是简单地去想象事物，即以少数简单的原理，用一个统一的方法去理解许多复杂的现象。但是，在这次演讲中，我想谈一下理论物理中两条思路的发展。

Comments: There are two short sentences in the source discourse, and they are both very simple in terms of structure. This simple sentence structure makes it easy to render them as in literal translation, that is, to use the adaptive replication strategy in interpreting.

Example 3

Scenario: In the course of a news briefing, the speaker tells about the factory he represents:

Source utterance: 原因是我们全厂上下都正在发扬 ‘三爱三争’ 的精神。什么是 ‘三爱三争’ 呢？ ‘三爱’即爱祖国、爱工厂、爱本职； ‘三争’ 即争贡献、争上游、争第一。[Literal translation: The reason is that all the workers and staff in our factory are carrying forward the spirit of ‘three loves and three strives’. What are the ‘three loves and three strives’? The ‘three loves’ mean ‘love our motherland, love our factory and love our own work’. The ‘three strives’ mean ‘striving for contribution, striving for aiming high and striving for A one’.]Real-life rendition: The reason is that all the workers and staff in our factory are carrying forward the spirit of ‘three loves and three strives’. What are the ‘three loves and three strives’? The ‘three loves’ mean ‘love our motherland, love our factory and love our own work’. The ‘three strives’ are ‘striving for contribution, striving for aiming high and striving for A one’.

Comments: Obviously, there is no substantial difference between the real-life rendition and the literal translation. The reason is that the source discourse consists of several stereotyped ideological phrases such as ‘three loves’ and ‘three strives’ that have been formularized in parallel structures, and the specific explanation of those set patterns is also constructed with a ‘subject’ + ‘object’ sequence. To fit this specific interpretational eco-environment, the interpreter has adaptively used the replication strategy, selectively ‘copied’ (Gile 1995b) the original sentence patterns, and produced the target discourse in more or less the same order as in the source discourse.

�Hu. Adaptation in Consecutive Interpreting.


Example 4

Scenario: At a press conference on March 19th, 1998, with the Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongji, a French reporter asked a question:

Source utterance: I am from the French Daily Le Monde, Chatevon. Prime Minister, I would like to ask you a question about the state-owned enterprise reform. Um, China started to elaborate this reform at a time when the South Korean model of big conglomerate was deemed quite successful. Since things have changed, as you know, so I would like to know if the collapse of this model will have any effect on the way you are thinking about this reform, and this question arises another one. That is, the pace of this reform. Given the new context, the new original context of the financial crisis, will China slow down the pace of this reform, or, on the contrary, will you be more cautious? Thank you.Real-life rendition: 我是法国《世界报》记者。总理先生，我的问题涉及到中国的国有企业改革。当中国在考虑进行国有企业改革的时候，当时韩国的大财团是非常成功的时期。但是最近的情况发现，这些大财团纷纷出现问题，有的已垮台。那么它们失败的经历是不是会对中国要进行国有企业改革的这种方式，这种模式产生什么样的影响？下面一个问题就是说，中国在进行国有企业改革方面，它的步伐会是怎样的，它将是采取一种什么样的速度，特别考虑到现在出现了金融危机这样的新情况。在这种情况下，中国是会放慢中国国有企业改革的速度吗？还是说中国会在这方面变得更加谨慎？[from Premier Zhu in Press Conference (Interpreter: Zhu Tong) 1999: 15][Back translation of the Chinese rendition: I am Chatevon, reporter from the French Daily Le Monde. Prime Minister, my question concerns China’s state-owned enterprise reform. When China was considering the reform of state enterprises, at that time the South Korean model of big conglomerate was quite successful. However, the present situation shows that these big consortiums have run into trouble, and some of them have collapsed. Will the fact that they have experienced failure have any effect on the way you are thinking about this reform? The next question is what about the pace of this reform. Facing the new situation, especially considering the new situation with the financial crisis, will China slow down the pace of the state-owned enterprise reform? Or, will China be more cautious in doing that?]

Comments: The above source discourse looks fairly long in English. It is, however, not complicated in terms of the individual sentences, sentence order, and meaning. The simple sentence structure enables the interpreter to adopt an adaptive replication strategy. This point can be seen clearly by comparing the original with the literal translation of the Chinese real-life rendition.In these examples, the lexical meaning, syntactical structure, and word order in the source discourse are basically identical with those of the target discourse. This means that the strategy of adaptive replication is best suited to interpretational eco-environments with these linguistic characteristics. Although feasible, therefore, this strategy is actually not all that frequently adopted, since such correspondences are fairly unusual in Chinese-English and English-Chinese interpretational eco-environments.

Adaptive reductionIn adaptive reduction, the interpreter is not limited by the speaker’s sentence

structure and the words – neither their number nor lexical meaning – in the source discourse. Instead, the interpreter has to be flexible and focus on extracting the principal idea of a discourse, e.g., picking up the major points and leaving out minor ones. Obviously, this adaptive reduction strategy can only be employed under certain conditions. To be more exact, there must be an eco-environment in which the source discourse contains shared knowledge, use of signs and symbols, redundant information, or any mixture of these. Under such circumstances, the interpreter may abstract or generalize what is conditionally accommodated.

� 2006. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology. Volume 14: 1


Example 5

Scenario: In the course of a seminar, the speaker introduces a technical layout to a group of professional Chinese-speaking colleagues by referring to a technical diagram displayed on a screen beside him:

Source utterance: Well now, let’s take a look at this schematic diagram of the remote control system. Here you see, we, first of all, collect the parameters from the power system, well, by means of remote terminal units, and then we can monitor the power system on the basis of the collected information. All right, as to the communication, please look at this square here (pointing at the diagram), it can be performed with the operators in the control center via multi-colored CRT’s and typewriters. The operators here in the control center will check and issue control commands to the terminals. Again look here, in this area, the operator can monitor the function of the control system with previous automatic and manual changes in the control system configuration. You can see here, this system also has functions of software handling for maintaining and expanding the control system. They include the data base program development, test routines for the units which are covered in the control system, and so on.[Literal translation: 那么，好吧，让我们看一下这张远动系统的简图。此处，你们可以看到，我们可能先用远方终端机收集电力系统的数据，那么，然后就根据收集到的数据来监视全系统的运行。好吧，关于通讯联系问题，请看这个方框 (指框图)，可以通过几台彩色屏幕显示器和打字机与控制中心操作人员联系。在这个位置，操作人员在控制中心进行检查。再看这里，他们便向终端发出控制命令。你们可以看到，在图的这一区域，操作人员能在自动和人工改变控制系统的配置时监视系统的运行。在图的下面这个位置，我们看到该远动系统还具有维护和扩充控制系统的软件处理，具体包括数据库、程序开发、控制系统中各种装置的试验程序等等。]Real-life rendition: 这里是一张远动系统的功能示意图，按照图中标示的顺序，其功能具体包括有数据库、系统监视、终端与中调的通讯，以及维护和扩充系统的有关软件等。[Back translation of the Chinese rendition: This is a schematic diagram of the functions in this remote control system. According to the sequence indicated in this diagram [At this point, the interpreter points at the diagram], the system functions include the data base, program development, test routines for the controlling units, etc.]

Comments: Fitting the specific interpretational eco-environment, and making full use of the setting, the interpreter points at the Diagram and uses it for a brief rendition in which he only orally translates the technical layout in two sentences.2

The reduction in this rendition should not only be ascribed to the diagram but also to the facts that (a) the audience were the speaker’s technical counterparts working in the same power transmission station, (b) the lecture was part of the general introduction, and (c) the interpreter knew both the speaker and the audience,3 etc. All told, the reduction in the target discourse is adapted to the specific interpretational eco-environment.

Example 6

Scenario: At a ceremony of an English speech contest, the speaker from the sponsoring university addresses the teachers, the contestants, and other students:

Source utterance: 首先，我要感谢老师们。他们全身心地投入到教学工作中去，付出了辛勤劳动。没有他们的努力，我们的同学不会取得如此大的成绩。学生的成绩与老师的辛苦是分不开的。教师的工作很累，每天都很辛苦，他们为同学们付出了许多。因此，我们首先应该向老师们致谢。[Literal translation: First of all, I want to thank the teachers. They have whole-heartedly devoted themselves to their teaching. They have worked hard. Without their effort, our students cannot achieve so much. The students’ achievement can not be separated from our teachers’ arduous work. Our teachers are hard working, they work tirelessly every day, and they have done much for our students. So, we should first of all express our thanks to the teachers.]Real-life rendition: First of all, we’d like to thank the teachers who have devoted themselves to the teaching profession. Their effort is indispensable to the achievement of their students. In other words, without their help, our students could not have achieved such a big success.




Comments: This rendition in the target discourse is different from the source discourse in terms of its organization and the number of words. Yet, the idea “I want to thank the teachers for their hard work” is rendered adequately. The change of the organization of words and the order of presentation has not diminished the importance of what the speaker intended to say. The message in both the source and target discourses is functionally ‘equivalent’.

Example 7

Scenario: In the course of a professional lecture, a member of the audience asks:

Source utterance: 西蒙先生，我想要提的四个问题是这样的：第一个问题是关于具体的观察时间问题，第二个问题是关于参加的观察人员问题，第三个问题是关于详细的观察内容问题，第四个问题，也就是最后一个问题，是关于已得到的观察结果问题。能不能请您就刚才我所提的四个问题作以说明？[Literal translation: Mr. Simon, the four questions that I am going to ask you are like this: the first question is regarding the question of the concrete observation time, the second question is regarding the question of who have participated in the observation, the third question is regarding the question of what you have observed in a detailed way, and the forth question, which is also the last question, is regarding the results of what you have obtained. May I ask you to explain the four questions I asked just now?]Real-life rendition: Mr. Simon, could you please explain respectively the concrete observing time, participants, detailed contents and the obtained results?

Comments: In the source discourse, there are altogether eleven repeated words ‘问题’ (questions), four repeated expressions ‘第几个问题是关于’ (the xth question is regarding the question of …), and two repeated sentence structure like ‘提四个问题’ (to raise four questions) and ‘所提的四个问题’ (the four questions I asked), and so on. Facing this source text’s eco-environment of wordiness, repetitions, and redundant information, the interpreter chose not to follow the original sentence pattern but opted for an adaptive reduction strategy, which was suitable in the environment and led to an appropriate selection of the target discourse. What is translated into 92 English words in the literal translation corresponds to 18 English words in the real-life rendition. The real-life target rendition is thus much more concise than the source utterance, without losing essential information and also, saving time.

Example 8

Scenario: In the course of a session at an international symposium on management, the speaker starts:

Source utterance: Well, I’d like to spend just a few minutes of your time exploring some new approaches of management development. Just interrupt me any time you want to. Right, so management development - what do we mean by this term? I don’t think it’s worth spending a lot of time defining the term but just so we’re all roughly on the same pitch. I intend to confine myself to middle management and above - I won’t be talking about graduate development programs, or junior management courses - [Someone in the audience gets up to leave] Yes, this is a golden opportunity for anybody to leave … So we’re going to confine ourselves to middle management and above, and I’d like to start by considering a leadership program which we recently ran for an international group, you know, which is based in Brussels …[Literal translation: 好吧，我想占用诸位几分钟的时间探讨一些管理提高的新方法。如果你想打断我的话，你可以随时打断我。好吧，现在说这个管理发展的问题——我用这个术语是指什么呢？我想，我也不值得花很多时间来定义这个术语，但若能这样的提一下，我们也都会有大体上相同的理解。我想，把我的发言限定在中级以上管理层——我将不打算谈初级管理项目或低级管理训练课程的问题。——（这时有人站起来离开）——是的，任何人想离开，现在便是最好的时机 …… 所以，我们想把我们的话题限定在中级以上的管理问题。我想从我们正考虑一个管理规划入手来谈，这个规划是我们最近为一个国际组织设计的，你知道，这个组织的总部设在布鲁塞尔 ……]Real-life rendition: 我想占用诸位几分钟探讨一些管理提高的新方法，主要是关于中级以上管理层，而不是关于初级管理训练课程和发展项目。如有疑问，诸位随时可以打断我。首先，我将从考虑一个管理规划入手。这个规划是我们最近为总部在布鲁塞尔的一个国际组织设计的……

�


Comments: In the source speech, there are repeated expressions and redundancy in e.g. “well”, “right”, “you know”, and “yes, this a golden opportunity for anybody to leave”, and “to confine ourselves to middle management”. In this specific interpretational eco-environment, the interpreter cannot mechanically copy the patterns of the original. The above adaptive interpretation is well organized in the target discourse, and can be considered effective. The examples analyzed above may well illustrate Roderick Jones’s point that “[w]ith examples such as this we should not forget that interpreting is also a percentages game. A perfectionist would make a supreme effort to interpret even the problematic passage. But in practice the upshot would probably be that they would spend so much time and effort on it that the more important element, the question at the end, would be less satisfactorily interpreted. The interpreter must know how to sacrifice the less important to the more important (which also implies they are carrying out a sufficient analysis of the speech to identify what is important, and what is less important)” (Jones 1998: 111-112).

Adaptive additionAdaptive addition is the opposite of adaptive reduction. In adaptive addition,

the interpreter must convey crucial information in the target discourse in order to facilitate communication.

Generally speaking, adaptive addition can be only applied to an interpretational eco-environment in which there are idioms, acronyms, obviously overlooked points, or any mixture of these.

Example 9

Scenario: In the course of a business negotiation after a coffee-break, a speaker reopens the talks by reaffirming his party’s point of view:

Source utterance: 好吧，我想再重申一下我们就合资企业中利润分红问题的基本意见。[Literal translation: Well, I want to reaffirm our basic idea concerning the profit dividend in the joint venture.]Real-life rendition: Well, ladies and gentlemen, may I draw your attention, please? I now would like to put forward again our basic idea concerning the profit dividend in the joint venture.

Comments: The sentence in bold was added by the interpreter and had the effect actually intended by the speaker. The reason was that the interpreter was adapted to the interpretational eco-environment: the participants had not all settled down, there was noise in the room since the meeting was being resumed after the break, and the delegates were not yet 100% concentrated at that moment. The speaker certainly wanted to draw the hearers’ attention. In this on-the-spot context, it is the interpreter who is pragmatically ‘loyal’ to the speaker and has adapted and selected the target utterance which is appropriate in that specific interpretational eco-environment.

Example 10

Scenario: In the course of a talk given by an American editor-in-chief, the speaker delivers his speech in a very spacious terraced lecture hall.

Source utterance: Talking about the copyright transfer, this journal states that if a submitted article is accepted for publication here, the copyright to the article will then be transferred to the journal. As for the publication charges, much depend upon journals themselves. For instance, no page charges are generally levied for journals published in England, while the printing costs of most of the American journals are usually very expensive. Say, one page fifty dollars for some journals. Well, here’s a short price list for your reference.Real-life rendition: 谈到关于版权转让的问题，该刊物指出：如果所提交的文章已接受在本刊发表，那么，拟发表的这篇文章的版权便将转让给本刊。至于文章的发表费的问题，主要取决于刊物本身。比如，在英国刊登的文章，一般不收取发表费，而大多数的美国刊物的发表费就很昂贵。譬如，有些刊物登载一页文章就要收费50美元。你




看，我这儿有一份简短的价格表。（‘视译’价格表）《物理评论快》报每页收费110美元，《天文学杂志》每页收费90美元；《科学仪器评论》每页收费65美元，《勘误表》每页收费10美元；特约发表的研究论文不收发表费。

Comments: As soon as the speaker said that “Well, here’s a short price list for your reference”, he expected the audience to look at the list, or to let them know the contents of the list. However, due to the distance between the speaker and the audience in the large terraced lecture hall, especially down to those sitting at the back, the audience could not see the price list. Standing beside the speaker and looking closely at the list, the consecutive interpreter had the advantage of hearing the source speech clearly. To accommodate this interpretational eco-environment, the interpreter looked at the price list and gave the following supplementary ‘sight interpreting’: … According to the list, the publication charges for the Journal of Physical Review is 110 dollars per page, for the Journal of Astronautics 90 dollars per page, Scientific Instruments 65 dollars per page, Corrigenda 10 dollars per page. And the printing costs of specially invited articles are generally free of charge. The last 51 English words set in bold were unsaid in the source discourse but were conveyed to the audience in accordance with the speaker’s original intention. In line with the interpreting criterion of TAS, the target discourse with the addition is appropriate for conveying the speaker’s intention, because the interpreted rendition effectively facilitates the communication between the speaker and the audience (Hu 1991: 58-96).

Example 11

Scenario: In the course of a business negotiation after the joint open-package inspection by Party A and Party B, the speaker from Party B presents the result of the inspection.

Source utterance: 我们今天上午开箱检验，发现有块插件板破损，而且插件板上的号码与装箱单上的号码也不相符。[Literal translation: Today in the morning we opened the package for inspection, and found one plug-in-board broken. Besides, the number on the package and the number given in the packing list did not correspond to each other.]Real-life rendition: During our open-package inspection this morning, we found one plug-in-board broken. And there is also a discrepancy between the board number and the number indicated in the packing list. The broken plug-in-board was also checked by Mr. Freemen. He has taken a picture of the component.

Comments: This is a case from the Department of Commodity Inspection in a China-German Contract Plant. The interpreter had worked with the inspectors from the parties concerned for three years and was familiar with the professionals and the business there. The utterance “during our open-package-inspection this morning” illustrates that the interpreter was at the work-site and had first-handed information. Further, the source utterance comprises the statement about “one plug-in-board broken” without specifying the board number. As an on-the-spot witness, the interpreter supplemented the shared knowledge for identifying the board in question by adding that “The broken plug-in-board was also checked by Mr. Freemen. He has taken a picture of the component”. The situational rendition not only accelerated the identification of the broken board (and the understanding of the source discourse), but also added conviction to the source discourse, thus satisfying the speaker.

Example 12

Scenario: A British tourist chats about her impression of a trip on the Yangtze River to Chinese passengers:

Source utterance: Oh yes, we did have a wonderful time, and the river trip down stream from Chuongqing to Wuhan was really pleasant. We particularly enjoyed the Bazhentu Gorge, the Qutang Gorge, and Wu Gorge, and the gigantic Gezhouba Dam, which are, as we were told, the most attractive, er [hesitating], five spots along the River.[Literal translation: 啊，是的。我们这次的确玩得很痛快。由重庆乘船顺水而下到武汉的旅游实在是令人愉快的。我们特别欣赏沿江的八阵图、瞿唐峡、巫峡和那座巨大的葛洲坝，听人说，这些是沿长江——嗯（稍有迟疑地）五个最吸引人的地方。]

10


Real-life rendition: 是的，我们这次的确玩得很痛快，由重庆顺水而下到武汉的旅游实在是令人愉快。我们特别欣赏沿江的八阵图、瞿唐峡、巫峡、西陵峡和那座巨大的葛洲坝，听人说这些是沿江五大最吸引人的旅游名胜。

Comments: On the one hand, the five major gorges along the Yangtze River are well known to those who have been to the gigantic Three Gorges Project in China; and on the other hand, the tourist guide knows very well about the five scenic spots along the River. Particularly, it is not difficult to judge from the source discourse that the speaker did intend to name the five gorges she had seen herself. In this case, the speaker obviously missed one important spot in her utterance. In order to faithfully convey the speaker’s original intention, the interpreter added the missed one spot - xi ling xia (the Xiling Gorge in bold in Chinese) which was not mentioned in the source discourse, therefore the target discourse should be considered more effective and welcome.

Concluding remarksAs a practicing interpreter with over 30 year’s experience, the author has here

discussed adaptive replication, adaptive reduction, and adaptive addition in the process of consecutive interpreting. These interpreting strategies should not only shed light upon consecutive simultaneous interpreting, but also be situationally applicable provided that all the mentioned necessary conditions can be satisfied. Of course, it is not always possible to set up clear dividing lines between the three interpreting strategies. They should not be taken as inflexible rules, but they supplement one another when selectively adapted and adaptively selected in practice.

According to TAS, interpreters have to dynamically and ceaselessly adjust their strategies so as to fit the given interpretational eco-environment since the specific eco-environment is dynamically changing. Thus, it is quite natural for interpreters to alternatively employ adaptive replication, adaptive reduction, and adaptive addition.

In the present article, the author has chosen to provide exhaustive exemplification. What is more – and relatively rare – is that this exemplification is from professional life, a fact that can be ascribed to the anonymity about the identity of the parties described. In the major context, the author submits, that despite all the attention paid to simultaneous conference interpreting, consecutive interpreting is found in more places – in both ‘noble’ and ‘humble’ environments in today’s world – that the need for an understanding of its nature is overlooked in much Translation Studies research. Yet the urgency of this need must be obvious both to those who – like the author – have worked in relatively comfortable circumstances in an emergent country, as well as to those in both the developing and the developed world who use consecutive interpreting in their dealing with people in need of consecutive interpreting (in medical, social contexts, etc.).

The author hopes that this article will contribute to a heightened awareness about the problems and the solutions that are open to consecutive interpreters who are fully cognizant of the many situational parameters that influence an interpreting context. TAS, and the examples cited and discussed, is a way to do so.

Notes1. The examples cited in this article are all taken from the author’s own interpreting performance with the exception of Example 4. All literal translations have been made by the author.

11Hu. Adaptation in Consecutive Interpreting.



2. Diagrams, curves, and pictures are frequently employed in oral presentations in scientific and technical settings. The example discussed how interpreters can make use of such visual aids.3. Having working with the speaker and the audience for years, the interpreter was very familiar with the communicators. According to his on-the-spot observation, most members of the audience were continuously nodding their heads while listening to the speaker’s introduction of the diagram. This on-the-spot observation showed that the professional audience could follow the speaker and almost all could understand the general technical introduction in that particular setting.

Works citedAltman, H. J. (ed) 1987. Teaching Interpreting: Study and Practice. London: Centre for Infor-

mation on Language Teaching and Research. Bowen, D. & M. Bowen 1980. Steps to Consecutive Interpretation. Washington DC: Pen and

Booth.Dollerup, Cay & Leo Ceelen 1996. A corpus of consecutive interpreting comprising Dan-

ish, Dutch, English, French, German and Italian. Copenhagen: Centre for Translation Studies.

Gile, D. 1995a. Basic Concepts and Models for Interpreter and Translator Training. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Gile, D. (ed) 1995b. Interpreting Research (= Target 7.1). Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Hu, G. S. 1990. An Exploration into Sci-tech Interpretations: Abstract Interpreting Approach. Babel 36. 87-88.

Hu, G. S. 1991. A ‘CREDIT’ Model assessing interpretation effects. Babel 37. 58-96. Hu, G. S. 1993. Learning to Become a Competent Interpreter. Hefei: China University of

Science and Technology Press.Hu, G. S. 2003. Translation as Adaptation and Selection. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology

11. 283-291.Jones, R. 1998. Conference Interpreting Explained. Manchester: St. Jerome.Katan, D. 2004. Translating Cultures: An Introduction for Translators, Interpreters and

Mediators. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.Lance, H. & M. Jacky 1991. Redefining Translation: The Variational Approach. London:

Routledge.Liu, H. P. 2005. A Discussion on Interpretation Theory and its Tendencies. In: Luo, X.

M. (ed) Language, Cognition and Translation Studies. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press. 328-339.

Newmark, P. 1991. About Translation. Clevedon & Philadelphia: Multilingual Matters.Pöchhacker, F. & M. Shlesinger (eds) 1976. The Interpreting Studies Reader. London & New

York: Routledge. Setton, R. 1999. Simultaneous Interpretation: A Cognitive-pragmatic Analysis. Amsterdam &

Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

12


Documents

Adaptation in Consecutive Interpreting