Acknowledgements
I would like to take this opportunity to extend my heart-felt gratitude to theDepartment of English and International Studies of China Foreign Affairs University.The program of Master of Translation and Interpretation held by China Foreign AffairsUniversity has availed me of the precious chance to assume the job of a qualifiedinterpreter.
My thanks would also go to Dr. Xu Ran. She has always been so patient with me,even though I was so weak at academic writing at the beginning. I had talks on mythesis with her for so many times. Each time we met, Dr. Xu would conscientiouslycorrect all my misunderstandings and give me really instructive advice. Without her,this thesis would not come into being.
My gratitude would be extended to my fellow MTI classmate Deng Yunxi and allthe senior students from Classes 2016511 and 2016512 at CFAU (China ForeignAffairs University). They gave generously their time and effort to participate in myexperiment. They deserve my cordial thanks.
I would also like to thank one anonymous freelance interpreter whocommissioned me as interpreter to work on the occasion of an E-game industrialconference held at Fengda International Hotel, E-town, Beijing. From that invaluableinterpreting practice, I gained countless pragmatic interpreting skills, which could notbe taught in class at my university.
Finally, I would like to give my special thanks to my chat mates on the Internet,Polar Bear, Mr. Barista, Mr. Sun and Ms. Quan. Without their shoulders for me to cryon, I would never be blessed with the boulder-splitting power, to make it all through.
Abstract
This thesis is dedicated to examine the impact of the eye contact intentionallymade by an interpreter on the audience's perceptive satisfaction of the interpretingservice. In order to achieve this goal, the author did an experiment examining the issuefrom three dimensions, including communicativity, credibility and reliability of theinterpretation.
It was found in the experiment that, with sufficient and effective eye contactmade by the interpreter, the audience's satisfaction rate witnessed a marked growth,which indicates that proper eye contact can truly boost the quality of consecutiveinterpretation. With eye contact at play, the audience have significantly higher ratingon the credibility and communicativeness of the interpreter. Based on the abovefindings, it is therefore proposed that targeted training should be in place to helpinterpreting students improve the proper use of eye contact.
Key Words: interpreter; audience; eye contact; consecutive interpreting
摘要
本论文旨在研究口译员有意识的与听众之间建立的眼神交流,对后者接收信息满意度的影响力.为达成该研究目的,本文作者设计实验,从口译服务的交流效果、可信度与可靠度这三个维度开展研究.
通过本篇论文的研究,作者发现,在口译过程中加入充分、有效的眼神交流次数后,听众对于口译表现的满意度见证了一大显着的提升.这说明,在交替传译中,口译员与听众之间有效的眼神交流的确可以起到提高口译整体质量的效果.文章发现,在有眼神交流的条件下,口译员表现出的可信度和交流效果层面在统计数据上都显示出了显着的提升.基于上述发现,本文作者进而提出建议,即适当的眼神需要通过有针对性的培训,口译员们才能够真正掌握.
关键词:口译员,听众,眼神交流,交替传译
Contents
Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................... ii
Abstract ...................................................................................................................... iv
摘要 .............................................................................................................................. v
Chapter 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 1
Chapter 2 Literature Review .................................................................................................... 3
2.1 Verbal and Non-verbal Communication ........................................................................ 3
2.2 Eye Contact .................................................................................................................... 4
2.3 Quality from the Perspective of the Audience ............................................................... 5
2.4 The East-West Perceptive Difference ............................................................................ 6
Chapter 3 Methodology ........................................................................................................... 8
3.1 Research Questions & Hypotheses ................................................................................ 8
3.2 Materials ........................................................................................................................ 8
3.3 The Interpreter ............................................................................................................... 9
3.4 Participants ..................................................................................................................... 9
3.5 Questionnaire ............................................................................................................... 10
3.6 Variables ...................................................................................................................... 11
3.7 Data Analysis ............................................................................................................... 11
3.8 Experiment Procedure .................................................................................................. 11
Chapter 4 Results ................................................................................................................... 13
4.1 The Results of the Questionnaire ................................................................................. 13
4.2 Eye Contact .................................................................................................................. 14
4.2.1 The Occurrences of Eye Contact ....................................................................... 14
4.2.2 Types of Eye Contact .......................................................................................... 15
4.3 Reactions from the Audiences ..................................................................................... 16
4.4 Summary of the Results ............................................................................................... 16
Chapter 5 Discussion of the Results ...................................................................................... 17
5.1 The Hypotheses ............................................................................................................ 17
5.2 The Implications of the Results ................................................................................... 17
5.2.1 The Impact of Interpreter's Eye Contact on Overall Satisfaction of the Interpretation ................................... 17
5.2.2 The Impact of Interpreter's Eye Contact on Accuracy & Completeness of the Interpretation .............................. 18
5.2.3 The Impact of Interpreter's Eye Contact on the Communicativeness of the Interpretation ............................... 19
5.2.4 The Impact of Interpreter's Eye Contact on the Credibility of the Interpretation .................................... 21
5.3 The Implications from the Pilot Experiment ............................................................... 22
5.4 Summary ................................................................................................................... 23
Chapter 6 Practical and Pedagogical Implications ................................................................. 24
6.1 Implication in Interpreting Practice ............................................................................. 24
6.2 Implication in Interpreting Training ............................................................................ 24
6.2.1 On Class Design ................................................................................................... 25
6.2.2 On After-Class Self-Practice .............................................................................. 26
Chapter 7 Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 28
7.1 Major Findings ............................................................................................................. 28
7.2. Limitations .................................................................................................................. 28
Chapter 1 Introduction
This thesis aims to examine the impact of the interpreter's eye contact on his/heraudience's satisfaction by conducting an experiment.
Interpreting is essentially a communicating practice. Despite the obviously importanceof verbal communication, such as the choice of diction, intonation and stress, theinterpreter should also take into account the non-verbal communication with theaudience, such as the use of eye contact and gestures to enhance the communicativeeffect. Eye contact intentionally made by an interpreter is expected to bring his/heraudience closer to the key messages. People tend to believe that eye contact can boostthe communicative effect in communication practices. However, the effect of eyecontact in interpreting has not been thoroughly studied. Therefore, the author plans todesign an experiment to examine the impact of the interpreter's eye contact on thesatisfaction degree of the audience. The author plans to answer the following researchquestions:
(1). Does the audience think the interpreter is more reliable in terms of accuracyand completeness of the interpretation when sufficient eye contact is in place?
(2). Does the audience find the interpretation more communicative whensufficient eye contact is in place?
(3). Does the audience regard the interpreter as more credible when sufficient eyecontact is in place?
Apart from this chapter, which gives a brief introduction on this study, the thesis ishereafter divided into six chapters. In Chapter Two, the author gives a literature reviewon the previous relevant studies on the role of eye contact as well as other non-verbalfeatures in interpreting. In Chapter Three, the author thoroughly introduces the designof the experiment, explaining the materials to be used, the experimenting procedures,the variables, and the hypotheses. In Chapter Four, the author presents the results ofthe experiment. In Chapter Five, the author has an in-depth discussion based on theresults and also figures out whether the hypotheses can be proved. In Chapter Six, theauthor introduces the practical application of the findings from two dimensions. In Chapter Seven, the author gives a conclusion to summarize the whole thesis. Both thecontributions and the limitations of this thesis are stated.
Chapter 2 Literature Review
2.1 Verbal and Non-verbal Communication
In communication studies, communication can be classified into verbal and non-verbalcommunication.
Verbal communication entails the participation of articulately voiced human languages.According to Bezuidenhout (1998), verbal communication is defined as thetransmission of information between the minds of more than one person through thechannel of vocal languages.
According to Poyatos (1997), non-verbal communication means the way ofcommunicating between human beings by the employment of features other thanvoiced human languages. Non-verbal communication comprises features such asgestures, intonation of speech and eye contact. In interpreting practice, interpreters arecommunication facilitators. With the aid of such kinds of prominent features typicalof non-verbal communication, the interpretation can be bettered.
Liu Juan (2002) gives an overview of what non-verbal features are in interpreting. Shegives an overview of the prominent non-verbal features concerned in interpreting, butshe does not analyze any of them in a detailed manner. One problem with Liu's claimis that, all the non-verbal features she lists in a natural communicating practice arehelpful for the facilitation of the flow of communication. In another word, nodifferentiation is made therein. Also, she fails to take into consideration theemployment of non-verbal features in different cultural backgrounds. For example,one non-verbal feature that seems proper in a certain culture may well be regarded asoffensive in another culture.
Non-verbal features can play an important role in communication. Some studies come up with concrete ways to measure the effects of non-verbal features when peopledeliver their speech. Cepero, Clapés and Escalera (2015) propose a mechanical systemthat can precisely measure the occurrences of specific non-verbal features by speakers.This system can quantitatively record the presence of different kinds of non-verbalfeatures performed by speakers. It can also be used to train people to properly employthose non-verbal features, such as crossed arms, finger pointing, frontal-facing and eyecontact to better the performance of public speaking. By applying this system andreflecting on their own performance, interpreters can identify both awkward andhelpful non-verbal features in their performance. It can help them to reduce clumsyones while deliberately boosting the use of those effective ones.
However, there may be some problems in the application of this system or thesuggested rules of non-verbal communication. As is mentioned before, one non-verbalfeature that seems proper in a certain culture might well be regarded as offensive inanother culture. For example, according to Cepero, Clapés and Escalera (2015),Spanish is used in an experiment. On this account, one cannot take it for granted thatall those seemingly proper non-verbal features observed in a Spanish speech can beapplicable in other non-Western languages, such as Japanese and Chinese.
…………由于本文篇幅较长,部分内容省略,详细全文见文末附件
Chapter 7 Conclusion
7.1 Major Findings
This thesis mainly addresses the issue of whether eye contact of the interpreter wouldhave a major influence upon the satisfaction from the audience perspective. And theanswer is positive.
The results of the experiment indicate that with sufficient eye contact made by theinterpreter in the test group, the audience displays a significantly higher level of overallsatisfaction than in the control group. More specifically, the audience in the test groupgives significantly higher ratings on the communicativeness of the interpretation thanthe control group, and has significantly more faith in the interpreter's competence forfuture jobs than in the control group. The experiment also shows that the use of eyecontact by the interpreter also has an influence on the audience ratings on accuracyand completeness of the interpretation, with higher ratings in the test group than in thecontrol group, but not to a statistically significant level. Therefore, the author isconfident that the hypotheses (1), (3) and (4) can be proved.
The findings of this study could be applied in both interpreting practice andinterpreting training. In consecutive interpretation practice, both senior andinexperienced interpreters should pay a fair share of attention to the employment ofeye contact in order to improve the overall performance of their interpreting. Ininterpreting training programmes at various universities, the trainers of specificconsecutive interpreting courses should by all means try to raise the trainee interpreters' awareness of having eye contact with their audience. In this way, MTI programs inuniversities can cultivate more qualified interpreters with higher audience satisfaction.
7.2. Limitations
Nonetheless, this thesis is not entirely free from limitations and shortcomings. Due to limited time and scale of this study, the author failed to recruit more participants in theexperiment. The bigger the size of the participants, the more precise and accurate theresults of the experiment will be. It is hoped that future studies could perfect theexperiment by at least recruiting more participants, replicate the experiment andperhaps render still new findings and complementary claims based on this study.
The other shortcoming of the experiment is that the author directly handed out thequestionnaires to the audiences before the interpreting performance actually beganrather than at the end of the interpreting performances. The questions listed on thequestionnaire might somehow distract the audience's attention during interpreting. Theother problem with providing the questionnaire for the audience in advance was thatthe audience might simply focus on the four questions too exclusively. This woulddistort the author's original intention. The author actually meant for the audiences toanswer the four questions based on their own impression of the interpreter'sperformances, which could have been more objective.
The experiment was conducted right before the final examination period. Due to thetight schedule of the participants, who are final-year students at the University, theauthor was anxious to quicken the steps of the experiment process. Hence, the authorneglected this small yet important arrangement in the experiment. It is hoped thatfuture experiments could consider the design and the procedures of the experimentmore carefully to reduce this kind of flaws, which, nevertheless, may have an impactof the results and findings of the experiment.
In addition, the author of this thesis is not entirely apt at doing statistical analysis withthe aid of statistics tools, such as SPSS or Excel. In this aspect, the author of this thesiscould have read more professional books on statistics in academic research, to makehimself more adequate in dealing with the data collected from the experiment.However, the author firmly believes that, future generations of researchers would betotally tech-savvy, and to command information technologies to fulfill their purposeswould not be so hard to achieve.
The author himself is open to any further corrections, criticism and comments on the above study. Should any more issues be raised concerning this experimental study, theauthor would be more than willing to hear from feedbacks from the readers of thisthesis and rectify possible mistakes that might still exist. Challenges and doubts aboutthe results of the experiment would also be welcome.
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