On C-E Interpreting Of Idiomatic Phrases In The Keynote Speech From The Perspective Of Register Theory

Chinese idiomatic phrases are the greatest wisdom and the most precioustreasure created by people in the long history.At present,the researches conducted on Chinese idiomatic phrases at home are mainly from the perspectives of structure study,cultural connotation,comparative study on idiomatic phrases between Chinese and English,translation strategies,etc.However,few researches were conducted from the perspective of interpreting.Idiomatic phrases are usually rich in cultural connotation,which needs to be explained by addition in written translation in order to make them understood by the target audience.Nevertheless,time pressure is the primary and obvious factor affecting interpreter’s performance in interpreting.Especially in simultaneous interpreting,interpreters may use different strategies compared with translators.How does the interpreter deal with these idiomatic phrases? What are the strategies or methods adopted? Are there any regularities or patterns? These are the core questions in this research.The objects of this research are twelve keynote speeches delivered by the state leaders,President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang,from 2015 to 2016 and their on-site simultaneous interpreting transcripts.Firstly,quantitative analysis is made on the use distribution of five types of idiomatic phrases in these keynote speeches,namely,idioms,proverbs,aphorisms/maxims,locutions and two-part allegorical sayings.Then qualitative approach is adopted.Through applying Register Theory put forward by Halliday,the author observes and analyzes the interpreting methods of idioms,proverbs and aphorisms/maxims in the keynote speeches and explores their interpreting regularities from three dimensions,field,tenor and mode.This research finds that the state leaders tend to use idioms,proverbs and aphorisms/maxims in formal situations and there are no incidence of using locutions and two-part allegorical sayings.Further analysis shows that in order to realize the communicative intention,the interpreter,under the pressing time,adopts literal interpreting and free interpreting flexibly,usually at the cost of the cultural connotation of idiomatic phrases.The interpreter usually deals with idioms and proverbs by simplification.And interestingly,although there is time pressure,the interpreter deals with all the aphorisms/maxims by adding an evidential marker.The findings of this research have practical instructive significance for interpreting teaching and interpreting practitioners.There are totally six chapters in this dissertation.Chapter one is the introduction that includes research background,significance,objectives and questions.Chapter two demonstrates the definition and classifications of idiomatic phrases and theresearch status of idiomatic phrases and register theory.Chapter three is the theoretical framework in this dissertation,which contains the development,definitions and three variables of Register Theory.Chapter four introduces the methodology,which consists of research materials and objects,containing source language(SL)and target language(TL),research procedure and data analysis.Chapter five presents the core of the research,results and discussion.Chapter six is the research conclusion consisting of major findings,implications of the research,research limitations and suggestions.