An Analysis on Skills of English—Chinese Sight Interpretation in Attributive Clause from the Principle of Syntactic Linearity

【Abstract】Sight interpretation as a crucial means of interpreting training is significant in the field of translation. With the demands for high-level translation rising continually， how to sight-interpret perfectly is a tough issue that every interpreter is confronted with. Therefore， it is necessary to master the skills and strategies of sight interpretation. Attributive clause is difficulty in sight interpretation， too. Based on the principle of syntactic linearity， the article focuses on the practical skills of sight interpretation to enhances flexibility and smooth of the text. The aims is to help interpreters to analyze various linguistic expressions of attributes with different sight-interpreting skills so that they can deepen the understanding of English-Chinese attributive clause.

【Key words】Syntactic Linearity； Sense Groups； Sight Interpretation； Attributive Clause

【作者簡介】沈威華（1990.12- ），女，漢族，河南虞城人，碩士研究生，新疆大學，研究方向： 外國語言學及應用語言學。

1. Introduction

Sight interpretation is a complex activity involved in reading， comprehension， segmentation and production. During the process of sight interpretation， interpreters have to handle the input of source language and the output of target language concurrently. However， sight interpretation is different from consecutive or simultaneous interpretation in essence because the source language is presented visually which may pose some new challenges （Lee， 2012： 695）. The numerous studies on interpretation， including simultaneous interpretation and consecutive interpretation， have been done in literature. However， little attention is paid to sight interpretation.

Gile claimed that the source information is presented visually and this constant visibility of source text may pose higher linguistic interference than that posed by sight interpretation （ Gile， 1997：196-214）. Angelelli （1999， 27） stated that the interpretation is an oral interpretation of the written text and that the oral interpretation should sound like the interpreters reading the written text in the target language.

Currently， due to the increase of international conferences， there are some books on sight interpretation in China. For example， Qin Yaqings “English Interpretation”， is the one that specializes in interpreting textbooks which mainly discusses the reasonable sentence segment， sense group as a unit and English-Chinese interpretation where the subordinate clauses. （Qin Yaqing， 2009）. He Aixiang states that simultaneous interpretation can be divided into simultaneous interpretation without texts and simultaneous interpretation with text in accordance with the fact whether spokesmen manuscript （He Aixiang， 2010： 40-42）. Feng Weinian claims that in the process of interpretation， the words and sentence patterns are just duplicated according to original source， then Chinese interpretation will become foreign cavity to make the readers not intelligible （Feng Weinian， 2002：182-186）.

Some interpreting skills involve in not only sentence-constituent transformation but also the application of additions， omissions， duplication and other skills to in-depth integration for achieving the highest value of interpretation activities.

2. Application of Methods of Syntactic Linearity

Syntactic linearity means source language bring into correspondence with target language. Speed is the soul and unique life of reading. Even though a interpreter can understand the passage much accurately instead of reading fast， it is useless. So it is important to cultivate ones reading speed， especially paying attention to word order. （Qin Yaqing， 2009：1 ）. For example：

① There will come the day （when people can live a happy life under the sun of socialism.）

譯文一：全世界人民在社會主義陽光下過幸福生活的一天會到來的。

譯文二：終將有一天，全世界人民，會過上幸福的生活，沐浴著社會主義的陽光。

Comparing version1 with version2， there are some differences.Version1 reverses the order of the sentence， which is a kind of typical translation， but it doesnt work in sight interpretation because it is a waste of time to change its original order. Moreover， it is inappropriate for interpreters not to understand immediately for its long length. It is advisable to choose another translation method like version2 which divides the sentence into several phrases without changing its original order.

3. Skills of Sight Interpretation of Attributive Clauses

In English-Chinese sight interpretation， to realize syntactic linearity， there is a possibility that target language are not coherent. So the article represents four other skills： segment of sense group， repetition， amplification， fusion method.

3.1 Segmentation of Sense Group

Syntactic linearity is an important guiding method in sight interpretation which requires the interpreters to cut the sentences into pieces. It can be interpreted independently without changing the meaning of the sentence. Moreover， the most important principle in sight interpretation is to follow sentence order. For example：

A spirited discussion springs up between a young girl who insists that women have outgrown the jumping-on-the-chair at-the-sight-of-a-mouse ear， and a colonel who says that they havent.

譯文一：一位年輕女士和一位上校展開了激烈的爭論，女士堅持婦女已經不再看見老鼠就嚇得跳上椅子，那種時代早過去了；上校則認為沒有過去。（陳文伯）

譯文二：一場激烈的爭論開始了。一方是年輕的女士，她堅持認為，婦女已經不再一見到老鼠就跳到椅子上去，那種時代早過去了；另一方是一位上校，他認為那種時代沒有過去。

The original sentence is a long sentence with two attributive clauses. It is difficult to interpret for interpreters do not have enough time to adjust the entire sentence as version1 does. On this occasion， interpreters can divide the long sentence into sense group. Then they can add a subject “她” to attributive clause. So the long sentence can be interpreted into three clauses： “她堅持認為”，婦女已經不再 “一見到老鼠就跳到椅子上去”，“那種時代早過去了”。

3.2 Repetition of Antecedent

The attributive clause is used as an adjunct to supplement or describes the antecedent， usually interpreted into post-positive coordinate clauses， in most cases， the antecedent needs to be translated repeatedly （Zhu Jufen， 2001：47）. For some special reasons of emphasizing the antecedent， we need to interpret the antecedent repeatedly， too. For example：

we are setting the poor areas food-security plan， which will provide farmers with a opportunity to get more goods to market and earn more money.

我們各自應該承擔的部分是我們最擅長的部分，例如我們正在制定農民的食品安全保障計劃，這個計劃將幫助農民將更多的產品投入市場。

In this sentence， “that” and “which” introduce two attributive clauses in which the antecedents “the part” and “plan” appear twice. The first time， the words “部分” “計劃” function as complements and subject respectively to comply with completeness. The second time， “部分” “計劃” are to stress complements， subject even the whole sentence meaning.

3.3 Amplification Method

In attributive clause， interpreters tend to use the amplification to make the sentence become more natural and smooth. So it is essential to add some words like noun， pronoun or phrase to act as conjunction （Xie Qingli， 2009：37）. For example：

Unlike animals， we can not bear to throw away our children who roam the street

不像動物，我們不忍心丟下自己的孩子，使之流落街頭。

Here， the attributive clause expresses a kind of purpose. So it is a better way to add the conjunction “使之”， which makes the meaning more accurate and smooth. This method can emphasize the antecedent too.

3.4 Fusion Method

Fusion method means when the main clause only has structural meanings rather than practical significance， interpreters will fuse attributive clause into original sentence and form a complete sentence with the subject of it （Xie Qingli， 2009： 36-37）. In the process of syntactic linearity， we usually fuse attributive clause into main clause in “there be， this， that， these” sentence structure. For example：

There are some who question our abilities-who do not think that we can deal with the environmental pollution.

有人質疑我們的能力——他們認為我們不能夠治理好環境污染。

Here， “who” and “who”， as relative pronouns of two clauses that simultaneously modify antecedent “some”. The main clause and attributive clause introduced by the first “who” are fused into one sentence and subject in attributive clause becomes the real subject. Another attributive clause introduced by the second “who” is added “他們”. It is apparent that the main clause does not have practical meaning. Thus， the best way is to fuse restrictive attributive clause into one main clause.

Conclusion

In this article， several sight interpreting skills of attributive clause have been discussed based on the principle of syntactic linearity. Guided by this principle， we can get some implications about coping skill. Which skill should be adopted depends on the relation of main clause and attributive clause as well as the meaning of the whole sentence. We should apply these skills flexibly according to actual situation. The study has attempted to gain a new perspective of sight interpretation to make the original languages be conveyed accurately， coherently and naturally. These methods， although failing to uphold all sighting interpretation of complex attributive clauses， it provides some exemplification analysis. It is expected that this exemplification could encourage more attempts in sight- interpreting studies.

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