Handling Vague Information In Diplomatic Settings

This is an experiment report of a comparative study on strategies of handlingvague information in diplomatic settings between interpreting trainees and aprofessional interpreter in consecutive interpreting.This thesis sets vague information in diplomatic settings as the research object.By seeking effective ways of handling vague information in diplomatic settings, theauthor tries to provide some suggestions on enhancing the loyalty and accuracy ofvague information interpretation.After studying the previous researches on vague information, the author findsthat the vague information can be realized at the following three levels. At thesemantic level, it can be realized by the use of fuzzy words, hedges and euphemism.At the syntactic level, it can be realized through syntactic ambiguity. In addition, thevague information can also be realized at the cross-textual level through theindeterminacy of illocutionary acts such as the implication of the speaker.Also by analyzing the outputs, the author finds that there are two effective waysto handle vague information, which are turning vague information into vagueinformation and turning vague information into accurate information. The analysisalso unveils the weak links of interpreters in dealing vague information: the lack ofawareness of the form and importance of vague information; the lack of awareness ofthe differences between Chinese and English in terms of structure and nature, thedeficiencies in language abilities, and the insufficient encyclopedic information. Andthe author provides the suggestions accordingly. Hopefully, this report can contributeto skill training of interpreters and improve interpreter’s performance in vagueinformation interpreting.