Quality Assessment Criteria Of Consecutive Interpretation

This paper aims at defining a set of quality assessment criteria of consecutive interpretation of English and Chinese based on a number of existing assessment criteria and models, theories of translation and communication, and some field observation. Gile's Sequential Model of translation has been draw upon to explain the underlying similarity between translation and interpretation in terms of working process, which displays the feasibility of applying translation theory into interpretation studies. Also, as an act of communication, interpretation study is closely linked to modern communication theories, as is shown in the Lasswell Formula. Accordingly, Peter Newmark's Communicative Translation approach and Philip C. Palmgreen's Expectancy-Value Model of Gratification Sought (GS) and Gratification Obtain (GO) have been explored and thereby serve as the theoretical basis for defining quality assessment criteria in terms of content and delivery. Then, with further reference to application, discussion on English and Chinese language together with a proportion of examples and a small experiment on RT, a set of quality assessment criteria of consecutive interpretation of English and Chinese has been proposed. The proposition might bear some deficiencies that are to be overcome in future researches. The paper also calls for more attention and scientific research on the sub-discipline of interpretation studies and its quality assessment criteria.