An Analysis of the Difficulties during the Interpretation Process

區意婷

一、Introduction

In the interpreting process， everyone may come across many problems， such as omissions， additions， content distortions， inappropriate register and inaccurate style and the like. Here， omissions and inappropriate register are two typical problems which will be analysed in details.

二、Problems， Reasons & Strategies

（一）Omission

Omission is defined as “something that has not been included or not been done， either deliberately or accidentally”. In the interpreting literature， omissions have typically been regarded as errors and “deviations” from the source text.

Example：

Principal： …but I ↑think she can choose to do the practical subjects such as food technology， sports science， visual art， design °or° photography （.） as an elective. …

Interpreter： …但是我認為她可以選擇去讀= （1.3） 她可以，她可以選擇去讀，呃，（1.8） 一些實際的課程，例如食物 （.） 科學，呃，（.） 運動，（2.5） 運動科學，設計，（4.5） （ ）藝術或者是，呃，攝影作為她的選修。…

From the italics in the example， its easy to note that the word “visual” is omitted in the Chinese interpretation. The omission contributes to a loss of meaningful information. This is a skipping of a key word which resulted in Mrs. Zhangs inability to comprehend the message in the source language from the Principal. This case can be categorized as “unconscious omissions”. To solve the unconscious omission problems， to get more familiar with the subject-specific terminology is critical. Moreover， it is also very important to improve the listening， memorizing and note-taking skills to cope with the omission errors. Last but not least， the most practical skill in Liaison Interpreting is to ask the speaker to repeat or re-explain the statement in order to grasp the message from the speaker.

（二）Register

A register can be defined as a variety of language that a language user concerned with the appropriateness of language according to the situational context. Lowering the register or raising the register is considered as inappropriate register.

Example：

Mrs. Zhang： 呃，但我比較關心的是，那在您 （Chinese PinYin： “nin”） 提到的科目里， 那些是比較適合我女兒的呢？

Interpreter： But the， er， the more （.） Im concerned is， er， （2.5） in the subjects you mentioned， which ones are （.） more （.） suitable for my ↑daughter？

In this example， its difficult to demonstrate the high register from Mrs. Zhangs social dialect. There is no registers in the English language to go match with the word “nin （back translation： （said with respect） you）” which is a social dialect expressing the politeness in the Chinese culture， so the inappropriate register in this example is not a error， but a problem. From the semantic point of view， the faithful interpretation of “nin” should be “honoured you” in order to show the real meaning of “nin”； while from the pragmatic aspect， the interpretation of “you” is correct due to the appropriate English language usage. In this case， interpreting as “you” is the more appropriate.

To cope with the register challenges， there is only one practical strategy can be recommended for the interpreter when there is a lack of register to match the original utterance. That is， always trying to know more about the source language and target language， especially the expressions on linguistic and cultural equivalences.

三、Conclusion

The main objective of this essay is to critically analyse the errors or problems occurred in the interpretation process. In this essay， a detailed discussion is presented in the matter of omission errors and the register problems， including the reasons， effects on the interaction and the strategies to seek for the potential equivalence. Its found that the unfamiliarity of the basic interpreting skills， insufficient knowledge of the languages and cultures are two essential reasons contributing to those errors and problems. Thus， the most important point for an interpreting beginner is to continuously develop strategies from a mess of practice to cope with the interpreting challenges.

項目名稱：“一帶一路”戰略下應用型本科院校創新人才英語能力培養研究

項目來源：廣東省教育廳2017年重點平臺及科研項目

項目編號：2017WQNCX161