Conference interpreting in the vietnamese context from a pragmatic perspective n

TABLE OF CONTENT ABSTRACT. 3 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. Methodology and scope. 10 A REVIEW OF CONFERENCE INTERPRETING RESEARCH .2 Classification of interpreting .1 Paradigms in interpreting studies .2 Areas of Interpreting studies .3 PRAGMATICS, COGNITIVE SCIENCE AND RESEARCH IN CONFERENCE SI .1 Conference (simultaneous) interpreting as the object of research .3 Pragmatics in conference interpreting .4 Cognitive science and SI research.

67 THE COGNITIVE PRAGMATIC MODEL FOR SI ANALYSIS .1 THE COGNITIVE PRAGMATIC MODEL OF SI .1 Inputs to discourse comprehension.2 Assembly: syntax, lexicon and context .4 Speech production in SI .2 APPLICATION OF THE MODEL .1 THE HYPOTHESES AND ASSUMPTIONS .2 THE RESEARCH QUESTIONS.3 THE DATA SET .1 The subjects in the study .2 Selection of sample speeches .4 THE DATA ANALYSIS METHOD. 97 RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .1 Ear-Voice-Span (EVS) .2 ANTICIPATION AND INFERENCE IN MEANING ASSEMBLY .1 Semantic structure and message comprehension .2 Redundancy and anticipation .3 Inference in SI.3 COORDINATION STRATEGY IN SI .2 Late elaborations and afterthoughts .4 CAUSES OF FAILURE IN SI .1 Problems in primary assembly .2 Information density in the rheme .3 Loss of information due to a missed rheme. 163 Summary of findings. 163 Implications for training.

173 2 ABSTRACT The study analyzes the transcripts of recorded conference speeches and interpreter’s versions (in both live and simulated situations) to explore the anticipation and coordination efforts by the simultaneous interpreter in action. This is based on the theoretical framework of the cognitive pragmatic model developed by Setton and the pragmatic anticipation theory modeled by Chernov. According to the model, the interpreter makes use of the pragmatic principles to assemble meanings through anticipation and inferences and then to deliver the interpretation with judgement, compensation and elaboration. It is found out that: The average EVS is 3 second and if the EVS accumulates to longer than this, the interpreter tries to compress the SL output to reduce it to normal, failure to do this may result in failure (omissions or distortions).

The speed of the SL Speaker dictates the rate of delivery by the Interpreter. There is no difference in the normal speed of speech between the Vietnamese and English speakers and that of the interpreters among the subjects of the study (calculated to be around 180 syllables per minute). The SI interpreter continuously makes anticipation and formulates inferences on the basis of partial meanings, either because the utterance is still incomplete or because, not being the addressed, she receives less than the full meaning available to the Addressees. One of the indicators for successful anticipation is the shorter EVS (1-2 seconds, or even negative).

This is possible thanks to sufficient discourse redundancy (both objective and subjective) as well as cues from the environment. The interpreter consciously makes judgement of implausible inputs, compression of the theme of discourse, and compensation for the late change and afterthoughts of the Speaker. This includes elaborations, reiteration or additions by the interpreter in order to achieve pragmatic fidelity of the interpretation. 3 Apart from comprehension failure, some interpretation errors are the results of the coordination problems faced by the interpreter.

Failure to deal with longer EVS or acceleration of SL speech by the Speaker may lead to boggle effects and distortions or omissions of the subsequent utterances, unless proper compensation and coordination strategies are applied. Insufficient discourse redundancy (both objective and subjective) may also lead to errors, either distortions or omissions. 4 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EVS ear – voice - span IT interpreted text RT relevance theory SI simultaneous interpreting SL source language ST source text T&I translation and interpreting TL target language 5 INTRODUCTION 1. Background Translation and interpreting (T/I) have become increasing important activities in the international integration process that is occurring in Vietnam.

Vietnam needs to open up to the world, learn from the experiences of other developed countries, and further develop economic, political and cultural relations with other nations. The past few years have seen a dramatic increase in the number of events and settings requiring the service of translators and interpreters, including but not limited to international conferences, business meetings, cultural events, etc. The need for quality interpreting and translation services in these contexts is therefore immense. Studies on T/I, especially interpreting, will contribute to the improvement of interpreting quality on the one hand, and of the training of professional interpreters, on the other.

Conference Simultaneous interpreting (SI) provides an interesting field for research. SI research started in the mid 70s of the last century has developed greatly ever since and has now become a multidisciplinary subject of academia, a convergence of cognitive psychology and linguistics, built upon the foundations of the Paris School with a new conception of with a new conception of linguistics informed by Relevance Theory, that is, cognitive pragmatics, as developed by Setton. There have been different approaches to look at interpreting: as a form of translation; a cognitive process; a dialogic interaction; or a neuro-linguistic activity. Nevertheless, not much research on SI has been done in Vietnam, or on the language pair English – Vietnamese.

This offers a challenging but interesting area for this research to explore. Research aims The study aims to explore the mechanisms that allow the simultaneous interpreter to make different efforts: inputs processing, meaning assembly, formulation and articulation in a highly coordinated manner. In particular, based on the theoretical framework of the cognitive pragmatic model, the study will attempt to provide explanations for the on-going anticipation and inference process during the comprehension stage, as well as the continuous coordination, judgment and compensation in the delivery stage of the SI interpreter. In order to achieve the aims, the research project seeks to answer the following questions: - What is the normal time lag (ear-voice-span or EVS) for interpreting English propositions into Vietnamese and vice versa? - What strategies are normally used by the SI interpreter to deal with the difficult situations and characteristics of simultaneous interpreting? - What are the causes of common failures in SI from the pragmatic perspective? and - Are there any noticeable differences between various interpreting situations: live vs.

simulated; SL discourse modes: semi-rehearse vs. spontaneous oral input; and language directions: Vietnamese into English and vice versa? 3. Methodology and scope As this study aims to describe the cognitive operations in SI and correlate them with texts, a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods have been used. It is necessary to combine both top-down (application of theoretical models) and bottom-up (recording and commentary of speech products) approaches because the database only is insufficient to make progress towards a real explanatory theory.

The primary design of the study is the application and testing of the 7 pragmatic cognitive model of Setton in the English – Vietnamese language pair. The quantitative data on the simultaneity of the interpreting process (which includes recordings and synchronized transcripts of the live interpretations versions as well as two other versions in a mock situation) will provide useful signals for in-depth analysis of the strategies successfully used by the interpreter, as well as evidence for the causes of errors and failures in interpreting. The scope of study is confined to “conference simultaneous interpreting in the Vietnamese context”, which means interpreting in the simultaneous mode, in formal conference settings, and importantly, involving only the two languages: English and Vietnamese. Therefore other forms of conference interpreting (consecutive, chuchotage) and multilingual simultaneous interpreting do not fall within the scope of this study.

The study does not, however, try to answer the big questions of immediate interest to SI research, such as how to assess quality or what are the mental, neurological processes behind interpreting. Rather, the scope of the study is confined only to the cognitive pragmatic aspects of the SI process, for example the visible use of the Speaker’s intentionality and other pragmatic indicators, such as anticipation and inference, or the economy of SI processing through the evidences of judgment, compensation and coordination. Outline The thesis is organized into 4 chapters, besides the introduction and conclusions. After this chapter of introduction, Chapter 1 presents a review of the current state of SI research by introducing different paradigms and research areas in SI study.

Chapter 2 goes on to discuss the components of the proposed theoretical framework for this study, i. the cognitive pragmatic model. Chapter 3 provides a detailed description of the data set, research methodology and procedures. Chapter 4 discusses the quantitative results on the simultaneity (ear-voice-span and syllable counts) which provide useful information for the analysis of the SI 8 process, which focuses more on the strategies and cues employed by the interpreter, especially anticipation and inference in the comprehension stage and the relative autonomy in the production stage, evidenced by judgments and compensations made in the original version.

9 1 CHAPTER I A REVIEW OF CONFERENCE INTERPRETING RESEARCH 1. translation Interpreting is generally regarded as a translational activity, as a special form of ‘Translation' (the capital initial is used to indicate that the word appears in its generic sense, as opposed to ‘written translation’, also a form of Translation). Therefore, in order to understand the concept of interpreting, it is necessary to explore the concept and definitions of Translation provided by well-known authors in the field. There are various definitions of Translation, looking at different conceptual dimensions, as summarized by Pochhacker (2004:12): “an activity consisting (mainly) in the production of utterances (texts) which are presumed to have a similar meaning and/or effect as previously existing utterances in another language and culture”.

According to most common dictionaries, ‘interpreting' is usually equated with ‘oral translation’ or, more precisely, with the ‘oral rendering of spoken messages’. However, following this definition would exclude interpreting in signed (rather than spoken) languages from our purview, and would make it difficult to account for the less typical manifestations of interpreting, such as sight translation or on-line (written) translation of Internet chats occasionally used in the European Commission, among others. Instead, by elaborating on the feature of immediacy, one can distinguish interpreting from other forms of 10 Translation without resorting to the dichotomy of oral vs. Kade (1968) defined interpreting as a form of Translation in which: (a) the source-language text is presented only once and thus cannot be reviewed or replayed, and (b) the target-language text is produced under time pressure, with little chance for correction and revision.

This way of definition emphasizes the general characterization of interpreting as an immediate type of translational activity, performed ‘in real time’ for immediate use. A definition relying on Kade's criteria, foregrounding the immediacy of the interpreter's text processing rather than real-time communicative use, could thus be formulated as follows: Interpreting is a form of Translation in which a first and final rendition in another language is produced on the basis of a one-time presentation of an utterance in a source language.2 The interpreter vs. the translator The so-called “twin” professions of translators and interpreters have same goal, act on the same principle and are - or can be - based on the same theory. Yet, although the terms "translator" and "interpreter" are often used interchangeably, they do represent two rather different professions.

We should probably define the difference between them: translation converts a written text into another written text, while interpretation converts an oral message into another oral message. This difference is crucial. In translation, the thought that is studied, analyzed and subsequently rendered in the other language is contained in a permanent setting: the written text. Good or bad, this text is static, immutable in its form and fixed in time.

And the translation, equally circumscribed within a written text, is intended, as was the original, for a public the translator does not know. Conference interpreting represents something entirely different. The conference interpreter is there with both speaker and listener, dealing with messages whose fleeting words are important, not because of their form, but almost entirely because of their meaning.