Error Analysis Of Numbers In English-Chinese Consecutive Interpreting

This thesis analyzes the errors made by novice interpreters in number interpreting tasks in the consecutive mode,focusing on their performance in and understanding of interpreting number-related information and offering suggestions to help enhance their number interpreting skills.The subjects of this research are 41 undergraduate students with basic interpreting skills and knowledge,who were attending the same interpreting course at the time of this research.Based on existing literature on this topic,this thesis has adopted previous models and developed a set of standards to analyze the errors in number interpreting.In this research,it is believed that number interpreting includes the interpretations of the arithmetical values(i.e.naked numbers)as well as the units,referents,and additional information.The results of this research come from thorough analysis of the recordings of the subjects' in-class number interpreting exercises,as well as questionnaire answers given by the subjects.This thesis has drawn the following conclusionsAs for the arithmetical values,those above ten thousand appear to be the most difficult to interpret,with the highest rate of errors.Among all error types,misinterpretations and omissions are the most commonly seen,accounting for 43.9%and 39.1%of the total respectively.The difficulty of interpreting the arithmetical values mainly comes from the astronomical numbers which are not frequently encountered by the interpreters in everyday life.In the interpretations of the units and additional information,omissions are the most commonly seen errors in this research,whereas misinterpretations take up the largest proportion in all erroneous interpretations of the referents.A higher percentage of errors has been observed in interpreting the units,references and additional information than the arithmetical values.Some of the errors are made because novice interpreters are not familiar with certain terms or expressions.Others are due to poor strategy choices as novice interpreters tend to focus too much on the arithmetical values and overlook other pieces of information.It is also concluded in this thesis that exercises of naked numbers,numbers in sentences and numbers in passages should be combined to be more effective.Apart from basic knowledge and skills,trainings of novice interpreters should also focus on strategies,equipping them with coping tactics to avoid errors in number interpreting.