Interpreter's Speaking Rate And Output Quality In Chinese-Enlish Simultaneous Interpretation:An Empirical Study

Simultaneous interpretation(SI)is a popular method of interpreting that converts what is said in real-time.There are no pauses in conversation.Such traits determine that the speaking rate in the target language is an important part of the interpreting process.This thesis looks into the correlation between speaking rate and output quality in Chinese-English simultaneous interpreting.The empirical study in this thesis collects and analyzes data through an experiment and interviews.The experiment invited 4 second-year graduate school students to interpret simultaneously in a mock conference scenario.After the experiment,SPSS software was used to form scatter diagrams and calculate the Pearson coefficient for the correlation between each group of variables.The research results find that interpreter's speaking rate does not correlate with overall output quality,but correlates with several indicators of output quality.Specifically,interpreter's speaking rate negatively correlates with the number of silent pauses;positively correlates with performance on vocabulary.Therefore,it is suggested that SI trainees with fast speaking rate allocate more capacity on listening and analyzing to improve performance on vocabulary,and SI trainees with low speaking rate allocate more capacity on production to reduce the number of silent pauses.The results may be helpful to correct some misunderstandings among SI trainees and improve their performance.It may also have suggestive significance to future studies in relevant topics.