A study on strategies to cope with undesirable situations in consecutive interpreting

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION

GRADUATION PAPER

A STUDY ON STRATEGIES TO COPE WITH
UNDESIRABLE SITUATIONS IN
CONSECUTIVE INTERPRETING
Supervisor: Nguyen Phuong Tra
Student: Ta Thi Thu Hang
Year

: QH08.F1.E20

HA NOI – 2012


ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI
TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ
KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH

KHOÁ LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP

NGHIÊN CỨU CÁC BIỆN PHÁP ỨNG PHĨ VỚI
MỘT SỐ TÌNH HUỐNG KHƠNG MONG MUỐN
TRONG PHIÊN DỊCH ĐUỔI

Giáo viên hướng dẫn: Nguyễn Phương Trà
Sinh viên: Tạ Thị Thu Hằng
Khoá: QH08.F1.E20

HÀ NỘI – NĂM 2012


ACCEPTANCE

I hereby state that I: Ta Thi Thu Hang, student of 08.1.E20, being a candidate
for the degree of Bachelor of Arts accept the requirements of the College relating to
the retention and use of Bachelor‟s Graduation Paper deposited in the library.
In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the
library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with
the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of
the paper

Signature

Ta Thi Thu Hang
Date:

i


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my special thanks to Mrs Nguyen Phuong Tra, my
supervisor, for her suggestions, useful advice, instructions and her encouragement
from the stem to the end of my thesis writing process.
My thanks also go to lecturers in Translation and Interpreting Division and Mrs
Tra‟s colleagues: Mr Lam Quang Dong, Nguyen Cam Linh, Nguyen Ninh Bac… for
helping me conduct questionnaires.

I am grateful to Mr Do Trung Hieu, Mr Hoang Manh Hung, Ms Nguyen Hoang
Oanh and many other interpreters for giving me chances to talk and sharing precious
experiences with me.
I would like to thank Mr Nguyen Van Doan for his enthusiastic help.
Last but not least, I owe my gratitude to all my families and friends for all they
have done for me.
Without their encouragement and help, this dissertation would not be
completed.

ii


ABSTRACT

Consecutive interpreting is said to be the basic form of all types interpreting
and is used to train students for consecutive performance (Bowen, 1984). From the
viewpoint of the interpreters with varied experiences and the researcher, these
common undesirable situations are presented. These undesirable situations are
arranged in accordance with frequency ratings and the strategies to cope with each
situation are introduced. There appear the differences and similarities the choices of
four questions by the interpreters with varied experiences. Three undesirable situations
which are the most common will be selected and analyzed. By the questionnaire and
interviews, the researcher can collect the data as well as get recommendations offered
by the interpreters. On the ground of arrangement and the analysis, we can see which
undesirable situations are the most common and which strategies should be employed.
To some extent, these would-be interpreters can make the use of this thesis‟s result as
a step of preparation before working in interpreting field.

iii

1

1

2

CHAPTER 1

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION .................................................................... 1

1.1

Rationale: .......................................................................................................... 1

1.2

Aims and objectives of the study: ..................................................................... 2

1.2.1

Aims of the study: ....................................................................................... 2

1.2.2

Objectives of the study: .............................................................................. 2

1.3

Scope of the study: ............................................................................................ 3

1.4

Structure of the study: ....................................................................................... 3

CHAPTER 2
2.1

LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................... 5

Interpreting and its modes ................................................................................. 5

2.1.1

Interpreting: ............................................................................................... 5

2.1.2

Modes of interpreting: ................................................................................ 6

2.2

Consecutive interpreting: .................................................................................. 7

2.2.1

Definition: ................................................................................................... 7

2.2.2

Phases of consecutive interpreting:............................................................ 8

2.2.3

Basic skills in consecutive interpreting: ................................................... 11

2.3

Strategies and undesirable situations in interpreting: ..................................... 12

2.3.1

Strategies: ................................................................................................. 12

2.3.2

Undesirable situations: ............................................................................ 13

2.4

The quality of interpreters and the concept of an experienced interpreters: ... 14

2.4.1

The quality of interpreters: ....................................................................... 14

2.4.2

The concept of an experienced interpreter: ............................................. 16

iv


3

4

CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY ............................................................ 17

3.1

The subjects:.................................................................................................... 17

3.2

The methods: ................................................................................................... 17

CHAPTER 4

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ......................................... 19

4.1

The frequency of encountering undesirable situations: .................................. 19

4.2

The methods of dealing with undesirable situations: ...................................... 22

4.3

The three most common undesirable situations that the interpreters encounter

frequently: ................................................................................................................. 27
4.4
5

CHAPTER 5
5.1

6

Factors contributing to an interpreter‟s activeness in undesirable situations: 31
RECCOMENDATIONS .................................................... 33

Strategies to cope with lengthy speech: .......................................................... 33

5.1.1

The ability to abstract and paraphrase: ................................................... 33

5.1.2

A good memory: ....................................................................................... 36

5.2

The strategies to cope with technical terms: ................................................... 37

5.3

The strategies to cope with mispronunciation: ............................................... 38

CHAPTER 6

CONCLUSION ................................................................... 40

6.1

Overview of findings of the thesis: ................................................................. 40

6.2

Strengths and weaknesses of the thesis: .......................................................... 41

6.3

Suggestions for further research and final comments: .................................... 41

7

REFERENCES ..................................................................................................... 42

8

APPENDIX ........................................................................................................... 44

v


1

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION
1.1 Rationale:
Interpreting is the bridge of language as well as culture in
communicative activities of human beings. For Vietnam in particular,
interpreting career has been more highly appreciated since the country became
the official member of WTO and integrated into global trade. The number of
professional and semi-professional interpreters is gradually increasing day by
day. They are required to have not only good skills, linguistic acquisition but
also diverse knowledge in many areas. Besides, the code of ethics is an
important factor forming the qualities of a good interpreter.
However, even when an interpreter is well-prepared and has good
qualifications, undesirable situations do arise for many reasons. During
interpreting, the interpreter‟s attention is shared strategically among listening,
memorizing and production efforts. Interpreting is prone to deteriorating as the
interpreter‟s capacity for one of efforts mentioned above decreases. Such
constraints on overall capacity are bound to affect other components of the
process and will thus have a bearing on the quality of the target speech. For
example, during listening, interpreters have to decide what and how to note
down. They also have to devote some attention to the writing process itself.
Therefore, most of the errors, omissions and other weaknesses in interpreting
output can be caused by processing capacity limitations, errors in processing
capacity management, and gaps in the interpreters' Knowledge Base (Gile,

1989). Many of these problems can be said to be unavoidable, as shown by the
fact that they are encountered regularly even by interpreters with a solid
reputation and long professional experience. In these cases, the interpreters are
required to apply a set of strategies to prevent and constrain damage (Gile
1995).

1


In reality, coping strategies are very essential skills in interpreting but it
is difficult to master. It is the reason why I would like to specify some
undesirable situations and find respective strategies to such problems.
1.2 Aims and objectives of the study:
1.2.1 Aims of the study:
The study aims at identifying three undesirable situations the
experienced interpreters encounter most frequently. Those three undesirable
situations will be brought to light regarding their classification and frequency.
Basing on the findings of the study and these suggestions from the experienced
interpreters, I would like to recommend some strategies when such situations
occur.
More specifically, the study is intended to address the following questions:
 What are three most frequently-encountered situations which are undesirable in
consecutive interpreting?
 What are coping strategies in these situations?
1.2.1 Objectives of the study:
As a student of Translator and Interpreter Training Division, I
understand that mastering basic skills in interpreting is very important.
However, besides these fundamental skills I am trained, I desire for learning
more about strategies of experienced interpreters in undesirable situations.
Moreover, I decide to pursue interpreting career, therefore, this study partly

supports my future career.
Secondly, I intend to propose some recommendations for those who
want to choose interpreting as a career. The advice will be collected from
experienced interpreters.

2


Thirdly, these unpredictable cases occurring to interpreters are frequent,
but I would like to find out which are more popular and strategies applied in
such cases.
Finally, among many dissertations I have read, none of them imply
undesirable cases in consecutive interpreting as well as specific strategies,
practice for each case. Hence, I hope I can partly contribute to filling the gap.
1.3 Scope of the study:
Due to time and knowledge limitation, I would like to carry out the study
on strategies to cope with undesirable situations in consecutive interpreting.
However, undesirable situations are various in reality of interpreting
filed so I only mention some prevalent undesirable situations synthesized from
different sources of data and the interpreters‟ views. After that, the study mainly
focuses on analyzing three undesirable situations in the order of importance in
consecutive interpreting and coping strategies when encountering such cases.
1.4 Structure of the study:
Chapter 1: Introduction
This chapter will provide readers an overview of the study including the
reasons for choosing topics, the aims, the scope and the methodology used to
conduct the research.
Chapter 2: Literature Review
Theoretical background knowledge related to interpreting, strategies and
undesirable situations will be discussed in this chapter.

Chapter 3: Methodology
This chapter will present methods which were applied to conduct the
study.
Chapter 4: Findings and Discussion

3


In this chapter, necessary comparison and analysis will be implemented
to answer two questions of the study.
Chapter 5: Recommendation
Basing on the recommendations of the consecutive interpreters, I will
give some strategies to deal with undesirable situations.
Chapter 6: Conclusion
This chapter will give brief overview, the strength and the weakness of
the thesis.

4


2

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1 Interpreting and its modes
1.1.1 Interpreting:
The definition of interpreting is various with a wide range of
perspectives. Hence, each perspective describes a different aspect of
interpreting.

In 1989, Webber restricts interpreting to the conference hall.
“Interpreting is the oral transposition of an orally delivered message at a
conference or a meeting from a source language into a target language
performed in the presence of the participants”. (Webber, 1989)
According to him, interpreting is to decipher oral code from a source language
to a target language. Also, Brislin agrees with Webber on the point that
interpreting is performed in oral form. Besides, he lists these subjects taking
part in communicative activity: speaker, interpreter and listener. The interpreter
plays the role as the medium between the speaker and listener.
“Interpretation is one type of translation, and refers to oral communication
situations in which one person speaks in the source language and interpreter
processes this in inputs and produces output in a second language, a third
person listens to the target language version”. (Brislin?, p.14).
Gentile (1996) views interpreting in term of professional function, in
which the interpreting acts as the bridge for people speaking different
languages. Also, according to him, interpreting is as the result of human being‟s
interactive activities.
“Interpreting as a recognized and distinct area of expertise and certainly as a
particular social role, arrived only with modernity and a result of the curious

5


ways in which individuals and populations speaking different language have to
interact”. (Gentile, 1996)
Gentile mentions social activity in interpreting while Luyen defines
interpreting as “mental process of transferring messages/ information from
source language to target language in which the interpreter receives them in the
form of the oral source language by his own ears, and then speaks out in the
target language”. (Luyen, 1998)

“Phiên dịch là một q trình chuyển giao các thơng điệp hoặc thơng tin từ
ngơn ngữ nguồn sang ngơn ngữ đích trong đó phiên dịch viên tiếp nhận ngơn
ngữ nguồn dưới dạng văn nói và bằng đơi tai của mình và sau đó phát đi ngơn
ngữ đích dưới dạng văn nói”.
In this definition, the author directly refers to the role of the interpreter who
performs the mental process.
In general, despite many definitions of interpreting, according to
translation theory, interpreting must be comprehended as a form of translation,
in which the source language is reconstructed in target language under oral
form (author unknown). These definitions mentioned above also share some
common points of interpreting characteristics. Interpreting is performed under
time pressure with little chance for correction and revision.
1.1.2 Modes of interpreting:
There are many ways of categorizing interpreting: subject matters,
working mode, distance and proximity (between speaker, addressee and
interpreter), equality/solidarity and non-equality/power, formal setting and
informal setting (related to number of participants, degree of privacy) and
direction of interpreting. However, according to Gentile, two fundamental
modes for interpreting are consecutive and simultaneous interpreting (which is
classified by working mode).

6


The first type is consecutive interpreting. In this case, the consecutive
interpreter listens to the speaker, takes notes, and then reproduces speech in the
target language. Depending on the length of the speech, this may be done all at
one go or in several segments. The consecutive interpreter relies mainly on
memory, but good note-taking and other techniques are essential aids.
The second type is simultaneous interpreting. As the name suggests,

language message is being produced at the same time with the target language.
According to Seleskovitch (1978a):
“In simultaneous interpretation the interpreter is isolated in a booth. He speaks
at the same time as the speaker and therefore has no need to memorize or jot
down what is said. Moreover, the processes of analysis-comprehension and of
reconstruction-expression are telescoped. The interpreter works on the message
bit by bit, giving the portion he has understood while analyzing and
assimilating the next idea”. (125)
In other words, the working process of a simultaneous interpreter includes:
usually sitting in a soundproof booth, listening to the speaker through earphones
and speaking into a microphone, reproducing the speech in the target language
as it is being delivered in the source language. Because the simultaneous
interpreter cannot fall too far behind, this method requires considerable
practice. (James Nolan, 2007)
1.2 Consecutive interpreting:
1.2.1 Definition:
Consecutive interpreting is defined as the process of interpreting after
the speaker or the signer completes one or more ideas in the source language
and pauses while the interpreter provides interpretation.

7


1.2.2 Phases of consecutive interpreting:
Discussing consecutive interpreting, Roberto Santiago elaborately
analyzes the process of consecutive interpreting in his article. At the same time,
he discusses ideas of some experts such as Seleskovitch and Smith.
When interpreting a text, the interpreter must be able to receive and
understand the incoming message and then express it‟s meaning in the target
language. The interpreter need undergo an overlapping series of cognitive

processing activities to finish task. These steps include: attending to the
message, concentrating on the task at hand, remembering the message,
comprehending the meaning of the message, analyzing the message for
meaning, visualizing the message nonverbally, and finally reformulating the
message in the target language.
Roberto also mentions Seleskovitch‟s opinion. Seleskovitch points out
that there is another practical reason for the interpreter to discard the form of
the source text, there is only so much that a person can hold in their short-term
memory. As the interpreter receives the source text the information passes
initially through their short-term memory. If the interpreter does not do
anything with this information it will soon disappear. If an interpreter attempts
to retain the form of a source utterance, their short-term memory will be quickly
filled with individual lexical items, which may not even compose a full
sentence. If the interpreter then attempts to find a corresponding lexical item in
the target language for each of the source language forms in their short-term
memory, all of their attention will be wasted on translating these six items
rather than attending to the incoming message.
It is because of the limitations of short-term memory that interpreters are
required to drop form and concentrate on meaning. Both Seleskovitch and
Smith propose that meaningful segments of great size can be placed into longterm memory and retrieved later. Of course a chunk of information must be

8


understood in order to be meaningful. To demonstrate this idea, Seleskovitch
uses the example of a person who has just seen a movie, after viewing the film
the person will be able to relate the plot and many of the details of the of the
film. If the person continues to discuss the film with others the details will
remain fresh in their mind for a longer period of time. In this example the
person is able to remember the film because they understood it, and are,

“conversant with the various themes found in films...the movie-goer can easily
and fully process the „information‟ conveyed...and for this reason he
remembers” (Seleskovitch, 1979, 32).
Smith adds, “it takes no longer to put a rich and relevant chunk of
meaning into long-term memory than it does a useless letter or word” (Smith,
45), because of this the moviegoer will probably be able to relate the salient
points of the film in a fraction of the time it took them to receive the
information. Since the information was understood, its salient points can be
reformulated into another mode of communication. For example, when the
moviegoer discusses the plot of the film they do not recreate its form, nor do
they take two hours to render their “interpretation.” Due to the greater ease of
assimilating larger meaningful chunks of information it behooves the interpreter
to focus their attention on these larger chunks. A larger chunk of text will
usually contain a greater amount of meaning. It is this relationship that aids the
interpreter‟s understanding of the source text when working consecutively. As
shown above, once a chunk of information is understood it can be reformulated
into another form. As Seleskovitch (1978) points out, “In consecutive
interpretation the interpreter has the advantage of knowing line of the argument
before he interprets” (Seleskovitch, 28).
Interpreters are not charged with merely understanding the message; they
must

also

be

able

to

remember

it,

in

order

to

deliver

their

interpretation. Seleskovitch notes that dropping form aids the interpreter‟s

9


memory because they are not concentrating on remembering the words, or even
the structure of the source text. Instead, the interpreter understands the
message, connects it to long-term memory, and is then able to reformulate it in
much the same way the moviegoer can relate the points of a film. Of course the
interpreter must provide a more equivalent target text than the moviegoer.
To this end, interpreters working consecutively will often make notes as
they take in the source utterance. These notes help the interpreter retrieve the
message from their long-term memory and consist of, “symbols, arrows, and a
key word here or there” (Seleskovitch, 1991, 7).
According to Gile (1991), there are two main phases in interpreting (both
simultaneous and consecutive interpreting):

Phase 1 = L + M + N
Phase 2 = Rec + Read + P
In the first phase, the interpreter focuses on listening and analyzing the
source language speech, which is required between the time information is
heard and the time it is written down in the notes, note-taking. The next step,
which can be called reconstruction or reformulation in target language, is
required with a note-reading effort. In other words, it is to decode the note. The
interpreter retrieves all the information restored in short term memory and
produces it into target language.
Yet Webber (1989) divided interpreting process into five phases, but the
content in these phases is similar to that in Gile‟s Effort Model.
Phase 1: HEARING (getting the sounds)
Phase 2: LISTENING (getting the message)
Phase 3: ANALYZING (abstract and paraphrase)
Phase 4: MEMORIZING AND/ OR NOTE-TAKING

Phase 5: INTERPRETING

10


The fifth phase can be seen as crucial step in the whole process.
1.2.3 Basic skills in consecutive interpreting:
There are fundamental skills which are respective to phases in
consecutive interpreting. Along with language skills such as listening and
speaking, the interpreters are trained skill of note-taking, reformulation, and
short-term memory.
2.2.3.1.

Note-taking

Note-taking plays an important role in consecutive interpreting for a number
of reasons.
Firstly, we, as interpreters, do not know how long the speaker‟s speech will
last before we can have a go. Moreover, a good interpreter should not interrupt
the speaker. Therefore, notes will contribute to accuracy and effectiveness for
our interpretation. Especially, in negotiation interpreting, only the minor
misunderstanding of a single word means success or failure of negotiation.
Secondly, consecutive notes are different from other forms of notes. In a
meeting, a conference…a student and a reporter also use notes. But after noting
down, they can have a look again if you they do not remember gist. However,
for interpreters, they do not have chance to reconsider their notes because they
must deliver their interpretation right after the speaker. It is the reason why the
interpreters need to know how to take notes scientifically.
Lastly, note-taking is as one of essential preparation in consecutive
interpreting. A good interpreter should always take preparation.
(Richard, K.Seymour, C.C.Liu 1994, p.11).
2.2.3.2.

Short-term memory in consecutive interpreting:

Even when the certain amount of information is written down in notes, other
information is still kept in short-term memory and putting together and
reformulated into a succession of natural-sounding target language sentences.
(Basic concepts and models for interpreter and translator training, Gile.1996)

11


2.2.3.3.

Reformulation:

According to Gentile (1996) in Basic Concepts and Models for interpreter
and translator training, reformulation is used to eliminate potential
consequences of production problems or in case that short-term memory is
overloaded. In his book, he mentioned some approaches to reformulation.
1.3

Strategies and undesirable situations in interpreting:

1.3.1 Strategies:
Strategies are defined as a set of actions or strategies applied to help
interpreters cope with accidents occurring during interpreting and ensure the
consistency of interpreting. Coping strategies are good for interpreters to
promote performance to be close to competence.
According to many experts on interpreting, coping strategies are crucial
for interpreters and they work to minimize negative impacts or difficulties in
interpreting. Until now, there are many books as well as researches mentioned
the techniques or strategies (which are different from skills in interpreting) in
interpreting. Among these books I have read, two typical ones are Basic
concepts and models for interpreter and translator training by Daniel Gile
(1995), and The interpreting studies readers by Franz Pochhacker (2002). The
book by Daniel Gile offers concepts, models, techniques, approaches as well as
strategies, rules and suggestions to deal with translation and interpreting issues
theoretically, and practically. These issues such as effort models of interpreting,
problems as well as strategies are focused in chapter 7 and chapter 8.
Specifically, in chapter 7, Gile‟s interest encompasses the effort models of
interpreting. Whatever consecutive or simultaneous interpreting all require
good performance which calls for a set of three core efforts namely listening

and analysis effort, the production effort and the short-term memory effort. In
chapter 8, he leads us to facing and coping with online problems in interpreting.

12


He manages to define the cases when online problems arise and he explicitly
develops what nature they could be. Moreover, he persuasively makes out how
to handle speaker problems and how to cope with strategies in translation and
what is implied in them. Teaching suggestions provide examples to illustrate
chapter content methodologically emphasizing so the strategies which
encourage explanation. He develops the assumption that it is necessary to
construct the Law of least effort and the Law of self-protection. In discussing
them, he accepts the fact that strategies and laws presentation involve decisions.
Differently, the book by Franz Pochacker is a comprehensive picture of
interpreting in terms of growing areas, trends and approaching directions.
Through seven parts, he describes in details the aspects, problems, strategies of
both simultaneous and consecutive interpreting.
1.3.2

Undesirable situations:
Theoretically, undesirable situations are understood to be situations
which are not wanted and often cause trouble. In interpreting, they are
unexpected or unprepared situations of interpreters. The situations can arise at
any time whether the interpreter is well-prepared or not. Such cases may be
caused by many reasons. Sometimes they come from speaker, interpreter or
even objective factors such as language, culture or surrounding environment
(background, noise, press, media and so on).
More specifically, regarding language aspect, these undesirable
situations can appear such as mispronunciation, regional accents, technical

terms, lengthy speech and so on.

13


1.4 The quality of interpreters and the concept of an experienced interpreters:
1.4.1 The quality of interpreters:
Before mastering strategies in interpreting, the interpreters should be
aware of skills required in their career. These skills are not only essential but
they will support to cope strategies.
In the paper by Holly Mikkelson, he synthesizes the qualities for an ideal
interpreter from various authors. These qualities include:
Language skills: Even laypersons recognize that interpreters need to
have a good command of their languages to interpret accurately, though they
underestimate the extent of that command. Writers about all type of
interpreting, from conference (Seleskivitch, 1978a; Jones, 1998) to court
(Gonzalez et al, 1991) to community (Frishberg, 1986; Gentile et al, 1996)
emphasize the breadth and depth of linguistic proficiency for mastering the
techniques of interpreting.
Analytical skills: Gonzalez et al (1991: 363) declare that analysis is
“foremost” among the strategies employed by court interpreters, “so essential to
simultaneous interpreting that it can be considered an intrinsic part of the
process rather than ancillary tactic”. Writing about conference interpreting,
Jones (1998) also stresses how important it is to analyze a speech before
interpreting it. The standards of practice for medical interpreters (MMIA, 1995)
also cite analysis as a key element in interpreting proficiency.
Listening and recall: As Gentile et al (1996: 44) note, Effective
interpreting requires effective listening skills”. Many authors define the specific
kind of listening that interpreters perform as “active listening”, and further point
out that “this active, attentive listening is quite different from other forms of

listening, and has to be learned by interpreter” (Jones, 1998:14). Memory or
recall is also identified as essential by virtually all experts on interpreting,
regardless of the type: Seleskovitch (1978a: 34) goes as far as asserting that “in

14


interpretation, memory and understanding are inseparable; the one is function
of the other”.
Speaking skills: Most people associate speaking skills with appearance
before large audiences at public events such as congresses, assemblies, or press
conferences; and public speaking is indeed a key component in the training of
all types of interpreters (Weber, 1984; Frishberg, 1986; Gonzalez et all, 1991).
Gentile et al (1996: 47) point out, however, that even liaison or community
interpreters, who generally interpret in more intimate settings, need to be able to
express ideas well: “Effective speaking skills range from quality of voice to
choice of idiom, vocabulary, phrasing etc. So both what comes out of the mouth
of the interpreter and the way it comes out are important in the overall
effectiveness of the interpretation.
Subject knowledge: All experts on interpreting recognize the need to
acquire technical terminology and content knowledge in relevant fields
(Seleskovitch, 1978a; Gonzala et all, 1991; Frishberg, 1986; Gentile et al;
MMIA, 1995)
Cultural knowledge: It is almost universally acknowledged that
interpreters working in medical and social service settings need to be acutely
aware of cultural differences (hence the term “cultural interpreter” that is so
prevalent in Canada), although there is widespread disagreement about what
they should do with that knowledge (Carr et al, 1997). Court interpreters are
also expected to take culture into account, although they are much more
restricted in their ability to educate their clients about cultural differences

(Gonzalez et al, 1991). What many of these interpreters may not recognize is
that conference interpreters, too, consider themselves no just linguistic but also
cultural intermediate. Seleskovitch (1978a&b, Seleskovitch and Lederer, 1984)
has written extensively about the link between language and culture. Perhaps
Jones (1998: 4) sums it up best when he says that “in all of their work,

15


(conference) interpreters must bridge the cultural and conceptual gaps
separating the participants in a meeting”.
Ethical behavior: Although the interpreter‟s code of ethics has the
greatest impact on the interpreter‟s work in legal settings, ethics are major
consideration for all interpreters (Frisherberg, 1996; Sussanman and Johnson
(1998) describes the delicates situations understand their role and exercise good
judgment. Medical interpreters must be particularly attuned to the importance
of patient privacy issues (MMIA, 1995).
1.4.2

The concept of an experienced interpreter:
The concept of experience refers to knowledge or skill of something
achieved by involvement in or exposure to that thing. In other words,
experience can be understood as know-how, procedural knowledge or on-thejob training. Interpreting experience is the duration of working as an interpreter.
The longevity of an interpreter‟s experience is often counted up with his/her
time of practicing in interpreting.

16


2

CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY
2.1 The subjects:
The questionnaires were responded by these interpreters from January to
March 2012. In an attempt to obtain objective assessment, I also classified these
interpreters in terms of gender and the number of experience years because it is
likely that the frequencies as well as the way of dealing with undesirable
situations are different among other age groups and other genders.
50 interpreters have different number of working years. Here I categorize
these interpreters into two groups. The first group is the interpreters with two to
fewer than five years of work experiences. The second group is the people who
have worked as interpreters for more than five years.
2.2 The methods:
The main method of this thesis is to examine how the interpreters with
varied experiences deal with undesirable situations. This method aims at
collecting three undesirable cases which the interpreter meets most frequently.
These questionnaires will be delivered to interpreters and they are asked to be
filled in that sheet.
The process of data collection consists of 2 steps:
Step 1: The questionnaires are delivered to interpreters.
Step 2: The questionnaires are collected.
The steps of analyzing go as follows:
Step 1: The results of the questionnaire will be noted down
Step 2: Undesirable situations will be identified and ranked
Step 3: Based on the recommendation from the interpreters, the strategies for
each undesirable situation will be designed.

17

Besides, some interpreters will be interviewed. This method is used with
an aim to get detailed information or suggestion from the interpreters.

18