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FACTORS INFLUENCING THE QUALITY OF CONSECUTIVE
INTERPRETATION
Abduraimova Umida Abdumalikovna
Master student, Uzbekistan State World Languages University
Nowadays with the deepening of globalization, consecutive interpretation has
become a quite common activity, which plays a vital role in cross culture
communication. It is mostly used in formal conference, diplomatic occasions,
conference interpretation, business negotiation, press conference, speeches, etc. As
to consecutive interpretation, it poses high demands to interpreters, who need to
listen to the speakers while taking notes at the same time. As long as the speaker
pauses after one paragraph or so, the interpreter has to interpret it into accurate,
fluent and understandable target language immediately. Consecutive interpretation
requires the interpreters to have solid bilingual languages at least, as well as a great
sense of culture. The quality of interpretation could have a direct effect on cross
culture activities. Accurate and appropriate expression could have a positive effect
on cross culture communication, while some improper and neglect of culture might
catch misunderstanding or even conflicts. Therefore, it is of great importance to lay
emphasis on the quality of consecutive interpretation. However, there are several
factors need to be considered to ensure the quality of interpretation, including
external and internal factors.
It is acknowledged that Consecutive Interpretation plays significantly important
role in cross culture communication, not only in diplomatic affairs but also in the daily
business exchanges. However, on one hand, there is no universal criteria to define the
quality of consecutive interpreting. Moser-Mercer (1996) defined
“optimum quality” as
“complete and accurate rendition of the original and tries to capture any and all
extralinguistic
information” (P. 44). On the other hand, it’s hard to control the quality of
consecutive interpreting, since it has strict requirement for the interpreters. Someone
who has a good command of professional knowledge might not be familiar with
interpreting, while the person who majors in English is not skilled in professional
operation principles or technical terms. It is hard to decide which one would be more
appropriate for the interpreting. The best way to find a balance between the two
conflicts is to practice more and keep learning.
The majority of previous research mainly explored the quality of interpretation.
Moser-Mercer (1996:43-55) mainly discussed the assessment of quality in
interpreting from different perspectives: including
user’s perspective, employer’s
perspective, laboratory experiments, and
teacher’s assessment of students.
Generally, interpretation includes consecutive interpretation and simultaneous
interpretation, the quality and norms may vary from each other. Moreover, as to
consecutive interpretation, it could also be divided into formal conference and
informal meeting. Therefore, it seems necessary to take this factor into consideration
when exploring the quality of interpretation, for one must conforms to the style of the
source text. Moreover, to explore the factors influencing the quality of consecutive
interpretation, the role of the interpreter could not be neglected. In response to these
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matters, this study attempts to: 1) explore the factors that influence the quality of
consecutive interpretation, 2) to investigate effective ways on the study of
interpretation, and 3) to seek efficient ways on combining translation theory and
practice. In this way, the present study pursues to contribute to the gap of knowledge
in this particular issue.
Nadja
Grbić (2008) described quality as a social construct in three social
systems like teaching, research and practice. This study discussed some examples
from different dimensions to reveal the complex quality discourse. The findings of the
study suggest that there is no exact definition of quality since it is dynamic and
relative. Based on the previous research, it is a significant work to explore the
perception of
“the quality of interpretation” from the perspective of interpreters, which
could be more practical and convincing.
This study explores the factors influencing the quality of consecutive
interpretation from the perspective of an interpreter base on practices of
interpretation, hoping to offer some implications for further understanding of
consecutive interpretation.
The Quality of CI
To explore factors influencing the quality of consecutive interpretation (CI), we
must be clear about the definition of
“the quality of CI”. Different scholars held
different opinions regarding this matter. Andrew Gillies (2019) concluded that quality
in consecutive interpreting as
“say what the speaker says and make sense” (p.12) in
the book Consecutive Interpreting: A Short Course.
A good consecutive interpretation could convey the
speaker’s information
accurately in limited time. There are several elements playing a decisive role in
consecutive interpretation, which could be concluded as
“good listening skills”,
“enough preparation of the content”, “grasping key information instead of word-for-
word
translation”, as well as “a strong sense of culture”. To ensure the speaker’s
information could be accurately conveyed, all of these elements should be taken into
consideration.A lot of factors might influence the quality of consecutive interpretation.
Different scholars have studied the factors from different perspectives. The paper
would analyze the data offered by the interpreter from the following aspects, hoping
to shed some light on the further research.
Practice and Non-stop Learning.
Practice is a term mentioned fifteen times
in this interview. In the following conversation,
“practice” and its other forms appeared
six times. Actually, practice really matters a lot for the success of the interpretation.
The researcher noticed the interpreter never stops learning during the casual
dialogue and her daily focus.
Practice makes perfect. Without practicing, all the skills or techniques
don’t
matter much. Only through practicing can you have a better understanding of
interpretation. Experience is the best teacher. Learning from practice and experience
is the best way to become a skilled interpreter. Secondly, it is also very important to
know something about everything, because there can be topics of any area during
interpretation. The topics might cover any aspects. If you know nothing about
something, then it would be very difficult for you to convey the
speaker’s meaning
accurately. For example, if you know nothing about the rules for certain sports, it
would be hard for you to convey the meaning of the speaker accurately, even if using
your mother tongue. And it is one of the most common topics of the speakers, you
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know. So constant learning is very important, especially not just focus on one area.
A learning heart for everything is quite important for an interpreter. Because we
don’t
know when it will be used even for casual talks.
Thirdly, one should follow up the news around the world every day. If possible,
listening to the news broadcast on BBC or other major media. People always like to
talk about
what’s new, and it will be very helpful for the interpreters if knowing about
the latest trends. Therefore,
it’s quite necessary to keep up with the latest news.
Otherwise, the interpreter might be nervous when hearing unfamiliar things.
REFERENCES:
1. Moser-Mercer B. (1996). Quality in interpreting: Some methodological
issues. The
Interpreters’ Newsletter 7, 43–55.
2.
Grbić N. (2008). Constructing interpreting quality. Interpreting, 10 (2), 232–257.
3. Andrew Gillies (2019) (p.12) Consecutive Interpreting: A Short Course.
4. Rozan J.F., (1956). La prise de notes en
interprétation consécutive.
Genève: Georg. _2002. Note-taking in Consecutive Interpreting.
5. Chen S. (2017). Note-taking in consecutive interpreting: New data from pen
recording. Translation & Interpreting, 9(1), 4
–23.