Acknowledgements
I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all the people who gave me theirhelp and support during the writing process.
First and foremost, I would like to avail myself of the opportunity to express mygratitude to my supervisor, Professor Wu Qingjun, a respectable and responsiblescholar for his introduction and enlightenment in every single stage of my writingprocess. Without his support and encouragement, this report could not be finished ontime. His instruction helped me to broaden my horizons in the interpreting field. Hisguidance and grace have not only helped me in the report, but also my future study andcareer.
Then my gratitude goes to all the professors and lecturers from China ForeignAffairs University who taught me with their professional and excellent teaching skillsand techniques in the past two years. Their instruction helped me to be capable ofcompleting this report under the guidance of my supervisor.
Last but not the least, I would like to thank my families and friends for theirsupport and encouragement during the writing process.
Abstract
Since the essence of interpreting is the facilitator to communication, Grice'scooperative principle, as the basic principle of communication, can also be used ininterpretation. However, most of the researches are focused on the application of thecooperative principle in business conference interpreting, while few on the study of tourescort interpreting in the exploration of the pragmatics and interpreting. In addition,most of the studies take the CP principle as the standard to evaluate the interpretingperformance and fail to discuss the guiding significance of the CP principle for theinterpreting practice. Based on the cooperative principle, this paper analyzed theauthor's practice as a tour escort interpreter and demonstrated the strategies that can beadopted by complying with the CP principle and violating the CP principle.
Through a detailed analysis of the pre-task preparation, the difficultiesencountered in the interpreting practice and the post-task summary, the author foundthe significance of observing and violating the CP principle for escort interpreting. Onthe one hand, to strictly abide by the CP principle was able to faithfully and conciselyexpress the client's meaning. On the other hand, in order to accurately convey theclient's implication and ensure smooth interlingual communication, it was necessaryfor the interpreter to violate some maxims of the CP principle.
This report can be divided into five chapters. Chapter one is a brief introductionof the paper. Chapter two is the literature review on the four conversational maxims ofcooperative principle, its development and its application in interpreting. Chapter threeis the description of the interpreting practice, including the pre-task preparation, the onsite interpreting scenario and the summary after interpreting. Chapter four is the casestudy on the application of the cooperative principle for the interpreting strategies,including the strategies by observing the cooperative principle and strategies byviolating the cooperative principle. Chapter five is the summary of the report, includingthe main findings, suggestions for future interpreting practice and limitations. With thehelp of the CP principle, interpreters can adopt appropriate interpreting strategies tofulfill their duties as qualified interpreters, further improve the interpretation qualityand performance, and improve the communication effect.
Key words: cooperative principle; interpreting strategies; escort interpreting
摘要
口译的本质是沟通,是促成用两种语言交流的双方各自达成自己的交流目标.格莱斯提出的用以指导会话的合作原则作为交流的基础准则,也可以用于口译领域的应用.而在语用学和口译结合的探索中,大多是研究合作原则在商务会议口译之中的应用,而有关于旅游陪同口译的研究相比则数量较少.此外,大部分研究都只是将合作原则作为评判口译表现口译质量的标准,并未切实讨论合作原则对于口译实践的指导意义.基于此,本论文以合作原则作为基础,对作者的一次旅游陪同口译的实践进行分析,分别探讨了遵守合作原则可以采取的口译策略和违反口译原则可以采取的口译策略.
作者通过对译前准备,实践之中出现的问题,以及译后总结进行详细的分析总结,发现遵守和违反合作原则对陪同口译的意义.一方面,严格遵守合作原则以忠实简明地表达讲话人的话语.另一方面,为准确传达讲者的言外之意,保证顺畅的语际交流,采取违反合作原则的策略来保证交流的通达.
此实践报告共分为五章:第一章是对论文的简要概述,口译任务描述,主要介绍了此次旅游陪同口译的任务,服务对象以及译员.第二章是文献综述,回顾了合作原则的四个会话准则,发展以及合作原则在口译之中的应用研究.第三章是有关此次实践的描述,详细介绍了有关此次口译实践的译前准备,翻译场景以及译后总结.第四章则是运用合作原则的知道,对此次实践的案例分析,主要是关于遵守合作原则的口译策略和违反口译原则的口译策略.第五章是对此实践报告的总结, 包括论文的主要发现,对未来口译实践的建议以及论文存在的不足三个部分.借助于合作原则,译员可以采取适当的口译策略来履行其作为合格口译员的职责,进一步提高口译的质量和表现,提高交际效果.
关键词:合作原则,口译策略,陪同口译
Contents
Acknowledgements ................................................................................................. 1
Abstract ................................................................................................................... 1
摘要 ........................................................... 1
Chapter 1 Introduction ............................................................................................ 1
1.1 Introduction to the interpreting task, client and interpreter ............................. 1
1.2 Requirement of the interpreting task ................................................................ 2
Chapter 2 Literature Review ................................................................................... 5
2.1 Studies on the Cooperative Principle ................................................................ 5
2.1.1 Current research status and problems on the cooperative principle ........... 5
2.1.2 Research prospect on the cooperative principle ......................................... 6
2.2 Studies on escort interpreting strategies under the guidance of the CP principle .. 7
Chapter 3 Interpreting Process Description ........................................................ 11
3.1 Pre-task preparation for the interpreting task ................................................. 11
3.1.1 Preparation for tour facilities .................................................................... 11
3.1.2 Preparation on the glossary ...................................................................... 11
3.1.2.1 The knowledge about the client ......................................................... 12
3.1.2.2 Glossary of the scenic spot ................................................................ 12
3.1.3 Preparation for cultural background ......................................................... 14
3.2 The on-spot interpreting practice. ................................................................... 14
3.2.1 Excessive spoken language and fillers ..................................................... 15
3.2.2 Non-equivalence in culture-loaded words interpreting ............................ 15
3.2.3 Frequent change of the sound volume ...................................................... 16
3.2.4 Different speech rate and lexical omission .............................................. 16
3.3 Post-task summary on the reasons of the above-mentioned problems ........... 16
3.3.1 Anxiety ..................................................................................................... 16
3.3.2 Lack of knowledge accumulation ............................................................ 17
3.3.3 Interpreter's working attitude ................................................................... 18
Chapter 4 Case Study ............................................................................................ 19
4.1 Interpreting strategies by observing the CP principle .................................... 19
4.1.1 Interpreting strategy by observing the maxim of manner ........................ 19
4.1.2 Interpreting strategy by observing the maxim of quantity ....................... 20
4.1.3 Interpreting strategy by observing the maxim of quality ......................... 22
4.1.4 Interpreting strategy by observing the maxim of relation ........................ 23
4.2 Interpreting strategies by violating the CP principle ..................................... 24
4.2.1 Omission................................................................................................... 24
4.2.2 Addition .................................................................................................... 25
4.2.2.1 Logical addition ................................................................................. 26
4.2.2.2 Cultural or background addition ........................................................ 26
4.2.2.3 Paraphrasing addition ........................................................................ 27
Chapter 5 Conclusion ............................................................................................. 29
5.1 Findings .......................................................................................................... 29
5.2 Limitations ...................................................................................................... 32
5.3 Suggestions for future escort interpreting practice ......................................... 29
5.3.1 The adoption of a positive attitude ........................................................... 30
5.3.2 Full preparation before interpreting task .................................................. 30
5.3.3 Summary and evaluation after interpreting practice ................................ 31
Bibliography ........................................................................................................... 34
Appendix ................................................................................................................. 36
Chapter 1 Introduction
Since Yan Fu put forward his translation ideas in his translated book Evolutionand Ethics, every time when Chinese scholars try to evaluate one translated book, histranslation thoughts "Faithfulness, Expressiveness, and Elegance" would act as astandard to judge whether it can be an ideal translation and interpretation. However, itseems to be abstract to understand. As a matter of fact, the interpretation also belongsto a certain type of communication. As the basic principle of communication, Grice'scooperative principle can be applied to the analysis of interpretation process. Therefore,the cooperative principle can be used as a great way to measure the quality of translationand interpretation. Despite the fact that the CP principle is the fundamental principleused to guide language use and an important component of the Pragmatics, more andmore scholars and interpreters begin to notice the application of the CP principle ininterpretation in order to enhance the quality of interpreting performance and quality.However, they mainly focus on the observation of the CP principle in interpretingpractices while they ignore the violation of CP principle to enhance their interpretingperformance, facilitate communication and to achieve certain language effects.Therefore, this paper is designed to explore the application of interpreting strategies byobserving and violating the CP principle through a case study on the author's interpreting practice.
1.1 Introduction to the interpreting task, client and interpreter
With the increasing international influence of the Chinese culture, more and moreforeigners show their interest in China. Combining both modern andtraditional architecture. Beijing, one of the oldest cities in the world with arich history dating back three thousand years with opulent palaces, temples, gardens,and walls, has become the first stop for them to learn and understand the Chinese culture.Beijing is the home to seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Among them, theForbidden City is the bright pearl on the crown as the most important tourist attractionfor the foreign visitors who come to appreciate the traditional Chinese architecture,history and culture. Following the "China Craze", an American came to Beijing toappreciate the time-honored Chinese tradition. The author was therefore invited to help her with communication. The interpreting practice happened in the middle ofSeptember 2018, when Beijing bid farewell to the intense heat of summer and welcomethe refreshing autumn, which was the best time for the tourists to visit Beijing. In orderto enjoy the beauty of ancient China, an American client decided to pay a visit to theForbidden City in Beijing. Back then, as a first-year graduate student learninginterpreting in China Foreign Affairs University, the author had presentable Englishlistening and speaking skills, solid Chinese cultural background, and some necessaryinterpreting strategies. Therefore, the author was invited to serve as an interpreterproviding language help for the client and her tour guide.
1.2 Requirement of the interpreting task
In escort interpreting, the interpreter accompanies the client or the delegationon a tour or a visit. Depending on the length of the client's schedule, the escortinterpreter's work may last for days, weeks, or even months. According to the actualneeds, escort interpreting can be divided into two categories: 1. Business escortinterpreting needed in business contexts, during product or service presentations,conference, investor meetings, and business negotiations; 2. life escort interpretingincluding tour escort interpreting. As such, the escort interpreter needs to be equippedwith some cultural or historical knowledge about the scenic spot in order to bestunderstand and convey messages back and forth.
Escort interpreting has always been known for its heavy working pressure,efficiency, the on-the-spot and real-time characteristics. Moreover, the subjects ofinterpreting are of immense diversity and high professionalism, which put strict demandon the interpreters' interpreting strategies and professional demeanor.
First of all, the interpreter needs to be quick-witted and responsive. Without thecapacity of swift and agile thinking, the interpreter could not identify the gist and keypoint of the client's speech as soon as possible, not to mention to control the interpretingrate of the process. The interpreter should be equipped with a positive attitude to solveproblems, handle emergencies and manage misunderstandings and awkward situations.Make necessary predictions, prepare plans for accidents and deal with emergenciesflexibly. The unacquainted words can be interpreted with metaphor or paraphrase.Moreover, the interpreter needs to be sensitive to the client's emotional tendency and language implications. The interpreter should prevent any negative emotions frominterfering with his or her interpreting performance or psychology. Being able to freefrom arrogance and impetuosity, keep a relatively stable state before the interpretingtask. In a word, a positive and stable attitude enables the interpreter to enter into arelatively ideal working state more quickly and thus be more productive with betterinterpreting performance.
Secondly, the escort interpreter should be well prepared before any interpretingtask. The prerequisite for good delivery of the interpretation is the comprehensivepreparation before practice, including background knowledge, professional vocabularyand psychological quality, which is conducive to the interpreter's interpreting quality.The interpreter needs to make full preparation in terms of the collection on thebackground information, the necessary knowledge about the scenic spots, thepreparation, and mastery on professional terms and the glossary. Besides, it's alsoequally important to take the client's accent and pronunciation characteristics intoconsideration. To know which country or region the client comes from and tounderstand the educational background of the client can help the interpreter to predictthe client's language style. The knowledge about the client's identity in advance enablesthe interpreter to adapt to the client's delivery frequency and style.
Thirdly, it is of fundamental importance for the escort interpreter to observe thebasic professional standards and ethics. The interpreter should arrive at the designatedplace on time. Express accurately and expressively in both source language and targetedlanguage so as to serve as a bridge in the communication between the two partiesaccording to the requirements of the client. Besides, it is noteworthy that the interpretershould be well dressed and behave appropriately in public to leave a good impressionon the client. In some cases, the escort interpreter should help the client makearrangements and plan on schedule, including the airport services, accommodation,travel routes, transportation, etc. The interpreter should ensure that the foreign clientcan get the necessary information about the main scenic spots in an appropriate way. This means that the interpreter should interpret not only the scenic spots but also thecontents related to the daily life.
Besides, the escort interpreter should be familiar himself or herself with localcustoms and Chinese traditional culture to meet the needs of the foreign client whocomes to China with huge curiosity. By the same token, the interpreter also needs to master the foreign language and culture in order to have a more smooth, appropriateand respectful exchange and communication between all parties involved. In addition,due to the difference in terms of thinking, value and ideology, it is inevitable for theinterpreter to encounter some cultural collision in the process of interpreting practice. Therefore, a professional interpreter should be able to weaken, dampen or evenminimize the tense atmosphere so as to ensure the smooth progress of interpretation.
Moreover, the escort interpreter is not only responsible for the facilitation of thecommunication, but also for the cultural communication. Therefore, the escortinterpreter should try his or her best to make the client to have satisfactory tourismexperience in Beijing and appreciate the customs and culture in Beijing and even thewhole country. As it was the very first time to come to Beijing, the client was amazedby and curious about the history, culture, and architecture of the Forbidden City. Thismeant the interpreter should have comprehensive preparation on the cultural andhistorical background as well as the relevant glossary for the interpreting practice.
From this interpreting practice, the author came to realize that the escort interpreteractually should behave like an assistant, helping clients not only to facilitate thecommunication process but also to navigate while they travel on trips. The escortinterpreters are not just interpreters who create a favorable atmosphere for the clientsto enjoy the journey but often act as cultural liaisons, responsible for everything fromordering food, hotel, shopping to introducing the cultural and historical background totheir clients. As a result, the interpreter should serve as a lubricant for communicationin tour escort interpreting. In this sense, the interpreter needs to make the best use ofthe CP principle in the tour escort interpreting practices.
…………由于本文篇幅较长,部分内容省略,详细全文见文末附件
Chapter 5 Conclusion
5.1 Findings
Through the above-mentioned examples and analysis, it could be found that theinterpreter often adopted different interpreting strategies according to different contextsin order to meet the requirements of interpreting. The interpreting strategy consistentwith the cooperative principle could be applied unconsciously while some interpretingstrategies could be used only through intentional violation of the cooperative principle.Actually, the cooperative principle is either to observe or violate so as to choose thecorrect interpreting strategy and complete the interpreting task connecting the involvedparties in spite of the language and cultural differences.
Through the review and summary of the interpreting practice, it could beconcluded that the choice of interpreting strategies included the ones observing the CPprinciple and the ones violating the CP principle. Besides, the CP principle can beapplied as a guide for the interpreting practice in terms of handling challenges as wellas a yardstick for the evaluation of the interpreting performance and quality. With thehelp of the CP principle, the interpreter can adopt different yet appropriate interpretingstrategies to fulfill his or her duty as a qualified interpreter. Through this way can thequality and performance of interpreting be improved, and the language gap be narrowedin order to improve the communicative effect.
5.2 Suggestions for future escort interpreting practice
Interpretation invariably requires the interpreter to be able to work under highpressure and time limitation. Therefore, mistakes and anxiety would be a naturalproduction, especially for an inexperienced interpreting trainee like the author. Nervousand anxiety often made the author forget her language and manner in the process ofpractice, including the demeanors, language expression, mistakes, speech rate andgrammar use. For a beginner, it's impossible to solve all these problems once and forall. However, it is essential to identify these mistakes, learn lessons, get rid of the badhabits and accumulate experience bit by bit so as to improve the interpreting capacity.
5.2.1 The adoption of a positive attitude
The positive attitude and good psychological state are tremendously conducive toovercoming anxiety and some other negative psychological pressure. First of all, toadopt a correct working attitude enables the interpreter to make full preparationregardless of the difficult and tedious process. Escort interpreting is by no means aneasy job. Without passion and a positive outlook, it's hard to persevere in, let alonebetter complete the interpreting task. There is no doubt that there will be a variety ofunexpected problems in the process of interpretation, which is the fundamentaldifference between escort interpreting and other work and where the charm ofinterpretation lies. You cannot expect the problems that will appear in the next moment.In the process to identify problems and find the answers, the interpreter can have abetter understanding of the profundity language and culture, which is totally based ona good and positive working attitude.
Secondly, the interpreter needs to adopt a correct learning attitude. As the sayinggoes, "learning is an endless process". It is the same with interpreting as it requires deepand comprehensive knowledge. The interpreter needs to set up a modest attitudetowards learning, modestly accept and correct the mistakes pointed out by others. Thefailures, mistakes, and obstacles should become the lessons and motivation for futureimprovement and progress, which is a continuous and even life-long process. From theinterpreting practice, the author realizes that her knowledge reservation is limited.Therefore, it is necessary to expand the vocabulary which is the basis of theinterpretation work. In addition, the interpreting methods or strategies should be learnedand applied, such as addition and omission. Learning is the process of the constantaccumulation of knowledge. The problems and expressions should be recorded oncerealized and identified. The difficulties encountered in interpreting practices should betaken into careful and serious consideration. In addition to language learning, someminors in daily life cannot be ignored. A qualified interpreter should be open to all kindsof information and pay attention to the information collection and accumulation., whichis beneficial not only to interpreting the study, work but also to personal spirit andoutlook.
5.2.2 Full preparation before interpreting task
From this interpreting practice, the author deeply realizes that the pre-task preparation stands as one of the most important links of the entire interpreting process.Although a good mentality is a prerequisite for the interpreting performance, theinterpreter could not produce satisfying results without enough preparation. Thecombination of a good mentality and full preparation forms the best way for escortinterpreting.
Although pre-task preparation has been done before this interpreting practice, itwas after the interpreting task that the author realized that she has not done a qualifiedpreparation. When preparing the materials, the interpreter should not be satisfied withthe names of each scenic spot. It is tremendously helpful to know more about the relatedknowledge and information before the interpreting task. Being fully prepared and ableto flexibly use make the interpreter more relaxed and confident to complete the task ofinterpretation.
5.2.3 Summary and evaluation after interpreting practice
Although the escort interpreting means a great test on the interpreter's physical andpsychological strength and is often accompanied by great physical and mental fatigue,the summary and evaluation after the interpreting task is essential to conduct for theinterpreter's future progress.
First of all, the interpreting performance should be reflected in the related mistakesand limitations recorded in the interpreting journal. It can help the interpreter to knowwhich part is because of anxiety, which part is caused by lack of interpreting strategiesand which part is due to the limited interpreting expertise.
Secondly, it can form a useful part of the post-task action to seek advice fromforeign friends. The escort interpreting is not a solo performance. Rather, it aims tomake the source language understandable and comprehensible to the client so as to helpthem better understand the scenic spot and the culture, the ultimate goal of interpretingwork. Even if the interpreter expresses the materials smoothly and fluently, all thesecan be totally meaningless if the audience doesn't understand what the interpreter reallymeans. The escort interpreter serves as the bridge between the cultures of the differentregions, nations or countries. Therefore, it's very important to modestly seek advicefrom foreign friends no matter in terms of the language learning or the encyclopedicknowledge about the culture, history, etc. When interpreting, the interpreter can't findthat she had any pronunciation mistakes or detect the problem of fillers because of the anxiety. However, the listener can be sensitive to these mistakes and even the changeof the speech rate and sound volume. The opinions and suggestions from others canbetter help the interpreter to correct the mistakes and better the interpreting performancein the future work.
Last but not least, the recordings would always an excellent option that has beenproved effective every time no matter it is for beginners or experienced interpreters. The recording can playback and reappear the original context and conditions to help theinterpreter to better understand the interpreting performance and conduct a comparisonwith the ideal performance. It could be an extraordinary reference for interpreting workin the future. Besides, the handwritten reminders could be effective for the interpreterto record new problems and solutions at any time. The most frequent and repeatedproblems could be written down in the notebook which could be reviewed from time totime and become the warning signs for the interpreter to reduce or avoid the same mistakes.
5.3 Limitations
Although this paper made certain exploration of the relationship between theinterpreting strategies and the cooperative principle, there still exists a lot of space forimprovement.
First of all, the research was based on a relatively small size of materials and anindividual case. Therefore, some conclusions were prone to lack of reliability andrequired further examination and researches. It is suggested to collect more quantitativedata for further analysis to ensure the reliability of the research results and the depth ofthe theoretical research.
Secondly, the maxims under the CP principle could not explain all the features andcharacteristics of interpreting. As far as interpreting practice is concerned, it can't coverall aspects of interpreting practice. That is to say, the problems encountered ininterpreting practice can be solved in part if the CP principle is adopted as a method orstandard to evaluate the interpreting performance or quality.
As a result, there still exists a huge space for future progress. In the future study,it's recommendable to establish a database in order to further study the relationshipbetween interpreting strategies and the application of the cooperative principle. In this way, the guiding principle can be abstracted o apply the cooperative principle ininterpreting.
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