The Application of Syntactic Linearity in Simultaneous Interpretation

王潛鐳

【Abstract】40 years has passed since the implementation and the proceeding of the reform and opening-up policy， China is more intertwined with other countries， and its domestic economy has been greatly influenced by the world， meaning that China has now maintained a deep connection with other countries in the world and got involved in more worldwide conferences. Under such circumstances， demand on translating and interpreting， especially simultaneous interpreting has been on the increase. Since it requires timeliness， simultaneous interpreting has been commonly regarded as among the most demanding tasks regardless of its short history. For the sake of providing accurate， fluent and quick interpreting in conferences， it is necessary for interpreters to apply the principle of syntactic linearity into practice.

【Key words】simultaneous interpreting； syntactic linearity； strategies

English-Chinese Simultaneous Interpreting Skills Guided by Syntactic Linearity Segmentation

Segmentation is a method that is most often found in syntactic linearity principle. It can reduce the burden of interpreters on memory in the process of simultaneous interpretation and improve the quality and speed of interpretation in interpreting. According to Dr. Zhang Weiwei （1999）， segmentation is to cut sentences according to appropriate meaning groups or information units in simultaneous interpretation and then the interpreter translates them into Chinese. Interpreting between any two languages cannot be a word-for-word translation. Therefore， it is not reasonable to use word but meaning groups instead as the criterion of segmentation. The meaning group refers to phrases or parts that have relatively independent meanings. Sentences can be composed by meaning groups. Therefore， the meaning group is often used as a criterion to cut sentences.

Example 1：

Cutting point 1： prepositions or phrasal prepositions

ST：

I see de-risking as a situation in which a financial institution indiscriminately terminates or restricts broad classes of customer relationships without a careful assessment of the risks and the tools available to manage and mitigate those risks.

TT：

但我認為降級風險是金融機構不分青紅皂白地終止或限制大范圍的客戶關系，而又在沒有仔細評估可用于管理和減輕這些風險的工具的情況下進行的。

There is an attributive clause here. The main clause is “I see de-risking as a situation”， while “in which” equals “where” leading an attributive clause. In the attributive clause， the cutting point is “without”. Because prepositions can form relatively independent structures with the following nouns or noun phrases， So the author uses preposition-guided parts to form a separate sentence， and uses “而又” to effectively connect the sentence of “但我認為降級風險是金融不分青紅皂白地終止或限制大范圍的客戶關系”and”在沒有仔細評估可用于管理或減輕這些風險的工具下進行的”.Accordingly， the whole sentence has been divided into two parts during simultaneous interpretation. Additionally， interpreters do not have time to wait until the end of a sentence and then do the interpretation. Therefore， it is significant to find cutting point in order to effectively cut a sentence， alleviating interpreters burden and pressure in the process of simultaneous interpretation.

Repetition

Repetition means that in the process of simultaneous interpretation， interpreter cuts the long sentence into shorter sentences to interpret without adjustment of original syntactical structure and repeats certain words where necessary to naturally connect sentence with sentence. Repeated parts are usually the focus of the sentence. They also appear in clauses in English. For example， English attributive clauses are often guided by relative words. On the one hand， they represent the antecedent （noun or pronoun） that the attributive clause modifies. On the other hand， it can serve as a component in the clause. However， in Chinese， there are no relative words， so it is often necessary to repeat nouns which serve as an antecedent. In English， it is necessary to avoid repetition under the premise of clear expression of meaning， yet repetition is very common in Chinese. As it is known to all， repetition is necessary in Chinese. Appropriate repetition in Chinese can contribute to repeated emphasis， clarification of meanings and reinforcement of tone.

ST：

The ultimate passage of IMF reform was pivotal， but it was just one of many important steps needed to sustain our economic leadership and adapt to the challenges of our time.

TT：

國際貨幣基金組織改革的最終通過是關鍵，但它只是許多重要步驟之一，是保持我們的經濟領導地位的重要步驟之一，也是適應我們時代挑戰的重要步驟之一。

There is no denying that adherence to syntactical linearity principle will make interpreting easier and effectively alleviate interpreters heavy pressure in the process of simultaneous interpretation when interpreters can avoid changing the word order too much and keep catching up with the speaker. However， there are some cases when syntactical linearity principle seems to fail to work. As is shown in the example above， “one of many important steps needed to sustain our economic leadership and adapt it to the challenges of our time” is a kind of long part.

When the noun phrase “many important steps” appears， there is no more time to wait until the end of the sentence and then do the interpretation following the original sentence structure. But how to deal with such situation where a noun phrase is followed by a long attributive？ Repetition matters a lot. As shown in this example， a cutting point can be put after “many important steps” and “重要步驟之一” is repeated as is shown in TT to make sentence more fluent in a short time and alleviate pressure of translation， and at the same time ， it also achieves the effect of emphasis.