Study On Context-based Strategies For Coping With Accent’s Interference In English-Chinese Simultaneous Interpretation

Theoretically based on the "Relevance Theory" of Dan Sperber and Deirdre Wilson and the "Relevance-Theoretic Translation Approach" of Ernst-August Gutt,this thesis adopts the approach of empirical research to explore the ways that the factor of "context" could influence different types of interpreters in strongly accented English-Chinese simultaneous interpretation.The main purpose of this thesis is to explore how interpreters could use different context factors to capture the information that is missed due to distraction of speakers’accents,so as to find feasible ways for interpreters to improve the completeness and accuracy of their interpretation.Centering on interpreters themselves,this thesis focuses on studying how interpreters could adopt dynamic coping strategies based on their own cognition,language capability,knowledge background as well as specific simultaneous interpretation scenarios under this condition.In the experimental design,the author uses "accent" as a condition to interfere interpreters’ easy complete and accurate understanding of what the speaker has said to highlight the factor of "context" that interpreters may resort to for completing their interpretation.The author selected four pieces of speeches as experimental materials,which differed greatly in terms of style of content,degree of comprehension difficulty and whether providing pre-interpretation briefing and helpful glossary.Three groups of interpreters(two in each group)were invited to this experiment as subjects.After the experiment was done,the author collected the six interpreters’ recordings of interpretations of the four pieces of materials and had them transcribed into written form,so that the author could have a detailed understanding of the accuracy rate and its distribution among different groups of interpreters.Through analysis of experimental data,the author finds that in strongly accented English-Chinese simultaneous interpretation,context factors have influence over different interpreters’ performance to various degrees,which is directly reflected upon the accuracy rate of their interpretation.In this sense,it would be of great help if interpreters could make good use of "context" based on their own qualities and characteristics in order to improve their interpretation level.